Ask people what makes plants grow and they may come up with the similar reply: soils.
Right answer, but that’s not the only one. The garden can be grown soilless, in a water-based environment. As long as you can provide plants with sufficient nutrients, oxygen and lights, they will survive and can grow better than the soil-counter parts.
The method is called Hydroponics. With hydroponic gardening, growers can grow plants all year round regardless of the weather and the surrounding conditions. You may have seen some kinds of it in your nearby greenhouse.
In fact, it has been used widely to produce fresh vegs in the commercial greenhouses as well as at home.
Benefits of Hydroponic Gardening
The infographic below shows what you need to know about hydroponics – what it is, what benefits hydroponics can give.
Also, you will also get to know the main types of hydroponic systems and how they work. And best of all, you will learn what plants you can start planting using hydroponics.
As you’d imagine, growing plants without using any soil has numerous advantages. These include:
Optimizes space – Combining hydroponics with vertical farming maximizes space, leading to greater output per square meter.
Water conservation – While hydroponics uses water, it’s less than what you require for soil farming. In fact, some plants use 98 percent less water than in traditional farming methods.
Higher yields – By creating ideal growing conditions, plants in hydroponic systems get exact nutrients, leading to higher yields. A hydroponic greenhouse can produce almost 240 times what you’d get from other farming methods.
No soil needed – The world has lost more than half of its nutrient-rich topsoil in the last 150 years. Soil is also facing increased degradation due to erosion, harmful farming chemicals, compaction, etc., leading to lower yields and plant diseases. Hydroponics sidesteps that.
Faster plant growth and predictability – Plants grow 30-50 percent faster with hydroponics farming because they get all the necessary nutrients. Farmers also have the option of growing foods off-season because you control the growing conditions. Indeed, you can grow and harvest strawberries in the dead of winter with hydroponic farming.
Hydroponic gardening is such a relaxing self-reliant efficient method of growing food throughout a year that every outdoor and indoor gardener should try.
Editor’s Note: This post has been updated for freshness and consistency.
This introduction to hydroponic gardening is one of the best I’ve read and one of the most visually pleasing. You managed to convey pretty much everything one should know when stepping into the wonderful world of hydroponics. I just wanted to let people know that they also have the possibility of growing herbs and leafy greens hydroponically in mason jars, just in case they don’t want to make a big investment in the beginning when they’re just figuring out how everything works. All they need are mason jars, 3 inch net pots, clay pebbles (hydroton), rockwool cubes for germination, nutrient solution, and some grow lights.