Hydroponics Gardening

In Latin, the word hydroponics means literally "water working." Hydroponics is the technique or practice of growing plants (without soil) in water containing dissolved nutrients. With a flow of highly oxygenated, nutrient enriched water, hydroponics allows plants to flourish.

In soil, decomposition breaks down organic matter into food that plants feed on. For a plant to receive a well balanced diet, everything in the soil must be in perfect balance.

With hydroponics, water dissolves salts to allow absorption directly by a plants' root system. These ideal conditions can be very rare in soil due to contamination and inherent imbalances.

Since a perfectly balanced hydroponics nutrient solution is contained, it does not harm our environment like runoff from fertilized soil. Very little water is lost to evaporation owing to its application in areas subject to drought.

To support the plants in this type of system, an inert soil-free medium like fiber, sand or stone, may be used to anchor the roots. A hydroponics system is designed to be very porous for excellent retention of air and water that's necessary for a healthy plant - roots do need to breathe!

In addition to a perfectly balanced diet, plants grown using hydroponics have their food and water delivered directly to their roots. This way, the energy normally used to develop long roots can be redirected to growing more plant.

With the proper exposure to natural sunlight or supplemental growing lights, your hydroponics crop can grow many times faster, bigger and healthier than those grown in soil.

more about growing with hydroponics systems