What Is Hydroponic Gardening

Hydroponic gardening is a process of growing plants, flowers, and vegetables without soil. While not a new technique, hydroponic gardening does seem to be gaining interest among hobby home gardeners these days.

Some people think of hydroponic gardening as growing plants in water instead of soil, but that’s technically incorrect. Instead, the plants are actually grown in a liquid mineral nutrient solution. Sometimes other things are used for growing hydroponics though, and these can include clay, sand, gravel, and vermiculite.

Many people feel that hydroponic gardening is a healthier way to go, because the plants have constant access to the rich nutrients they need. They also have constant access to water, so they’re able to drink as needed without fear of over or under watering.

There are many other obvious and not so obvious reasons for growing plants hydroponically. The type and quality of soil does not need to be considered for instance, so it doesn’t matter how poor your local soil might be if you’re growing hydroponic vegetables. You’ll also benefit from the plant receiving many more nutrients, and thus theoretically the vegetables and fruits should provide you with much more nutrition than standard soil grown versions.

Generally there are no weeds to worry about, nor soil born viruses or infestations either.

People who live in areas which are primarily rock are unable to have gardens unless they bring the soil in themselves. With hydroponic gardening of course, this is no longer an issue. It’s also the reason NASA has been experimenting with hydroponics, because someday it may be a way for people to live on the Moon or in space stations where there is no soil naturally.

When plants are removed from soil based growth they die. This is why many fruits and vegetables are harvested early when they need to be shipped long distances to retail outlets, because the fruits and vegetables will not die off and rot as quickly during shipping. Hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables however, do not die when they’re removed from their growth system. They continue to live and grow, which means they’re fresher when delivered to retail outlets.

On the downside however, hydroponic gardening requires more technology and technical knowledge to accomplish. Hydroponic gardening requires specialized tanks, lights, pumps and other devices that can are expensive up front investments. And if any part of the system fails of course, the crop could be quickly lost.

If hydroponic gardening sounds interesting to you, or you live in an area where it’s very difficult to grow gardens in soil, you might want to explore some of the growing body of information on hydroponic gardening which can be found online.