Understanding Hydroponics

Simply said, hydroponics is the growing of plants without the use of soil

. There are four basic things a plant requires in order to grow: water, nutrients, an anchor for the roots (i.e., "medium"), and light. While three of these ingredients come from the soil, please know that the soil isn't where the nutrients come from, rather, from the water in the soil. So, if you provide a water-nutrient solution for the plant, and the right amount of light, all you really need is to find a new medium to anchor the roots, and voila! Plants grow without soil.

While hydroponics is developed as a new science, it's actually not a new concept. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, for example, is a wonderful and fine example of hydroponics; pieces of evidence of the said practice were also found in the histories of China, Egypt and the Aztecs.

Given that there's a lot of soil around, isn't it a bit a preposterous idea to grow plants without soil? Certain situations, on the other hand, would make growing food hydroponically the more appropriate option. For one thing, this process can be used to grow food outside the time frame the normal growing season, because it isn't dependent on the weather. Also, the process isn't solely dependent on sunlight - so artificial lighting can be utilized. Thirdly, in corners of the world where soil is contaminated or there is danger of disease, hydroponics can provide a clean alternate environment for food to grow.

In essence, hydroponics enables us to grow food in situations where it is potentially impossible to do so: in the dead of winter, in Arctic regions and even in space! So long as you maintain to provide the four elements - even without soil - then you are good to go!

Scientists are not the only ones exploring the use of hydroponics these days. Canada and Holland are presently using this process to grow food on a larger scale. A number of private citizens are now also keeping hydroponic gardens as the new "organic" food. In fact, the rise in demand has made the sale of hydroponic supplies into a large enterprise in the past few years. While this will not totally replace the old-fashion ways of the soil, hydroponics will certainly provide us with a fascinating alternatives to agriculture.

by: Iris Caesar

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