Hydroponics: harm and benefit - more

It would not be entirely correct to call this method the most modern. Even the ancient world knew the ways of unfounded cultivation of fruit and vegetable and ornamental plants. One of the seven wonders of the world - the hanging gardens of the Semiramis or the floating plantations of the medieval Aztecs - this is the hydroponics modified today. Harm from the production of plant products with chemical solutions is widely discussed in society. At the same time, the method has both ardent opponents and obvious adherents. What is hydroponics? Harm and benefit

As already mentioned, this is a method of growing plants outside the soil using solid non-nutritive substrates - expanded clay or any mineral fiber - and a nutrient solution consisting of 99% water and 1% micronutrients. Hydroponic systems can be different in structure and scale: from home mini-greenhouses to industrial shops, but the same method always remains at the basis: using the liquid to deliver to the roots of the plant all the substances that are normally found in the soil. But the difference from ordinary conditions is not only external. If in the soil there are not enough of these or other components or the plant can not fully recover them from the ground, then they are all concentrated and pure form present in the solution on which hydroponics works. The damage to the culture in this case is minimized, as access to pests and diseases present in the soil is limited. However, consumers are frightened by the other side - the chemical composition of the working solution, which naturally goes into the fruit. What do specialists and farmers say about this, who have hydroponics already introduced?

Harm is much less than when grown outdoors

This is confirmed by knowledgeable people, however, few assurances are given to the simple consumer. In order to prove their rightness, the experts give the following arguments:

• Growing vegetables, greens or berries on your site with a minimum of chemical protection and feeding, you can not rely on the ecological purity of the crop and forget about the soil, poisoned by sewage, chemicals, car exhausts, acid rains. Unfortunately, there is no longer a pure natural environment.
• Without any share of pesticides and fertilizers, one can not count on a crop, which means that the owner brings synthetic substances into the soil with his own hands. After all, otherwise there is no way to avoid such troubles as fungal diseases, rot, late blight, bear, and so on.
• In the hydroponic solution of chemical preparations no more than in conventional top dressing for open ground, and the microelements necessary for the plant are in it in pure form and in optimal doses. Thanks to this, it is possible to obtain a pure crop, besides, the period of vegetation and maturation decreases.

When hydroponics - harm and obvious evil

Yes, there is such a moment. The fact is that in the narcotics, hydroponics is called marijuana, grown in this way. It would be surprising if someone did not use such a progressive method for criminal purposes. In this case, the drug obtained in this way is much stronger than that created from ordinary wild hemp. And if they write and talk about how drugs work on the body, what consequences are fraught with addiction to them, then in the case of hydroponics, the level of harm increases by an order of magnitude.

Hydroponics with your own hands

For the cultivation of vegetable, berry or ornamental crops in limited quantities (for the family or for small businesses) it is quite possible to build a hydroponic plant on its own with a minimum of costs. If you need a very small number of plantings - up to 50 bushes or less, you can dispense with ordinary plastic pots with a hole, which should be inserted into more spacious containers with liquid. As a substrate, clayite, perlite, coconut fiber and even ordinary foam rubber are suitable. Dilution of the liquid and dosage is strictly according to the instructions attached to the nutrients. If conditions permit, it is best to assemble a simple automated system for water circulation. The most expensive is a small electric motor. The device for planting plants can be made to the trivial simple. The right amount of plastic sewer pipes with a diameter of 15 cm is purchased with all the necessary joints and crossings. In them an electric jigsaw cut round holes under a plastic cup, on the bottom of which a few small holes are made by the soldering iron to pass the solution and the roots of the plant break through. It remains to take care of the lighting and wait for the harvest.