Some of the vegetables and herbs that we buy at our local supermarkets are now grown hydroponically. This means that they are grown without soil. The initial setup for hydroponics can be expensive because it requires a greenhouse and/or grow lights; as well as an extensive pipe and pump system to get nutrients to the plants. There are a few advantages. More food can be grown hydroponically in a smaller space because they can be vertically stacked. They require less water than soil grown plants. Plants can be grown year round in a hydroponic setting.
Setting up a hydroponic growing system can be expensive and this cost is passed on to the consumer. It relies on power, so a power outage can be worrisome.The systems require constant monitoring. Disease can spread more easily and quickly through the plants.
A more recent adaptation to hydroponics is aquaponics. Aquaponics utilizes aquaculture such as an aquarium, to provide fertilizer for the water grown plants. Tilapia is the most common fish used in this method because of its adaptability. This requires monitoring of the fish as well as the plants. In lieu of fish fertilizer, some hydroponics setups use diluted human urine to fertilize the plants.
Many countries have been using human waste (pee and feces) to fertilize their crops for centuries. When plants are grown in soil, the waste goes through a natural purification cycle provided by millions of soil borne organisms. The underground fungal system of mycorrhiza communicates with plant roots to deliver the appropriate nutrients required by each plant. In hydroponics, human waste cannot be sufficiently cleansed of disease causing organisms, so unless the vegetables are cooked, there is the potential of causing sickness when they are eaten. Therefore, it is not recommended that you use pee on your salad greens.
I, personally, prefer to have my vegetables grown in soil. These plants appear to be stronger and more “alive.” Water is a wonderful thing and no living thing can live without it; but it is the soil that has the ability to clean water as it passes through it into naturally occuring underground aquifers. Or, it must evaporate and return as rain or snow. We need soil and soil needs water. Both need the sun and the air. These four elements work in harmony to provide life on this planet. This is how Nature maintains balance. Man; however, in his never ending desire to isolate, separate, and dissect that which is meant to work together as a whole, is relentless in trying to prove himself smarter than Mother Nature. Hydroponics may be the way of the future, but I will continue to grow my garden in soil, as Nature intended.
