Once you start working with hydroponics it’s hard to turn back. Vigorous plant growth, strong disease free plants full of flowers and fruits in way less time and maintenance than that of a typical garden bed….. The movement towards hydroponic growing is happening very rapidly (and for good reason).
Firstly, is it healthy? Is it natural?
Hydroponic nutrients are derived from mineral salts which are essentially the same as what is found in soil, just more readily available. Find out more about mineral salts here. When you buy soil, you are buying a mixture of organic material, with added minerals. In the majority of cases, the minerals in the store bought soil, have come from the same manufacturers as the hydroponic minerals. The difference is that the nature of soil based minerals is slow release whereas hydroponic minerals are fast release with fast up-take, thus optimal results & faster growth.In soil, a plants roots must go in search for nutrient. This is why typically a soil based plant has a much larger root system than hydroponic. With Hydroponics, the nutrients are delivered directly to the root system in almost surgical quantities. This method ensures that plants receive exactly the right quantity of nutrition at the right times allowing the plant to spend it’s energy producing foliage, stems, leaves and fruit (instead of large root systems). Hydroponic growing translates into stronger, healthy, more vibrant plants with more vitamins and flavor compared with soil based grows. The use of hydroponic gardening by commercial growers is BOOMING! The ability to control the growing factors while conserving space is of paramount importance for yield per square meter crop yields and commercial profits.Because hydroponically grown plants are vigorous, they are also much less susceptible to pests and disease. If you’ve ever put a sick plant beside a healthy plant, you may be surprised to see that the sick plant continues to decline, while the healthy plant is often not affected. This is the natural cycle of life in which the strongest survive. The stronger plant simply has the vigor to withstand fungal and pest attack. It’s incredible to witness this working in nature and is a natural process. So, healthy vigorous plants have natural anti-fungal and anti-pest buffers which means very often, hydroponically grown produce does not require any pesticide whatsoever. Most soil based plants on the other hand, do require regular pesticide dosing to ensure the same results. Consuming produce which has been sprayed with chemicals has detrimental health consequences. The health issues from chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides has been well documented. It is also worth noting that hydroponic systems are good for the environment. As the water is recirculating, it is not being evaporated as readily or absorbed into the ground quickly. In fact, a recirculating hydroponic system can conserve up to 80% water compared to a standard garden bed. The increase of hydroponic growing has done wonders for agriculture especially within urban centers where the demand for fresh blemish free produce is high.
10 reasons why Hydroponic growing kicks ass over soil based… In no particular order;
Faster Results – Your plants grow way faster! Like 30-50% quicker than soil grown plants under the same conditions. This has been studied and proven time and time again.Chemical Free – Plants grown off of the ground are less susceptible to pests and disease. By eliminating the soil your also eliminating alot of potential disaeses…. You’ll often note that a health plant simply does not get attacked by pests like an unhealthy plant does. The pests seem to gravitate to the weaker plants and with hydroponics, there are very few weaker plants which amazingly translates to less pests somehow. It’s crazy but true and means way less sprays needed.Space Saving – Especially with vertical hydroponic gardening, it is the major reason why there is such a strong demand the best vertical gardening systems. Growing vertically saves an incredible amount of space when compared to growing in traditional methods in soil. It’s just way more efficient and smarter way to grow food!Set & Forget Control – With hydroponics, you are the master of your plant’s world. You have complete control over various factors which allows you to create an amazing life for your plants! Nutrient levels and mixture, light, humidity, space etcWater Saving – The hydroponic growing technique can be utilised in places with dry and arid climates like deserts and/or areas where salt water has affected the soils growing abilities. This is a game changer for developing countries. It is our passion to help in developing countries and this is our ultimate goal. For this reason we’re working with non profit organisations such as IVI, an org with over 27 years experience.No Digging & Weeding – If you’ve had a large conventional garden bed, you’ll know how anoying and time consuming it can be to stay on top of the weed issue. Digging the soil up all the time is also a bummer. Wouldn’t you rather just pour some perlite in a container? Clean and painless!Scientology – No not the weird religious cult! We mean that with hydroponics you get to think scientifically about your plants. Designing optimal spaces, measuring quantities, balancing the PH and tending to growing fluxuations like a science boss. Time to get your science on.Grow Local – Because hydroponics work so well, it’s entirely possible to have micro grows in every backyard if we wanted to. Urban gardening is an essential tactic to help ease the burden of societal food security issues worldwide.80% Better Yields – According to a study by NASA here, controlled studies have shown the immense power of hydroponic growing techniques compared with soil based growingRepeat ability – Once you have your set-up locked in, you’ve got a winning formula which you can utilise over and over and over again to produce incredible yields in small spaces, with minimal effort. Compared with a soil based garden in which many factors such as pests and diseases, water content in the soil etc etc….Just one massive basil plant grown hydroponically baby….Check out these results! Each and every photo & video you see below is grown hydroponically using this hydroponic nutrient. It’s an incredible, all rounder nutrient that is designed to grow plants of all types in various stages of growth in one simple high quality formula. This nutrient is optimized for the tower garden hydroponic gardening options using coco coir.
