Hydroponic Gardening

Hydroponics is the method of growing plants within a reservoir of water and without using soil. This doesn't mean there is no medium used at all. The medium just isn't soil. The medium in this case might be, gravel, sand, crushed rocks or bricks or any other sterile medium.

Why Do Hydroponics?
By not using soil, you've immediately eliminated any pest problems that would originate from a soil substrate. And no weeds!!! Overall, there is significantly less maintenance involved. And even better, you can maximize the use of your space. You can grow a lot more in a much smaller area, which is of great importance for those with smaller yards, or even for those with no yards as they can take the growing indoors. Additionally, your crops will mature more rapidly and produce more fruits and vegetables. AND you will conserve a lot of water and chemicals. Where in traditional gardening your watering of your plants sends a huge portion of your water beyond the reach of your root system, your hydroponic system holds your water and chemicals in place just like a fish tank does, exposing you to only minimal evaporation.

Why Does Hydroponics Produce Superior Crops?
When planted in traditional soil, that soil can often leach both water and minerals from your plants. Even after you've applied fertilizer. If we can't be sure that the necessities for the plants to thrive are even getting to the plant, we have little control over what we end up with. And if your soil in your yard is of poor quality, you'll just be that much worse off. In a hydroponic system you apply specific chemicals in specific quantities at specific times to the water. In some systems, the roots of the plants are always in the water and when there is nothing to leach the water or the chemicals away, your plants are in nutrient heaven 24/7. Can you imagine the health and quality of your plants in this environment? And no more under watering or over watering. It's just not possible. It's important to note that there are different methods of hydroponics and not all methods involve your plants being in constant water. There is one method called "ebb and flow" for instance, where on a timer your plants are flooded with water and then that water is pulled back into its reservoir (this would be done around 6 or 8 times a day.

What Equipment Do I Need? The materials you'll need to start with all depends on what you want to accomplish. If you're just starting out, you'll probably go relatively small just to get used to the idea and to test the whole hydroponic theory to see for yourself if this method of growing is really superior to traditional methods. You might want to build your own system with raw materials or you might want to just buy a kit. And while you can do this for relatively little money, you could easily spend a whole lot by going overboard.

I suggest starting out small. And while you start out, read as much as you can on the subject and become familiar with the terminology and fundamentals. If you want to start out small, you can buy a product called, AeroGrow. You can actually place this unit right on your counter top. It includes lights, seeds, a water pump and anything else you need to get started. This is a really neat product and does work very well. Tell me it wouldn't be cool to be cooking in the kitchen and just reach over and pluck a tomato, lettuce, or pepper to include in your recipe. And no pesticides, no "frankenseeds" (with who knows what genes have been genetically altered), no driving to the store, and fresher than anything sitting in the produce section of your grocery store.

If you're looking to do your own gardening in order to eat healthier food or to ensure you even have food in order to become more self sufficient and better survive the tsunami of economic turmoil that seems to be coming, I can't emphasize enough the advantages to hydroponic gardening. A couple of things to consider... Depending on where you live and the degree of potential chaos that could ensue as the economy worsens, you may find that growing food outside is too risky. If someone sees your crops, they may want them for themselves. This is not to say that you wouldn't help a person out if they need it. But you want to be the one deciding who you help. You don't want some random, hungry criminal passing by to enter onto your property and help themselves. And your having crops in certain scenarios could give the impression that you're well to do by comparison and someone may decide that they would like to help themselves to the INSIDE of your home while they're at it.
Another big plus is that if you're growing food to survive, you're going to want as much growing time as you can get. If you grow indoors, you can grow year round. This can give some significant peace of mind compared to growing as much as you can in a few short months in a mad dash to store up for the winter. I still suggest storing up, but at least you know you have a continuous source of production. And for those concerned about the energy consumption, I just found some grow lights that are LED. Now that's cool... Literally.

Christmas is just around the corner and something like an AeroGrow is perfect. Rather than spend money on trivial stuff that won't be there for you when you really need it, get something that will help you take that next step to self sufficiency. And as always, you don't have to buy from me, but definitely buy this stuff from someone. Prepare now... Don't wait.

I'll get you some good videos soon. So far, I'm having a hard time finding any that would be worth your time, and I refuse to just post whatever in order to have them posted...