Gardening With Hydroponics

Horticulturists and home gardeners are known to get grimy from rooting around in soil to eliminate weeds and apply pesticides and fertilizers. They are constantly planting, dividing, and replanting. They take these steps to enjoy the rewards of growing plants that are both beautiful and nutritious to eat or view. What if these values could be derived without having to ever touch soil?

Hydroponics is the science and practice of growing plants without using soil. Water is the most common medium used instead. There are more technically accurate definitions, to be sure. But for the home gardener, hobbyist and occasional teacher that’s what it comes down to.

How is hydroponic gardening even possible? Most people think that plants have to have soil in order to get support, water, heat, and nutrition for growth and reproduction, but this isn’t necessarily true.

Plants absolutely have to have water, but it doesn’t have to come from the soil, even though this is the most common method. In nature, there are plenty of plants that thrive in gravel, sand, or on the surface or under the surface of a body of water.

The majority of plants that interest the hobbyist or home gardener will require some physical support. One of the most common ways to achieve this support is planting them in soil. When this is done the stems become wind resistant and the roots will spread. These plants wouldn’t be in existence is they hadn’t evolved in this manner.

Most plants that interest the home gardener or hobbyist do require physical support. Planting them in soil is one common and effective way to achieve that. That’s one of the reasons roots spread and stems are wind resistant. If they hadn’t evolved that way, those types of plant wouldn’t be here to discuss. But artificial aids, such as strings on supports, ice cream sticks glued to the top of a glass and dozens of other methods will work quite well.

One of the most important elements for a plant is without question proper nutrients. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and a host of trace elements (zinc, copper, iron and others) are essential to plant growth. Absorbing those elements from the surrounding soil is, of course, one usual way of obtaining them. But, here again, nutrients can be fed to plants in a number of ways.

One very effective method would be to immerse the plants roots in water that contains liquid nutrients. There are other methods as well. People that are involved in hydroponic gardening house their plants in an enclosure that will retain moisture. The roots are sprayed frequently with a mister that contains a nutrients solution. This method does cross into an area that is known as aeroponics.

Hydroponics can be used to grow a wide variety of plants: strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce and many non-fruit or vegetable plants, such as orchids. The list is long. Thousands of species can thrive without soil, provided they’re cared for properly. That effort can be fun and instructive. It can also produce beautiful or nutritious plants without many of the drawbacks of soil-grown plants.

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