Hydroponic Sytems Part 2 – Nutrient Film Technique NFT
This system is probably the most simplest of any hydroponic system. It does not involve the use of timers to switch pumps off and on. The seeds need to be propagated NFT Jewelry irst in a separate tray until they have a good enough root base to be placed in the system.
How does it work?
The equipment consists of long shallow trays which come with a long lid keeping the system enclosed. There are cut outs in the lid which is where the plants are placed. The plant sits in a plastic pot with slits to allow the roots to grow through them. They look like a smaller version of the inner pot used in flood and drain systems.
The trays are placed above a water tank and a pump connected at one end to pump water into the trays. There should be a good gradient in the trays so that the water flows down the tray and back into the water tank. Typically the gradients used are 1:30 or 1:40 this stops water pooling in the depressions caused by uneven surfaces and roots. The idea 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 will eventually form on the bottom of the tray. It needs to be a very shallow stream of water with only the base of the roots submerged; this allows the rest of the root to be open to the air and get the necessary oxygen required for growth.
The systems come in different lengths which can hold different numbers of plants. Essentially you can have any length of NFT system, however the longer the system the more chance that flow might be interrupted. Systems longer than 12 metres tend to get less growth in plants towards the end due to the nutrients in the water being taken up by the plants closer to the reservoir. However this problem can be overcome by setting up another water supply along the length of the channel.