The video in class on Monday reminded me how beneficial hydroponics can be! Last semester I went on a weekend trip with Schreyer Honors College to meet with Kim Holleman and visit Boshwyck Farms in Brooklyn, New York. Boshwyck Farms is a small non-profit organization which teaches community members the benefits of hydroponics.
What Are Hydroponics?
The root of the word means “working water.” Hydroponics are systems that feed nutritious water into plants to allow them to grow. These systems are different than irrigation systems because they provide water and nutrients to areas that are not in the ground. The systems do not require dirt. Most are systems in boxes that can be placed indoors or on rooftops. Nutrient enhanced water is fed directly to plant’s roots which allows them to grow.
What Are The Benefits?
Hydroponics are extremely useful in areas where soil cannot be utilized. Cities are a prime example of areas that could find great benefits with hydroponics. There are multiple benefits to hydroponics…
1. Self-Sufficient/Health – People can grow their own food inside their own household. It would allow people to find nutrients in cities where the common marketplace primarily sells junk good or preserved food. It could also ease people’s minds if there was ever a food shortage or a problem in shipping goods. It would not solve an “apocalyptic crisis” but it would allow people to know that can produce their own food.
2. Environment – Many hydroponic systems are meant to be placed on rooftops. The placement of these systems is beneficial to the environment because it helps push harmful emissions away from cities. The healthy oxygen that plants emit will help clean the smog filled atmosphere that over tops cities. Instead of a waning environment due to the loss of green plant life in cities, the environment could become revitalized with healthy gardens in the air.
3. Learning – Many children are not exposed to growth and the natural environment. Having a plant system within a person’s own house can teach children the process of plant growth and the care that it takes make something grow.
4. Farming – If implemented on a large scale a traditional farmer can find many benefits. No soil is needed (know what you’re plants are taking), water can be recycled (good in areas of drought), no water run-off (which takes nutrients from plants, and container mobility (less transportation costs).
What are the Disadvantages?
The nutrients given to the plants are typically chemicals. These chemicals need to be bought and controlled. Plants are constantly evolving and occasionally the necessary chemical mix is changed. Hydroponic systems CAN be used with simple tap water, but the plants tend to grow better with nutrient induced water. It is also difficult to use tap water when tap water does not contain healthy nutrients. In addition to the chemical use, hydroponic systems can be rather costly to set up. Farmers save money in the long run, but households would be paying more to grow their own vegetables (when compared to buying them at the market). Another disadvantage is that rooftop greenhouses typically require a flat roof. Most houses in the suburbs do not have flat roofs.
Where Is It Used?
Hydroponics are used on housetops, green houses, and indoors. The New York Times cites a huge greenhouse roof in Sunset Park on top of a old Navy warehouse. The greenhouse roof is expected to produce a million pounds of produce a year.
Boshwyck Gardens is a nonprofit organization in Brooklyn that teaches families how to set up hydroponic systems and the benefits of use. They offer a weekend course to inform community members how to set up and use hydroponic systems.
My group at Boskwyck Farms (see above picture).
Kim Holleman
Along our trip to Boshwyck we met with Kim Holleman, an artist/engineer and participant in the TEDx convention. She gave a TED talk about her “Trailer Park.” It was an art project that incorporated a garden in a trailer park. The trailer travels over the nation and allows children to explore her inside garden.
Works Cited
http://www.simplyhydro.com/system.htm
http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/blog/hydroponics-for-sustainable-living
http://12.000.scripts.mit.edu/mission2014/solutions/hydroponics
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/nyregion/rooftop-greenhouse-will-boost-city-farming.html?_r=0
Your post was really informative and did a great job of incorporating personal experience -the field trip to Boshwyck Farms sounds so cool! On all of my trips to major cities in recent years I’ve noticed the concept of rooftop gardens is really gaining in popularity, but I had no idea that hydroponics were involved! (I always thought of it as an exclusively indoor method of growing.) I liked that you made a point to stay objective about the pros and cons; the issue of chemical run-off sounds really interesting… do the chemical nutrients vary so much that it’s hard to recycle water across plant species? and what are potential consequences of letting the chemically induced water just leave the system as regular waste water? Thanks for sharing!
It’s so cool that you got to go on that trip, Emily! I am honestly amazed that people thought to create this method. It makes so much sense though. Unused, flat surface areas are obvious in rural areas when you can see the ground and open fields, but for a city, you have to look up to the rooftops.
Watching the video in class and reading your blog post remind me of a short story I read in 7th grade, Antaeus. It’s about a farm boy who moves to the city and teaches his friends how to plant crops on the rooftops. That fictional character got his strength by working with the earth, and cities can also be empowered by this movement for farming. Thanks for sharing this with us!