PonicLabs

What a plant needs: the seven inputs

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to list the seven inputs a plant needs to grow, say what each one does inside the plant, and explain why a plant grown without soil is not missing anything. You will also be able to estimate how many litres of water a head of lettuce moves through itself before harvest.

Photosynthesis and respiration for growers

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to say where the mass of a plant comes from, read a light-response curve and name the three environmental factors that cap photosynthesis, turn a light-meter reading and a photoperiod into a daily light integral and compare it with a published lettuce target, and explain why roots in a nutrient solution need dissolved oxygen and why warm nights cost growth.

Water in the plant: uptake, transpiration and humidity

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to describe how water travels from the nutrient solution to the air through root, xylem and stomata, explain why that stream carries nutrients and why calcium depends on it, and calculate the vapour-pressure deficit of the air from a temperature and a relative humidity.

Before you read: What a plant needs, Photosynthesis and respiration for growers.

What plants are made of: the essential elements

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to name the chemical elements a plant cannot complete its life without, explain the test that puts an element on that list, read a table of typical tissue concentrations, and estimate how many grams of nitrogen and potassium a head of lettuce contains. You will also know why a shortage of some elements shows first on old leaves and a shortage of others on young ones.

How roots take up nutrients

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain what a root actually absorbs, how each ion reaches the root surface and crosses the root’s membrane, why that needs oxygen, why solution and plant end up with different compositions, and why nitrate feeding pushes pH one way and ammonium feeding the other. A worked example turns one head of lettuce into millimoles of charge.

Water quality: what is in your water and why it matters

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to read a water report line by line, sort each constituent into useful, harmless up to a limit, or a cause of trouble, compare tap, rain, reverse-osmosis and well water, and decide with published limits whether a given water suits lettuce and how much calcium and magnesium it already brings to your recipe.

pH: what it is and why 5.5 to 6.5

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to say what a pH reading measures and why one unit is a tenfold step, explain from solution chemistry why hydroponic growers keep the solution slightly acid, predict which way a running system will drift, calibrate and store a pH electrode, and correct pH without overshooting, dosing by the water’s alkalinity rather than by the pH reading alone.

Alkalinity and buffering: the hidden control of pH drift

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to tell alkalinity apart from pH, convert between the units in which laboratories report it, explain from the carbonate equilibrium why a running system drifts upwards in pH, and calculate how many millilitres of nitric or phosphoric acid a tank needs and how much nitrogen or phosphorus that dose adds to the recipe.

EC and concentration: what the meter measures

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to read an EC meter in any of the units it may show, convert a reading between mS/cm, dS/m, µS/cm, CF and the ppm scales, correct a reading taken at the wrong temperature, estimate the EC of a simple recipe from its ion concentrations, and say what an EC reading can and cannot tell you about a nutrient solution.

Fertiliser salts: purity, solubility and compatibility

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to name the salt that supplies each element of a nutrient solution, calculate the element content of a salt from its formula and check it against the bag label, read a purity grade, use a solubility limit to size a stock tank, and explain from the chemistry why calcium nitrate is never concentrated together with sulfates or phosphates.

Reading a formulation: Hoagland, Steiner and modern recipes

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to convert any nutrient recipe between milligrams per litre and millimoles per litre, check that its positive and negative charges balance, translate a fertiliser label written in P₂O₅ and K₂O, and put the classic Hoagland and Steiner solutions beside a modern commercial recipe and say what the differences mean.

Mixing your own solution: from a recipe to grams on the scale

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to turn a recipe in milligrams of each element per litre into grams of each fertiliser salt for your tank, correcting for your raw water and for the purity on the bag. You will know in which order to solve the elements, how to make A and B stocks that do not precipitate, how to dissolve the salts, and what the EC meter should read when you are done.

