What is Hydroponic Garden Systems

Gardeners and other horticulturalists are quite used to getting dirty. They mess around in soil and apply fertilizers and pesticides all day, planting and re-planting their favorite plants. And their reward at the end of the day is a beautiful and strong plant that you can look at or even eat. If you can gain all of those benefits without touching the soil at all, would you do it?

Hydroponics is the art of creating beautiful plants without dealing with the traditional soil-based structures.

Hydroponics is an art and a science blended together to grow plants without soil. Water is the a very common medium to use the hydroponics, but there are other materials that the hydroponic gardener can use to grow successful and strong plants.

How can you possibly grow plants in just water? Wouldn’t they have a lot of problems and not be able to grow? Plants need soil for nutrition, heat, to support them and other factors, right? Well, not all plants in the wild depend on soil to grow and some can grow in sand or gravel quite well. Hydroponics just takes what is possible in nature and makes it possible as a art form.

Plants need a lot of sunlight and heat in order to get a lot of energy. Soil is usually warmed by the sunlight, but direct sunlight on the leaves of your plant will also warm up your plant. If you leave the upper part of your plant exposed to sunlight, photosynthesis will occur to help the plant get the energy and nutrients that it needs. Some plants don’t need light to survive but for most of the plants you will want to grow in hydroponics, light plays a big role in their development.

Most plants need physical support to stand up. And no plant will hold up well in just water. If you plant them in the soil, it will effectively help them stand up straight. The roots will spread and help the plants be more wind resistant. However, with hydroponic plants, you will not have the soil to keep the roots steady for the plant. You can use artificial aids to keep the plants propped up like ice cream sticks glue to the top of glass and a number of other highly effective methods.

One of the most important things to a plant is its nutrients. You will need a number of nutrients for your plant to grow successfully, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and many other elements like calcium, zinc, copper, iron and chlorine. The plant will absorb these elements typically from its soil, but with hydroponic plants, it has to get them through other means.

Soak the roots in a nutrient-filled substance to help it feed through its roots. There are other ways of giving nutrients to your plants but this is a very popular way. If you can spray the roots with a mister that has a nutrient solution it will also help your plant. Spraying the roots this way is known as aeroponics.

         

Introduction to Hydroponic Gardening