![]() However, other factors such as climate and domestic heating systems may create a hot atmosphere for your hydroponics garden – and accelerate water loss through transpiration. TemperatureĪs mentioned, the warmth of light on the leaves speeds up evaporation. The stronger, closer and longer the light source, the more times you have to flood and drain your hydroponics garden to make up for water being lost through the leaves. Light not only stimulates the stomata in the leaves to open but its warmth speeds up the evaporation of water exiting the stomata. Light affects transpiration rates and therefore how often the flood and drain is needed. When estimating flood and drain times, consider the strength, proximity, and duration of light, particularly if your hydroponics system features powerful artificial lighting such as grow lights. Of course, as your plants grow you have to flood and drain more often. It is up to you to make sure more is available at the roots! In other words, the larger your plants, the more times you need to flood and drain your hydroponic garden. Larger plants have more stomata so they lose more water to transpiration. This process (“transpiration”) is essentially how plants feed themselves. In response, the roots draw in more nutrient-carrying water which likewise travels up the plants and eventually transpires out the leaves. All plants evaporate (“transpire”) water into the atmosphere through tiny holes in the undersides of leaves, called stomata. Plant sizeĪs you can probably guess, a key factor affecting flood and drain times is the size (“biomass”) of your plants. Once you get growing, observe your plants and tweak your flood and drain cycles to perfection. Here we look at what these factors are to help you estimate how often you have to flood and drain your own hydroponics garden. The frequency of flood and drain (the number of “cycles”) depends on several factors which will vary from one hydroponic garden to the next.
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