Learn to manage plant nutrition in Soil-less Cultivation
- understand what plants need and how to supply it
- hydroponics or tissue culture.
- appreciate the complexities, your options, and make better choices
- recognise problems when they occur and know how to better respond
Lesson Structure
There are 11 lessons in this course:
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INTRODUCTION
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Artificial Growing
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Tissue Culture
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Hydroponics
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How Plants Uptake Nutrients
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How Plants Absorb and Use Nutrients in Hydroponics
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Hydroponics Techniques
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PRE-PACKAGED NUTRIENTS
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Using Solid Nutrients
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Solutions and Precipitates
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Why Twin-Pack Chemicals?
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Why Single-Pack Liquid Solutions?
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Organic Solutions
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CHEMICAL COMPONENTS
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Types of Chemicals
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Electrical Conductivity
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The Role of pH in Hydroponics
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What are Solutions?
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What Does a Hydroponic Nutrient Look Like?
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Writing Chemical Names
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Calculating the Amount of Nutrient in a Chemical
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Mixing Nutrients
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Hydroponic Fertiliser details
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Lesson 3 additional reading
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OTHER ADDITIVES
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Introduction
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Allowable Additives for Hydroponic Nutrient Solutions
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Beneficial Trace Elements as Hydroponic Additives
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Bio-stimulants as Hydroponic Additives
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Foliar Nutrition and Foliar sprays
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CREATING HYDROPONIC NUTRIENTS
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Introduction to Basic Mixes
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Process of Making and Mixing Nutrients from Fertiliser Salts
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Example Solutions
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Nutrient Solution Formulation
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Hydroponic Nutrient Levels
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Nutrient Ratios
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Assessing a Nutrient Formulation
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Suggestions for Beginners
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ORGANIC HYDROPONIC NUTRIENTS
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Brief History
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Issues with Organics
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Types of Organic Systems
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Allowable Nutrient Sources and Products for Organic Production
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Making Organic Nutrient Solutions Onsite
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EC and pH Control in Organic Hydroponics
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Problems with Organic Nutrients
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Lesson 6 additional reading
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TISSUE CULTURE NUTRIENTS
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Hydroponics vs. Tissue Culture
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Nutrient Supply in Tissue Culture
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A Tissue Culture Medium
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Other Additives in Tissue Culture and Hydroponics
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Organic Compounds
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MANAGING CONTAMINANTS
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Water Quality
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Disinfection Systems
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Preventing Chemical Contaminants from Leaking into the Broader Environment
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TESTING SOLUTIONS
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Important Tests in Hydroponics
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Water Quality Tests
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Water quality test results and interpretation
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Nutrient Balance Testing: Solution Analysis
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Plant Testing: Foliar Mineral Levels
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pH Tests for Hydroponics
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EC Testing
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Automatic EC and pH testing and control
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NUTRITIONAL DISORDERS
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Nutrition Management
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Diagnosing Nutritional Stress
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Nutritional Deficiencies
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Macronutrients: NPK Deficiencies and Toxicities
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Other Common Deficiencies and Toxicities
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Micronutrients
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What are the Most Common Symptoms?
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Key to Detecting Deficiencies and Toxicities
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NUTRIENT SOLUTION AND PRODUCE NUTRITION
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Examples of Nutrient Solution Manipulation and Produce Nutrition
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Final Assessment
This is a course that is mostly focussed on hydroponics, however the same knowledge often translates very well to tissue culture applications.
The course helps you to understand the nutrients which plants need, and factors such as pH that affect the availability of those nutrients. As your knowledge and understanding builds throughout this course, your ablility to manage chemical and physical conditions in the root zone with also grow.
Who can benefit from this Course?
- Anyone growing plants in hydroponics, commercially, or as an amateur
- Anyone working in a tissue culture enterprise
- Horticulturists, agriculturists, gardeners, or anyone else seeking to improve career or employment prospects particularly in hydroponics or tissue culture
- Interested people exploring a deeper understanding of plant nutrition, fertilisers or plant growth function.
