I am interested in a discussion regarding hydroponics and how it fits into the "organic" movement. Currently in the US hydroponic produce cannot be marketed as "organic", mostly due to the focus of "organics" on healthy soil. This is a tremendous marketing hurdle to commercial hydroponic growers, especially being that hydro cultivation can be equal , if not better, nutritionally than traditional "organic" produce. Does anyone have an input or opinion regarding this phenomenon? Hydroponics is more mainstream outside of the US and I was wondering what effect this has on the ability to market and the public acceptance of hydroponic produce? Seeing that hydro and "organics" are after the same ends- healthy produce, renewable resources, no pesticides, etc.- shouldn't our focus be on the quality of the produce and not the method of production? peace

I guess we would need to know: Are all hydroponics grown without pesticides? What are the growth solutions made from?

Well, to answer the first question, pesticides are not used. Most hydroponic cultivation occurs in controlled greenhouses where IPM (Integrated Pest Management) practices are utilized. For example, in order to account for possible spider mite infestations the actual mites are introduced along with their natural predators so that a balance can be established before outbreaks can occur. In essence, organics and hydroponics are after the same things- healthy produce, no pesticides, and an emphasis on sustainability and renewable resources. Having said that, there is no monitoring of cultivation for hydroponics the way their is for "organics". There are differences, and that is primarily what I want to explore.

Commercial hydroponic nutrients can be made from "organic" materials, but are made of mostly refined minerals. These are man made, and I understand fall outside of the realm of "natural" and "organic". However, to say that they do not occur in nature would be misleading- they simply were not derived from nature. One point I would like to make is that whether a phosphorous element comes from a guano or a refined mineral is irrelevant to the plant, but it is relevant to humans. I acknowledge that the manufacturing processes of refined minreals is not the most ecologically sound process. I mentioned that hydroponic nutrients CAN be made from 100% "organic" materials. In a situation where this is the case are their any reservations here towards hydroponics if the nutrients are 100% "organic"?

I find it interesting that a major focus of "organic" gardening is on healthy soil, almost at the expense of healthy food. I wonder why the focus is not more on the healthy food aspect? It seems to me that by allowing growers to market themselves as "organic" and deeming that the "organic" label can only come from soil-based growers that we pigeonholed ourselves and have missed out on an entirely relevant means of producing healthy food- hydroponics. It is a tremendous marketing hurdle to commercial hydroponic growers not to be able to market their produce with the same mandate as that of "organic" growers, seeing that they are after the same thing- healthy produce.

Finally, I wanted to get some opinions on the term "natural". I have a gardening store that specializes in hydroponics and organics and I say to many of my customers regarding indoor growing that, "your playing Mother Nature". Alot of the time people seem to feel uncomfortable with this statement. I always reply, "Is it necessarily 'natural' that we grow tomato's, cucumbers, carrots, peas, etc in rows right next to eachother in our backyards or on farms?" It seems to me that people are so focused on the way things have always been that we are missing out on what we could be doing. What do you think? peace

Well I personally thought about doing the hydroponic thing many years ago. They made it sound real attractive but looking further into it it really didn't seem real healthy to me. I personally find it hard to believe that a sollution of anything can provide all the nutrients that a plant may pull from the soil. I think there are things that we're not even aware of otherwise god would have created the plants in our world a little differently. It's neat how every plant has it's different requirements and growing areas and still they all give us something that we need and can use. i'm sorry I tried the hydroponic tomatoes in the grocery store but they weren't the same as homegrown which tells me they lacked something that god provided when he put them in the soil.

I hear where you are coming from. Did you ever try to grow any tomato's hydroponically yourself? I'm curious because I grow alot of my own food hydroponically and I find the taste to be equal to that of well grown soil crops.

To be technical, do you not think it possible to nail down exactly what a plant needs to grow? In other words, a plant is a plant. Different kinds of plants use the respective food in different proportions, but it is nevertheless the same food. The idea with hydro is that, you cannot change the way a plant grows, you can only enhance and increase the building blocks it has available to it. By doing this, it takes the stress off of the plants necessity of finding food (via root growth) resulting in higher yields.

Almost all of the tomato's in your supermarket are grown hydroponically. They market them as "hot house" or "vine ripened", but the truth is they are cut green and NOT vine ripened. They must do this because if you check the labels, all the tomato's are from Canada or Israel or Holland, so the shipping period must be accounted for in terms of shelf-life. I acknowledge the inferiority of supermarket hydroponic tomato's. It gives hydro a bad rap, and thats a shame.