Main advantages of NFT system
1. Greatly reduce the consumption of water and nutrients.
2. Matrix related supply, treatment and cost issues were excluded.
3. Compared with other system types, it is relatively easy to disinfect roots and equipment.
4. Because there is no substrate, it is easy to check whether there are signs of disease in the root and whether the nutrition is sufficient.
5. Regular nutrient supply (and irrigation) can prevent the accumulation of local inorganic salts in the root zone, and keep the pH value and EC of the root zone unchanged.
6. Environment friendly, reducing water pollution.
Common problems:
1. Blocking: blocking problems often occur in NFT systems. Under normal circumstances, according to the different nutrient solutions, the blockage will be light or heavy. Commercial water-soluble fertilizer sometimes precipitates in the water tank. When the water and fertilizer solution passes through the liquid inlet pipe, because the diameter of the liquid inlet pipe is narrow, it is easy to cause blockage at the transition node between the liquid inlet pipe and the outlet pipe. Once the blockage is caused, the damage to the plant is irreversible. In hot weather, it only takes a few hours for all the plants to wither. Therefore, it is very important to check the liquid inlet from time to time.
2. Root growth: the main disadvantage of NFT system is the limited space for root growth. This in turn limits the size of plants that can be grown in the system. In the process of vegetative growth, the continuous transmission of water is beneficial, but for some fruiting or flowering plants, it may lead to unsatisfactory growth. Therefore, the current NFT system is mainly used to grow smaller vegetables, such as lettuce, which is the most successful and commercialized variety so far.
3. Algae growth: it is easy to grow algae or microorganisms in the water tank and outlet pipe, which need to be cleaned regularly, otherwise it is easy to cause bacteria or affect plant growth.
4. Cleaning: lettuce, for example, takes about 35 days per planting cycle. So every time you change the plant, you need to clean the system. The workload of this cleaning is far greater than that of DWC system.
