What Does Hydroponics Mean?

We know that the vast majority of plants grow on land, and crops depend on the fertility of the land to be productive. However, the sowing fields are becoming less fertile and the lands more arid and the crops less productive. Since the 19th century, scientists have discovered that plants feed by absorbing nutrients from the soil, through their roots, absorbing ions dissolved in the soil's moisture.

In 1938 Professor W.F. Gericke of the University of California devised the first soilless cultivation system, and called hydroponic, which comes from the Greek roots "Hydros", water and "pronos", work or labor, I literally work with the Water. The system consists of the plants taking the nutrients not from the earth, as it happens naturally, but from the water with which they are watered. This irrigation water carries the nutrients dissolved, and the root absorbs them directly when moistened. Agricultural soil ceases to exist and gives way to these mineral solutions.

This allows for two great advantages. The first is that the plant can be on any substrate, as long as it is sterile. This means that it can be had on sawdust, gravel, sand, small stones, synthetic foams, etc; even, with a suitable support, the root can be fed directly into the air, by means of drip or mist systems (a fine mist of nutrient-rich water that envelops the root naked).

The second advantage is that by controlling the amount of nutrients that our plant receives, we can increase or reduce them, according to the needs of our crops, thus increasing the production of each plant.

As a hobby, hydroponics is very interesting; even in many places they begin to promote greenhouses for industrialization or self-consumption; some supermarkets have hydroponic crops in public view, for some fresh products, such as lettuce, chard or spinach.