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Simply-Hydroponics is dedicated to the publication of new green technology methods, updates in hydroponic systems, hydroponic research, current events and the latest information about hydroponic gardening.
What is Hydroponics?
Hydroponics is a system used to grow plants without soil. Plants do not need soil to grow; plants absorb the nutrients they need from the soil. These nutrients are used to promote growth, budding and fruit production. The purpose of the soil is only to provide an organic container to hold and disperse the nutrients.
The word, hydroponics, comes from the ancient Greek language in which ‘hydro’ means water and ‘ponic’ means to work. Archeological evidence that water was used as a substitute for soil dates as far back as the ancient Babylonian, Greek, Mayan, Chinese and Egyptian civilizations. Where there was no soil to support plant growth, people have innovated methods using water to sustain their need for produce and beauty.
How Do Hydroponic Grow Methods Support Plant Growth?
Nutrients are added to water and absorbed by the root system. The roots are supported by a porous growing medium that stores oxygen (O2) and water (H2O). In addition to temporary storage, the growing medium provides balance and stability for the plant. The water is re-circulated using a pump with keeps it from becoming oxygen-depleted and maintains a conservative level of usage. Evaporation is controlled by climate and humidity levels. Mildew is avoided by adding a ventilation device to maintain adequate air circulation. Grow lights stimulate photosynthesis and supplement natural sunlight.
Why are Hydroponic Systems Used?
Lack of fresh, clean water, available space and shipping options have lead horticulturalists all over the world to renew an interest in hydroponic systems as an alternative energy source for the production of fruit, vegetables, herbs, legumes and flowers. Shipping unripened food picked weeks before becoming available for purchase is no longer considered an environmentally-friendly method of supplying our population.
Reducing carbon emissions and conserving water has become a priority in the face of diminishing natural resources. Countries that have no indigenous access to fertile soil and clean running water have a hope for self-sustaining production of food by using hydroponically-based gardening systems to cultivate crops. Land devastated by natural disasters are able to recover far more quickly by using their available resources to build up a hydroponic gardening base in a shorter period of time, without the need for agricultural land.
Practical Applications of Hydroponic Gardening Operations
Space exploration and future settlement is far more likely to be sustained using a hydroponic method of growing fruit, vegetables, beans, peas and herbs than it would be without such knowledge. Submarines use hydroponic means to grow lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers and other such vitamin-rich leafy roughage for consumption. Polar regions buried under the ice caps use this type of system to sustain their population with necessary fruit and vegetable fiber during the long, sunless winter months and even during the cold temperatures in the short summer.
Benefits of Hydroponic Indoor Gardens
Hydroponic plantations require significantly less space, water and time than outdoor gardens. There is no nutrient depletion because there is no run-off. Hydroponic gardens can be plentiful in any space (including outer) at any time of the year and are simple to operate. No complex language is required and a shared language is not necessary to transfer the knowledge. Hydroponic gardening methods are simple and easily understood by most people in most countries. Hydroponic gardening operations have been introduced in many countries whose own soil has been rendered infertile and which has been unable to sustain any type of agricultural use due to repeated subjection to constant drought and scorching rays of the sun.
Because hydroponic produce can be grown locally, there is a significant reduction in refrigerated ground, sea and air transportation. More produce can be grown in less space, using less water which leaves a much smaller carbon footprint. Because it requires less water, rain-watering harvesting is often an adequate source.
Similar Alternative Methods of Indoor Gardening
Aeroponic systems suspend the roots of the plant inside a collar. A nutrient solution is sprayed at regular intervals over the roots.
Aquaponics combine hydroponics and aquaculture. These two systems are joined in a symbiotic relationship that sustains both fish and plant life. The two containers or tanks are separate. When the water from the aquatic (fish’s’) environment becomes too saturated with waste, it is pumped into a holding tank where natural bacteria are added. The bacteria help to break down the waste to a point where it is suitable for plant fertilizer. This bacterially-treated waste water is pumped into the hydroponic system where the nutrients that sustain plant growth are added. Once the nutrients are absorbed from the water by the plants, it is pumped into the fish tank again.
Ongoing Developments for Hydroponically-Operated Systems
Alternative gardening methods for growing food are under constant revision and improvement. The ways and means of starting an indoor garden range from small to large. To investigate your own sustainable energy contribution, read hydroponic grow systems.