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Hydroponics by Asmita Pramanik \| 30-01-2018 01:13
Recently, a workshop was held in our school which introduced the system of "Hydroponics" which was not very well-known. But seeing our school implement it in such a great way gave us a clearer view of how smart and effective it was to use this method. *What is hydroponics?* The word 'Hydroponics' is itself derived from the words, 'Hydro', which means water and 'Ponos', which means labour. So basically, it's water that does the work of nourishing the plants.....without soil. Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture, which is the growing of plants in a soil- less medium. *How does it function?* There are various different ways of growing things hydroponically. In one popular method, you stand your plants in a plastic trough and let a nutrient solution trickle past their roots (with the help of gravity and a pump). That's called the nutrient-film technique: the nutrient is like a kind of liquid conveyor belt—it's constantly sliding past the roots delivering to them the goodness they need. Alternatively, you can grow plants with their roots supported by a nutrient-enriched medium such as rockwool, sand, or vermiculite, which acts as a sterile substitute for soil. *How is it helping the environment?* They take up to 50% less land to grow the same amount of crops: Leaving more land for other uses such as wildlife reserves and also saving trees, which would otherwise be cleared for agricultural purposes. Less water usage: In fact, less than 10% the amount that would be required for growing in soil. The only water lost with hydroponics is through evaporation, or occasional changes to the feeding solution. 60% less fertilizer is required: The hydroponic growing solution circulates through the plant?s roots, the plant absorbs what they need, and you never lose anything due to settling or crystallizing in the soil Reduced fossil fuel consumption: Food is shipped all over the world to places where agriculture is hard or impossible – or where certain foods cannot be grown due to shorter growing seasons. With hydroponics, you can grow those foods locally! Less pesticide use: Due to the fact that you?re growing indoors and eliminating soil (which hold bacteria and many common insects), there?s no need for toxic pesticides to protect your plants. Use of Hydroponics in UAE Hydroponics has become increasingly popular in UAE since the sandy soils here are not sufficient for healthy plant growth. However, plants like 1 kg of lettuce can be grown here by this method requiring only 20 litres of water whereas traditional methods use around 400 litres of water. Among the country?s largest hydroponics agricultural producers is Emirates Hydroponics Farms (EHF) between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Other UAE hydroponics specialists include Salata Farms in Ras Al Khaimah and regional operator Pegasus Agritech, headquartered in Dubai. In typical hydroponics systems, up to 80 or even 90 per cent of the water can be reused – rather than simply seeping into the ground as with traditionally planted crops. I'm sure slowly and steadily, more and more new methods like so will come up, which will soon help us combat this problem of less food grain production in hotter regions. Please visit this link for more information- Hydroponic Gardening

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