hydroponics

[katy]

i am thinking of starting up with hydroponics.
As a child i remember my father growing tomatoes, lettuce and other vegetables in his tanks in the early 70's. i wnat to do the same. sadly i did not pay enough attention to what he was doing at that time as i was living away from the home and only came back on visits.
i live in the NCR and would like help with regard to nearby stores where i can purchase the necessary ingredients and get expert advice.
katy

 

[vsrinivasan]

Good, there are people to show their interest on Hydroponics in India.

In India, to my knowledge, there is no Hydroponics Supplies like DIY Kit, Liquid Fertilizers, other accessories such as pH meter, EC meter, Grow Light, reservoir, motorpump etc. (all in one place) available in your nearby Nursary Store. May be there are some consultants, but not for Hobby Hydroponists.

I am also one of the keen to do Hydroponics. If somebody knows where these are available in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, please post in this forum.

All other parts you can run here and there and manage to assemble the hydroponics unit, but the fertilizer part looks critical. Because, nursaries generally have some pre-mix so called organic matters as fertilisers, they will not be having liquid fertilisers or inorganic water soluble fertilisers.

Besides all this, to start successful hydroponic system, clean water supply is essential. In metropolitan cities municipal water is chlorine treated one. You need clean water. If you have RO sysem without sweetener, for hobby purpose you can afford to get clean water. Otherwise, ascertain the water quality and alter the quality (normally, pH reducer) to suit the hydroponic system.

All these makes the process a cumbersome exercise.

Anybody interested to promote Hobby Hydroponics in India ? (forget commercial hydroponics which is sky-high now - after all greenhouse itself costs more than Rs.1000/sq.meter in India).

Normally, there would be slow/no response for Hydroponics here.

Good luck
VS

 

[smartyram]

I think there is commercial hydroponics in India. Read this article Horizon Flora | Agriculture and Industry Survey.

As for chlorine in tap water that is not a problem as I use Chlorinated tap water in my system and it works. The dissolved Chlorine evaporates from the water in a matter of hours.

The only issue is with hard water. Fortunately I use a nutrient solution that is made for hard water. So that takes care of using city supplied tap water for Hydroponics.

I was planning to import nutrients from US to India but it looks expensive. I may try to make my own once I move to India. It is not very difficult or very easy. Will take help from a chemist in India.

 

[cravi]

Failure

I believe you are giving a wrong example for a successful hydroponic operation in India.
The article you mentioned points to Horizon Flora (I) Ltd which uses Hydroponics.

Horizon Flora is in deep financial trouble. Their venture is before a Debt Recovery Tribunal. You can read more about how the entreprenuer Mr. Dinesh Bheda has actually filed a Right to Information case regarding his own bank loans which are being denied to him by his own bank from who he took the loan - Dena Bank.

Here is the article.

I think there is commercial hydroponics in India. Read this article Horizon Flora | Agriculture and Industry Survey.

As for chlorine in tap water that is not a problem as I use Chlorinated tap water in my system and it works. The dissolved Chlorine evaporates from the water in a matter of hours.

The only issue is with hard water. Fortunately I use a nutrient solution that is made for hard water. So that takes care of using city supplied tap water for Hydroponics.

I was planning to import nutrients from US to India but it looks expensive. I may try to make my own once I move to India. It is not very difficult or very easy. Will take help from a chemist in India.

 

[smartyram]

Interesting!

So the company did not make it? hmmmm... by the way I was giving an example for commercial hydroponics in India. Whether it was successful or not was not my concern. I just wanted to point out that there are people in India who did attempt commercial hydroponics.

I for one never advise people to go into commercial hydroponics. If you read my comments in the other hydroponic threads you will catch my drift.