Managing a recirculating solution over time

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain why a recirculating solution never stays as you mixed it, read EC and pH drift as evidence of what the crop and the make-up water are doing, write a one-line mass balance for sodium, calculate how many weeks a given water takes to push sodium past a limit, and choose between topping up, bleeding and replacing on evidence rather than on the calendar.

Dissolved oxygen in the root zone

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to read an oxygen solubility table, convert between mg/L, µmol/L and percent saturation, estimate how long the oxygen in a tank would last against a measured root respiration rate, explain what an air stone and water flow actually do, and compare your meter reading with the concentrations at which lettuce grows well and suffers.

Anatomy of a hydroponic system: the design parameters

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to look at any hydroponic system, from a bottle on a windowsill to a commercial greenhouse, and say what it does for the roots, where it sits on four design axes, how much solution it holds per plant, and what will go wrong first. You will also be able to estimate how much water a small lettuce crop drinks and compare that with the buffer each kind of system gives you.

Kratky and other passive systems: growing with an air gap and no pump

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain how a plant in a lidded container of nutrient solution gets its oxygen when nothing stirs or bubbles the water, size a container for a lettuce crop from published consumption figures, and say which crops the method suits and why. You will also know the main ways a passive system fails and the mechanism behind each.

Deep water culture: roots in a deep, aerated solution

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain how deep water culture keeps roots alive in a tank of solution, why its volume makes it forgiving, why the air pump can never stop, and how commercial raft ponds are laid out. You will also be able to size the solution volume, the oxygen store and the air flow for a square metre of lettuce with a calculator.

Nutrient film technique: growing roots in a moving film

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain why a nutrient film technique (NFT) channel only works while the film of solution stays a few millimetres deep, choose a slope, a flow rate and a channel length from that mechanism, size the catchment tank and pump for a stated number of plants, and recognise the three ways an NFT system fails.

Drip irrigation and substrate culture: slabs, bags and Dutch buckets

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain why a crop in a rockwool, coir or perlite substrate is watered many times a day in small doses, choose between draining the surplus to waste and recirculating it, set a drain fraction and read the drain EC, and size the daily irrigation of a tomato crop from its transpiration and its slab.

Growing media I: air, water and particle size

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to describe a growing medium as solid, water and air sharing one volume, define total porosity, container capacity, air-filled porosity and bulk density, read a water-retention curve, and explain why the bottom of a drained container is always saturated. You will also be able to estimate how much air a slab or a pot of a given height holds.

Choosing a medium: stone wool, coir, perlite, expanded clay, peat and others

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to compare the growing media sold for hydroponics on measured properties rather than on claims, say which property makes a medium suit a net pot, a propagation block, a drip slab, a bucket or a wick system, prepare stone wool and coir before planting, and work out how much medium a set of containers needs.

Light: PPFD, DLI, spectrum and photoperiod

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain why plant light is counted in photons, turn a light reading and a day length into a daily light integral and back, compare it with targets for lettuce, basil and seedlings, and estimate the dry matter it can buy. You will also know what each colour of light does, and when long days help or harm a crop.

Choosing and sizing grow lights

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to compare grow lights by the one number that matters for plants, photons per joule of electricity, and to work out how many watts a shelf or room needs for a chosen light level. You will also be able to estimate the daily electricity cost, the heat the lamp adds to the room, and whether a dearer, more efficient fixture pays for itself.

Temperature, humidity and VPD

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain why each plant process has a minimum, an optimum and a maximum temperature, set day and night temperatures for lettuce, basil and fruiting crops from sourced ranges, and use the daily mean temperature to predict timing. You will also be able to read a VPD table, compute a dew point, and decide whether a grow room will drip at night.

Seeds, germination and propagation

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to sow seeds in plugs at the right temperature, light and moisture, recognise and prevent damping-off, and decide when a seedling is ready for its hydroponic system. You will also be able to test a seed packet, calculate how many seeds to sow for the plants you want, and root basil from cuttings.

