Hydroponic system is is a method of growing plants in a water based, nutrient rich solution. Hydroponics does not use soil, instead the root system is supported using an inert medium such as perlite, rock wool etc.On the other hand it is the method of growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.Terrestrial plants may be grown with only their roots exposed to the mineral solution i.e nutrient solution
The earliest published work on growing terrestrial plants without soil was the 1627 book Sylva Sylvarum In 1699, John Woodward published his water culture experiments with spearmint. He found that plants in less-pure water sources grew better than plants in distilled water. By 1842, the discoveries of German botanists Julius von Sachs and Wilhelm Knop, in the years 1859–1875 resulted in a development of the technique of soilless cultivation.Growth of terrestrial plants without soil in mineral nutrient solutions was called solution culture.
Most commercial hydroponic systems direct a continuous flow of nutrient solution over the plant roots. One continuous flow system uses polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe of the type commonly used for household waste plumbing. A 2-inch pipe for lettuce or a 4- to 6-inch pipe for tomatoes may be set up with a slight gradient to allow for flow of the solution. Holes of 1- to 1 1/2-inch diameter are drilled in the pipe, and the plants are inserted into the holes. Lettuce plants will support themselves if they have been started in growing cubes. Tomato plants must be supported with wire or string.
One of the earliest successes of hydroponics occurred on Wake Island, a rocky atoll in the Pacific Ocean used as a refueling stop for Pan American Airlines. Hydroponics was used there in the 1930s to grow vegetables for the passengers. Hydroponics was a necessary for Island because there was no soil, and it was expensive to airlift in fresh vegetables. In the 1960s, Allen Cooper of England developed the Nutrient film technique. The Land Pavilion at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center opened in 1982 and prominently features a variety of hydroponic techniques.
In Last decades, NASA has done extensive hydroponic research for its Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). Hydroponics tries to take place on Mars are using LED lighting to grow in a different color spectrum with much less heat . Ray Wheeler, a plant physiologist at Kennedy Space Center’s Space Life Science Lab, believes that hydroponics will create advances within space travel, as a bioregenerative life support system.
In 2007, Eurofresh Farms in Willcox, Arizona, sold more than 200 million pounds of hydroponically grown tomatoes which became begining of the hydroponic system of farming. Eurofresh has 318 acres (1.3 km2) under glass and represents about a third of the commercial hydroponic greenhouse area in the U.S.
Due to technological advancements within the industry and numerous economic factors, the global hydroponics market is forecast to grow from $226.45 million USD in 2016 to $724.87 million USD by 2023 .
Advantage : 1. Climate control:- Like in greenhouses, hydroponic growers can have total control over the climate - temperature, humidity, light intensification, the composition of the air. In this sense, you can grow foods all year round regardless of the season. Farmers can produce foods at the appropriate time to maximize their business profits.
2. No soils needed:- In a sense, you can grow crops in places where the land is limited, doesn't exist, or is heavily contaminated. In the 1940s, Hydroponics was successfully used to supply fresh vegetables for troops in Wake Island, a refueling stop for Pan American airlines. This is a distant arable area in the Pacific Ocean. Also, Hydroponics has been considered as the farming of the future to grow foods for astronauts in the space (where there is no soil) by NASA.
3. pH control of the solution:- All of the minerals are contained in the water. That means you can measure and adjust the pH levels of your water mixture much more easily compared to the soils. That ensures the optimal nutrients uptake for plants.
4. Make better use of space and location:- Because all that plants need are provided and maintained in a system, you can grow in your small apartment, or the spare bedrooms as long as you have some spaces..
5. Hydroponics is water-saving:- Plants grown hydroponically can use only 10% of water compared to field-grown ones. In this method, water is recirculated. Plants will take up the necessary water, while run-off ones will be captured and return to the system. Water loss only occurs in two forms - evaporation and leaks from the system (but an efficient hydroponic setup will minimize or don't have any leaks).
6. pH control of the solution:- All of the minerals are contained in the water. That means you can measure and adjust the pH levels of your water mixture much more easily compared to the soils. That ensures the optimal nutrients uptake for plants.
7. Better growth rate:- Is hydroponically plants grown faster than in soil? Yes, it is. You are your own boss that commands the whole environment for your plants' growth - temperature, lights, moisture, and especially nutrients. Plants are placed in ideal conditions, while nutrients are provided at the sufficient amounts, and come into direct contacts with the root systems. Thereby, plants no longer waste valuable energy searching for diluted nutrients in the soil. Instead, they shift all of their focus on growing and producing fruits.
8. No weeds:- If you have grown in the soil, you will understand how irritating weeds cause to your garden. It's one of the most time-consuming tasks for gardeners - till, plow, hoe, and so on. Weeds are mostly associated with the soil. So eliminate soils, and all bothers of weeds are gone.
9. Fewer pests & diseases:- And like weeds, getting rids of soils helps make your plants less vulnerable to soil-borne pests like birds, gophers, groundhogs; and diseases like Fusarium, Pythium, and Rhizoctonia species.Also when growing indoors in a closed system, the gardeners can easily take controls of most surrounding variables.
10. Less use of insecticide, and herbicides:- Since you are using no soils and while the weeds, pests, and plant diseases are heavily reduced, there are fewer chemicals used. This helps you grow cleaner and healthier foods. The cut of insecticide and herbicides are a strong point of Hydroponics when the criteria for modern life and food safety are more and more placed on top.
11. Labor and time savers:- Besides spending fewer works on tilling, watering, cultivating, and fumigating weeds and pests, you enjoy much time saved because plants' growth is proven to be higher in Hydroponics. When agriculture is planned to be more technology-based, Hydroponics has a room in it.
Along with the many advantages few of the disadvantages are
1. Initial expenses- You are sure to spend under one hundred to a few hundreds of dollars (depending on your garden scale) to purchase equipment for your the first installation. Whatever systems you build, you will need containers, lights, a pump, a timer, growing media, nutrients). Once the system has been in place, the cost will be reduced to only nutrients and electricity (to keep the water system running, and lightning).
2. Water and electricity risks- In a Hydroponic system, mostly you use water and electricity. Beware of electricity in a combination of water in close proximity. Always put safety first when working with the water systems and electric equipment, especially in commercial greenhouses.
3. System failure threats - You are using electricity to manage the whole system. So suppose you do not take preliminary actions for a power outage, the system will stop working immediately, and plants may dry out quickly and will die in several hours. Hence, a backup power source and plan should always be planned, especially for great scale systems.
4. Long return per investment- If you follow news on agriculture start-up, you may have known that there have been some new indoor hydroponic business started recently. That's a good thing for the agriculture sector and the development of Hydroponics as well. However, commercial growers still face some big challenges when starting with Hydroponics on a large scale.
5. Diseases & pests may spread quickly- You are growing plants in a closed system using water. In the case of plant infections or pests, they can escalate fast to plants on the same nutrient reservoir. In most cases, diseases and pests are not so much of problem in a small system of home growers. So don't care much about these issues if you are beginners.
6. Experiences and technical knowledge You are running a system of many types of equipment, which requires necessary specific expertise for the devices used, what plants you can grow and how they can survive and thrive in a soilless environment. Mistakes in setting up the systems and plants' growth ability in this soilless environment and you end up ruining your whole progress.
7. Organic debates People are questioning whether plants grown hydroponically will get microbiomes as they are in the soil. But people around the world have grown hydroponic plants like lettuces, tomatoes, strawberries, etc.
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