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As a nurseryman I have covered a few of the advantages.  I feel these instructions will get you started on your hydroponic gardening indoors. 

Hydroponic Gardening-Intro hydroponics and hydroponic supplies

Hydroponics vs Soil Grown Plants

The benefits, offered by hydroponics, are pretty simple, yet impressive: one can receive 200-1000% increase in yield with only half of time and space requirements in comparison to traditional soil horticulture. Absence of soil also results in protection of growing plants against pests, commonly living in soil. In hydroponic systems, plants receive all the necessary nutrients through hydroponics nutrient solution and never suffer lack of water. As the result, hydroponic plants concentrate of producing fruits instead of growing large roots to extract water and nutrients from the soil. Hydroponic plants have smaller roots in comparison to common plants, which grow in soil. This allows increasing the density of plants in your garden. It is also a proven fact, that food products, produced in indoor hydroponic systems, are cleaner and have longer shelf life.

Usually, hydroponic plants can grow both indoor and outdoor; furthermore, even a loft, cellar, or closet can be turned into a garden with hydroponic system.

There are two major subtypes of hydroponic plants: solution and medium cultures. Solution culture does not require any growing medium for its growing; the only thing necessary is nutrient solution. Among solution cultures aeroponics, static and continuous flow cultures are defined. Medium culture needs a particular growing medium to grow in, for example, rockwool, sand or gravel. In most cases, the growing medium is contained within a reservoir, made from plastic. However, glass, metal or wooden containers are also used. The only requirement to hydroponic container is that it should not let light pass.

History of Hydroponics

Hydroponics as a term was first mentioned in the middle of the previous century to identify a method of plants growing without soil in the special growing medium. However, the method itself has roots in the prehistoric times. The Floating Gardens of Aztecs and those of the Chinese, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, perceived much as the myth only, and the flooding of the Egyptian Nile may now be treated as the very first attempts of hydroponic gardening. Moreover, even ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic records, which are actually documents, not myths, mention the ways of growing plants in water.

Thus, it would be unfair to say hydroponics is a brand new method of gardening: even Da Vinci made much progress in creating what we now call hydroponic gardening”. At the same time, research of the last decades has significantly explained and improved the nuts and bolts of this agricultural option, actually, reviving it. This process started during World War II thanks to the government financing, and in the 50th of the 20th century it gained worldwide popularity. Just for the record: these days the incidence of hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables occupy about 65% of all those sold in the UK stores, and about 90% of the sold cut fresh flowers are grown with the help of hydroponics and HPS grow lights.

Among the researchers who worked on creating the ideal conditions for plants growing was a Belgian scientist Jan van Helmont, who discovered in 1600 that plants receive elements for the normal growth from water. Robert Boyle from Ireland managed to grow plants in the bottles with water, which is recorded in the documents dated 1666. 33 years later a notable discovery was made by the English scholar John Woodward, who found out that various constituents from different types of soils were also of vital importance for the plants growth. Thus, he made a valuable contribution to the work started by Jan van Helmont. Unfortunately, the absence of the necessary equipment prevented John Woodward from proceeding with his work.

With the development of chemistry the world got to know that plants consist of chemicals obtained from air, soil, and water as food and the materials for the proper growth. This real breakthrough was made by the French scientist Nicolas de Saussure in 1804. Jean Boussingault, his fellow countryman, made much progress in studying plants growth in various types of medium, as quartz, charcoal, and sand. That was he who found out that dry plant material is mainly made of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, received from the air.

Knowing the plants’ chemical structure and the ingredients necessary for the growth scientists became curious whether it was possible to grow plants without soil.

The scientists who succeeded in this task were Germans Sachs and Knop, who managed to grow plants in water solution in 1860’s. They called their invention “nutriculture”. Many years passed till the real interest to the “nutriculture” appeared. The pioneers of the greenhouse industry fully understood its cons and helped in the further improvement of the method between years 1925 and 1935.

The first effort to turn laboratory “nutriculture” into a commercial product was first made by Dr. William F. Gericke, who explored soilless plant growing at University of California Davis and was very successful. It was Dr. Gericke, who first used the term “hydroponics”, which means “waterworking” in Greek. Since then, the public interest to hydroponic gardening spread rapidly around the world.  It is interesting to note that even the U.S. Army had special units, whose main duty was to grow hydroponics and provide fruits and vegetables for kitchen. In the military environment it is not always possible to grow plants in a traditional way, so hydroponic systems and hydroponic supplies was chosen as the way to grow plants virtually anywhere.

Growing Juicy Hydroponic Tomatoes

Tomatoes are popular all over the world and every cuisine has a whole variety of use for the tomato. It is rare to find a restaurant, hotel or resort that does not have a tomato specialty dish. Tomatoes grown in the soil with the full evolution of the vine are extremely rich in flavor. However, in recent years it has become more an more difficult to find well cultivated vegetables and fruits. Commercial tomatoes are harvested almost two weeks before their maturity to keep them firm, so they don’t spoil  and are easier to transport. There upon, they go into cold storage for weeks where they are kept in ethylene chambers to help them acquire color along with assisting the process of final ripening. This is the reason why tomatoes from the supermarket have that luscious, smooth, red and thick skin,  yet have little or no tradition tomato flavor.