How long things take: growth timelines for eleven crops

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to read a published crop timeline and say what it actually measured, find a sourced range from sowing to harvest for eleven common hydroponic crops, and turn a timeline into a weekly sowing plan that gives a steady harvest. You will also know what to record so that your own notes become a better guide for your system than any published table.

Growing leafy greens and herbs: lettuce, basil, spinach and others

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to run lettuce, basil and spinach from transplant to harvest in any common hydroponic system, with a sourced range for solution strength, pH, temperature, light and spacing. You will know why lettuce leaves burn at the edges, why crops run to seed, why basil blackens in the cold, and what one square metre of lettuce can yield in a year.

Diagnosing nutrient deficiencies and toxicities

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to look at a plant with yellow, brown or deformed leaves and narrow the cause to one or two elements by asking which leaves show it first and what the pattern is. You will then know how to confirm the diagnosis with a solution test, a tissue analysis and a corrective dose, and why in hydroponics the solution is often not short of the element at all.

Pests and diseases in soilless systems

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to explain why a shared nutrient solution makes root diseases spread faster than in soil, tell a rotting root from a healthy one, and match the common leaf diseases and insect pests to the conditions that favour them. You will also be able to set up a weekly sticky-card count for a small grow room and work out how much hydrogen peroxide a tank needs for a published treatment dose.

Water, energy and nutrients: what the evidence says

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will know which study the “90% less water” claim comes from and what that study compared. You will be able to estimate the water a kilogram of lettuce must transpire and the electricity an indoor farm needs to light it, and you will know why the climate footprint of hydroponic food depends more on the power grid than on the growing method.

Meters and measurement: pH, EC, dissolved oxygen and temperature

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will know what each of your meters actually senses, how to calibrate a pH meter and judge from its slope whether the electrode is worn out, how to correct an EC reading to 25 °C, and how to choose an oxygen sensor. You will also know how large a meter’s error is compared with your targets.

Build: a single-container Kratky system

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Standfirst: After reading this article you will be able to build a Kratky container for one lettuce from a parts list, fill it to the right level, mix the solution by weight, and run the crop to harvest without a pump. You will also be able to size the same build as a tote for four to six plants, and to read the common failures from their symptoms.

Part A. Foundations: what a plant needs and how it works

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Part B. The nutrient solution

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Part C. Systems and media

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Part D. Environment

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Part E. Crops and practice

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Part F. Measuring, building and scaling

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The new poniclabs.com

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

After eight years on the same WordPress theme, poniclabs.com has been rebuilt from the ground up. Here is what changed and why.

A free hydroponics library

The centre of the new site is the Library: a free course in mineral hydroponics in 51 articles, from what a plant needs to building and sizing a system. Thirty-two articles are online today; the rest follow as they are written. Every number in them is cited to a primary source, with the reference as a superscript you can click, and every article was checked against those sources before going online. The articles are in English for now; Spanish and Portuguese translations will follow.

Combined systems: bioanthroponics

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Anthroponics turns human urine into a nutrient solution; bioponics does the same with compost, bokashi, biogas slurry and plant waste. Each source on its own is incomplete. Urine is rich in nitrogen but short of some elements a crop needs; vermicompost and bokashi leachates carry potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium and phosphate but less nitrogen; wood ash brings potassium, calcium and magnesium and raises pH. Bioanthroponics is PonicLabs’ name for combining these streams into one recipe, so that the shortcomings of one source are covered by another.

MUNCH: Method of Up-cycled Non-Circulating Hydroponics

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

MUNCH stands for Method of Up-cycled Non-Circulating Hydroponics. It is the simplest system PonicLabs has worked on: no pump, no air stone, no mineral fertiliser, and no electricity after set-up. The method was published openly in 2024 as a proof of concept (technical report, PDF) and is not patented.

