Food production can be regarded as among the several problems most individuals are facing nowadays and hydroponics gardening has some promising solutions to provide. In some nations where there are more terrain places or climate is not appropriate for agriculture, DIY hydroponics is one of the means to easily grow healthy foods for daily consumption. You will find some places where soil might have already lost its nutrients or it may be difficult to find fertile land, you can grow hydroponic plants to produce healthy foods while making use of only a minimum of the space and resources.
However, just like any alternatives that you could have, not everything is always good news. It’s the same with DIY hydroponics where there are many advantages and disadvantages that every farmer should think about before making the decision to commit to hydroponics gardening.
1. In comparison to traditional farming, DIY hydroponics can be much more productive in two ways. First, it helps you save space since hydroponic plants can be placed more closely together since they have direct access towards the hydroponic nutrient solution necessary for their growth. You’ll be able to grow as much as four times of the plants in the same amount of space using the hydroponics technique. Secondly, it helps you minimize many of the problems related to traditional farming like weeds and pests thus having less sickly, less damaged, and less wasted produce.
2. DIY hydroponics farmers can modify the hydroponic nutrient solution and there’s no need to make a guess just to determine which region has the best soil and the need for the proper solution to grow your plants. The nutrient mixture could be done properly with the proper ratio for a particular plant. Soil related illnesses are eliminated hence making the technique an incredibly effective technique to produce food.
3. Also, DIY hydroponics creates an extremely efficient and beneficial environment for the hydroponic plants. Water consumption is lessened when compared to the conventional method of gardening because these plants only use one tenth of the water. The water can also be utilized more efficiently like in case where weed cannot come in and steal the part of the water supply. They are also grown inside a controlled environment so there is no worry of pesticide run-off water that can contaminate the surrounding ground and water supply.
Although there are lots of advantages with DIY hydroponics, there are also some disadvantages with this gardening approach.
1. The price of the setup can be a bit expensive since you have to enhance the area where you want your hydroponics garden. Also, the hydroponic nutrient solution and growing mediums are costly to begin with.
2. DIY hydroponics also requires an increase in the energy consumption. Most setup are done in greenhouses where there should be electricity used to power LED grow light for the hydroponic plants.
3. Even though numerous researches have been conducted to reduce the price, it can nevertheless be financially prohibitive especially in areas and places where it’s most needed.
Ongoing researches are still conducted in the field of hydroponics and a lot has yet to be done. Many of the problems in DIY hydroponics are already| addressed but several farmers and beginners to this technique are eagerly expecting the new developments in this field of agriculture. Now it’s up to you if you are going to start your own garden and enjoy the fresh and healthy produce everyday just within your reach.