How does it work?
The equipment consists of long shallow trays which come with a long lid keeping the machine enclosed. You can find cut outs in the lid which can be where in actuality the plants are placed. The plant sits in a plastic pot with slits allowing the roots to cultivate through them. They seem like a smaller version of the inner pot utilized in flood and drain systems.
The trays are placed above a water tank and a pump connected at one end to pump water in to the trays. There ought to be a great gradient in the trays so the water flows down the tray and back in the water tank. Typically the gradients used are 1:30 or 1:40 this stops water pooling in the depressions due to uneven surfaces and roots. The theory is that the roots of the plants are continuously bathed in a nutrient rich water supply and produce healthy, linear growing plants.
The name nutrient film is in reference to the thin film of roots that’ll eventually form on underneath of the tray. It takes to be a very shallow stream of water with only the foot of the roots submerged; this enables the remaining portion of the root to be ready to accept the air and get the necessary oxygen required for growth.
The systems come in different lengths which can take different amounts of plants. Essentially you could have any length of NFT system, though the longer the machine the more chance 世博 that flow might be interrupted. Systems more than 12 metres tend to get less growth in plants towards the conclusion due to the nutrients in the water being adopted by the plants closer to the reservoir. However this issue could be overcome by establishing another water supply along along the channel.
Pump Breakdown
As NFT systems only demand a small, shallow water delivery the pumps used aren’t very powerful. They’re also on all of that time period meaning they get plenty of action on the span of the grow. This coupled with possible salt precipitation from the dissolved nutrients (especially in hard water areas) means that sooner or later the pump is likely to break down. When you can catch this quickly then aside from the price of a new pump, there is no real problem to the plants. However if this goes unnoticed it means that the roots will dry up rapidly and this can affect growth.
Disease
The plant roots are constantly submerged in water and this will lead to bacterial infections such as for example pythuim. Pythuim is much better called root rot and can decimate your crops if it’s not detected early. You can find products available on the market that will eradicate this if you should be unlucky enough to get it, but the simplest way is prevention. This is achieved by changing the water reservoir periodically and adding preventative additives to the nutrient solution.
Stability
Heavy fruit yielding plants can be unstable in an NFT system. This is due to the roots growing long and flat and lacking any a lot of purchase. This causes the plant to become top heavy and they fall out of the trays – not ideal! This is overcome by supporting the plants by using yo-yos, string or canes. This can give some stability to the plant and give it time to continue growing and bearing fruit without toppling over.