Most of us grow plants using soil. The majority of planters are depending in soil to grow their crops. However, plants can actually be grown without having to use a soil at all. How? By implementing a system called hydroponics. Hydroponic system or simply hydroponics is a method of growing plants which uses mineral nutrient solutions in water in replacement of soil. Hydroponic system traces its root back in the 19th century although growing plants in the absence of soil has been first documented in the 1627 book Sylva Sylvarum by Sir Francis Bacon.

Researchers discovered that plants absorb essential nutrients by taking inorganic ions which are found in water. It goes without saying that soil is actually a nutrient receptacle and is really not necessary for a plan to survive. Plants are only able to absorb the mineral in the soil when it dissolves in water. Once the plants have absorbed the right nutrients, soil becomes totally redundant to the plant’s existence. Hydroponic system is suitable to almost any kind of terrestrial plants. With hydroponics, terrestrial plants are capable of growing just by having their roots buried in a mineral solution alone. In order to support the plants, medium could be used. Examples of mediums include coconut husk and gravel.

Hydroponic systems come with many benefits. The technology makes it possible for people who don’t have suitable soil to grow their plants. The growth of plants under hydroponic system exceeds that of plants grown in soil by 50% rate. This makes sense because the soil itself is at risk of diseases, poor structure, pests and salinity among others, thus pest and disease infestations as well as weeds are reduced. Hydroponic plants easily absorbed the proper nutrients they need. No chance of overfeeding plants with nutrients. Hydroponic system is a very nature friendly system too as it promotes the proper use of water and fertilizer. Fertilizers in the system are recycled. Pollution caused by pesticides is lessened since the usage of pesticides is reduced as well.

But as they say it, there’s no such thing as perfect, even Hydroponic systems have its drawbacks too. The system can be quite pricey, specially for first timers. It could be way laborious too. The environment that the system requires is known to be stimulating for salmonella growth. Pathogen attacks have also been reported. When fertilizing, care should be exercised as root could get burn from too concentrated solution. Hydroponic system is not for the fin of heart. Before the possible gain could be harvested, the hydroponics knowledge should be applied first accordingly. Implementing the system without sufficient knowledge would be a total waste of money, time and effort.

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