If you are even remotely interested in growing plants then you’ll know that it is almost impossible to read a magazine, blog or watch a gardening show without hearing about hydroponics. This might seem like newly emerging technology, but the fact is that hydroponics has been around for a very long time and it is only recently that it has started to become mainstream.
Once the preserve of scientists and commercial growers looking to adopt more sustainable, productive and manageable technologies, hydroponics has largely been taking place away from the public eye. The reason for this is mostly because of the prohibitive costs of creating a setup using this technology.
As with most new tech, the early systems were large and difficult to scale down without becoming exorbitantly expensive. Furthermore, these highly technical commercial and scientific systems were more complex than most people would want for their own personal use at home. It is only more recently that the costs of small, domestic systems have been brought down enough for them to be a viable choice for many home growers.
What is hydroponics anyway?
Now that we've covered a little about the popularity of hydroponics and how it is making waves in domestic and amateur gardening circles, we should probably explain a little about what it is and how it works. The first thing you need to get your head around is the fact that hydroponics systems don’t use any soil, and plants are grown in water rich environments instead.
We all know that plants need light, water and nutrients to grow, but how can you provide these things reliably indoors? Water and nutrients are possibly the easier things to supplement for your plants but ensuring they get enough light can be a challenge. Luckily, hydroponics takes care of all of these needs.
Rather than being grown directly in soil, plants grown in these systems are rooted into an inorganic substrate such as expanded clay pebbles, horticultural gravel or vermiculite. As you can imagine, there is little to no nutritional value in these substrates and so the grower is responsible for supplementing all the micro and macro nutrients the plants need.
The plant roots and the substrate they’re rooted into are contained in a large tub, bucket or pot depending on the type of hydroponic system being used. Above the plant container, a grower will need to install some supplemental lights such as LED grow lights or a CFL light. This is because it can be tricky to give indoor plants enough light and using supplemental electric lighting means the grower can control the lighting levels.
The benefits of using hydroponics
If you are unsure of the reasons for the popularity of hydroponics then you are sure to be convinced by the amazing benefits that this method brings to indoor gardeners whether they are professionals or keen amateurs. Most people who delve into hydroponics end up preferring this method to others because it can make things so much easier for the grower.
Firstly, by growing plants indoors without soil you are reducing the chances that your plants will develop a pest problem. This is because most pests that bother plants in the UK need soil in order to lay their eggs and complete their life cycles and by removing the substance they lay eggs in you can make it very hard for them to take hold. For the grower, this means less time spent removing pests, and far less need for pesticides.
Perhaps the most important benefit of using these systems, however, is that they make it much easier to achieve larger yields. This is mostly because you can engineer the growing environment to make it optimal for the plant species you are growing. It also means that you can fully supplement the plants with everything they need, thus reducing the competition between each plant in the growing environment.
Another huge benefit to using hydroponics is that it can be used to increase the available growing area. For example, a person living in an apartment with no garden will still be able to grow plants because they can use an indoor hydroponics set up. They can also be made in very small sizes so someone with very limited space indoors should be able to have at least a small countertop system.