The four requirements

An inert wicking substrate such as sand, or a coir and perlite mix.
Bottom-fed, partial irrigation: the nutrient solution is added at the base of the container and rises by capillarity, so the upper substrate stays moist but aerated.
A liquid fertiliser made from organic waste, in the proof of concept a JADAM liquid fertiliser (JLF) fermented from garden waste.
No circulation: nothing moves the water or the air.

The aerobic upper layers of the substrate are the key. They give surface area to the microorganisms that finish converting the partly digested fertiliser into forms the plant can take up. A deep water culture container, which has no such zone, did not work with the same fertiliser (below).

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Occasional news on the free library, research results, courses and events, plus a short introductory series on aquaponics for new subscribers (in Spanish). We never share addresses, and every email has an unsubscribe link. The sign-up form and the sending are handled by MailerLite, which has its own privacy notice:

Open the sign-up form →

To stop receiving the newsletter, use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email, or reply and say so. See also Privacy and cookies.

Privacy and cookies

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Last updated 20 October 2026. This page replaces the 2018 privacy and cookie policies.

Who we are

PonicLabs (poniclabs.com) is run by Henrique Sanchez, based in Sweden. For anything concerning your data, write to the address on the About page.

This website

No cookies. The site is a set of static pages. It sets no cookies and stores nothing in your browser, so there is no cookie banner.
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If you sign up for the newsletter, you fill in a form hosted by MailerLite (MailerLite Limited, Ireland), which stores your email address and sends our emails on our behalf under its privacy policy. Sign-up is confirmed by a link in a first email (double opt-in). We use the address only for PonicLabs news and the short introductory email series, and never pass it to anyone else. Every email has an unsubscribe link; unsubscribing removes you from the list, and you can also write to us to have the address deleted.

Spanish aquaponics course

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Introducción a la Acuaponía is PonicLabs’ online course on home aquaponics, taught in Spanish and hosted on Hotmart. It was made by Henrique Sanchez and Martin Basterrechea and has been followed by students across Spain and Latin America.

What you learn

An ecosystem, not a machine. An aquaponic system is a collaboration between fish, bacteria and plants. You learn how the nitrogen cycle turns fish waste into plant food and how to keep all three partners healthy.
Your own food. How to design and build a system at home or in a yard that produces vegetables, and fish if you want them.
Almost no bought nutrients. Most of the nutrients come from fish feed, which is easy to buy or produce; the course explains the few cases where supplements are needed.
Scaling up, if you want. The same design logic carries from a backyard system to a commercial one that feeds a community.

Format

Video lessons with downloadable material, in Spanish, with lifetime access on Hotmart.

About

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

PonicLabs is an enterprise of engineers where we explore and experiment with novel and alternative cultivating methods without the use of soil.

Mission

We’re an agritech company focused on developing sustainable hydroponics methods, designs, techniques, and processes. Our long-term vision is ensuring that hydroponic-based CEA/IA technologies complement regenerative soil farming practices in our struggle against Climate Change and Famine.

Business Model

We’re currently a boostrapped enterprise. We aim to explore a sustainable business model (e.g., online courses, books, consulting, technical advising, trainings & workshops, etc) to finance our R&D, our free library, and future humanitarian collaborations with national and international partners.

Commercial Turnkey Consultancy

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Thank you for your patience, while this page is under construction.

Leverage our expertise to transform your sustainable hydroponic vision into reality. Our Commercial Turnkey Consultancy service offers end-to-end solutions for businesses looking to establish or optimize large-scale organic hydroponic operations.

Comprehensive Project Management

From concept to completion, we manage every aspect of your commercial organic hydroponic project. Our team’s decade-long experience in refining experimental and commercial organic hydroponic systems, combined with our deep technical and academic knowledge, ensures a seamless transition from planning to operation.

Design & Dimensioning

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Thank you for your patience, while this page is under construction.

We provide partial or full Design & Dimensioning work for your commercial organic hydroponic farm project, including mass balance calculations, retrofitting assessments from mineral/inorganic operations, 2D & 3D drawings, material guidelines, and energy/operational cost estimates.

