What Is A Hydroponic System? Hydroponics is a technique of growing vegetables, fruits, and flowers, without using soil, as in the conventional system. They are planted in inert growing media and supplied with nutrient-rich solutions, oxygen, and water, that circulates between their roots, carefully prepared to nourish the plant.
Hydroponics operates under a very simple principle: provide plants exactly what they need when they need it, fostering rapid growth, stronger yields, and superior quality.
When a plant’s root system is exposed directly to water and nutrition, the plant does not have to exert any energy to sustain itself.
When a plant is grown in soil, its roots always search for the necessary nutrition to support it, expending energy for acquiring food and water that could be redirected into the plant’s maturation.
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Hydroponic System
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The ancient region of Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, was the place where traces of channels for irrigation were found for the first time in history. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were built on hydroponics.
The Latin term hydroponics – hydro – water and ponos – work, that is, work in water, was used in 1940 by Dr. William Frederick Gericke of the University of California.
Gericke invented a new technology that placed plants into a substrate, something to support the plant’s roots, and then added minerals to the plant’s water supply below the substrate, giving rise to present-day hydroponics.
Hydroponic plants are grown in inert media that support the plant’s root structure. Growing media or substrate retains moisture, and nutrients from the solution are delivered to the plant.
Plants that are submerged in water can quickly drown if the water is not sufficiently aerated. Like in an aquarium system, an air pump disperses tiny bubbles of dissolved oxygen throughout the nutrient solution reservoir that goes through the roots and then returns to the tank in a continuous system.
Net pots hold hydroponic plants and allow roots to grow out of the sides and bottom of the pot, giving greater exposure to oxygen and nutrients.
Typically, the hydroponic system is made in greenhouses for pests, diseases, and climatic variations protection, resulting in healthier plants practically all over the year.
Advantages Of Hydroponics Cultivation
The advantages of hydroponics cultivation are:
- Lower consumption of water and fertilizers;
- Pests and diseases control and climate risk reduction;
- Elimination of heavy machinery and equipment used in conventional agriculture.
- It can be performed in any location with favorable topography and space, Not requiring fertile soil.
- Fast return on investment.
Among the negative factors are:
- higher production costs than traditional farming;
- high price of the physical structure, and
- shortage of specialized manpower.
Hydroponics allows you to grow any plant species, but lettuce and tomato are the most widespread crops.
In markets, hydroponic products are identified by their roots, like lettuce. For tomatoes, the identification will be on the package.
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I hope this article has helped you understand how works food chain. To learn more, take a look at How Important Is Potassium In Helping Plants Grow?
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