| The Future of Gardening is Growing... Without Soil Imagine a kitchen appliance that automatically produces 12 heads of fresh lettuce and salad greens, every week, without soil, under artificial light... right next to your dishwasher. Thanks to the efforts of the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), a version of the NASA "salad machine" you see at right may one day make it into your kitchen. But one needn't wait for NASA to perfect their salad machine, as their research has paved the way for backyard gardeners to find every product you may need to grow fresh salads, juicy vine-ripe tomatoes, crispy cucumbers, fabulous flowers, lush tropicals, tantalizing herbs, without soil in your backyard, or on your deck, patio, or balcony. You can even garden soil-free indoors in your kitchen, pantry, sunroom, garage, or virtually any other spare room in your house! |
SOIL-FREE, WATER-WISE PLANTERS & SYSTEMS PROVIDE BIG HARVESTS IN SMALL SPACES   |
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Plants Don't Need
Soil To Grow Nature has shown, and research has confirmed, that plants don't need soil to grow into healthy specimens. Rather it is the nutrients supplied to them that determines whether a plant will live or die. Soil is merely the root support mechanism from which a plant derives a small portion of it's nutritional needs. By growing plants in systems that eliminate soil, there is a marked reduction in the amount of pest problems, soil-borne diseases, fungus, and other issues that plague many farmers and gardeners today. |
| Soil-Free Houseplants, Bonsai, Orchids, &Tropicals Soil-free planters take the dirt out of your living area and provide a superior growing environment for your cherished houseplants and tropicals. As you can see from the images on this page, virtually any |
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| houseplant can be grown soil-free, including African violets, cacti, orchids, miniature roses, bromeliads, tropicals, citrus, lucky bamboo and most others! |
 Soil-Free Planter Photos Courtesy of Atlantis Hydroponics, Inc. |
| Since soil-free containers don't need a drainage hole, you can place them on surfaces you wouldn't dare with a regular draining, dirt filled pot. Virtually any standard non-porous pot can be converted to a soil-free container simply by applying a dab of caulk or silicone sealant large enough to cover the drainage holes. Of course, specially designed containers that feature integrated water level indicators and other features are available as well for this purpose. |
| The simple secret to growing in a soil-free container is the application of a complete plant food that contains not only the major elemental nutrients necessary for plant growth, but the minor and trace elements as well. These special fertilizers are most commonly referred to as "hydroponic nutrients", and there are dozens of brands available, many formulated for the needs of specific plant varieties such as orchids or vegetables. Small, stand-alone planters are self-aerating, allowing the root systems to essentially evolve, with the portion of the root system that remains in the nutrient solution taking responsibility for providing |
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| the water and elements to the plant, while the portion of the root ball above in the highly aerated environment of the growing media efficiently delivers the essential element of oxygen to the roots. This simple process has proven to provide a superior growing environment, resulting in healthier, happier plants! |
| Simply Amazing Soil-Free, Water-Wise Fruits & Vegetables! Fruits and vegetables grown without soil are nothing short of phenomenal. Tomato plants so tall, you have to use stilts to pick the fruit; strawberries the size of your hand; herbs and salad greens so bountiful, you'll be the envy of the neighborhood as you share or sell your excess harvest. How are results like these achieved without a speck of dirt? In simple terms, soilless gardening delivers a complete plant food with water right to where they're needed, directly to the plant's root system. Think of it as "spoon feeding". Since the plant's roots don't have to push through dirt looking for food and water, the energy the plant normally expends in this activity is redirected into much faster green growth and fruit production. Additionally, since the root systems aren't competing with each other for nourishment, more plants can be grown closer together, allowing for a denser plant population and greatly increased yields in a given space. |
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But without question, the potential advantage that could have the biggest impact on our future are the benefits growing without soil would provide our environment. |
| Government research indicates that the wars our children's children and grandchildren will have to fight won't be over oil, they'll be about water. As the world's population grows, our fresh water supply is not only shrinking, but becoming increasingly polluted. While many of us think nothing of paying over a dollar for a small bottle of water, just imagine what life will be like when all the water you use in your home every day is similarly priced. So how can soil-free, hydroponic gardening help conserve water? To begin with, producing a given amount of food in a soil-free hydroponic system uses just 5 to 10 percent of the water the same amount of food would need in an open field, and sometimes less. How? |
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Primarily because the water used to irrigate the plants in most soil-free gardens is always recycled. Instead of watering a lot of empty land in between crop rows, the water is precisely delivered directly to the root system of the plant, which is then collected in a tank or reservoir to be used again during the next irrigation cycle. |
| Food Safety & Security Without question, the use of the many commercially produced pesticides and herbicides during the twentieth century has helped to significantly increase the output of food in the world today, greatly reducing, but obviously not eliminating, world hunger. However, the misuse and misrepresentation, as well as more intensive research on many of these products, has often resulted in their removal from the marketplace for safety reasons. To make matters worse, bizarre government regulations ban many carcinogenic pesticides and herbicides that are manufactured in the United States from being used on food crops grown in the U.S., yet allow these same products to be exported for use on food crops in other countries that |
