Hydroponics the best way to grow

Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil. Most commonly, hydroponics cultivates plants in nutrient-rich water, although hydroponics can also be considered to be the practice of growing plants in other aggregates, such as a soil-less bark-based mix. The name "Hydroponics" was created from a latin word which means "Working Water". To most of us, it actually means growing plants without soil by supplying all needed nutrients in the plant's water supply.

The micro-nutrients that are required for healthy plant growth are calcium, magnesium, sulfur, boron, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. These nutrients are essential elements that plants need in very small amounts. Without these trace elements plants can become "sick" and develop all sorts of problems, depending on which micro-nutrient(s) are missing.

In the case of food crops, the lack of micro-nutrients in the soil can mean a lack of nutrients in the food, which means at best that the food isn't as healthy as it could be and at worst that people can develop heath problems due to the lack of these essential elements. That is why it is important to use a good quality Hydroponic fertilizer when ever you are growing plants using hydroponics.

Benefits: Hydroponics is an advantageous method of gardening both for home and commercial use.

There are no weeds to deal with, and hydroponic plants are typically more healthy, mature earlier, and use less space. In its essence, it is the science of growing plants without soil, although now most hydroponic systems use a variety of inert material such as gravel, perlite, etc. as a porous plant support. Hydroponic growing has become a major player because of its ability to be used where the ground or climate in the region can't normally support the growing of plant life. This can be a desert or even a space station, but hydroponic technology is used mainly by greenhouses and home hobbyists as a way of quickly raising plants to maturity.

• Because of hydroponics, the home hobbyist is now able to grow crops of the highest quality many times a year in a relatively small area.

Growing medium: Growing medium is simply what the roots of the plants are growing in. This can be a vast variety of materials, including rockwool, perlite, vermiculite, coconut fiber, gravel, sand or any number of other materials, even air can be a growing medium. The growing medium is an inert substance that doesn't supply any nutrition to the plants, all the nutrition comes from the nutrient solution (water and fertilizer mixed). You can therefore easily control everything the plants receive, the strength and pH of the nutrient solution is easy to adjust so that the plants receive just the right amount of nutrient and water. The watering cycles can be simply controlled by an inexpensive timer so that the plants get watered when they need to be.

Method: There are three different ways of culturing hydroponically-grown plants.

Nutrient film technique: The simplest one, simply uses a plastic trough as a container. Holes are placed in the top to hold the plants. The trough is sloped slightly, so the solution will flow to a reservoir. Aeroponics: It suspends the roots in a mist rather than a solution, and aeration, which uses an air pump to deliver oxygen to the roots that are immersed in the solution. Aggregate: This system uses inert material, such as clay pebbles or foam chips to surround the roots and provide support to the plant. The most common aggregate system is the flood and drain method, which fills a container with the aggregate. The container is then flooded with the nutrient solution as often as necessary.

Hydroponics can also be incredibly simple, a hand watered bucket of sand with a single plant is also a method of hydroponics gardening. The "average" home hydroponics system usually consists of a few basic parts: a growing tray, a reservoir, a simple timer controlled submersible pump to water the plants and an air pump and air stone to oxygenate the nutrient solution. Of course, light (either natural or artificial) is also required. Good-luck and happy planting!

(Sources: wisegeek.com, ?k12.hi.us/~ckuroda/hydroponics.html)