Growing hydroponic tomatoes yourself might be difficult to start with but a bit of investment in time and money will reap you tasty, juicy tomatoes which you can really enjoy. Hydroponics is an intensive, complicated system of cultivation whereby we use artificial lighting and grow plants without soil. The nutrients that the tradition soil provides are given to the plant through a water solution mixed with nutrients that the roots can easily absorb. Even the Ph of the water solution is carefully maintained. The two important environmental conditions here is water and lighting. Each very important in determining the tomato yield of the plant. The hydroponic tomatoes are so tasty and healthy that most people pay extra to buy them as compared to the commercial, soil grown, yet tasteless tomatoes.

Growing hydroponic tomatoes requires additonal extra care in the beginning. Tomatoes like all growing plants need alternate light and dark periods, (day and night) hence you will need to use artificial lighting with a timer. This can prove advantageous because you can give your tomatoes some extra light during cloudy days. Keeping the tomato plants near a large window sill is ideal to give them sunlight when available. Potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients that plants usually absorb from the soil should be given as fertilizers which the tomato plants can absorb through the roots. Interestingly the absence of soil means many of the pests, insects and other harmful organisms that harm plants are eliminated straightaway. This removes the need to use any harmful chemicals to kill those insects.

There are two types of water solution systems, open or non-recovery systems and closed or recovery systems. In the open systems, the water nutrient solution is not reused whereas in closed systems additional solution is replenished and reused. This is  more economical than the normal soil gardening as it ensures nutrients are not wasted. Another advantage of hydroponic systems is the fact that since the tomato plants directly absorb the nutrient rich water through their roots, they don’t need a lot of it for energy creation, which means most of it can be used for the growth of plants leading to a bigger yield. Hydroponic tomatoes, grown in rich nutrients and properly controlled conditions of light are tastier, healthier and produce more and better quality fruit.

More Hydroponic Tomatoes Articles

Growing Juicy Hydroponic Tomatoes

Tomatoes are popular all over the world and every cuisine has a whole variety of use for the tomato. It is rare to find a restaurant, hotel or resort that does not have a tomato specialty dish. Tomatoes grown in the soil with the full evolution of the vine are extremely rich in flavor. However, in recent years it has become more an more difficult to find well cultivated vegetables and fruits. Commercial tomatoes are harvested almost two weeks before their maturity to keep them firm, so they don’t spoil  and are easier to transport. There upon, they go into cold storage for weeks where they are kept in ethylene chambers to help them acquire color along with assisting the process of final ripening. This is the reason why tomatoes from the supermarket have that luscious, smooth, red and thick skin,  yet have little or no tradition tomato flavor.

Growing hydroponic tomatoes yourself might be difficult to start with but a bit of investment in time and money will reap you tasty, juicy tomatoes which you can really enjoy. Hydroponics is an intensive, complicated system of cultivation whereby we use artificial lighting and grow plants without soil. The nutrients that the tradition soil provides are given to the plant through a water solution mixed with nutrients that the roots can easily absorb. Even the Ph of the water solution is carefully maintained. The two important environmental conditions here is water and lighting. Each very important in determining the tomato yield of the plant. The hydroponic tomatoes are so tasty and healthy that most people pay extra to buy them as compared to the commercial, soil grown, yet tasteless tomatoes.

Growing hydroponic tomatoes requires additonal extra care in the beginning. Tomatoes like all growing plants need alternate light and dark periods, (day and night) hence you will need to use artificial lighting with a timer. This can prove advantageous because you can give your tomatoes some extra light during cloudy days. Keeping the tomato plants near a large window sill is ideal to give them sunlight when available. Potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients that plants usually absorb from the soil should be given as fertilizers which the tomato plants can absorb through the roots. Interestingly the absence of soil means many of the pests, insects and other harmful organisms that harm plants are eliminated straightaway. This removes the need to use any harmful chemicals to kill those insects.

There are two types of water solution systems, open or non-recovery systems and closed or recovery systems. In the open systems, the water nutrient solution is not reused whereas in closed systems additional solution is replenished and reused. This is  more economical than the normal soil gardening as it ensures nutrients are not wasted. Another advantage of hydroponic systems is the fact that since the tomato plants directly absorb the nutrient rich water through their roots, they don’t need a lot of it for energy creation, which means most of it can be used for the growth of plants leading to a bigger yield. Hydroponic tomatoes, grown in rich nutrients and properly controlled conditions of light are tastier, healthier and produce more and better quality fruit.

More Hydroponic Tomatoes Articles

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