Saturday, November 10, 2007

GROWING HYDROPONIC CROPS USING PERLITE

HYDROPONICS--- Hydroponic growing systems are based on a new generation of superb rooting media - inert, sterile, uniform materials such as the mineral perlite and rockwool. These products act merely as supports for a complete nutrient solution on which the plants depend entirely for their water, mineral nutrients and oxygen. In the purest form of hydroponics, there is a complete absence of solid substrate, the nutrient solution itself acting as the rooting medium.

Commercial growers can choose between three main hydroponic systems: one which uses a recirculating solution, the nutrient-film technique (NPT), and two 'static' systems, perlite culture and rockwool culture. The perlite culture system was uniquely devised and developed by a team of Scottish horticulturists. It is now the most widely used glasshouse crop production method in Scotland and it has the fastest growth of any hydroponic technique in the U.K. It is currently the subject of worldwide interest, particularly for use in arid zone regions.

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