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About the Author
Mr Stacky is the leader in Tower Garden Systems in Australia, specializing in commercial hydroponic farming, urban farming & residential vertical gardening.
Find out how he can help you achieve your food production goals. Contact Brian
I came across your website while looking for a heavy duty plant trolly. I have a container that is 36cm wide at the base and it looks like you have a suitable trolley. A few questions:
1. Is the 36cm trolley rated to hold up to 120kgs?
2. Is the trolley 10cm high?
3. Can a “collar” to hide the wheels be made so it looks nicer? The container I have is at the front door.
Moving on to the wall gardens. I have a couple of walls that we may want to fill up. Questions:
1. What dimensions are the kits?
2. What are the dimensions of the small and large containers?
Hydroponic growing translates into stronger, healthy, more vibrant plants with more vitamins and flavor compared with soil based grows. The use of hydroponic gardening by commercial growers is BOOMING! The ability to control the growing factors while conserving space is of paramount importance for yield per square meter crop yields and commercial profits.
Because hydroponically grown plants are vigorous, they are also much less susceptible to pests and disease. If you’ve ever put a sick plant beside a healthy plant, you may be surprised to see that the sick plant continues to decline, while the healthy plant is often not affected. This is the natural cycle of life in which the strongest survive. The stronger plant simply has the vigor to withstand fungal and pest attack. It’s incredible to witness this working in nature and is a natural process.
So, healthy vigorous plants have natural anti-fungal and anti-pest buffers which means very often, hydroponically grown produce does not require any pesticide whatsoever. Most soil based plants on the other hand, do require regular pesticide dosing to ensure the same results. Consuming produce which has been sprayed with chemicals has detrimental health consequences. The health issues from chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides has been well documented.
It is also worth noting that hydroponic systems are good for the environment. As the water is recirculating, it is not being evaporated as readily or absorbed into the ground quickly. In fact, a recirculating hydroponic system can conserve up to 80% water compared to a standard garden bed. The increase of hydroponic growing has done wonders for agriculture especially within urban centers where the demand for fresh blemish free produce is high.
Hydroponic growing translates into stronger, healthy, more vibrant plants with more vitamins and flavor compared with soil based grows. The use of hydroponic gardening by commercial growers is BOOMING! The ability to control the growing factors while conserving space is of paramount importance for yield per square meter crop yields and commercial profits.
Because hydroponically grown plants are vigorous, they are also much less susceptible to pests and disease. If you’ve ever put a sick plant beside a healthy plant, you may be surprised to see that the sick plant continues to decline, while the healthy plant is often not affected. This is the natural cycle of life in which the strongest survive. The stronger plant simply has the vigor to withstand fungal and pest attack. It’s incredible to witness this working in nature and is a natural process.
So, healthy vigorous plants have natural anti-fungal and anti-pest buffers which means very often, hydroponically grown produce does not require any pesticide whatsoever. Most soil based plants on the other hand, do require regular pesticide dosing to ensure the same results. Consuming produce which has been sprayed with chemicals has detrimental health consequences. The health issues from chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides has been well documented.
It is also worth noting that hydroponic systems are good for the environment. As the water is recirculating, it is not being evaporated as readily or absorbed into the ground quickly. In fact, a recirculating hydroponic system can conserve up to 80% water compared to a standard garden bed. The increase of hydroponic growing has done wonders for agriculture especially within urban centers where the demand for fresh blemish free produce is high.
Hello Mr Stacky.
I came across your website while looking for a heavy duty plant trolly. I have a container that is 36cm wide at the base and it looks like you have a suitable trolley. A few questions:
1. Is the 36cm trolley rated to hold up to 120kgs?
2. Is the trolley 10cm high?
3. Can a “collar” to hide the wheels be made so it looks nicer? The container I have is at the front door.
Moving on to the wall gardens. I have a couple of walls that we may want to fill up. Questions:
1. What dimensions are the kits?
2. What are the dimensions of the small and large containers?