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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost AT gilanet.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Hydroponics
  • Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 16:25:28 -0700


Everybody can see who's being nasty and confrontational from your reply to my
post below. Hydroponics is not organic. Nobody's forcing anybody to be
organic. I will not respond further to this unprovoked personal attack.

paul, tradingpost AT riseup.net
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Soilmakers/
---------------
The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it.
- Aldo Leopold in Round River, 1933
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 12/13/2005 at 5:12 PM Adriana wrote:

>Paul,
>I beg to differ. I have been running commercial hydroponic greenhouses
>for
>over 8 years and you are making some grossly inaccurate statements. Just
>like any good farmer we also will use beneficial insects and minimally
>toxic
>products, and these only when absolutely necessary. We strive try to
>create
>a balance in our environment and practice integrated pest management. A
>"humus-intensive" greenhouse can be just as susceptible to insects and
>other
>diseases strictly by virtue of the high plant density and very healthy
>plants in a greenhouse gives bugs an "all-you-can eat buffet".
>
>One area in which we are more "sustainable'" than dirt farmers is in water
>utilization - we typically use less than 20% of the water which is
>required
>in field culture. We also use a fraction of the fertilizers of
>conventional
>farmers and we do not leach any excess nutrients (be they chemical or
>organic) into the ground water.
>
>Most hydroponic greenhouses use "chemical" nutrients, but there are
>operations which grow hydroponically using more "organic" nutrients - some
>of these use fish effluent from high density fish tanks to grow plants;
>this
>is called Aquaponics. A friend of mine in Brazil breaks down animal
>manures
>in a multi-stage biodigester with the end product being a water-soluble
>fertilizer that can be used in "water culture".
>
>Paul I find the whole tone of your postings arrogant and offensive in that
>you seem to be placing your method as superior to others. We all have our
>pros and cons and reasons for growing what we grow the way we grow it.
>Let's all try to learn from each other in a less confrontational manner.
>
>Adriana Gutierrez
>Birmingham, AL 35244
>
>
>
>> Growers have no alternative but to drench hydroponic plants in
>> fungicides and pesticides. This also makes them high maintenance and
>> labor intensive. A more sustainable alternative is humus- intensive
>beds,
>> and they can be in a greenhouse that opens in mild weather or just
>> outdoors with some form of weather protection. Humus-intensive has long
>> been demonstrated to be the way to grow the most and healthiest produce
>in
>> the least space with the least water and least ongoing energy input.
>






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