Hello my Steemian friends. I welcome you to my blog. Today, I will be discussing hydroponics as a good substitute for traditional farming methods.
With ever increasing urbanization, it is becoming almost impossible to carry out farming operations in urban areas due to lack of space or arable land. Under such situations, hydroponics systems could be a worthy alternative
What Is Hydroponics?
The 'hydro' in hydroponics is a Greek world for 'water' and 'ponos' means work. Hence, hydroponics is a branch of horticulture whereby plants are grown in a soiless medium or aquatic based medium. In a hydroponic system, plants grow healthily without the use of usual soil medium by using a water nutrient solution.
The science of hydroponics has made us to understand that a plant just needs some water, select nutrients and sunlight to grow. They actually don't need soil to grow and often grow a lot better with their roots in water. Soil just acts as a container for the plant as well as a medium to transfer ground nutrients to the plant.
Learning what is hydroponics should also involve knowing its advantages as well as disadvantages (if any) to appreciate the concept clearly. On that note, let's look at some advantages advantages and disadvantages of hydroponics.
Advantages of hydroponics
Hydroponic plants grow up to 50% faster than they would in soil. This is because there is a constant provision of readily available nutrition. In addition to that, they are not affected by seasons. So fresh produce can be harvested from a hydroponic garden at all times during the year.
In comparison to traditional soil gardening, hydroponic gardening curtails the need for herbicides and pesticides.
Due to ever increasing urbanization, arable land is in short supply and so gardening space becomes a major problem. Under such situations, hydroponic gardening becomes a worthy option.
It encourages recycling water as any water used in hydroponic gardening stays in the system and is reusable. This reduces the need for fresh water supply. This is unlike traditional gardening where water is constantly provided.
It encourages year round cultivation — you decide when and what to plant at any given time. Farming activities are not limited by seasonal changes. This has a positive effect on food availability.
Faster yield — this result from the fact that there is availability of nutrients at all the time. Plants need not produce large and long roots; they devote all their energy to producing the crop which in turn results in bigger crops.
Disadvantages of Hydroponics
Cost of Start Up: before creating hydroponic garden, you should be prepared to invest at least $100 or more to be able to procure necessary equipment such as growing media, nutrients, lights, air pumps, containers, etc. The good news is, however, these things once acquired, are reusable.
Trial and Error Phase:— you can learn all there is to be learnt. You can have all the right equipment but without experience you may not get it right. To acquire the experience and begin to get it right, you will need to pass through a trial and error phase which most people may not have the patience to weather through.
It Needs Commitment: with a traditional soil gardening, it is possible to ignore plants for some time since the soil is acting as a natural buffer. This cannot be said of hydroponics. You will need to be in control over all nutrients, light and water, because slightest mistake can result in unfavorable outcome.
Preparation Of A Typical Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
You can either buy ready-to-use nutrient solutions from a specialist shop or you can make make your own special solutions for various types of crops on the basis of the chemical elements that the concerned plants need most. Whatever is the case, the right nutrient mix should contain primary nutrients, secondary nutrients and micronutrients. Primary nutrients are nitrogen, potassium and magnesium. Secondary nutrients include calcium, Sulphur and phosphorus while micronutrients are iron, copper, manganese, boron, molybdenum and zinc.
Below is a recipe for a typical nutrient solution that can be made at home by diluting the nutrients in 20 litres of well filtered water.
25ml of CaNO3 known as calcium nitrate
1.7ml of K2SO4 known as potassium sulphate
8.3ml of KNO3 known as potassium nitrate
6.25ml of KH2PO4 known as monopotassium phosphate
17.5ml of MgSO4 known as magnesium sulphate
2ml of trace elements (source)
The solution should be stored in a container at room temperature and be kept away from light. Always shake well prior to using it. Your plant reaction will give you an indication if it is receiving enough nutrients or not — when it is not enough, the leaves turn yellow; when it is too much, they look brown, burnt or curled.
Approaches To Building A Home-made Hydroponic System
Although there are many approaches, but for the purpose of this article we will consider three basic ones. Information regarding other approaches can be found by visiting the links provided under reference section. The three approaches to be discussed here include:
Hydroponic Raft System
A simple raft system is ideal for those just starting out. It is cost effective and easy to set up. Above all, it gives vegetables much more quickly than traditional gardening methods. You can go here to get all details on how to make it.
Vertical Hydroponics System
This is an excellent option for gardeners when there is not enough space. To enrich the hydroponic system so that their plants will look as green as they can get, it is advisable to use recycled materials. For a complete guide on how to use PVP pipes to make one, click here
Aquaponics System
An Aquaponic system is made through combination of elements of aquaculture and hydroponics in a symbiotic setting in which fish waste is made to work as fertilizer for crops. The system is usually enclosed with little to no waste and without the need for fertilizer or pesticides. A small yard, maybe a corner in a garden or an unused space at home can be turned into a booming aquaponic farm for vegetables and fish, with ease.
A small pump is fitted unto the system which will draw nutrient-rich water from the fish tank, through the interconnecting pipes to the tops of the vertical column. While this is happening, the water that collects at the top now trickles down via the plant roots gathering from the air (for fish use) while falling back into the tank.
