The Drip Hydroponic System

Drip Hydroponics

The drip hydroponic system is likely the most common and widespread hydroponic system in use today, not just in the USA but all over the Earth because of its great efficiency and ease of use for even the novice hydroponic gardener. The ratio of work needed and crop yield is excellent with the Drip system method. The drip system is quite simply a very easy to understand concept. A timer is used to control the intervals at which a submerged pump turns on and begins pumping nutrient solution into the drip lines which drip directly onto the lower base of all your plants in the system. There are essentially two different types of drip hydroponics systems, the recovery system and the non-recovery system.

In the recovery system version of drip hydroponics the unused nutrient solution which “runs-off” is collected in a reservoir to be re-used, unlike in the non-recovery system where the run-off is not recovered for recycling into the system. The recovery drip system is far more efficient than the alternative because you are recycling the nutrient solution and getting maximum value out of it. A recovery system also allows you to spend far less money on equipment and most importantly, you spend much less on nutrients and additives. In essence, you spend less on equipment and nutrients and more on increasing your crop yield because the drip hydroponic system does not depend nearly as much on highly accurate pumping cycles like some of the other hydroponic systems. In the other system, you really do need a more precise watering cycle and schedule which means you spend more on equipment, such as the timer required for your growing project. The timer is needed more in the non-recovery system to make sure you are able to adjust and tweak the water cycles in an effort to make sure the plants get the proper amount of nutrient solution and to minimize runoff as much as possible since you are not recovering it for reuse.

The upside of the non-recovery drip system is that it requires quite a bit less manual upkeep and maintenance because the nutrient solution is not recovered into the reservoir. The reason this is less work is because since the solution is not recycled, there is thus much less variance in the pH level and strength of the solution in the reservoir. This means there is no need to be constantly checking the levels and adding uppers and downers and other additives to make necessary corrections. This can be time consuming depending on your experience level and potentially very expensive if you are not very sure about what you are doing or find out that you lack the proper equipment to handle corrections or even take readings. For those who don’t mind sacrificing some efficiency in exchange for less work, this method allows the grower to simply refill the reservoir with a properly adjusted pH level nutrient solution and not worry about it again until the reservoir gets low. A word of caution, don’t forget to check your reservoir from time-to-time because if it runs out of solution your plants roots will dry up pretty darn quickly unless you are growing in a soil medium that retains moisture very well and even then if you leave it for too long it will dry out without a doubt. The recovery system can sometimes have swings in pH level and solution strength but what you spend more in time you will save in the money you spend on nutrients and additives. Just think about the pros and cons of each type of hydroponic system and decide what is more valuable and important to yourself and your unique growing situation.