HYDROPONICS
“SOILLESS CULTURE “
When we tell people that we grow our produce using hydroponics, we usually get some close to this response :
“Sounds cool… sounds like it has something to do with healthy food maybe? What even is it? “
So what is hydroponics?
Hydroponics is a type of soilless gardening. The cultivation of plants in nutrient enriched water, with or without the mechanical support of an inert medium such as sand, gravel, or perlite that can be done either indoors or outdoors.
Why Grow Without Soil?
It allows growers to produce food anywhere in the world, at any time of the year and to net higher yields with fewer resources.
Grow Anywhere?
Yep. Take that, Climate change. Growing seasons and regions are in major flux right now as temperatures change and growing conditions change along with them. Even in “normal” conditions, there are plenty of places where the ground just isn’t conducive for farming (like deserts, concrete jungles…. You get the gist”
Why hydroponics?
The principal advantage is the saving of labour by automatic watering and fertilizing. Hydroponic system can be set up indoors in places that would not normally be available for the growing of plants, such as in densely populated areas, and have even been studied as a potential method of crop production aboard spacecraft.
Climate is not a factor, and hydroponic system use dramatically less water compared with conventionally grown plants. The plants also have less root and nutrient competition that those grown in soil, and they have significantly fewer pests, so individuals can be planted more closely together.
Its even possible to put a farm directly behind restaurants that want ultra fresh produce. And when you’re growing hydroponically, you don’t have to hit pause for a season or risk crop loss from inclement weather.
Plants grown in well-managed hydroponic systems are living the good life. Since roots are bathed in all of the nutrients they need, plants spend more time growing upward and less time and energy growing extensive root systems to search for food. Growth rates vary based on the type of system and quality of care, but hydro plants can mature up to 25% more quickly than the same plants grown in soil, with increased crop yield, to boot.
Hydroponic system actually use less water than traditionally soil-based systems. This is because closed systems aren’t subject to the same rates of evaporation. Plus, the water used in hydroponic system can be filtered, re-populated with nutrients and fed back to plants again so that water is constantly being recycled instead of wasted.
How many times have you walked out to your garden and seen one of your plants thriving while its next door neighbor is dropping? In that situation, it’s almost impossible to know which variable is negatively affecting your poor plant. Is it’s a pest a problem? Are the nutrients in the soil different in that spot?
With a hydroponic system, You know exactly what conditions your plants are being grown in. As such, You can easily isolate variable and experiment. Once you find the perfect formula or light, pit balance and nutrients, You can replicate success without always getting hit with curveballs.
Think you are ready to try it out?
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