The main draw back with NFT systems, especially in a grow room environment is the fact that pump failure is likely to strike at some point. The reason this tends to happen is that NFT systems are packaged with small flow rate pumps; cheap springs to mind but this is not technically fair. The plants only need a small delivery of water at a constant rate and the small pumps are all that can be used on a small NFT system. Now as the pump is perpetually on, the pump sees a lot of action over the course of its life. This coupled with the fact that you are then adding dissolved salts in the tank and in turn you are possibly in a hard water area, you get precipitation of the salts and the calcium that build up on get precipitation of the salts and the calcium that build up on and around the impeller of the pump. Once this impeller begins to attract precipitation it is not long until it either gives up spinning completely or that it does not deliver enough water to satisfy the plants’ needs, resulting in crop failure. Pump failure can be overcome through regular cleaning and maintenance of the pump or indeed regular replacements of the pumps, as mentioned earlier these are very inexpensive pumps and therefore can be regularly replaced without financial worry.

Another drawback with this technique is dude to the fact that the roots are constantly submerged in water the plants are very prone to bacterial disease like pythium. Again this can be overcome via regular dumping of the nutrient tank and adding products to the nutrient solution that have active ingredients that minimise the threat or root rot and moulds.

The last drawback is that heavy yielding plants tend to fall over in a NFT system. This is due to the fact that the roots grow out flat and long giving the plants no stability. As they grow older and bigger you will need to support the fruits or flowers otherwise they simply topple over. Supporting them is easy using yo-yos, string, canes or some growers use a scrog. This simple netting stretched out over the growing area. The plants then grow up through this netting which in turn helps support the plants.

All of the above to one side, these systems are very productive and are an excellent inexpensive teaching aid to the principle of hydroponics. Also with this beautiful innovation the world of hydroponics might not be with us as this technique was the first adopted and used by many growers all over the planet paving the way for our very own hydroponics revolution. One has to take one’s hat off to the British inventor that pioneered this technique. I mean, what made someone think: I know let’s grow plants in a soil-less medium using nothing but a film of nutrient to do it in. Off the wall you could say!