Listing Of Plants That Can Be Grown Hydroponically
They include Basil, Tomatoes, Mint, Cherry, Strawberries, Watercress, Kale, Peppers, Lettuce, Cucumbers and Spinach
Conclusion
Hydroponics, when properly supervised, can grow the healthiest food possible and in large amounts within any given space no matter how small and in a very sustainable way. It offers people the ability to grow food at all places including arid areas where traditional agriculture is not possible. Hence, government should be able to come with policies that will encourage farmers to develop interest in hydroponics.
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Na Your Naija Boi,
@eurogee
References for further reading
http://www.farmhydroponics.com/hydroponics/hydroponics-systems-guide#What_is_hydroponics
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thebetterindia.com/60350/soil-less-hydroponic-gardening-india/amp/
http://zerosoilgardens.com/what-is-hydroponics-intro-to-hydroponics/
http://www.healwithfood.org/grow-indoors/best-plants-to-grow-hydroponically-or-aquaponically.php
You can write correct chemical formulas by using
<sub> ... </sub> (or also <sup> ... </sup> for the exponents) HTML tags. It looks like this then:
MgSO4.
Thanks for your thoughts
Excelent article! It is really the best way ever to cultivate your own food and become independent from the industry!
Yes you are very right. Thanks for checking me out
great post, I have been really interested in hydroponics for awhile and have learned how effective it can be to use 275 gallon IBC storage containers. They are a great low cost and easy method to create and setup hydroponics systems. I am building one now
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Lovely info as usual, @eurogee kindly use the tag steemiteducation or steemstem for this post
Thanks. Edited
plants grow in a soilless medium or aquatic based medium....this is a top notch, keep on delivering boss.
Thanks you my dear
i worked in a green house once and it felt like it bwould be great in future. in fact now is the future
I am impressed with your experience
i m flattered
The importance of Hydroponic plantation can never be overemphasized irrespective of the cost, for developed world yes it is applicable but never for now will I associate it to Nigeria because doing that will amount to a deliberate failure. Am I a prophet of doom? No! But I have a clearer understanding of hydroponics which includes constant power supply, rotation of fertilized water dynamics etc.
Thanks @eurogee for such wonderful dream post, surely we will get there.
Not a dream post. It is very cost effective. Maybe you don't kno
Yes, it's realistic but I was relating it to our country, there are so many things we need to fix before we can embark on hydroponic farming system.
Thanks brother as I believe I've fixed some missing links here.
@mavdevalue. Honestly there is nothing to fix here. This type of farming isn't capital intensive as you wrongly believe sir. One can actually start with simple raft system and expand from there sir.
eurogee I can actually relate to @maxdevalue 's concerns here, just the consistent supply of electricity counts us here in my area of Colombia out of having even a medium scale system like this. Only large scale projects here could afford the generators, and the stockpile of diesel fuel, that it would require to guarantee constant electricity.
Ok brother, have you inquired about hydroponic fertilizers( mixed ), I mean their availability locally here in Nigeria?
Checkout and let me know, I'm interested.
Thanks
@maxdevalue sir this post is not about where you can get this fertilizers in Nigeria. It is more about how you can make one using the recipes I gave above. @turpsy said you can get that in porthacourt, rivers state. You can as well get from www.amazon.com and have it shipped free to your destination.
@eurogee
There is a company in Port harcourt that does something related. Unfortunately i cant remember the name. I visited the company during an excursion in 2007. I would be happy to grow my tomatoes using this hydroponic method.
Yes bro. Thanks for your revealing. I hope @maxdevalue sees this
Please verify and let me know please
Wow! farming made so easy. Good job boss.
Thanks
I hereby apply to be enrolled into your school.
You are welcome sir
Excellent. Looking out for a day our local farmers in Naija will embrace this kind of tech
Thanks. But not much of a tech
I'm bookmarking this post for future read. It's gonna help me in my future project. Thanks for writing this bro
I have a hidrophoric system myself it's online formed of 5 pots In like a big tent 🎪
I love the way it works
I wanted to grow some weeds for research but I don't have the time for it
Very good article
Thanks for informing people about it
Really. Great to know. Thanks
Good and educative write up.
This is just wonderful.
But it looks like one will need large sum of money to go into this kind of farming. Most especially on a large scale.
You can start small
Thanks for the info. Wonder if we have any in Nigeria
Sure, at porthacourt, Rivers state
High tech farming. Low tech farming is even hard to do here.
Thanks
You are welcome
an excellent method to deal with global competition to meet daily needs. very unfortunate if this is not shared.
Thanks
@eurogee you got me smiling , because i kept reading it one after the other ,and thank you so much for reminding me of those chemicals names.... Its been a while out ... Guess you understand boss
Of course.
I would love to have an aquaponics system setup at my house. The only thing holding me back is a lack of time and motivation to get started! Also, I have some concern with using PVC piping for all the plumbing with fears of the PVC leaching toxic chemicals into the fish and plants. Any suggestions on PVC alternatives?
Hello @neonuke
If pvc were poisonous, I would have got to know while researching this. So I don't think so. However, you can carry out more investigation in that direction. Thanks.
@eurogee
hello, @eurogee
Great post! Check out our homemade system! Its on my blog :)
👍