Thursday, November 20, 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.

Most plants that can be grown in soil, can also be grown hydroponically. The grower is totally responsible for providing the plants with the nutrients they need to grow and does not have to depend on nature as they must with traditional gardening. It takes less money and work to grow in this way, and often produces a better quality crop.

The need for such tiring tasks as fertilizing, tilling, mulching, and weeding is eliminated with this gardening method, as is the need to worry about the crops receiving too much or too little water. Weather and ground conditions also play no role with hydroponic growing as they do with traditional outdoor soil gardening. Grow lights can be used to allow round-the-clock, year-round gardening.

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.

Crops produced hydroponically are usually more abundant and of higher quality than their soil-grown counterparts because the nutrients they need are consistently delivered to them by the grower. The threat of weeds and insects, sunlight or nutrient deprivation is eliminated, and the gardener saves money because there is no need to buy pesticides and herbicides.

Less water is needed for hydroponic gardens than those which use soil, since the plants are continually submersed in a solution rather than needing to be regularly irrigated. Some growers will also install a timer system to provide automatic fertilization at specified intervals to the crops, which helps to further limit water consumption.

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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