Hydroponics Farming : Soilless Gardening

Hydroponics

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What exactly Hydroponics mean ?

Hydroponics art of gardening without soil.  It entails growing crops in a medium other than such soil as Coco Peat. Plants are grown in nutrient rich water or fish or Duck excreta.

In agricultural practices around the world there has been an increase in use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers. These chemicals they get deposited in crops and are passed directly or indirectly to the bodies of humans and other animals causing irreversible harm and damage to their organs.

Is Hydroponic organic farming ?

There are  long debates whether hydroponics is organic or inorganic. Countries like America Israel etc. have given it the status of organic farming but in India it is not yet decided.

According to hydroponics enthusiasts it is organic farming because we add a calculated amount of minerals (salt) in it. So, there is no accumulation of chemicals in crops. The soil is supplemented with only those minerals and salts which are necessary for the plant growth, flowering and fruiting.

How to grow in Hydroponics ?

There are many methods of growing crops in hydroponics but the easiest one is Nutrient Film Technique (NFT). In this technique a vigil is kept on the TDS, PH and temperature of water. The nutrient rich water flows through the channel with plants hanging in it. To keep plant upright inert mediums such as Coco Peat,  clay balls etc are used.

What all can we grow in hydroponics ?

Hydroponics can be used to grow a large variety of vegetables like green leafy vegetables, strawberries, pepper, tomatoes, cucumber etc.

Advantage of hydroponic technique

Hydroponics was first started in Israel to combat the shortage of freshwater as the amount of water consumed in hydroponics is far less than that is used in soil.

  • As there is no soil so there are less or no soil bound diseases and less land is required.
  • As the amount of minerals used in this is as per the requirement of theSo the hydroponics is the future of farming and it requires less minerals, water and land. It can be grown even in closed rooms using LED lights so that we can provide optimum conditions of PH, light, temperature etc. for the best results.