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Hydroponic Glossary Of Terms
Have you ever wondered what is involved in Hydroponic gardening? In order to understand how to use hydroponics for gardening you will need to understand the terminology of the various parts. You will notice that some of these terms are similar to regular gardening as well.
Raised bed - In raised bed gardening, the soil is formed in 3--4 foot (1.0--1.2m) wide beds, which can be of any length. The soil is about 0.5--1 foot (150--300cm) above the surrounding soil, sometimes enclosed by a frame generally made of wood or concrete blocks, and enriched with compost made from leaves and grass clippings.
Red light - (See Wavelength)
Reflector - A device used to redirect the light flow from a source by bouncing it off the surface.
Repellant - A substance serving or tending to repel an organism.
Reproduction - Process by which new organisms are generated. Reproduction may be sexual, involving the fusion of gametes, or asexual.
Resistance - The condition in which an organism can resist disease.
Respiration - A biochemical process by which living organisms take up oxygen from the environment and consume organic matter, releasing both carbon dioxide and heat. In plants, the organic matter in photosynthate produced during daylight hours.
Reverse osmosis - the process of removing minerals from water, which is forced by pressure through a differentially permeable membrane, filtering out the minerals; can happen when growers accidentally apply too strong of a nutrient to a plant's roots, leeching life out of the plant.
Rhizobium - Type of bacterium that has the capacity of both invading the roots of certain species of the Leguminosae and fixing atmospheric nitrogen, which is subsequently used by the host plant.
Rhizome - An underground portion of a stem, producing shoots on top and roots beneath; different from a root in that it has buds, nodes, and scaly leaves; rootstock.
Ripening - Coming to full development; becoming mature.
Rock phosphate - Is a naturally occurring mineral which has been ground to a fine dust. This dust is then granulated with natural binders, either lignosulfonate or molasses.
Root - The usually underground organ that lacks buds or leaves or nodes; absorbs water and mineral salts; usually it anchors the plant to the ground or growing medium.
Root hair - Thin hair like outgrowth of an epidermal cell just behind the tip; absorbs nutrients from the soil.
Runner - A very slender, wiry stem, as in the strawberry, that grows along the surface of the soil and propagates by producing roots and shoots at the node at the tip. Also known as a stolon.
Salinity - (1) The relative concentration of salts, usually sodium chloride, in a given amount of water. It is usually expressed in terms of the number of ppm of chloride. (2) A measure of the concentration of dissolved mineral substances in water
Salt - Any compound formed by combination of any negative ion (except hydroxide) with any positive ion (except hydrogen or hydronium); the precipitate produced as the result of neutralization of an acid with a base.
Sand - Sediment particles mainly or quartz, with a diameter of between 0.062 mm and 2 mm, generally classified as fine, medium, coarse or very coarse.
Saponin - Any of various plant glucosides that form soapy lathers when mixed and agitated with water; used in detergents, wetting agents, foaming agents, and emulsifiers.
Scarification - Abrasion of the seed coat that allows water and oxygen into the seed, thereby helping to improve germination in some species.
Short day plants - Plants taht form flowers only when day length is less than about 12 hours. Many spring and fall flowering plants are short day plants, including chrysanthemums, poinsettias and Christmas cactus. If these are exposed to more than 12 hours of light per day, bloom formation does not occur.
Silicon - A nonmetallic chemical element, number 14, which is a major component of many types of rocks and minerals on Earth; used to make glass, concrete, and semiconductors. Potassium silicate is a plant nutrient that fortifies plant walls for increased drought, insect, and heat stress.
Socket assembly - Threaded metal assembly where an HID lamp is attached to the lighting system.
Soil - Unconsolidated mineral and organic material that supports, or is capable of supporting, plants, and which has recognizable properties due to the integrated effect of climate and living matter acting upon parent material, as conditioned by relief over time.
Soilless - A plant medium that contains no soil, which may harbor weed seeds, and pathogens, but does contain soil alternatives like peat moss, ground pine bark, and perlite for drainage.
Sow - Place (seeds) in or on the ground for future growth.
Spider mite - (See Mites)
Spore - An asexual, usually single celled, reproductive body of organisms such as fungi, mosses or ferns; a microorganism, as a bacterium, in a resting or dormant state.
Stalk - on a male flower, the portion of the stamen that supports the anther.
Stamen - The part of the flower where the pollen is produced. Usually comprised of a filament and an anther. The male part of a flower.
Stamen - the basic part of the male flower that includes the stalk (or filament), anther, and pollen.
Sterilization - the act of rendering something free from living cells. In hydroponics it is essential that all materials (especially any growing medium) used are sterile to avoid contaminating the hydroponic system. Steam and chemical agents are often used in this process.
Stigma - the surface at the end of the pistil on a female flower where pollen lands and germinates.
Stock plant - (See Mother plant)
Stock solution - A nutrient solution that is typically 100 to 200 times more concentrated than a standard per gallon dose, which is then passed through a fertilizer injector to mix the solution with water for irrigating plants in production.
Stock tank - A 500-1000 gallon tank which holds the stock solution.
Stratification - A pregermination treatment to break dormancy in seed and to promote rapid, uniform germination. The seeds are exposed to moisture at a temperature just above the freezing point (1-5 deg. C) for a specified time.
Style - the part of a female flower that supports the stigma.
Succession planting - Planting smaller crops in one to two week intervals to prolong the harvest over a longer period of time.
Sulfur - A micronutrient for plants, usually found as the sulfate divalent anion in soil solution. Sulfur is a main component of a group of amino acids.
Switchable - A single ballast box that contains two HID ballast cores, one for Metal Halide and one for High Pressure Sodium. A single toggle switch allows the user to quickly, and easily "switch" from a Metal Halide light to a High Pressure Sodium light.
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