by 
The Curious Bag
-
Hydroponics is a method for growing plants without the use of soil. Plants are grown in water containing carefully formulated minerals and nutrients, and are sometimes supported by non-soil materials such as sand, gravel, perlite or peat moss.
Soil
Crops grown conventionally can leach nutrients from soil and erode topsoil, but growing crops hydroponically eliminates those problems.
Plant Health
There is no need to worry about how much or how little water a plant is getting when it is grown hydroponically, and it is easier to monitor and adjust a plant's nutritional needs, which results in a healthier plant.
Water Usage
Scientists at the Sandia National Laboratories estimate that growing crops hydroponically would use a small fraction of the fresh water needed to grow them conventionally, particularly in drier parts of the world.
Pesticides
Since hydroponics utilizes greenhouses to grow plants, the controlled atmosphere reduces or even eliminates the need for potentially harmful pesticides.
Land Conservation
Plants grown in trays and stacked vertically in greenhouses take up far less space than those grown outside.
High Yields
Plants grown hydroponically grow bigger, and those that produce fruits and vegetable produce more.
Source:
Sandia National Laboratories: Sandia experiments
University of Arizona: Hydroponics
Texas A&M University: Hydroponics
Resource:
NASA: Hydroponics
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC