With the current COVID-19 epidemic, many people are looking for new ways to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Hydroponics is a great way to garden for most people.
Using hydroponic techniques, it is possible to create gardens that are partially or fully automated, on table tops, or raised stands; and which don't require any heavy work such as digging.
Hydroponics has become popular across the world, as well as hobby gardeners who simply find it fascinating to grow plants without soil, or through application of technology.
A small hydroponics set up doesn't take up much space, and is ideal for growing vegetables, herbs and cut flowers in a confined space and because it gives your participants easy access. This system doesn't use soil so you don’t need to dig (which may be a plus for some people), and there are few weeds and no soil-borne diseases. It allows you to control plant growth, and the results can be as good as or better than produce from plants grown in the ground.
You can buy a kit from a specialist hydroponics shop or set up your own system using polystyrene containers filled with an inert media such as course sand, gravel or vermiculite. The nutrient solution needs to be carefully balanced to meet the plants’ needs and should be monitored throughout the growing period.
Hydroponics - Growing Without Soil
Soil does four main things for the plants which grow in it:
- Provides support (stops the plant falling over or blowing away by providing anchorage for the plant's roots).
- Provides water through the roots.
- Provides air through the roots - yes, the plant absorbs gas out of the air through its roots! A plant's roots can starve for air just as much as they can starve for water.
- Provides nutrients (i.e. food in the form of very simple types of chemicals).
To be successful, hydroponics needs to cater for these four functions which are usually handled by the soil.
Find out more about hydroponics and the courses we offer -
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Longer hydroponics courses - from 100 hour courses to Certificates and more.