What is HYDROPONIC TECHNOLOGY
“HYDRO” means water and “PONIC” means working. That means it is a water working technology.
Simply we can define – It is a Science of growing plants in a nutrient rich solution instead of soil.
Hence we can grow fodder, vegetables , fruits ,micro greens by this method alone.
Thousands years back and still today also ,Soil is the best medium to grow fodder ,vegetables, flowers, fruits . It provides all the necessary things like water, air, nutrients etc for successful growth.
Basically Soil is the only holding material for plants. It supports the roots of the plants .Also soil is the holding medium for nutrients which are necessary for proper growth of plant.
From this we can conclude that basically plants requires mainly :
1)Water
2)Nutrients and
3)Light for the growth and nourishment , soil is just an holding medium for it. Without soil medium you can grow number of vegetables, fruits , flowers and fodder.
We also know that soil carries beneficial bacteria , micro-organism ,nitrogen fixers in it but at the same time also carriers harmful bacteria, nematodes etc which are really harmful to growth of plants.
Growing vegetables, fruits, fodder by conventional method requires lot of land space and water for it.
Also hot regions ,snow fall areas , natural calamities ,floods , poor quality of soil , scattered land ,water quality are biggest challenges in many areas to grow vegetables ,fruits and fodder .
In metropolitan cities we don’t have proper soil medium to grow plants and fodder. Hence, in such cases hydroponic method will play a crucial role in growing Varity of crops , fodder and fruits .
In today’s date people are using this technology both at home and by commercial way also. In many areas of globe people are successfully running this technology commercially for growing fruits, vegetables, micro greens, flowers and green fodder. This technology has changed the pictures of farmers in many areas on this planet because it was impossible to grow many vegetables, fruits, plants and fodder by conventional method in those areas which they are growing currently because of their local limitations on them but only possible because of this technology .This technology has brought a smiles on thousands of people in this world because without this technology it was impossible for them to grow plants out there.
Farmers are very much happy with this technology. Reasons –
1) Less water required. Almost 10-15 % water is required as compared to conventional method.
2) Less land required. Almost 5-10% land is required to grow vegetables and 1-5 % land is required to grow hydroponic green Fodder by conventional method.
3) Less manpower required for managing limited work
4) Easy to control specific area under cultivation
5) Not to deal with Weeds . Weeds reduces production of your crops. This is the very big relief for a farmer because he/she spends thousands of rupees /dollars on chemicals, labours to control the weeds in their farm.
6) Time saving due to automation
7) Money saving
8 ) Less harvesting time period . Almost 2-3 times faster growth of vegetables and fodder than conventional method
9) Getting Good quality and higher production in vegetables and fodder is possible because of the control over the growing conditions in limited area and no or less fungicides and pesticides used in it. Hence healthy to eat.
10) Very less fertilizers are used. Almost 1-5 % of fertilizers are used in vegetables and 1-2% fertilizers are used in fodder cultivation as compared to conventional method
11) Easy to manage PH(potential hydrogen) of growing medium Water which plays a very important role in growing different vegetables , flowers ,micro green and fodder .Because uptake of nutrients totally depends on the ph value of growing medium. If Ph is not suitable for growing particular crop , we will get poor results in our production .Also our vegetables ,fruits and fodder remain deficient in many minerals in such cases. We have freedom to grow different types of vegetables in water just by adjusting the ph value of water, But in case of soil It is not possible to grow any type of crop in any type of soil because it is not possible to change the ph of soil ,hence there are limitations to grow vegetables in soil .
12) Due to proper management of nutrient doses to vegetables, fruits , flower and fodder, the taste (flavor) and texture is improved .
13) In hydroponic technology exact nutrients are provide to plants and fodder at their root base , hence plants absorb it directly from water . Due to this reason plants are never in stress condition in search of nutrients and water .Ultimately we get a excellent results in terms of quality and quantity in production.
Hence , we can grow variety of FODDERS, VEGETABLES AND FRUITS by this technology also. It is quite evident that high operating cost in agriculture with decreasing cultivable land and water, “HYDROPONIC TECHNOLOGY” a sustainable technology would be the key driver in agriculture related industry in upcoming years.
By Mr. Ashwin R Sawant
Important Links:
Click Here to Read:What is Hydroponic Fodder
Click Here to Watch:What is the Need of Hydroponic in Today’s Date
Click Here to Watch :Importance of Hydroponic Nutrients
Click Here to Watch:Basics and Need of Hydroponic Fodder
