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The word, Hydroponic, comes from Latin and means working water. Simply put, it is
the art of growing plants without soil.
When most people think of hydroponics, they think of plants grown with their roots
suspended directly into water with no growing medium. This is just one type of
hydroponic gardening known as N.F.T. (nutrient film technique). There are several
variations of N.F.T. used around the world and it is a very popular method of growing
hydroponically. What most people don't realize is that there are countless methods
and variations of hydroponic gardening. In this section, we explain the most
common, including the pros and cons of each along with an abundance of great,
general information about hydroponics.
Why does Hydroponics work so well?
That's simple. If you give a plant exactly what it needs, when it needs it, in the
amount that it needs, the plant will be as healthy as is genetically possible. With
hydroponics this is an easy task; in soil it is far more difficult.
With hydroponics the plants are grown in an inert growing medium (see below) and
a perfectly balanced, pH adjusted nutrient solution is delivered to the roots in a
highly soluble form. This allows the plant to uptake its food with very little effort as
opposed to soil where the roots must search out the nutrients and extract them.
This is true even when using rich, organic soil and top of the line nutrients. The
energy expended by the roots in this process is energy better spent on vegetative
growth and fruit and flower production.
If you grow two genetically identical plants using soil for one and hydroponics for
the other, you will almost immediately see the difference this factor makes. Faster,
better growth and much greater yields are just some of the many reasons that
hydroponics is being adapted around the world for commercial food production as
well as a growing number of home, hobby gardeners.
control everything the plants receive. The strength and pH of the nutrient solution is
easy to adjust so that the plants receive just the right amount of food. The
watering/feeding cycles can be controlled by an inexpensive timer so that the plants
get watered on schedule, as needed.
Both hydroponic fertilizers and those intended for use in soil contain the three major
nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The major difference in hydroponic
fertilizers is that they contain the proper amounts of all the essential micro-nutrients
which fertilizers intended for use with soil do not. The plants are expected to find
these elements in the soil, assuming that the trace elements are in fact present.
Problems can arise for the plants if any or all of the micro-nutrients are not present
in the soil or are depleted by successive (or excessive) plantings. Hydroponic
fertilizers are usually in a more refined form with fewer impurities making them both
more stable and soluble for better absorption. Organic fertilizers, in most cases, are
very different than either hydroponic or soil fertilizers both in composition and how
they deliver the nutrient to the plants. Organic fertilizers rely on the synergistic
action of bacteria and microbes to break down nutritional substances for easier
uptake by the plants. Hydroponic and soil fertilizers provide nutrients in a ready-touse form. While once, they were mutually exclusive, in recent years a number of
outstanding organic fertilizers have hit the market in formulations refined enough
for use in hydroponics.
"Hydroponic or Organic-What's the Difference?" by Roger H. Thayer