hydroponic gardening,indoor gardening,hydroponics
hydroponic gardening,indoor gardening,hydroponics
Hydroponic gardening, (from the Greek words hydro, water and ponos, labor) is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk.
In the 19th century, researchers discovered that plants absorb essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water. In natural conditions, soil acts as a mineral nutrient reservoir but the soil itself is not essential to plant growth. When the mineral nutrients in the soil dissolve in water, plant roots are able to absorb them. When the required mineral nutrients are introduced into a plant's water supply artificially, soil is no longer required for the plant to thrive. Almost any terrestrial plant will grow with hydroponics. Hydroponic gardening is also a standard technique in biology research and teaching.
Hydroponic gardening is often defined as "the cultivation of plants in water." Research has since determined that many different aggregates or media will support plant growth; therefore, the definition of hydroponic gardening has been broadened to read "the cultivation of plants without soil." Growers all over the world are using hydroponic gardening techniques due to the lack of a large water supply or fertile farmland. Home gardeners have used hydroponic gardening on a smaller scale to grow fresh vegetables year round and to grow plants in smaller spaces, such as an apartment or balcony.
Greenhouses and nurseries grow their plants in a soilless, peat or bark-based growing mix. The nutrients are then applied to the growing mix through the water supply. Therefore, this is also a type of hydroponic gardening. Soilless gardening offers many advantages to the home gardener. Since a sterile medium is used for hydroponic gardening, there are no weeds to remove, and soil-borne pests and diseases are minimized, if not eliminated completely.
Properly grown hydroponic plants also are healthier and more vigorous because all of the necessary growth elements are readily available. The plants can mature faster, yielding an earlier harvest of vegetable and flower crops. Hydroponic gardening uses less space since the roots do not have to spread out in search of food and water. This small space requirement makes hydroponic gardening ideal for home gardeners, and it makes better use of greenhouse space.
The big advantage to hydroponic gardening is the ability to automate the entire system with a timer. Automation reduces the actual time it takes to maintain plant growth requirements. Automation also provides flexibility to the gardener as one can be gone for long periods of time without having to worry about watering the plants.
Hydroponic gardening offers many advantages for commercial agriculture. Cultivating plants without soil eliminates the need for vast farmland and allows crops to be produced in greenhouses or even in the desert sands. Hydroponic gardening techniques also allow for precise water and nutrient application directly to the roots of each plant. Water is reused in these systems and less is lost through evaporation and run-off. Therefore, arid lands, such as deserts, can be transformed into productive lands using limited amounts of water.
Growing plants with hydroponic gardening is not difficult if one understands the basic principles. As long as plant growth requirements are met, there are numerous hydroponic systems that can be used.
HydroponicGarden.net is a website dedicated to hydroponics awareness, education and supplies. Drop by and discover the choices you have for your Hydroponic Gardening.
Article from articlesbase.com
Trowel and Error: Over 700 Tips, Remedies and Shortcuts for the Gardener 
Ever since she was old enough to help her grandmother in the garden, Sharon Lovejoy has spent her life working with plants-and alo...
Indoor Gardening Tool Set Bring all your gardening necessities with you in our Garden Tote Tool Set! This small gardening dynamite includes a pruner, snips,...
You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening This is not your grandmother's gardening book. You Grow Girl is a hip, humorous how-to for crafty gals everywhere who are discover...
Bond 6930 Pink 5 Piece Garden Tool Bag Gift Set Includes: multi purpose garden bag, comfort grip bypass pruner, stainless steel floral shears, comfort grip aluminum trowel. Garde...
Gardening All-in-One for Dummies Seven books in one deliver the dirt on gardening success Your one-stop guide to a beautiful garden – no experience required...
Fiskars 9405 Kangaroo 30-Gallon Gardening Container Perfect for pruning or weeding jobs, the Fiskars Kangaroo 30-gallon gardening container holds itself open, freeing your hands for ...
Burpee : The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener : A Guide to Growing Your Garden Organically A Backyard-Gardener’s Guide to Growing a Bountiful, Great-Tasting Harvest The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener features: ...
Patti Moreno, the Garden Girl, shows you techniques to get more out of limited landspace, by growing up. Check out her website at www.gardengirltv.com This video is available through closed caption(cc) enjoy in any language. FULL TEXT Vertical Gardening Part 1 As urban gardeners, we have a limited amount of space to grow our vegetables and flowers. What I have done is I have employed verticle gardening. Right here as you can see, I have a variety of different cucumber plants. Now, a cucumber is vining crop, which means that with vertical support like this one, you can train it to grow up and the fruit, Take a look right here, can grow perfectly fine on the vine. Different types of crops that work well in a vertical garden are watermelon and pumpkin. Let us go take a look. Here, as you can see, my pumpkin plants are thriving. Pumpkin plants are also vining crops. Now, in the country, where you have a lot of space, you can just let this grow along the ground, but here in a city environment, we do not have all that space. So, what I have done here is, I put together a dog kennel. This is actually really nifty. It is exactly 4 x 4 so it fits perfectly in your raise beds. And, these vines just slough on themselves eventually. You do not have to continuously train them. Okay, so you can go vining crops on vertical supports, but there are other types of plants that also need support like my heirloom tomatoes here, this are Tiffin Mennonite tomatoes, and it grows to be a huge ...
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Tagged with: gardeninghydroponics • gardeningindoor • hydroponic • hydroponic pumpkin • pumpkin pruning plants