Depending on your target market, we can also provide you with crop specific design parameters and system design, as well as a preliminary business plan estimate. Contact us for more information or to schedule a first meeting.

Seminars, Trainings & Workshops

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Thank you for your patience, while this page is under construction.

We offer comprehensive seminars, trainings, and workshops designed to equip individuals and organizations with the knowledge and skills necessary to implement sustainable hydroponic cultivation methods. Our team of engineers and researchers will guide you through the latest techniques, designs, and processes, ensuring that you have a solid foundation to start your own hydroponic projects.

Seminars

General Sustainable Hydroponics Seminar (Upcoming Seminar: TBD)

Team

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

We’re a very small, mostly-remote team, mostly based in Scandinavia.

Co-founder: Henrique Sanchez, originally from Iberia and based in Sweden, has a MSc in Environment Engineering, and over 10 years of experience with hobby, commercial, and research in organic and inorganic hydroponic projects, as well as 8 years of experience with MBBR biofilm technology.

Co-founder: Martin Basterrechea, originally from Spain and based in Denmark, has a MSc in Bioinformatics, has also built mineral hydroponic systems and helped operate a CSA aquaponics system. He currently works as a Software Developer.

Technical Advisory & Troubleshooting

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Thank you for your patience, while this page is under construction.

With our team’s combined decade-long experience in refining highly experimental organic hydroponics set-ups and commercial systems, our deep technical and academic knowledge in chemistry and biology, and our First Principles approach, we are able to provide you with specialized and tailored technical advisory, as well as help you solve any problems, for your hobby or commercial projects.

Organic Hydroponics System Selection and Implementation

Tools

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Calculators and spreadsheets we use or recommend, by topic. They are third-party tools; our own sizing tools will be published here when ready.

Anthroponics

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

The concept of using human waste streams, such as urine and municipal wastewater, as nutrient sources for soilless agriculture has gained increasing attention in recent years. This approach, sometimes referred to as anthroponics or wastewater hydroponics, offers a sustainable way to recycle nutrients from waste into food production.

History

While the concept of reusing excreta is as old as agriculture itself, the specific application for soilless cultivation was first published in 1991 by researcher Guterstam, B (1). Since then, as hydroponics itself became more widely practiced, hobbyist practitioners mainly experimented with urine (also known as “peeponics”), as it is easier to sterilize and handle than municipal wastewater. Aleece Landis (known as Aquaponics Lynx), was one of the first practitioners sharing her results in web forums as early as 2007, adapting a “barrelponics” system originally made for aquaponics to instead utilize aged urine as the nutrient source for its plants (2).

Aquaponics

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Water quality testing in Sweden’s First CSA Vertical Indoor Aquaponics System prototype in an NGO in Malmö, Henrique Sánchez 2015

Aquaponics is an innovative and sustainable food production system that combines aquaculture (raising aquatic animals) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water without soil) in a symbiotic environment (1). In an aquaponic system, the waste produced by the aquatic animals serves as a nutrient source for the plants, while the plants act as a natural filter, cleaning the water for the animals (2). In this sense, an aquaponics system is a productive constructed ecosystem.

Bioponics

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Bioponics is an innovative approach to organic hydroponics that focuses on creating sustainable and eco-friendly nutrient solutions for plant growth [1]. By utilizing various organic waste materials and employing beneficial bacteria and energy-efficient processes, bioponics offers a viable alternative to conventional inorganic fertilizers [2]. Traditionally, most people interact with bioponics by simply purchasing commercial organic solutions as an alternative to the more extractive mineral/inorganic solutions. We will explore the concept of bioponics, its nutrient sources, and the methods used to convert organic waste into plant-available nutrients.

