Hydroponic plants are growing in popularity as they are relatively new to the gardening world. These plant systems have begun to fascinate many gardeners, but what are their pros and cons that you need to be aware of before you buy one yourself?
Hydroponic plants have a few pros and cons that you should be aware of. These include that they don’t require soil to grow your plants, they make your plants easier to harvest, but Hydroponic plants are expensive to set up and keep healthy, and they are not forgiving of mistakes, to name a few.
Pros Of Hydroponic Plants
Hydroponic systems are a fairly new way of growing plants where you have a system that grows your plants above ground and with water. This plant growing system is increasing in popularity, so let’s look at the pros of growing your plants this way.
1. Hydroponic Plants Use Less Water
Hydroponic systems are incredible systems that can help you grow plants well and with little water required. Plants grown in Hydroponic systems only use a small amount of water. The water in the system is circulated through it in a loop, which brings the water directly to the plant’s roots.
The plant then absorbs the water it needs, and the rest gets looped back around through the system. With a Hydroponics system, you don’t need to water your plants every two to three days, and you end up using about 70% less water than if your plants were in the ground. So, your water bill will be a lot smaller.
2. No Soil Is Needed For Hydroponic Plants
Hydroponic plants do not require soil to grow strong and healthy. This means you do not need to worry about pH levels and soil types for each plant you wish to grow, as they are all grown in water. This makes it cleaner when you are harvesting your plants and easier to swap out plants when needed.
This is great for people who have limited space in their garden and do not have extra soil to grow plants in. so, Hydroponic systems essentially increase your growing area without the need for soil.
3. There Are Less Pest Problems With Hydroponic Plants
When you grow your plants in a Hydroponics system, you are less likely to face problems with pests attacking your plants. It’s not 100% pest-free, but your plants will be protected from the more common pests that tend to live in soil or have one part of their life cycle in soil.
This means that you will grow healthier plants, and you will not need to use pesticides to protect your plants from being eaten by bugs, making your plants more organic.
4. Hydroponic Plants Are Easier To Harvest
Many home or private Hydroponic systems will grow your plants in a tiered tray system, which means that the plants will be at waist height for most people who use them. This waist hight tray system makes for easier harvesting as you don’t need to bend down or go on your haunches to reach the plants in the ground.
This is a great benefit for people who wish to grow fresh produce and other plants but have limited modality or for people who are elderly and cannot get to the ground to harvest plants. Hydroponic plants allow them to keep active while not hurting themselves.
5. You Have Full Control Over Hydroponic Plants Growing Conditions
People who grow their plants in Hydroponic systems have more control over their plant’s growing environment than plants that are grown in the ground. This is because, in a Hydroponics system, you control the nutrient levels and where the system is placed in your garden.
You can even move the system from one location to another to grow full shade plants instead of full sun plants. With Hydroponic systems, you have full control over what your plants come into contact with and how they are grown.
Cons Of Hydroponic Plants
Hydroponic plants have many great benefits, and they tend to grow your plants faster, but what are the drawbacks of using a Hydroponics system to grow your plants? Let’s go through them, so you can decide if a Hydroponics system is for you or not.
1. Hydroponics Are Expensive To Setup
Hydroponic plants are expensive to set up and get going. This is because you have to buy the entire Hydroponics system, and you need to wire a plug close to the system as it requires water to pump the water through the system.
It can also be expensive to get all the equipment needed to monitor the nutrient levels in the system as well as buying the nutrients themselves to keep your plants alive in the Hydroponics
2. Hydroponic Plants Are Not Forgiving
Unfortunately, Hydroponic plants need your attention daily. The plants require you to monitor the water every day to ensure that the nutrient levels are sufficient for survival. With Hydroponic plants, there is no room for mistakes.
For example, you cannot forget to top up the water when needed, and you cannot forget to replace the nutrients when they are low. You have to be consistent with the care of your Hydroponic plants, or they will begin to die. This means that Hydroponic plants are time-consuming to care for, and they are not forgiving.
3. Hydroponic Plants Are Susceptible To Waterborne Diseases
Even though your Hydroponic plants are safe from the usual diseases they would usually develop if they were grown in soil, your Hydroponic plants are still susceptible to waterborne diseases that can still kill your plants.
These waterborne diseases can spread quickly from plant to plant as the water is circulated through the whole system by the water pump. So, if one plant is infected with a waterborne disease, then all your plants are probably infected and need treatment.
4. Hydroponic System Failure Will Kill The Plants
When growing plants in a Hydroponic system, you are reliant on electricity to keep your plants alive. You need the water pump to pump the water through the system to ensure that all the plants receive the nutrients to survive.
If this pump fails or stops working due to a power outage, this can kill your plants faster than most people realize. So, you may need to connect your pump to a battery or solar solution to keep it going, which is also expensive.
