dimanche 23 novembre 2014

Vertical Hydroponics Offers An Economical Gardening Alternative For Quality Produce

By Ida Dorsey


City-dwellers who enjoy being able to grow their own fruits and vegetables may find that the small size of many yards today is very limiting. One way to be able to garden free of mess and stress in a way that consumes less space is vertical hydroponics. This flexible growing technique uses less water than regular gardening and can be done outdoors or indoors.

This approach to gardening does not use soil, but instead the plants are grown in water, gravel, or another medium. It enables the grower to enjoy year-round cultivation in a sterile environment free of pests and crop rotation isn't necessary. There is a greater degree of control over the nutrient levels the plants are receiving as well. Plants are grown in a stacked formation, which saves space and maximizes crop size.

Just about any type of plant can be grown in this way. The gardener must ensure that the crops are provided with all the nutrients essential for growth that would normally be found in soil. It is not only less work and money to maintain a hydroponic garden, but it has also been associated with better quality produce simply because the grower has more control over the growing conditions.

It can also save one's back, because there is no need for usual gardening tasks of weeding, mulching, tilling, and fertilizing with this growing technique. Nor does one have to be concerned about flooding or drought, since the level of water is fully controllable. Relying on proper ground and weather conditions is also non-applicable with hydroponics, and the use of specially designed grow lights allows for day and night growing throughout the year.

Poor quality soil in a particular area does not matter either when plants are grown using this technique. The lack of a need for weed killers and pesticides means that fruits and vegetables will be grown organically which makes them healthier than those grown with chemicals. As the plants grow they are able to extract all essential substances they need including carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from the air.

Since the nutrients absorbed by these plants are properly balanced by the gardener, it tends to result in generally healthier crops and produces higher yields than those grown in soil. There is no danger of plants being deprived of nutrients or sunlight by weeds and insects, not to mention the fact that it saves money because the grower does not need to purchase herbicides and pesticides.

The overall water consumption is much less with a hydroponic garden than a soil garden which requires regular irrigation. Root systems are constantly suspended in liquid in most cases, which prevents the need to use more of this valuable resource. Further conservative measures can be implemented by the use of an automatically timed fertilization system.

Plants grown in this manner tend to ripen faster because they are receiving nutrients more consistently and do not need to expound energy to draw up water and mineral through their root systems as they need to do when grown in soil. This generally results in produce which has an overall superior quality in term of taste and health value.




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