Hydroponics is the practice of growing terrestrial plants without soil. The roots of a plant are immersed in oxygen and nutrient rich water (containing ammonium phosphate, magnesium sulphate, potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, etc) and growing medium like perlite, rockwool, clay pellets, peat moss, vermiculite, etc are used to support the plants. That’s the basic principle of hydroponics.
Benefits of hydroponics
Hydroponics is growing in popularity of late because of several factors. Hydroponics is environmental-friendly and profitable technology, the greatest attributes of all futuristic technology. As compared to conventional cultivators, plant growers using hydroponic technique do not have to worry about soil quality and climate condition. Hydroponic growing is quite often carried out in a green house setting (but can also be set up outdoor) where growing condition, pests, nutrients and other factors can be more easily controlled. As the nutrients are directly fed to the roots, plants do not have to spend time or energy in developing their root system to search for nutrients. The plants can then utilize the available time and energy to focus on vegetative growth. With proper set up, plants can grow upto 25% faster rate and can produce upto 30% more than the plants grown in soil. In a world where land and water are increasingly becoming scarce, hydroponics can give us a ray of hope by providing sustainable usage of land/space and water resources in feeding the ever growing population of the world. To cultivate the same number of plants, hydroponics uses only 1/5 of land and 10% of water as compared to conventional soil based cultivation. Water used can even be recycled and pushed back to hydroponics system. Most of the plant diseases are soil born. As hydroponics negates the necessity of soil, a large number of soil born diseases, pests and weeds will not be a burden on the cultivators and therefore vegetables can be grown with fewer pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc. Further, if you can afford climate-controlled greenhouse, you do not have to worry about traditional growing seasons of the vegetables. One of the greatest advantages for home gardeners is that you can grow organic vegetables in a much smaller space, i.e., balcony, veranda, terrace, etc. for your domestic consumption.
Disadvantages of hydroponics
Hydroponics is not a bed of roses, mind you. Hydroponics may significantly reduce your gardening labour to a few minutes a day but failing to give those few minutes consistently will ruin the entire lot of your crops. Hydroponically grown plants require constant attention as they are dependent on the operator for nutrients and water – their survival. If certain water born disease manages to creep into the system, it can destroy the entire crop. Failure in one of the systems in the network leads to disastrous consequence for the crops. As the hydroponics is so reliant on mechanical system – fans, pumps, lights, container, growing medium, quality hydroponic fertilizer, pH test kit, timer (for automation), power backup – at the minimum, start-up cost is quite high compared to soil based cultivation. However, all these equipments are required only when you plan to grow vegetables on large scale or for commercial purposes. If your plan for growing vegetables hydroponically is for domestic consumption, you can opt for easier and cheaper hydroponic method, known as Kratky Method, which requires no electricity or electronic devices. The only materials you need are container, a lid, pH test kit, net pots and nutrients. For more professional information on Kratky Method you can search the internet.
Does hydroponics have any health risk?
Hydroponics often involves usage of water and electricity resources in close proximity. The operator must be extra careful to avoid electrocution as electricity and water is a dangerous combination.
Like soil based agro products, hydroponic produces are also susceptible to contamination by harmful bacteria like salmonella, E coli. Consumption of contaminated raw vegetables causes diarrhoea, which may be fatal if proper medical attention is not received.
Is hydroponic produce recognized as organic?
For majority consumers, organic means any agricultural product that contains no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or preservatives. In that sense, yes, hydroponic produces grown using organic inputs can be considered ‘organic’. But to receive organic certification for commercial exploitation from the authority requires much more. The National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), which grants organic farming certification in India, does not certify hydroponic and aeroponic systems as organic as they are not grown in healthy and complex soil ecology. Similarly, European Union (EU) rules do not allow plants grown hydroponically to be marked as organic as they are not grown naturally in soil. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has certified certain hydroponically grown produce as organic. However, in March, 2020, Center for Food Safety (CFS) and coalition of organic farm stakeholders in the US sued the USDA for its decision to grant organic certification to hydroponically grown produces. Proponents of soil based organic cultivation argue that science is yet to understand the complex interaction system of the plants with the ecosystem that has evolved for millions of years and therefore vegetables and fruits grown in natural ecosystem must be distinguished from the one grown in hydroponics. Such development indicates that sooner or later a distinct label for hydroponically grown organic agro product will emerge for commercial exploitation.
Nutrition value of vegetables grown in hydroponic system
Various experiments suggest that crops grown hydroponically have higher nutrient content than the crops grown in soil but at times quite worse. That’s the bottom line.
Hydroponics has already proved itself to be an important alternative to the conventional way of growing vegetables. Overall hydroponics system market is likely to touch USD 16 billion by 2025. Although it is quite low in comparison to the overall market size of the vegetables (US$ 1250 billion as of 2018), hydroponics system is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12.1% through 2025. Considering its environmental-friendly and profitable technology, hydroponics offers a very promising future. Several big corporations have already entered the market to tap the commercial potentials of the hydroponics.
