One of the many advantages of Hydroponic Vegetables as well as the hydroponic at all is a decrease in water usage for agriculture. This makes it possible in harsh environments with little accessible water to grow their own food.
How Does Hydroponics Work?
First, let’s take a look in general what is hydroponic. Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture, which is a method of growing plants, usually crops, without soil, by using mineral nutrient solutions in an aqueous solvent.
Hydroponic is not new and the concept of soilless gardening or hydroponics has been around for thousands of years. Date back 1627 year when a book Sylva Sylvarum by Francis Bacon was published on growing terrestrial plants without soil.
Due to technological advancements within the industry and numerous economic factors, the global hydroponics market is forecast to grow from US$226.45 million in 2016 to US$724.87 million by 2023.
One of the most obvious decisions hydroponic farmers have to make is which medium they should use. Different media are appropriate for different growing techniques. The two main types of hydroponics are solution culture and medium culture.
What are the Advantages of Hydroponic Vegetables?
After we know the basics of how hydroponic system works let’s take a look into the top 10 Advantages of Hydroponic Vegetables.
Hydroponics saves water
As much as 10 times less water use hydroponic systems compare to a traditional field crop watering methods because water in a hydroponic system is captured and reused. The problem with soil is that once the water is applied, it is absorbed by the soil.
Thanks to the advancements in hydroponic technology, the development of recirculating hydroponic systems helps recycling unused irrigation water and minimize water use.
Environmentally friendly
The growth rate on a hydroponic plant is 30-50 percent faster than a soil plant, grown under the same conditions. The yield of the plant is also greater.
Hydroponic gardening also offers several benefits to our environment. Hydroponic gardening uses considerably less water than soil gardening, because of the constant reuse the nutrient solutions. Due to lack of necessity, fewer pesticides are used on hydroponic crops. Since hydroponic gardening systems use no topsoil, topsoil erosion isn’t even an issue. This is another important benefit from our list Advantages of Hydroponic Vegetables.
Efficient supply of nutrients
The nutrients in a hydroponic system are mixed with the water and sent directly to the root system. The plant does not have to search in the soil for the nutrients that it requires. Those nutrients are being delivered to the plant several times per day. The hydroponic plant requires very little energy to find and break down food. The plant then uses this saved energy to grow faster and to produce more fruit. Hydroponic plants also have fewer problems with bug infestations, funguses and disease. In general, plants grown hydroponically are healthier and happier plants.
Less Land Is Needed
In hydroponic you can place closer together pots without causing any problems in the growth rate of plants. The vegetables are not competing as if they were in soil and all nutrients in the growing solution are distributed differently in water compared to soil.
pH control
Knowing what is the pH is an essential task for growers, because plants need a very specific pH range: between 5.5-6.5. Testing the pH of your nutrient solution has never been easier and it another of the advantages of Hydroponic Vegetables list.
When you extend above or below this range, certain nutrients start to get locked out, and your plant will develop nutrient deficiencies.
With pH in the right range, your plants will be able to uptake all the nutrients you feed them, and meet their full potential in terms of yield and potency. It takes just a few moments, and can make or break. Using a hydroponics pH Test Kits make pH testing easy.
No limitation of location and space
Hydroponics is an efficient method of producing foliage plants, vegetables, and other crops. In the recent decades, the demand for locally grown and organic produce has skyrocketing. Hydroponic allows growing in a very efficient way and meeting that demand.
Hydroponic farms can be build everywhere even in places with water problems. This also helps in the growing of off-season veggies. Hydroponic Farming can be performed anywhere – in a basement, balcony, old buildings, etc.
No use of pesticides and herbicides
The spraying of pesticides and herbicides do great damage not only to the environment but to human health and other animals as well. Pesticides can not be controlled and can easily contaminating nearby ecosystems.
Usually pesticides are applied to control pest insects, while herbicides are sprayed to kill off unwanted plants.
While with hydroponics, there is no weed growth because it takes time for plants to grow into hydroponic grow medium. There are no insects and no need of pesticides. This is another major point from the 10 Advantages of Hydroponic Vegetables.
No weeds, pests or diseases
Similar to what we mentioned above since hydroponics are in covered and controlled environment and no soil is used there is less chance for any weeds, diseases or pests.
Battling with weeds in a soil is one of the most exhausting tasks for crop owners or gardeners. Since there is not soil your plants are not as susceptible to soil-borne pests like gophers, groundhogs, or a bunch of birds.
The farmer has entire control over the growing conditions.
Improved quality of produce
Less waste
Hydroponic crop production has significantly increased in recent years. Hydroponics depends on precise control to achieve its results where variables like temperature, pH, nutrition have to be monitored for optimal results.
The nutrient effluent released into the environment can have negative impacts on the surrounding ecosystems as well as the potential to contaminate the groundwater utilized by humans for drinking purposes.
For growing plants in hydroponic, the reuse of non-recycled, nutrient-rich hydroponic waste solution is the only way to control environmental pollution.
