Hydroponic & Aquaponic Greenhouses

Background
Hydroponics is a type of gardening that grows plants using very little water and without any soil. There are different types of hydroponic systems, but they all essentially work by pumping just the right amount of nutrients and water directly to the plants’ roots. Unlike traditional agriculture, hydroponic gardening gives the grower control over the plants’ watering and feeding cycles, as well as over the strength and acidity of the nutrient solution that is given to the plants.

Several factors led to the eventual introduction of hydroponics in modern farming on a large scale from the 1990s onwards:

• Sophisticated and precise operating and monitoring systems at affordable prices;
• The preparation of the infrastructure for easy installation at reasonable cost;
• Automation cuts labor costs;
• Utilization of the maximum cultivated area with no paths leads to a 40% increase in the yield produced;
• The potential of more intensive growing cycles;
• Using hydroponics in leaf crops yields 5-6 crops a year compared to only 2-3 in the soil;
• The crop is picked ready for marketing thus avoiding waste due to disease or earth residues;
• A significant saving in the work needed to clean the produce for the market.