Unsure whether to choose a hydroponic garden over a soil garden? We’re going to be discussing some of the advantages that are associated with using a hydroponic garden in comparison to soil-based gardens.
For generations, we’ve seen people spend hours tidying up their garden and preparing the soil for plants, but recent years have gone to show that there are other ways to go about gardening. Rather than getting down on your hands and knees, having your clothes get filthy, and risking a fox coming along a few hours later and destroying your garden, you can use a hydroponic garden to completely avoid this.
Without overcomplicating it, hydroponic gardens are a special type of garden that allows you to grow plants, vegetables, and herbs without using soil. Believe it or not, there are a lot of benefits to using hydroponics in comparison to soil and research has shown that it’s a lot healthier too.
If you’re a gardener who has an exceptionally green thumb and you’re looking to expand your knowledge on growing plants, hydroponic gardening is exactly what you’re looking for. Not convinced? We are going to list some of the benefits of hydroponics for you and by the end of this article, you’ll surely agree with us.
Benefit #1 – Less Water Usage
Funnily enough, a hydroponic system doesn’t use nearly as much water as soil-based gardening does. This might sound crazy but even though hydroponics is mostly water-based, the water usage is significantly less than soil-based.
Think about it – if you plant in soil then you have to water your plants every other day and most of that water won’t even be absorbed by your plants. When watering plants in soil, only a fraction of the water goes to your plants whereas the majority of it is absorbed by other organisms or evaporates as a result of the sun’s heat. Not only that, but we also have to account for spillages and all of this considered, it’s safe to say that a lot of water is wasted.
In comparison, hydroponic gardens leave minimal room for evaporation and there aren’t any weeds or such that will absorb the water. To add to this, most hydroponic systems will have water filters to keep it clean. So, aside from the fact that significantly less water is used, the water is also healthier for plants.
Benefit #2 – You Don’t Have to Weed
No longer will you have to get down on your knees, dig out those stubborn weeds, and struggle to get back up on your feet as your knees lock in pain.
This is just one of the annoyances that come with soil gardening and because hydroponic systems don’t use or need soil, there’s nowhere for weeds to grow. If you want to go a step further, as there aren’t any weeds to worry about you will also save money as a result of not having to buy weed killer and such.
Benefit #3 – No Pests or Rodents
There will still be a small chance of pests or rodents, but if your hydroponic garden is in a controlled environment then you won’t have to worry about them interfering. First, rodents such as squirrels, rats, or even cats and foxes won’t be able to get into your garden. Second, there won’t be any insects (e.g. bees, wasps, flies, etc) in your hydronic garden that will be able to eat your plants and cause significant damage to them.
Without any soil, there’ll be minimal influence from the outside and your plants will be able to grow as healthily as possible.
Benefit #4 – Stack Your Plants
It’ll take some getting used to but once you get the hang of hydroponic gardening, you’ll be able to create a multi-story garden. Even if you don’t have a lot of space for hydroponics you can grow a reasonable amount of plants by stacking your system.
Similarly, a hydroponic system will lessen the space that your plants fill up. When you have plants in soil, they continue growing their roots so that they can get all of the nutrients that they need to stay healthy. But with hydroponics, as a result of mixing a nutrient solution into the water, they don’t have to spread their roots as far to retrieve the nutrients and you can grow more plants than if you were to grow them in a soil garden.
Benefit #5 – Faster Growth
Aside from the time that you’ll save by not having to weed your garden or water your plants, you’ll also notice that hydroponic plants grow faster. The main benefits to this are that you can grow more plants over the Summer and if you aren’t happy with how a grow is going, you can start another without worrying about time restraints.
You’ll also be able to observe the growing process and learn faster too. This means that you can adjust your nutrients, change the environment, and do whatever you feel is necessary to improve the health of your plants.
Keep in mind that the faster your plants grow, the more control you have over the entire process.
Benefit #6 – You Will Be Forced to Learn
Learning about hydroponics might not seem like the type of benefit to consider, but the longer you stick with your hydroponic garden the more you’ll learn about it. Each growing process will be different; every plant will need different nutrients and a different approach will be taken for each plant.
Think of the whole thing as an experiment. Whenever you start growing a new plant you’ll have to learn everything again. The most effective nutrients, how long it takes to grow them, how often you need to add nutrients – in a way, it’s as if you’re starting from the very beginning and you’re learning about hydroponics all over again.
But if you’re already a huge fan of gardening then you’ll definitely get a lot of enjoyment from learning about hydroponics.
Benefit #7 – Complete Control
Lastly, and most importantly, you have complete control over where and how your plants are growing. There’s no interference from insects or rodents, you don’t have to worry about bad weather killing your plants, and you know exactly what is in the water that they absorb.
Hydroponic gardens allow you to control the temperature that your plants grow in, the humidity of the environment, the nutrients that are in the water, and you don’t have to worry about watering them.
This benefit alone should be enough to move you from soil to hydroponics. Having this sort of control means that you can grow healthy plants that live for long periods of time while also getting a lot of enjoyment out of the process involved.
To Conclude…
All of these reasons are exactly why you should be using a hydroponic system for gardening. Even the most experienced gardeners will be impressed by how their plants are growing and within as little as a month of using a hydroponic garden, you’ll be amazed. Whether it’s the fact that hydroponics will prevent excessive and unnecessary water usage or that you won’t have to weed your garden frequently, moving to hydroponics will be the best decision that you make.
