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What is Hydroponics?
Provided by American Hydroponics
For most of us, the word hydro-ponics conjures up visions of men and women in sterile lab coats growing plants in test tubes, or rides at Epcot Center or Disney World with mists hissing at plant roots hanging from conveyer belts, or some kind of underwater stereo (hydro-phonics.) Can you think of any others? It's funny that most people in Europe, New Zealand, Israel and Australia know what hydroponics is because they prefer eating produce that is grown hydroponically. It is cleaner and safer than most produce grown in soils and is highly nutritious. Hydroponically grown produce is on the rise in the US and can be found in most food markets.
What is Hydroponics?
Hydroponics is a word describing a cultivation technique where plants are grown without soil. The "official" definition of hydroponics is water (hydro) working (ponics). It's really not complicated. All the food (minerals) that plants use when they grow in the soil are the same minerals we dissolve in water to feed plants hydroponically. A hydroponic garden or farm needs the same elements as a soil garden or farm: water, food, light, the right temperature, air movement and care.
But is it organic?
With organics, you feed the soil and the soil feeds the plant. What happens when you put chicken manure in the soil to feed plants? Plants can't eat chicken manure. Bacteria in the soil breaks down the manure into soluble minerals and elements that plants can then absorb. With hydroponics, you feed the plant directly. All the minerals and elements are already soluble. The plant spends no energy seeking food with its root system. That's why hydroponically grown plants grow faster and produce more with less effort.
Most of us think "organic" means grown without pesticides or chemicals. We are concerned about our health, so if a food is labeled "organic" then it must be the closest thing to "healthy" that is available. This is a fairly accurate assessment except for the following distinctions:
The word "chemical" has a number of definitions for people. We tend to associate the words synthetic, unnatural, toxic, poison, etc. to the word chemical. Well, Sodium Chloride (NaCl) is a chemical...ordinary table salt. Is salt bad? Not really, unless you sprinkle it on everything you eat all the time. DDT is a chemical, is it bad?... you bet. So, there are good chemicals and detrimental chemicals. Actually when you look into nature, everything is made up of chemicals compounds interacting with one another.
So really, there is not much difference between "organically" grown produce and "hydroponically" grown produce, as both are grown with high quality minerals and without the use of toxic pesticides. Studies have been done at UC Davis CA comparing vitamin and mineral content of hydroponic produce in comparison to organic. The mineral and vitamin content of hydroponically grown produce was equal to or greater than that found in organic produce.
The bottom line for a great veggie.
No store-bought vegetable ever tastes as good as a vegetable you grow yourself, period. Plus, you know exactly what went on and into it. When you grow a vegetable hydroponically, you can be confident that your plants are getting everything they could possibly need, and then some. Why? Because we know exactly what minerals plants require to thrive and make sure they're in perfect balance when you mix them in water. Nature does the rest.
How can hydroponics benefit me?
• I have no space for a garden.
You can grow thriving gardens in tiny spaces, on a deck, in a window, 20 stories up, in the basement with grow lights, or anywhere you can imagine.
• My soil is poor.
Perfect... hydroponic gardens do the best on parking lots, rocky ground, concrete, anywhere there's light.
• My growing season is too short.
It's easy to grow indoors with a grow light. Start your outdoor plants inside early and get a jump on the growing season. Or just grow indoors. We've been growing tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, and bananas indoors all winter long. It's great to have a year-round growing season.
Hydroponics is the future of urban gardening. It uses 1/10th the water, a fraction of the nutrients and does not require a green thumb - though it helps. There is little or no waste, it is efficient and is the most productive of any growing systems ever invented.
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