What is hydroponics?

The word "hydroponics" comes from the Greek words "hydro," water and "ponos' work. Thus, it is a method of hydroponics (without land), which relies solely on an aqueous solution, that is to say mainly composed of water. For this type of culture, the plant is rooted in a substrate whose only role is to maintain, since it draws all its nutrients from the water solution enriched with minerals that method, is sprayed on the roots or runs on them. The main interest is to save the plant to have to go get water and nutrients can be very deep in the earth, in order to channel its development in the foliage and fruit. This system also allows a significant saving in space, because the feet are placed in pots fairly small, since root growth is small. Even if all this seems to touch on science rather than agriculture, hydroponics actually goes back much further than one might think. Indeed, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon already brilliantly illustrated this principle, which of course was developed and refined over thousands of years. The hydroponics began to be exploited commercially in Europe around 1925, but it was not until the development of an aqueous solution perfect for it grows really large scale, what happened in the 1970s. From that moment, hydroponics has been widely developed because of the many benefits it offers. In fact, plants grown hydroponically using the method are much less susceptible to disease, often conveyed by the external environment. Similarly, no land, no more weeding chores that were usually dealt with a lot of chemicals. More waste in terms of watering either, because the water supply is closed circuit, and the plant can not only what it needs. More losses by evaporation or runoff into the ground. Plants grown hydroponically also produce larger crops, faster, and whatever the season. All this is possible because hydroponics allows absolute control of all elements as the key to plant growth. Water, as we mentioned, is made according to actual needs, thus avoiding a huge waste. With lighting kits, the brightness is controlled to be optimal, allowing development up to the maximum capacity of the plant cultivated. The climate also is fully under control: no bad weather, excessive heat, frost night ... all conditions are perfect. All this makes it possible success rate, even for those who have no experience, much higher than conventional crops, so many parameters difficult to control can fail. And beyond the appearance profitable for farmers, hydroponics is a hobby healthy, pleasant, and which does not require to have a garden or a lot of space inside: 1m2 same may be sufficient to get good vegetables or beautiful flowers.