Soilless cultivation of hydroponic technology!

What is hydroponics? "Hydroponics, also known as "hydroponics", is one of the main types of soilless cultivation. Hydroponics is to create a relatively closed environment through specific facilities that can store nutrient solutions and make the water, fertilizer, gas, Conditions such as heat remain relatively stable, and all or part of the root system is "soaked" in a nutrient solution.
Strictly speaking, hydroponics is pure soilless cultivation. Because there is no intermediate adsorption and buffering medium between the root system and the nutrient solution, it is a direct "immersion" contact. Healthy plant growth starts with making sure that the root system is growing well, which depends on the rhizosphere environment. The temperature of the rhizosphere environment, oxygen, pH, ion concentration and the ratio between different ions should be appropriate. And whether the mineral nutrients in the nutrient solution are complete, whether the anions and cations are balanced, whether they contain toxic and harmful substances, whether they contain pathogenic microorganisms, pests, etc., will all be shown on the appearance of the root system. If the root system is white, strong, elastic, not twisted, not discolored, not broken, it proves that the root system is healthy. When the root system grows healthy, the plant can absorb water and fertilizer normally, and the aboveground growth of the plant will be normal.

1. Mineral nutrition in hydroponic nutrient solution
Hydroponics uses artificially prepared nutrient solutions, which are completely dissolved ionic nutrients and can be directly absorbed by vegetables.
The hydroponic nutrient solution can exclude other minerals and various toxic and harmful substances that are not necessary for the growth of vegetables (including those not needed by the human body) in soil cultivation, which is more in line with the nutrient requirements of vegetable growth. The hydroponic nutrient solution can provide nutrients for the growth and development of vegetables more accurately, rationally and effectively. Therefore, hydroponic vegetables rarely suffer from mineral deficiencies or the presence of harmful minerals.

2. Hydroponic vegetables grow fast and timely
Stresses or injuries such as drought, waterlogging, nutrient imbalance, insect bites, and pathogenic microorganism infection in soil cultivation will inevitably induce plants to secrete many secondary metabolites such as polyphenols, quinones, and sesquiterpenes to resist these coercion. Over time, more secondary metabolites will accumulate in vegetables, and most of these secondary metabolites are colored or have a bitter taste, which will affect the appearance and taste of vegetables. On the contrary, the various conditions for the growth of hydroponic vegetables are more suitable or closer to the ideal state, and the plants will not accumulate too much secondary metabolites. Therefore, the taste of hydroponic vegetables will be better.

3. The nutritional value, taste and quality of hydroponic vegetables
Research on plant mineral nutrition shows that there are 17 kinds of mineral nutrients necessary for plant growth [silicon (Si) is an essential element for some plants], except for carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) which are obtained from water and air The remaining 14 minerals are: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), iron (Fe), boron (B), manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Molybdenum (Mo), Chlorine (Cl), Nickel (Ni) are obtained from soil or supplemented by artificial fertilization. The mineral nutrients in the hydroponic nutrient solution regulate the nutrient supply according to different types of crops and different growth and development periods. Because the nutrient supply during the growth process is more sufficient and timely than that of soil cultivation, the yield and quality of hydroponic vegetables are higher than those of soil cultivation.

4、The utilization rate of water and fertilizer by hydroponics
The average utilization rate of fertilizers applied in traditional soil cultivation is about 30% to 50%. Nitrogen fertilizers are easily nitrified when applied to the soil and are lost with irrigation water, and are also lost due to the volatilization of ammonia and denitrification to produce N2O and N2. In the end, only about 50% of the nitrogen can be taken up and utilized by plants. After phosphate fertilizer is applied to the soil, a large part of it will form phosphate precipitates such as iron sulfate, aluminum, and calcium, which cannot be absorbed and utilized by crops. The utilization rate of phosphate fertilizer is only about 20% to 30%. After the potassium fertilizer is applied to the soil, part of it is lost due to the influence of irrigation water and surface runoff, and the utilization rate is not high. Hydroponics supplies different nutrients according to different varieties of crops and different growth periods, and all nutrients are water-soluble, about 90% to 95% of which can be absorbed and utilized by crops, so its nutrient utilization efficiency is very high. , and the waste nutrient solution can be recycled after treatment without causing pollution to the environment.
Because hydroponics does not have the problems of water leakage and runoff loss in soil cultivation, its water use efficiency is high. The water consumption of hydroponic crops is only about 1/5~1/10 of soil cultivation.