Hydroponics is another name for growing vegetables without soil

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Hydroponics is a fancy name for growing vegetables without soil. Remember those avocados seeds that you placed in a glass of water, hoping they would root? That was hydroponics at its most basic.

In nature, about 85 percent of the plant's energy is expended looking for nutrition, the other 15 percent of their energy is spent in the actual growth of the fruit. Imagine reversing this ratio; your plants would grow faster, bigger and without many of the problems found in conventional gardening. All this in much less space and it can even be done indoors!

This will truly enable you to have fresh green salads all winter.

Hydroponics Systems

There are two main types of hydroponics; solution culture and medium culture. Solution culture does not use a solid medium for the roots only the solution. There are three types of solution cultures, static, continuous flow, and aeroponics. The medium culture methods uses a solid medium for the roots such as sand, gravel or rock wool.

� Static solution culture; the plants are grown in containers and nutrient solution which is gently aerated, but may be unaerated. In this system the solution level is kept low enough so that enough roots are exposed in order to get adequate oxygen to the plants. The solution in this system needs monitoring for nutrition level and water level. In a raft system, plants are placed on a buoyant sheet of plastic in order for the roots to be exposed to the nutrients.

� Continuous flow system is as it sounds, with a flow of solution constantly flowing past the roots. The most popular variation is the nutrient film technique or NFT. This system can be automated and will provide a constantly balanced environment for your plants.

� Aeroponic systems do not use a flow of liquid solution, but instead the roots are sprayed with a misted solution. There is no subsoil; the roots are suspended in air.

� Medium cultures are more traditional and use a porous material such as vermiculate, perlite, clay granules, rockwool or gravel. This method does not require as much maintenance but must be flushed on schedule and the PH balance needs checking regularly.

The nutrients used must be water soluble and should contain Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Nitrate, Sulfate and Phosphate as well as other micro nutrients. These solutions, which are available commercially, must be monitored for excess salt concentration and PH values due to the fact that running water will alter the balance of the system rather quickly.

Advantages

� Over and under watering, which is the most common error in gardening is eliminated.

� Soil borne diseases are virtually eliminated.

� Weeds are virtually eliminated.

� Uses considerably less water than outdoor irrigation.

� It provides the plants with balanced nutrition.

Hydroponic gardening is easy, inexpensive and you can garden all winter! You can learn more about this fun way to garden from the many sites on the web, or you can visit your garden center for instructions or to check out the kits and equipment first hand.

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