Hydroponic Basics, What It Is, How It Works

"Hydroponics" comes from two Greek words which means "working water." To put it in one sentence, hydroponic basics involve the method of growing plants in water, without the use of soil.

The idea behind basic hydroponics is to provide plants with the essentials they need for growth essentials they normally obtain through the soil through alternative means. In order to grow, the following elements should be present:

* Light
* Water
* Nutrients
* A growth medium (i.e., an anchor for the roots)

Generally, the soil provides the medium for 3 of the 4 elements discussed above: water, nutrients, anchor. Later, people learned that soil is just a growth medium and is not the ultimate provider of water and nutrients. This further means that as long as you provide water, light and nutrients to the plants, you don't really need soil in the picture.

In hydroponic basics, plants are placed in a growing tray, anchored by some sort of alternate medium, which can be any of a number of substances ranging from Rockwool to vermiculite. Simple pump-and-recycle systems are normally used in providing the plants with ph-balanced solution of water and nutrients. All that's left is to provide proper lighting (natural sunlight, specialized grow lights or a combination of the two), and plants will grow without soil. In fact, your plants could grow better as compared to utilizing conventional techniques so long as you optimize the provision of these elements.

Still, some people feel safer with the old, proven ways and would ask: why go through this trouble? There are two basic answers to this question:

1. With hydroponics, we can grow plants almost anywhere. As long as we can create a controlled environment, we can grow food; we are no longer limited to places with soil and sunlight. This means, for example, that people in urban areas who don't have access to a garden have the option to raise their own food using hydroponics. It also means that we can grow food in the dead of winter, in arctic regions where it's dark six months of the year, and theoretically, even in space!

2. Hydroponics is a helpful solution for hostile growing environments. It is obviously more preferable to grow food hydroponically in places where the soil is contaminated. The benefits of this method is that people will be able to have better yields and they will be protected from the dangers of the contaminants.

In short, hydroponics opens up new alternatives to societies and individuals alike. Not only are governments such as Holland and Canada using hydroponics to grow food on a larger scale, but with a knowledge of the hydroponic basics, individuals now have the capacity to benefit as well.