What Does Hydroponic Gardening Mean?
Hydroponic gardening refers to soilless growing, whereby plants grow and develop in a nutrient-rich solution rather than traditional soil beds.
Hydroponic gardening is usually simplified to just 'hydroponics'. A common misconception is that hydroponic gardening only occurs in water, but growers can also use sand, perlite, or any other type of soilless growing medium, and still essentially be growing hydroponically.
Hydroponic gardening is a type of gardening that is also thought to be quite expensive, since growers often require an artificial light source, special equipment, an inert hydroponics medium, and specially formulated nutrients. However, hydroponics can increase yields.
Maximum Yield Explains Hydroponic Gardening
According to botanists, hydroponics can actually have a 30-50 quicker growth rate and more substantial yield than a regular soil garden. This is due to the fact that hydroponics encourages more oxygen to circulate around the plant’s roots.
In addition, unlike traditional soil growing, hydroponics ensures that the plants are continuously exposed to nutrients which stimulate growth and development. Furthermore, hydroponic plants do not require as much energy to break down food and nutrients, which means that they can grow quicker than soil-based plants.
Various types of growing mediums are used in hydroponic gardening to channel nutrients and water towards the root system. These include rockwool, sand, gravel, coco coir, vermiculite, hydroton, clay, growstones, and perlite.
Hydroponic gardening can be done in various types of systems. Some of the most common types are DWC, NFT, aeroponics, aquaponics, wick systems, drip systems, and ebb and flow. In can be done year-round indoors, and is sometimes done completely outdoors or in greenhouses.