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| are destined for sale in the United States, leaving many Americans wondering just how safe their food supply really is. Adding to these concerns are recent bacterial E-coli contamination issues connected to improperly composted manures and irrigation water flowing through nearby cattle farms. In a soil-free hydroponic growing environment, the use of herbicides is completely eliminated and the need for pesticides is greatly reduced, since soil is the breeding ground for many of the worst plant pests that afflict growers and gardeners today. Integrated pest management techniques, which encourage a balance of beneficial insects that are natural predators to destructive garden pests, is particularly suited to soil-free growing and vastly reduces, or completely eliminates, the need to use chemical pesticides. Of course, one of the most simple and overlooked benefits of growing without soil is the fact that the food is cleaner! Soil-free hydroponic produce requires less time in the kitchen because there is no dirt or bugs to wash off, and less worry about residual chemicals. Of course, growing your own fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, and herbs gives you the ultimate control over what goes on and in your food. And home gardeners now have a multitude of safe alternatives to promote a healthy garden for both your family and your plants. Nutritional Benefits of Soil-Free Gardening Plants live and grow only with the assistance of more than two dozen elements in our environment, such as oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, among many others. Organic nutrients applied to soil in the form of manures or other organic |
| fertilizers can't immediately be used by a plant, because the nutrients they hold are not in their elemental nutrient salt state (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, etc.), which is what a plant actually uses as food. The microbiological activity of bacteria in the soil and manure is what breaks down and frees the elemental nutrient salts and makes them available for use by the plant. Think of it like a frozen dinner... it's food, but you can't really do anything with it until it has been released from it's frozen state. In a soil-free hydroponic garden, you provide the same pure elemental nutrient salts the plant would find in soil, with the advantage that those elements are immediately available for the plant to use as food, and the added advantage of having the ability to customize those nutrients to the specific needs of your plants. Most people don't realize it, but the elemental nutrients that are vital to plant growth, are generally the same elements that are vital to human growth. Not surprisingly, plants that are fed a complete and balanced plant food, like those grown in a soil-free environment, are healthier and have significantly higher amounts of higher quality, natural nutrients, minerals, and hormones that research shows to be of great importance in maintaining a healthy human lifestyle. |
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Soil-Free Gardening Provides |
| Since plants grown in a soil-free environment are essentially spoon fed and don't have to compete with others for nutrients or water, a significantly larger number of plants can be produced in a given space than if grown by traditional field methods in soil. Trials conducted by Cornell University's Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Commercial-Scale Lettuce Production Prototype has achieved soil-free lettuce yields equivalent to 470 tons (almost a million pounds) per acre. By comparison, typical production in California using traditional field agriculture is currently about 20 tons per acre. For the homeowner, a patio, balcony, deck, or corner of the backyard can easily be turned into a very productive soil-free garden, using only a fraction of the space necessary for a traditional soil garden, while using only a fraction of the water. Being able to grow large amounts of produce in smaller spaces also lends itself well to the concept of local supply. Most commerically produced crops must be picked before their prime to facilitate shipping and delivery to destinations often thousands of miles from their point of production, which generally means it is offered to consumers in a less than ideal condition. Soil-free hydroponic growing methods lend themselves well to the local production of market produce in smaller facilities for use in local markets only, which results in fresher, healthier produce for the end consumer. |
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| Just as wireless technology now allows us to sit in our garden while researching plant varieties on our laptop computers, soil-free hydroponic technology brings the joys and benefits of gardening to those who might otherwise not be able to enjoy this wonderful hobby. Soil-free hydroponic growing methods are extremely flexible and can be specifically adapted to fit the needs of seniors, the physically challenged, children... anyone who might have trouble gardening in a traditional fashion. Widely available hobby soil-free growing systems range in size from the extremely compact, especially suited for casual use indoors or out on patios, decks, and balconies, to larger systems that can literally produce enough food to feed your entire family. Most of them can be configured so that the growing area is raised to a comfortable level for those who find it difficult to bend over or who are confined to a wheelchair and many are suitable for use indoors under artificial plant growing lights as well. Educators have found that soil-free garden systems are an ideal tool to teach students from kindergarten through college concepts that cover most every subject including the natural sciences, mathematics, biology, nutrition, and many others. Indoors or outdoors, soil-free gardening is certainly the most accessible, environmentally friendly, and water-wise method of growing plants and since it allows anyone to grow plants virtually anywhere, it is quickly becoming the most popular way to garden as well. |
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Obviously, plants grow best when they have all of the necessary ingredients for life provided to them in the optimum amounts. This includes the amount of light they receive, and natural sunlight is by far the best source of lighting for virtually all plants, whether outdoors or in a backyard hobby greenhouse. |
| Thousands upon thousands have discovered the joys and satisfaction that comes with producing your own soil-free vegetable, flower, and herb garden. Thanks to it's simplicity, anyone can do it and there are many resources available to help you succeed, from hobby websites like Ray Schneider's "Weedless Garden" (right), an avid backyard soil-free grower, to fully stocked |  |
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Earth-Friendly, Water-Wise Garden Supply Retailers that offer all the information and products you need to get started and maintain your own successful, lush, and productive soil-free garden! |
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Soil-Free, Water-Wise Gardening Products & Sources Soil-Free Planters, Kits, Systems, & Supplies |
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