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Hydroponics – The Bright Sides (and Downsides) of Growing Hydroponically

Needless to say, hydroponics offers great promise to meet some of the notable challenges facing the planet today: Lack of resources, depleted soils, poverty and ever expanding population growth, among others. Hydroponics permits growers to increase the variety of their offerings while minimizing growing space. It makes it possible to overcome the bleak prospects of having to produce in fields that have become overcrowded or stripped of valuable nutrients. Yes, growing soil-less has downsides which we’ll explore later in the section, but, on balance, its ability to provide for so many for so little makes a compelling case for its use.

The Pros

Over time, growers have greatly increased the efficiency of hydroponic methods. They have discovered at least two ways to increase yields over traditional farming. First of all, growing hydroponically enables maximum growth, even in tiny areas. In fact, you could plant four times as many plants in the same space as growing in soil! Worldwide, hydroponic growers are exploring and capitalizing on this aspect, especially in urban areas where space comes at a premium.

One exciting development is the ability for those in emerging world societies to produce cheaply in limited spaces. Among emerging nations, India has the most developed fully operational hydroponic farming, as local governments have made it a mission to boost local economies. For now, they devote most hydroponics to feed a voracious appetite for flowers on the world market. Expatriate Indian soil scientists in the United States, however, have devoted much time and research to finding ways hydroponics can both supplement and supersede traditional soil farming methods.

Based on these simple instructions, clearly a little homegrown ingenuity can go a long way to growing hydroponic plants successfully on a shoestring budget.

Increasingly, growers find that hydroponics can eliminate some of the pesky problems that many traditional farmers experience. Growing in soil, for example, shows a greater propensity to produce plant sicknesses and damage or waste crops. That makes it a far less efficient method of growing. Hydroponics enables the complete elimination of soil based diseases. Also, the ability to use specific nutrient mixes to grow hydroponically helps to end the guesswork that traditional farmers face when fertilizing. Nutrient mixes provide the right types of nutrients - delivered in perfect ratios every time. Conventional growers also face difficulties determining which plants have the ability to flourish in soil types that can vary significantly, even within a single acre. Hydroponics fully eliminates this speculation.

Finally, in spite of its limitations, hydroponics can provide sound environmental benefits. Frequently, crops grown in water use just a tenth of the water that traditional growing requires. As the process is virtually weed-free, no water is wasted on weeds. In addition, although hydroponics utilises herbicides, it produces no dangerous run-off like soil growing does. Many people have a misplaced perception that hydroponics is synonymous with organic. It isn’t. While some people shun injurious pesticides, most growers don’t – at least not yet. To meet burgeoning market demands for organic produce, however, this will likely change.

A Few Cons

The main disadvantage of hydroponics comes with increased energy requirements and consumption. Crops grown in greenhouses require more light and cooling, thus tend to hog resources. You could mitigate this to some extent by incorporating wind and solar. These sustainable technologies tend to increase costs significantly, of course. Some of this cost is offset by the remarkable ability of hydroponic growing to conserve water.

Unless you’re cheap as neck-beef, to borrow a favorite simile from Jonathan Swift, the cost of hydroponics equipment and peripherals can quickly spiral out of control. Nutrient mixtures and growing mediums cost more than good old fashioned garden dirt, too, of course. Weighing that against the price of gardening equipment and fertilizers, however, you may find it’s a good trade-off. Growing hydroponically still remains out of reach for many, but if you’ve got quick wits and a resourceful bent, you can still begin without needing a lot of store-bought equipment.

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