Hydroponics is the science of growing plant matter without the use of traditional soil. If you’ve never tried to grow indoors without soil, you are missing out. Some people do it because they have physical limitations that don’t allow them to spend hours weeding and digging. Some do it because of short outdoor growing seasons. Some do it to make a ton of money selling their product. Instead of soil, growers generally use a mixture of inert organic and inorganic materials. The composition isn’t as important as the real use; to anchor plants to give them a solid place to send roots and grow strong.
The Waiting Game
For the vast majority of casual gardeners, the growing season runs based on calendar dates. They wait until mid to late winter to even start to plan that years’ garden. Some folks are more serious about their hobby, planning the next year’s plot even before that years’ harvest is gone. Traditional farms operate much the same way, although they may use plant starts instead of seeds to get a jump on growing. Not all farmers in cold climates limit themselves to a short season any longer. They grow in huge greenhouses with or without additional grow lights. Those cute red tomatoes with the bright green stems you buy at the grocery store are an example of hydroponics. Read my blog article about hydroponic tomatoes. Much of the lettuce is now grow in this manner. More product in less space using fewer hours of labor equals higher consistent profits.
Enter Hydroponics
With the hydroponic method of growing, the month or season makes little difference. By growing indoors under as near ideal conditions as possible, calculating future yields accurately is possible. While every crop may be slightly different, even under similar conditions, once a gardener learns basic hydroponics, they can reasonably expect to be able to enjoy year-round crops, no matter what they plant. By using mother plants, cloning methods can be used to continue planting after planting, for months and even years, all from one mother plant. More on cloning in a future post.
