Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Are Hydroponics Healthy?

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Are Hydroponics Healthy?
  • Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:28:41 -0600



http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400324/Are-Hydroponics-Healthy.html

Q Are Hydroponics Healthy?
I'm thinking about a hydroponic garden. Can you tell me whether the veggies
and herbs grown in hydroponic gardens are as nutritious as those grown in the
soil?
A Answer (Published 12/24/2007)

Hydroponic gardening is the cultivation of plants in water without soil. For
home gardeners, the advantage of hydroponics is that you don't have to fight
weeds or most of the pests and soil-borne diseases that can plague outdoor
gardeners. You also can grow in a much smaller space than is required for a
regular garden; you can even get good results on an apartment balcony.
Commercial growers cultivate hydroponic plants in greenhouses, either in
water or in growing mixes composed of peat or bark.


In the garden, plants get many of their nutrients from the soil. In a
hydroponic garden, the nutrients must be supplied via specially formulated
mixes. You can buy kits containing all the supplies needed for setting up a
home hydroponic garden on the internet.

The question of whether plants grown in hydroponic gardens are as nutritious
as those grown in soil has never been answered. Some experts believe that the
growing method has little to do with a plant's nutritional value. And some
maintain that the fact that plants don't come into contact with the soil
makes them healthier because there's less of a chance that they'll pick up
diseases. On the other hand, the pathogens in the complex soil environment
can make some plants produce higher amounts of beneficial compounds.

I haven't been able to find studies that settle the issue one way or the
other, but I did come across a 1994 industry-commissioned study that
concluded that hydroponic peppers and tomatoes were more nutritious - and
more flavorful - than the same varieties grown organically and grown by
conventional methods. That doesn't square with my own experience with
hydroponic tomatoes. While growers often say they breed their tomatoes for
flavor, I've found that while the fruit often looks attractive, the flavor is
usually insipid, nothing like that of the best organic or homegrown tomatoes.
Nothing beats the burst of summer flavor that comes with tomatoes sun-ripened
in your own garden or in the fields of a good, local organic farmer.

A big question relating to hydroponics is whether vegetables grown this way
can be considered organic. Some commercial hydroponic growers use pesticides
on their crops, and while home hydroponic gardeners can get organic media in
which to grow their plants, most commercial operations rely on solutions of
chemicals and minerals that don't qualify as organic.

If you go forward with your plans to start a hydroponic garden, I encourage
you to explore making it organic as well. In addition to the fact that
organic produce is pesticide free, several recent studies have shown that the
antioxidant content of a number of organically grown fruits and vegetables is
higher than it is in their conventionally grown counterparts.

Andrew Weil, M.D.





  • [Livingontheland] Are Hydroponics Healthy?, Tradingpost, 08/13/2009

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page