Passive Hydroponics

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Early hydroponic systems relied on inorganic/mineral nutrient solutions that had to be extracted from mines, transported, refined, packaged, and transported again to the final consumer. Active aeration and recirculation of the nutrient solution was also believed to be essential in preventing issues such as “root rot”, wherein an anoxic environment promotes the growth of Pythium, a fungus-like microorganism that develops around plant roots and thus starves the plants of sustenance (1). While productive, these setups required substantial energy and material use.

What is Hydroponics

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Welcome to PonicLabs!

PonicLabs is a joint effort where we explore and experiment with novel, alternative, and sustainable cultivating methods without the use of soil, and help teach others about it.

Soilless cultivation, also known as hydroponics, is a way to cultivate plants without soil. Typically, the plant’s roots are suspended, submerged, or in an inert medium, and they come in contact with a nutrient solution which provides the plants with all the necessary macronutrients and micronutrients for their growth.

Why Sustainability?

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

The field of hydroponics has been evolving in recent years as growers and researchers seek to make these soilless growing systems more sustainable and less resource-intensive. This progression has followed a pathway from fully inorganic (also known as “mineral hydroponics”, actively aerated and/or recirculated systems, to more organic, passive approaches requiring fewer external inputs (1).

Energy & Nutrient sources

Early hydroponic systems relied on inorganic/mineral nutrient solutions typically with active aeration and recirculation of such solution. The obvious first-step would be to simply switch the energy source to fully renewable, for example with the use of photovoltaic panels or wind turbines, or by connecting to an energy grid with less carbon-intensive energy sources such as hydroelectric or nuclear. A more elegant solution, however, is to simply avoid needing the use of energy at all. Passive inorganic systems, like the so-called Kratky method, can eliminate the need for aeration and pumping, reducing energy demands and material (2).

PonicLabs

What a plant needs: the seven inputs

Photosynthesis and respiration for growers

Water in the plant: uptake, transpiration and humidity

What plants are made of: the essential elements

How roots take up nutrients

Water quality: what is in your water and why it matters

pH: what it is and why 5.5 to 6.5

Alkalinity and buffering: the hidden control of pH drift

EC and concentration: what the meter measures

Fertiliser salts: purity, solubility and compatibility

Reading a formulation: Hoagland, Steiner and modern recipes

Mixing your own solution: from a recipe to grams on the scale

Managing a recirculating solution over time

Dissolved oxygen in the root zone

Anatomy of a hydroponic system: the design parameters

Kratky and other passive systems: growing with an air gap and no pump

Deep water culture: roots in a deep, aerated solution

Nutrient film technique: growing roots in a moving film

Drip irrigation and substrate culture: slabs, bags and Dutch buckets

Growing media I: air, water and particle size

Choosing a medium: stone wool, coir, perlite, expanded clay, peat and others

Light: PPFD, DLI, spectrum and photoperiod

Choosing and sizing grow lights

Temperature, humidity and VPD

Seeds, germination and propagation

How long things take: growth timelines for eleven crops

Growing leafy greens and herbs: lettuce, basil, spinach and others

Diagnosing nutrient deficiencies and toxicities

Pests and diseases in soilless systems

Water, energy and nutrients: what the evidence says

Meters and measurement: pH, EC, dissolved oxygen and temperature

Build: a single-container Kratky system

Part A. Foundations: what a plant needs and how it works

Part B. The nutrient solution

Part C. Systems and media

Part D. Environment

Part E. Crops and practice

Part F. Measuring, building and scaling

The new poniclabs.com

A free hydroponics library

Combined systems: bioanthroponics

MUNCH: Method of Up-cycled Non-Circulating Hydroponics

The four requirements

Newsletter

Privacy and cookies

Who we are

This website

Newsletter

Spanish aquaponics course

What you learn

Format

About

Commercial Turnkey Consultancy

Design & Dimensioning

Seminars, Trainings & Workshops

Team

Technical Advisory & Troubleshooting

Tools

Anthroponics

Aquaponics

Bioponics

Passive Hydroponics

What is Hydroponics

Why Sustainability?