Heat??
 

Excuse my ignorance but I'm new to all of this but very interested in it. I'm in Florida and am wondering what the effect of the heat will be on plants growing in a Hydroponic system? I have figured out that I'd need to bury the reservoir but would this be enough to beat the heat or would I need to grow in a greenhouse with some type of swamp cooler when it really heats up?

Well Greenhouse or not, there are two parts to the plants, the roots, and the foliage (leaves). Both parts have there own temp requirements. The root system should be kept to 65-72 degrees for best results for any plant. The heat tolerance for your plants is best determined by the type of plant you are wanting to grow, and talking to local nursery about what grows well there. You can keep the greenhouse at the perfect temp for the foliage, but that wont help the root system (unless it's a cold weather plant). Bottom line, if the root zone is in the perfect range, but the heat (and/or humidity in Florida) of the foliage is not, you probably wont have much success. If one is out of range that is bad enough, but if both are out of range, well that just makes it even worse.

P.S. Swamp coolers add humidity, and/or need fresh hot air to work, or the humidity just builds up in an enclosed area (I sold mine for that very reason).

I'm in northeast Florida and my outdoor system is doing fine. the res temp has been sitting at 85-90 degrees and there havent been any ill effects. I do swap out frozen 2 ltr bottles of water in the res once a day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ity/hydro5.jpg

tomato roots 2 weeks
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ity/roots2.jpg

tomato roots 3 weeks
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ity/roots3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ity/hydro6.jpg


I'm planning to move and expand the system since I'm starting a commercial produce business. I'll bury the res when i move the system which should help keep the temps down.

The roots in the 2 week picture look good, but they look like they are turning brown in the 3 week picture. Also I see algae growing in the vertical tube on the left. My plants continued to grow in 80-90 degree nutrient temps also, just not healthy. The attached picture shows the damage done by prolonged exposure to high nutrient temperatures of my strawberry's. I added Ice twice a day, but the consent fluctuation of nutrient temps still took their tole.