Hydroponic Gardening

Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel.

Advantages[edit]

Some of the reasons why hydroponics is being adapted around the world for food production are the following:

• No soil is needed for hydroponics.
• The water stays in the system and can be reused - thus, a lower water requirement.
• It is possible to control the nutrition levels in their entirety - thus, lower nutrition requirements.
• No nutrition pollution is released into the environment because of the controlled system.
• Stable and high yields.
• Pests and diseases are easier to get rid of than in soil because of the container's mobility.
• Ease of harvesting.
• PH balance of nutrient solution can be easily set.

Today, hydroponics is an established branch of horticulture. Progress has been rapid, and results obtained in various countries have proved it to be thoroughly practical and to have very definite advantages over conventional methods of horticulture.

There are two chief merits of the soil-less cultivation of plants. First, hydroponics may potentially produce much higher crop yields. Also, hydroponics can be used in places where in-ground agriculture or gardening are not possible.

Disadvantages[edit]

Without soil as a buffer, any failure to the hydroponic system leads to rapid plant death. Other disadvantages include pathogen attacks such as damp-off due toVerticillium wilt caused by the high moisture levels associated with hydroponics and overwatering of soil based plants. Also, many hydroponic plants require different fertilizers and containment systems.^[5]

Techniques[edit]

The two main types of hydroponics are solution culture and medium culture. Solution culture does not use a solid medium for the roots, just the nutrient solution. The three main types of solution cultures are static solution culture, continuous-flow solution culture and aeroponics. The medium culture method has a solid medium for the roots and is named for the type of medium, e.g., sand culture, gravel culture, or rockwool culture.

There are two main variations for each medium, sub-irrigation and top irrigation^[specify]. For all techniques, most hydroponic reservoirs are now built of plastic, but other materials have been used including concrete, glass, metal, vegetable solids, and wood. The containers should exclude light to prevent algae growth in the nutrient solution.