Do you know that you can grow terrestrial plant even without using soil? Yes, terrestrial plants can live without soil. This method is known as hydroponics.
Researchers found out in the 19th century that plants soaks up vital mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water. In usual circumstances, soil functions as a mineral nutrient reservoir but the soil itself is not necessary to plant development. Plant roots are able to absorb the mineral water in the soil when they are already dissolved in water. Therefore, when the necessary mineral nutrients are presented into a plant's water supply artificially, soil is no longer needed for the plant to thrive. Hence, the method of plants growing without using soils, the hydroponics, begun to be developed.
The word "hydroponics" comes from the Greek words hydro which means water and ponos which means labor. Hydroponics is a process of growing plant without using soil. By this process, growing plants utilize mineral nutrient solutions in water. Plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in a still medium, for instance gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk. Nearly any terrestrial plant will cultivate with hydroponics. Hydroponics is also a typical system in biology study and teaching.
For the past few years, the popularity of hydroponics has increased speedily. This is because of the advantages that the hydroponics can bring especially for food production. One of hydroponics' advantages is the no soil requirements. One of the early accomplishments of hydroponics happened on Wake Island. Wake Island is a rocky atoll in the Pacific Ocean utilized as a refueling stop for Pan American Airlines. Hydroponics was applied there in the 1930s to cultivate vegetables for the passengers. Hydroponics was inevitability on Wake Island because there was no soil, and it was costly to airlift in fresh vegetables.
Also an advantage of hydroponics is that it lowers water costs since the water stays in the system and can be reused. Aside from lowering water costs, hydroponics also lower nutrition costs because of its ability to control the nutrition levels in their entirety. Because of the controlled system, there is no nutrition pollution that is released into the environment, thus, making hydroponics more environment friendly method.
It is also proven that through this method, higher yields are obtainable. The stability of the process is also the reason why hydroponics is adapted worldwide at present.
It has been discovered that pests and diseases are easier to eradicate in hydroponics than in conventional method of using soil because of the container's mobility.
At our present time, hydroponics is a recognized branch of agronomy. Advancement has been fast, and outcome obtained in different countries have proved it to be systematically realistic and to have very distinct advantages over conventional methods of plant cultivation. The two principal advantage of the cultivation of plants without the use of soil are, first, much superior crop yields, and second, hydroponics makes it possible to grow plants in places where in-ground agriculture or gardening is very impossible due to lack of soil.
By: Robert Fogarty
