Knowledge
Hydroponics Knowledge
Technical knowledge covering plant science, soilless cultivation, nutrient management, hydroponic systems, controlled environments, engineering, automation and sustainable crop production.
Group 01
Foundations
What growing without soil actually requires, the systems that deliver it, the crops worth growing and the plant itself.
- 01
Hydroponics Fundamentals
Growing without soil, and what the grower has to supply once the soil is gone.
11 topics
- 02
Hydroponic Systems
The six system families, what each one actually delivers, and what it costs to keep running.
11 topics
- 03
Hydroponic Crop Knowledge
Crop profiles for leafy greens, herbs, fruiting vegetables and strawberry, and why no single setpoint fits them all.
11 topics
- 04
Plant Biology for Hydroponics
Roots, uptake, transpiration, photosynthesis and development, and how each one constrains the system.
11 topics
Group 02
Production
Starting a crop: seed to transplant, the media that hold the roots, and the root zone those two decisions create.
- 05
Plant Propagation and Nursery Management
Starting the crop: seed germination, plug media, environmental staging and hardening off before transplant.
6 topics
- 06
Growing Media and Substrates
Physical and hydraulic properties: water-holding capacity, air-filled porosity, CEC and media handling.
5 topics
- 07
Root-Zone Management and Aeration
Dissolved oxygen, root temperature, hydraulic tension, biofilm formation and rhizosphere dynamics.
5 topics
Group 03
Water and Nutrition
Source water, mineral nutrition, the two measurements that describe a solution, and the plant that delivers it.
- 08
Water Management
The source water is the first ingredient of every nutrient solution, and it is never blank.
11 topics
- 09
Nutrient Management
What each essential element does, why deficiencies appear where they do, and how a formulation is derived rather than copied.
11 topics
- 10
pH and EC Management
The two measurements every grower takes, what each one actually reports, and where both mislead.
11 topics
- 11
Fertigation and Dosing Strategies
Dosing injectors, multi-channel injection loops, leaching fraction, radiation-sum triggering and run-off control.
5 topics
Group 04
Hydroponic Systems
The four families in technical detail — thin film, standing water, substrate irrigation and vertical arrangement.
- 12
Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
Gutter geometry, slope gradients, laminar flow rates, root mat aeration and thermal buffer limitations.
5 topics
- 13
Deep Water Culture (DWC) and Raft Systems
Pond aeration, floating rafts, dissolved oxygen maintenance, thermal inertia and pond hygiene.
5 topics
- 14
Drip and Substrate Systems
Irrigating an inert substrate one measured shot at a time, and reading the drain to find out whether it worked.
11 topics
- 15
Vertical Hydroponics
Stacking growing area above floor area, and what light, air and access charge for the privilege.
11 topics
Group 05
Environment
Light, climate and the two structures built to control them, from a polyhouse to a fully enclosed room.
- 16
Horticultural Lighting and Photobiology
PAR spectrum, PPFD, Daily Light Integral (DLI), luminaire efficiency, thermal dissipation and supplemental photoperiod.
5 topics
- 17
Greenhouse and Indoor Climate Control
Vapour pressure deficit (VPD), psychrometrics, ventilation, evaporative cooling and dehumidification.
5 topics
- 18
Greenhouse Structures and Environmental Engineering
Structural frame engineering, cladding films, natural ventilation geometry, pad-and-fan and shading screens.
5 topics
- 19
Indoor Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)
Closed-envelope building physics, HVAC cooling and dehumidification balances, airflow uniformity and facility biosecurity.
5 topics
Group 06
Crop Health
Diagnosing a struggling crop, keeping pests out in the first place, and the hand work that fruiting crops require.
- 20
Plant Health and Disease
Reading symptoms, separating abiotic from biotic causes, and protecting the root zone.
11 topics
- 21
Pest Management and Biosecurity
Keeping pests out, finding them early, and managing them as a hierarchy rather than a reflex.
11 topics
- 22
Crop Training, Pruning and Pollination
Trellising systems, indeterminate stem management, de-leafing, cluster pruning and biological or mechanical pollination.
5 topics
Group 07
Engineering
The plant behind the plants: reservoirs, pumps, pipework, power and the redundancy that protects a crop.
Group 08
Automation and Intelligence
Sensing, control, data and the analysis built on it.
Group 09
Operations
The daily operating system of a working farm, and the energy it consumes to run.
Group 10
Commercial
What a farm costs, what it returns, and how a facility is laid out to make that work.
- 27
Hydroponic Farm Economics and Commercial Feasibility
CapEx structure, OpEx cost drivers, unit economics, yield assumptions, packaging, logistics and break-even modeling.
5 topics
- 28
Commercial Farm Master Planning and Facility Layout
Site selection, civil engineering, biosecurity zoning, workflow layout, fertigation room design and cold-chain staging.
5 topics
Group 11
Sustainability
Water, nutrients, energy, substrate and packaging, treated as resources to be accounted for.
Group 12
Research and Innovation
Where controlled-environment agriculture is heading, and which of it is still an open question.