HYDROPONICS FOR NURSERY BUSINESS
Dr. Shamaile Nabi
Assistant Professor
Galgotias College of Engg. & Technology
Mr. Mohammed Jawaid Alam
Coordinator – Nature Club of India
Hydroponics is the science of growing plants without soil by using nutrients. The term ‘Hydroponics’ was derived from Greek word ‘hydro’ means water and ‘ponos’ mean working. Hydroponics is a modern agriculture technique that uses nutrient solution rather than soil for crop production. There are several chemical elements essential for growth and production of plants. The management of nutrient solution is the groundwork for a successful hydroponic system. The hydroponic nutrient solution is necessary to provide the plant roots with water, oxygen and essential mineral elements in soluble form. To provide plants a well-balanced diet, everything in the soil should be in its perfect form. Hydroponics is a flexible technology, appropriate for developing countries, like India, and high-tech space stations. Hydroponics is NASA’s solution to providing space travelers with a self-sufficient food source. The NASA administration has sponsored a research programmer titled Controlled Ecological Life support system (CELSS) in order to further develop the technology and carry it into space in the future.
It is estimated that the world population of our world will reach 9.7 billion by 2050. At the same time, it has been expected that 50% of the arable land around the world will be unusable for farming. Then, there would some other substitute or other technology for plantation. Here, we are putting some solution for the same. The technology called Hydroponics could be the solution for indoor air quality, gardening and developing green environment. Hydroponics is a technology for growing plants in nutrients solutions (water containing fertilizers) with or without the use of an artificial medium like sand, gravel, cocopeat, vermiculite, perlite, peatmoss, sawdust or rockwool to provide mechanical support. In combination with greenhouse, it is high-technology and capital-intensive.
Why Hydroponics?
| DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GEOPONICS AND HYDROPONICS | |
| GEOPONICS | HYDROPONICS |
| 1. Space soil/earth or earthen pot require | 1. Any leak proof pots (Bottle, Tin box, Plastic Jar, Fused bulbs or tubes) |
| 2. Require soil | 2. No need of soil, plants can be grow in water, sand or stone |
| 3. A plant of 8-10” height require 90-100 liters water / plant / year. | 3. Only 1-1.5 liters water for per plant / year (height 8-10”) |
| 4. Fertilizers or hormones for various activities. | 4. Only our organic solution works well. |
| 5. Open space, Sunlight or light and shade are required. | 5. For foliage no Sun, for flowering and fruiting 4-6 hours Sun light. |
| 6. Good knowledge of plants and types of fertilizer | 6. When solution comes down & root open only our solution is to be added |
| 7. Soil plants are not for every where | 7. Soilless plants for any where |
| 8. Cost approx Rs. 300/- | 8. Cost approx Rs. 100/- |
| 9. Apart from the Rs. 300/- expenditure on a plant, problem of daily watering | 9. By saving the expenditure, no need of daily watering |
| 10. Only stem, leaf, flowers / fruits can be seen | 10. Stem, leaf, flowers / fruits and root can be seen. |
In India, there is a technology called ‘Alam Hydroponics’ which is very easy to do even for school children. Like many discoveries the concept of growing plants without soil was also initiated by chance in 1991 when the founder was working in his laboratories in Patna, Bihar, India has found some surprising positive result of root initiation in cactus, after that they proceeded on this line and finally they succeeded in developing plant nutrient for Soilless Culture in 1992, that served all requirement of all types of plants (rooting to fruiting). The product is commercially available in the Market with the brand name BIO-FERT-M (N, P, K, Ca, S, Mg, Zn, Fe, Mn, B, Mo + Herbal hormonal and enzymes), for common plant lover and also for commercial purpose. The ALAM HYDROPONICS technology would be very simple for the common masses keeping in view of environmental issues. It will solve the problems of growing plants in the urban areas where there is no adequate space; people don’t have sufficient time for gardening, non-availability of soil and less presence of direct sun light for the growth of plants. This Hydroponics technology is very cost effective and easy to maintain in our environment. We termed our USP “Grow Plants without 4S’ i.e. Soil, Sun, Space and Servant”. This Hydroponics can be used for different purposes such as education, environment, social and commercial.
Now a day, customers are looking for some different verities of plants and planting system. This Hydroponics would be a very good business opportunity for newly started nursery business and the existing established nursery.
