Product Description

With over 45,000 acres of greenhouse vegetation currently being grown hydroponically throughout the world, hydroponics has become one of the most rapidly expanding new areas of plant research. Although growing plants without soil has been practiced since ancient times, hydroponics-the growing of plants specifically in water or nutrient solutions-has shown itself to be the most cost-effective way of maximizing yield, eliminating plant disease, minimizing labor costs and getting the most out of limited land resources. It's both an economically and ecologically sound approach to field-crop production and soil management.Successfully practicing hydroponics, however, requires a working knowledge of the mechanics of plant growth and a firm grasp of the hydroponics process. Hydroponics: A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower clearly explains the basics of plant growth and development, the different methods of preparing and using hydroponic nutrient solutions, and hydroponic options for various environmental conditions. It gives the reader instructions for simple experiments and a number of helpful charts, tables and illustrations.Completely up-to-date, the book also describes, in detail, all the latest techniques for hydroponic growing. It addresses new challenges in the field such as growing food for astronauts, practicing hydroponics in inhospitable environments and updating nutrient element supplies for the demands of the next century. It's an ideal guide for anyone interested in plants and how they grow-from casual hobbyists and students to commercial growers and professional plant researchers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #422635 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 230 pages

Customer Reviews

Very helpful
I am not a pro, when it comes to hydroponics. That's why I got this book. It has helped me immeasurably.

I have been assisting a relative of mine, who is the director of a charter school in New England, to put together a hydroponics program for her science classes. (Our idea has been to give her students a tiny little bit of power over their own physical well-being, in case terrorists do more evil things to our economy). At any rate, this book is incredibly helpful to us.

The author of this is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia. He has decades of experience in agronomy, and in plant science in general. He has tailored this book for a wide audience, and assumes NO prior knowledge of the topic. He walks the reader through a very thorough, patient discussion of the value of various nutrients to a hydroponic system. There are graphs and charts to illustrate his points, but don't be scared off!! He makes his points quite clearly in the text.

After discussing the chemical basics of the topic, Professor Jones walks us through a careful comparison of the basic kinds of hydroponic set-ups. He explains water regulation, pest control, nutrient solution distribution, and a lot of other things I would NEVER have thought of if he hadn't directed my attention to them. There's a really good bibliography at the end, which lists a lot of related resources.

Basically, this book is really helpful. One word of caution -- it's more of an overview of what you will need to know, than an actual how-to book. If you're looking for a how-to book, try Howard Resch's titles. Still, this book will really help fill in a lot of blanks, and help you be confident that you know what you're doing. Two thumbs up!

A "Practical" (??) guide
The title of this book indicates that it has some some of how-to information in it. But that is not the case at all. It has lots of information on the nutrient solution, but it not really helpfull if you are buying yours premixed.
The book totally lacks conclusions that is needed for decisions when setting up you own system. In other words not a how-to book, so only two stars since I'm so disappointed

hydro the best way to grow!
hi my name is skam i liked this book because it told u about different ways of growing this way i used this book many of times, and also my friends used it to . so i just wanted to say i give this book 2 thumbs up or 5 stars. sinceraly,skam