Discover hydroponic gardening and grow your own food!
Many people who are interested in producing their own vegetables find an important obstacle on their path, namely the amount of land they have available which is often too little to accommodate a small vegetable garden.
However, those who have no land should not give up the idea of creating a vegetable garden that allows them to produce what they will later bring to their table. In fact, a Mexican university has developed a system of cultivation that requires an area no larger than 6 meters x 10 meters (19 ft by 32 ft).
via Youtube
The system is based on hydroponics, a type of agriculture that intersects with raising animals. In fact, the University project involved growing vegetables and raising aka farming fish.
At the base of the system is the concept of recycling and a symbiosis between plants and animals. in practice, the water coming from the tanks dedicated to aquaculture (those that host animals), is pumped into hydroponic pipes, where the plant species are housed. The roots purify the water by subtracting the waste substances produced by the fish and simultaneously drawing nourishment. The filtered water can then be pumped back again into the tanks for aquaculture and resume its cycle.
Fish, shrimp, and snails are farmed in these basins.
This kind of mixed system can produce up to 150 kg (3300 lb) of fish, shrimp and snails and 40 kg (88 lb) of vegetables in just six months. The benefits are also of an economic and practical nature --- the necessary materials are mostly recycled and also the maintenance time does not exceed two hours a day.
To achieve this acquaponico plant is required a tank for breeding, pumps for water recycling and environments for growing out of the soil: the latter may be derived from tupi perforated PVC, in which the plant is supported by a plastic bottle.
Hydroponic technology is based on the cultivation of plants without the use of soil which is replaced by a layer of inert substrate material that serves to protect the roots of the plants.
The plant roots, unlike traditional crops, receive their nutrients not from soil, which is absent in hydroponics, but from a constant stream of dynamic water.
The system developed by the Mexican university not only embraces the aquaponics technology but also proposes various improvements, decreasing the number of requirements for the construction of a hydroponics system.
This project is affordable for everyone! Furthermore, it is especially helpful for those who do have a "green thumb" because, in this type of cultivation, the farmer's only function is to check and monitor the quality of the water released into the tanks. So far, the experiments completed have been very positive --- the families who have created their own hydroponic vegetable garden are very satisfied!
To follow from the very beginning the food that ends up on our table is the only way to really be sure that the food is healthy. Hydroponic farming is a valuable method for those without much space to devote to growing their own fruits and vegetables.
