|
The contemporary phenomenon, in the matter of marijuana, is the culture with artificial light and automatization. The planted extensions to opened sky, in America, Asia, Africa and Polynesia, are taking step to an agriculture of interiors, supported on reasons for security (for the agriculturist) and quality (for the consumer). Nevertheless, that has little of individual or relative to the marijuana, because it marks a jump of agriculture in general, comparable with which goes of the old recording machine to the computer.
"the hidropónico" word (of seaplanes, water, and you put, work) designates a type of botany that would deserve to be called "aeropónico", since its more outstanding element is not as much the irrigation as the creation of general surroundings, and specially luminance, whose purpose is to provide to any type of plant suitable means to be developed and to bloom. Combining scientific findings with progresses of Hindu to him more purely technical, this form of culture renders a power superior or comparable to the best well-known variants using earth and free air.
The model was perfected by European and Israeli, to defend of the foggy cold and others to avoid the dryness of the desert. Nevertheless, those efforts only finished fructifying when spreading new lamps and new systems of anchorage for the raiz, thanks to which it is possible to cultivate in periods two or three shorter times an ample vegetable range, obtaining exemplary from extraordinary quality, and saving as much water as nutrients in amazing proportions. The essential of this technique is to optimize the surroundings where the plant will grow, avoiding the disturber and offering the accepted good generously. In other words, one is to turn his life edén. The reaction of the plants to that existence will not be less positive, deparando the opportunity to imagine to us what luck of humans would populate the Earth if each one had covers its necessities and predilections of even way.
Yet, the gardening is a field - and an art that the men usually appreciate late, if sometimes they get to do it. The women often show more sensitivity, although something less of interest by the electrical and digitized part of the hidropónica installation. As this botany includes both aspects - kind well-taken care of and the automatism -, being also the clearest manifestation of civil disobedience in the matter of hemp, I will remember some very general slight knowledge on the technique, so that the reader judges by itself.
All plant grows from six factors, that are light, water, nutrients, air, means where to bring forth and temperature. Before the culture in conservatory, and soon in interiors was invented, these six elements depended entirely on the climate and the Earth, complemented by the farmer with some species of installment; in the most elementary case, the dry rest of the previous harvest are burned, to use that ash like fertilizer (since it contains calcium and potassium). But we see the factors one by one, since that review allows to describe to the guidelines and instruments in game.
1) the light is essential to produce chlorophyll and hydrates of carbon; without her, the foliage becomes yellow and the plant dies. However, the green world only uses part of the luminous phantom, and mainly the wavelengths that we see like blue and red. Agriculture very was limited until being discovered almost comparable lamps to the solar light in intensity and with the due phantom of color, because then it only could be verified that the plants thank for fotoperiodo - this is, a daily proportion of light and the dark very superior to the provided one by the sun in stations different from the summer; concretely, we know today that its Maxima rate of growth occurs when it receives 18 hours to the day of light (two more than the 22 of June in our latitude), and we also know that the blossoming is optimal when in that stage of his life it receives 12 hours.
Of course, if the luminance source is artificial are clouds, fog, storms or terrain features no that attenuate their reception during the day; all the problem to replace - or to complement (if it is a conservatory) - suitably to the sun is settled locating the luminance center to the advisable distance of each plant. If it is too much far, they will stretch like thin filaments instead of growing homogenous, and if it is too much close will burn the next parts, traumatizando to the plant. Depending on the watts of each light bulb, the suitable distance for powerful lamps will be between the 30 and 60 centimeters.
Naturally, when the light source is fixed and unique much - as a light bulb in the ceiling the plants will develop their superior parts much more, and except the rest; that happens already to opened sky, although in quite smaller measurement. For that reason a good installation also supposes horizontal centers (or one moving body) of smaller intensity, to feed the average and inferior parts. For the hidropónico cultivator the true limits are in the heat and, finally, in the space available, because the plants delight absorbing so many lumina as we want, but the light bulbs they do not have to burn none of his parts, and the temperature of the quarter does not have to exceed certain levels.
The first useful lamps in agriculture were those of fluorine, whose phantom is almost identical to the lot, although they need brightness substantially to elevate the development of plants done to much sun. For gardening of interior is accustomed to to use fluorescent of yield very high or VHO (very high output), which although they consume the electricity triple render the light double, and turn out very useful to obtain that they root esquejes, since the clonación process more is exposed to the risk of burning by excessive light.
