  
Put Our Hydroponic Gardening Solutions To Good Use
Hydroponic Systems and Solutions
Whatever the application, Colorado Hydroponics & Organics carries a full line of complete Ebb & Flow, Deep Water Culture, NFT, and Drip Systems from all the top manufacturers.
  
Organic Nutrients and Medium
Ensure the highest quality food and a healthier farmland with our organic enhancers, nutrients, and medium. Our goal is to help you grow exceptional fruits, vegetables, and plants that are good for your mind, body and soul. Grow your own to replenish the environment without sacrificing quality.
   
Lighting & Ventilation Systems
Keep your hydroponic garden in top shape with lighting systems from Colorado Hydroponics & Organics. We have the products you need to grow healthy, fresh-tasting fruits, vegetables, and plants all year round. Our lighting systems bring the power of the sun indoors.
  
Introduction to Hydroponics
Hydroponics basically is growing plants without soil. It is simply a more efficient way to provide food and water to your plants. Soil's function is to provide nutrients and to anchor the plants' roots. In a hydroponic garden, you provide your plants with a complete nutrient formula and an inert growing medium to anchor your plants' roots.
Colorado Hydroponics & Organics Brings Productive Commercial Technology to Home Hydroponics
Commercial growers have been using efficient hydroponic methods for years. There's no worry about soil-born diseases or pests, and there's no weeding. For professional growers, quicker harvests and higher yields are good reasons to use hydroponics.
At Colorado Hydroponics & Organics and Hydrofarm, we've adapted these proven techniques to convenient home gardening systems. We have incorporated high performance technology with quality professional-grade materials, and designed a full range of systems for your personal use.
Our garden systems give you all the advantages of commercial hydroponics in an easy to use package. Each system we offer is complete: there's nothing extra to buy or build - all you need are seeds or cuttings and water.
High Intensity Light Gardening
Depending on where you live, the time of year, and where you want your garden, the sun may not always be available to you. Now, with Hydrofarm's sun-like high intensity lighting, you can grow any plant, anywhere, anytime you choose!
Fluorescent Grow Lights are fine for some situations, and in fact, we recommend them for seedlings and low-light plants. Unfortunately, fluorescents just can't deliver the strong light you need to grow plants taller than 6 - 8". The Hydrofarm T5 is ideal for plants in their vegetative growth stage.
A High Intensity Grow Light from Colorado Hydroponics & Organics, like this Daystar pictured below, puts out strong light to grow big beautiful plants and flowers. It's like bringing the sun indoors!
One of Hydrofarm's most important innovations has been to take the effective but cumbersome commercial greenhouse lights and make them easy for home gardeners to use. A High Intensity Grow Light can be hung from a simple ceiling hook and plugged in as easily as a home table lamp. Everything is rated at 120 volts (your normal home current) and plugs into any standard home outlet.
Hydroponic Techniques
There are few different techniques to grow plants hydroponically. The primary types of hydroponic systems that Colorado Hydroponics & Organics offer are:
- Drip Systems
- Ebb & Flow (Flood & Drain)
- Aeroponics
- Nutrient Film Technique
- Water Culture
There are many variations on these main techniques, but they mainly fall into one of these types.
Drip Systems
 Drip systems are probably the most widely used techniques. The plant is grown in a pot or vessel containing a free draining medium such as Hydroton or perlite and the nutrient is dripped in to the pot. The nutrient can then be caught at the bottom of the pot and returned to a tank were it is then eventually recirculated back to the plant. Non-recovery systems do not catch the nutrient, and it is allowed to run to waste.
The delivery of nutrient solution to the plant is often controlled by a timer. Colorado Hydroponics & Organics offers a wide variety of complete Drip System kits. We help you find the one to best fit you needs. The size of the plant is only limited to the scale of your drip method system.
Ebb & Flow (Flood & Drain)
The ebb and flow system is a non passive system and like many other systems requires a pump of some type. The plant is suspended in a vessel where the roots are regularly subjected to a flood of water which covers the roots. The water is then allowed to gradually drain away thus oxygenating the roots.
A water absorbing medium to support the plant is preferred. Large plants such as rhubarb, tomatoes and even potatoes grow well in this technique.
Aeroponics
 Aeroponics is in some ways the ideal concept of a hydroponics system. The principal is simple. The roots of growing plants are suspended in air and are misted by high pressure sprayers. The sprayers break the nutrient into small particles and saturate the roots allowing for 99% nutrient absorption and promoting explosive growth. Thus providing food for the plant and plenty of oxygen. The type of system pictured to the left, the EZ Clone 60, is ideal for cuttings.
Simply place the cutting or clone in the neoprene insert with the stem hanging below the tray, and the nutrient mist and oxygen (open air medium) create the ideal environment for roots to form.
Aeroponic systems like the Aerojet 2 from Botanicare (pictured on the right) are not only used for propagation. They can be used for a variety of plants such as as lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, basil, and other herbs. 
In practice this type of system is extremely reliant on a reliable power supply because it is at the mercy of a constant misting of nutrient. The nutrient is merely pumped to a mister or sprayer and then falls back into the resevoir.
Nutrient Film Technique
 In the NFT method of hydroponics, the plants are suspended above a constantly flowing stream of nutrient solution 1 - 3mm deep. The plants are placed in mesh pots where the roots are surrounded by oxygen and the nutrient solution. The growing trays are sloped downward utilizing gravity to disperse the nutrient solution to the roots of all the plants where it the solution then drains to a resevoir and is pumped back to the top of the growing tray or tube. There is no need for a timer for the submersible pump since the nutriet solution is always recirculating. This is one the most successful methods of growing plants hydroponically.
Water Culture
This is a very simple and straightforward hydroponics system. The plant is suspended in the nutrient solution, usually using a floating polystyrene/Styrofoam platform. The water in the resevoir is circulated and aerated by an air stone or pump like the Ario 1 Aerator from American Hydroponics pictured to the right. 
Water culture is the system of choice for growing leaf lettuce, which are fast growing water loving plants, making them an ideal choice for this type of hydroponic system. Water culture systems are scalable and have been used on a very large scale to produce leaf crops such as lettuce in a commercial environment. The advantages are that in the floating form the plant roots are always in the nutrient regardless of the level. You are therefore not at the mercy of the electricity supply, where in a system such as NFT the plants can die. This system is not however suitable for large plants or plants that take a long time to grow.
Growing Medium
The medium in hydroponic systems is merely the substrate or soilless material which supports the plant and absorbs and releases the nutrient solution. At Colorado Hydroponics & Organics, we can help you find the proper medium for any application - specifically suited for the plant or hydroponic technique you are working with. From propagation to flowering, there is a medium to fit your need.
For customers outside the southwestern Colorado area, visit our online webstore partners at www.tallgrasshydro.com to order discounted horticulture products. We can drop ship anywhere in the U.S. Check out the prices. You won't find a better deal.
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