2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16
Calling this method the most modern would not be entirely correct. Even the ancient world knew how to grow fruit and vegetable and ornamental plants without soil. One of the seven wonders of the world - the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or the floating plantations of the medieval Aztecs - this is hydroponics modified today. The harm from obtaining plant products using chemical solutions is widely discussed in society. At the same time, the method has both ardent opponents and obvious adherents.
What is hydroponics? Harm and benefit
As already mentioned, this is a method of growing plants out of soil using solid non-nutritional substrates - expanded clay or any mineral fiber - and a nutrient solution consisting of 99% water and 1% micronutrients. Hydroponic systems can vary in design and scale, from home mini-greenhouses to industrial workshops, but the basic method is always the same: using a liquid to deliver to the roots of the plant all the substances that are usually found in the soil. But the difference from the usual conditions is not only external. If there is in the soilthere are not enough of these or those components or the plant cannot fully extract them from the ground, then all of them are present in a concentrated and pure form in the solution on which hydroponics works. The damage caused to the crop in this case is minimized, since access to it is limited for pests and diseases present in the soil. However, consumers are frightened by the other side - the chemical composition of the working solution, which, of course, goes into fruits. What do experts and farmers who have already implemented hydroponics say about this?
Harm much less than growing outdoors
This is what knowledgeable people say, but assurances alone are not enough for a simple consumer. To prove their case, experts cite the following arguments:
- Growing vegetables, herbs or berries on your plot using a minimum of chemical protection and feeding, you can not rely on the ecological cleanliness of the crop and forget about the soil poisoned by sewage, chemicals, car exhaust, acid rain. Unfortunately, there is no longer a clean natural environment.
- Without some share of pesticides and fertilizers, one cannot count on the harvest, which means that the owner brings synthetic substances into the soil with his own hands. After all, otherwise there is no way to avoid such troubles as fungal diseases, rot, late blight, Medvedka and so on.
- There are no more chemicals in the hydroponic solution than in the usual top dressing for open ground, and the microelements necessary for the plant are in itpure form and in optimal doses. Thanks to this, it is possible to get a clean harvest, in addition, the period of vegetation and ripening is reduced.
When hydroponics is harm and obvious evil
Yes, there is such a moment. The fact is that in the drug environment hydroponics is called marijuana grown in this way. It would be surprising if someone did not use such a progressive method for criminal purposes. At the same time, the drug obtained in this way is much stronger than that created from ordinary wild cannabis. And if they write and talk about how drugs act on the body, what consequences addiction to them is fraught with, then in the case of hydroponics, the level of harm increases by an order of magnitude.
DIY Hydroponics
To grow vegetable, berry or ornamental crops in limited quantities (for a family or for a small business), it is quite possible to build a hydroponic installation on your own with a minimum of costs. If you need a very small number of plantings - up to 50 bushes or less, you can get by with ordinary plastic pots with a hole, which should be inserted into more spacious containers with liquid. Expanded clay, perlite, coconut fiber and even ordinary foam rubber are suitable as a substrate. Dilution of the liquid and dosage - strictly according to the instructions attached to the nutrients. If conditions permit, it is best to assemble a simple automated system for water circulation. The most expensive is a small electric motor. A device for arranging plants can be made up tosimply banal. The required number of plastic sewer pipes with a diameter of 15 cm is purchased with all the necessary joints and transitions. Round holes are cut into them with a jigsaw for a plastic cup, on the bottom of which several small holes are made with a soldering iron so that the solution passes and the roots of the plant break through. It remains to take care of the lighting and wait for the harvest.
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