Later they appeared the five halogenous, whose principle a camera is not the incandescent filament but where the electrical fluid crosses certain subject gas to great pressure, producing what a unloading of high intensity or HID is denominated (high intensity discharge). In enclosures painted of target by the four flanks, or had by some reflecting material, the HID lamps offer an amount of lumina that is not inferior too much to those of a summer noon. Within category HID metalist are several lamps of haluro, emphasizing among them those that make General Electric (Multivapor), Sylvania (Metalarc) and Philips/Westinghouse (Halide Metal). Nevertheless, the most effective light bulbs - by lumina and duration they are those that combine sodium, mercury and xenon, calls habitually HPS (high pressure sodium), whose common characteristic is to halfway emit a fulgor between the yellow and the orange; the sold HPS more today are the model of General Electric (Lucalox), the one of Sylvania (Lumalux), the one of Westinghouse (Ceramalux), the one of Phillips (Are Land) and the made one by Iwasaki, that has fame of being the best one by its exceptional yield in blue light.
Naturally, these lamps adapt to an ample range of watts, that go from 35 to 1.000. Those of 400 watts they almost last the double that those of 1,000, they overload except cables (preventing short circuits and burns), and are enough for a square meter of culture; depending on the final size of each plant, in that extension three, eight fit and until more unit. Common characteristic to all lamp of HID is to go accompanied of a box that includes condenser and transformer, first to provide an intense and fast load, and the second to control the free flow of current within the light bulb; he is habitual that also includes a fuse very surely. The joint price of lamp and box - for 400 watts it varies based on manufacturers and countries, although in the United States and Holland it goes up to around the 300 dollars; in Spain the prices can be considerably more stops, and also lower, because the salesmen still ignore the picaresque one of their market; separated, a light bulb, the transformer and the condenser can cost between 10 and 20,000 pesetas. Each lamp usually includes two light bulbs, one with the ideal luminance phantom for growth and another one with the adapted one to flowering. Also a reflex baffle is essential, done of resistant metal to the heat, that usually goes prepared to the equipment and can adopt diverse forms.
These prodigies of brightness take three or four minutes in reaching their total unloading of energy, and to put them in march takes two or three times more time when they are just dull. Although the light bulbs are very resistant before beginning to be used, the regime of high temperature to which they work makes quite fragile for the successive thing. Once ignited, for example, some drops of water that touch the crystal they can make them implosionar, and also it is possible that - in cold it damages a mere abrupt shock irreparably. As changes support bad of tension electrical - mainly when they arrive at the blackout -, a fundamental caution is to unplug them when that takes place, and not to return to later connect them up to 10 or 20 minutes, when or they have cooled off. In spite of these disadvantages, they say that the careful use assures an average life 24,000 hours for the light bulbs of 1,000 watts, which means to work five years to a rate of 12 horas/día. However, he is more realistic to change of light bulbs every year, because 5,000 pesetas cost and are losing lumina with time.
Given the cost of each lamp, he is absolutely recommendable to as much complement its action with a timer, that can be acquired hardly by anything, in Europe as in our country. The timer not only avoids to connect and to unplug the box, but that allows to plan during days, weeks or months fotoperiodo, igniting and extinguishing to the estimated time. The automatization clears the advantages of that particular sun, that the hidropónico agriculturist puts to the service of his necessities.
It is, finally, to assure the electrical circuit with an installation that avoids overloads and flights. Nobody tacañería in this chapter is a saving of the parrot, that can end at failures, fires and even mortal unloadings, because hidroponía supposes a constant water presence. The box of a lamp HID contains, for example, a condenser that can accumulate extremely high loads during months, and to save it to it - buying the condenser and the transformer separately -, is reserved thing to experts; naturally, the box does not have to clear the ground nor other zones of possible humidity.
On the other hand, an equipment of 400, 600 or 1,000 watts not much is compared with household-electric the most habitual ones; a plate or an electrical furnace, for example, consumes 1,200 and 1,400 watts respectively; the dishwasher consumes up to 2,800 at certain moments. A modest present home moves intensities five or six superior times, and solves its operation with cables of sufficient thickness, rackets for multiple plugs and a plurality of circuits, each one equipped with its fuse, ready to jump when they surpass certain amperios¹.
|
