Hydroponics is a new and rapidly developing concept in gardening that involves growing edibles without using soil. If you don’t have the space for soil beds or don’t like getting your hands dirty with soil, this is a great alternative to enjoy gardening and fresh produce without any compromises.
What is Hydroponics?
Hydroponics is all about growing plants in a soilless solution. Basically, the roots of plants are suspended in clay pellets that are specially formulated. They are then bathed with liquid nutrients to keep the roots tightly compact so that one can plant many growing plants in one window itself. Since the term hydroponics involves water, many people think that the soilless solution is water but actually, it can be anything except for traditional soils or potting mixes.
What You Will Need To Get Started?
If you want to begin your own hydroponic garden at home, you will need a hydroponics system, nutrients, inert hydroponics medium and a light source along with some time and beautiful plants. You can also buy a ready kit for hydroponics garden and get started immediately. Though it might be a little expensive to opt for the kit, it is a one-stop destination so you will find everything you need inside it.
Time Involved
Just like developing any hobby, hydroponic gardening can take time and patience. If you are new to this concept, you might want to take some time to learn about the process and methods before you get started. Here, you don’t need to spend time on taking out the weeds but do need some time to maintain the system, replace the nutrients and harvest the plants.
What Plants To Grow?
You can grow almost any houseplant, vegetables or fruits that you want by this method. Generally, solution systems are considered most suitable for plants with shallow roots. These include lettuce, herbs, radish, and spinach. You can use aggregate systems for deep rooted plants like beetroot, or top heavy plants like cucumbers or squash.
Understanding the System
Hydroponics system can be divided into two basic categories – solution system (liquid culture) and aggregate culture. In the solution system, plants grow in the nutrient liquid while in the aggregate system, roots grow in the medium like sand, gravel or clay pellets. In every method, the plant roots get three essentials from the system that include oxygen, nutrients and water or moisture. Some of the different systems available for hydroponic gardening include ebb and flow, drip, nutrient film, aeroponics, wick and water culture.
Nutrients Required
You will need the right mix of primary, secondary and micro nutrients to develop your hydroponics garden. These nutrients are different from traditional gardening nutrients and therefore, you must use a proven formula that you can get from a reliable manufacturer in the beginning.
If you get the right balance of light and growth conditions, you will get a beautiful and nutritional produce from your very own hydroponic garden!
