Organic Hydroponics

This is a reference for the strange world of organic hydroponics.

Organic is the growing of food in an environmentally friendly way, by using plant based pesticides (etc.), animal or compost based fertilizers, and other regulated uses of the term. However, one use of the term that is regulated is the use of a soil medium as the only acceptable medium for a USDA Organic certification. Hydroponics is the culture of plants in a soilless medium. Thus the phrase “organic hydroponics” can be labeled an oxymoron. Though the U.S. Government treats any hydroponics as unallowable for organic production, some organizations, like Oregon Tilth, have deemed some aquaponic (refer to the previous post—aquaponics reference) culture as organic by their certification standards. (Friendly Aquaponics got one of the certifications.) So, the idea of “organic hydroponics” need not be a contradiction to some members of the gardening community.

Considering the benefits of hydroponics, less water usage (due to being a contained system) and higher yield (due to having the correct conditions for a plant at one time, allowing root growth to be dwarfed by vegetative growth) hydroponics is good for the environment as a whole. Traditional salts based hydroponics actually is better for the environment than any conventional farm in existence, because of fewer pesticides, no heavy machinery, a lower footprint, due to higher yields, and less water usage. Organic hydroponics takes salt based hydroponics one step further. In organic hydroponics, the medium mimics soil, with different organisms and organic matter. Organisms colonize the system, just as they would in soil. Some are introduced in some forms of organic hydroponics, such as worms.

Different forms of organic hydroponics serve different purposes. Here is the list of possible configurations and nutrient sources:

1. . Organic nutrients. This system is simply putting nutrients, such as worm tea, into a system. This is the simplest form.
2. . Vermi-ponics. This system is where worms live in the system and feed off of organic matter you introduce. The intricacies of this system cannot be understated. As I have never attempted such a system, I can only link to other explanations.
3. . Bacterial. This system uses bacteria to convert unusable nutrients to available nutrients for various plants. This is used in many other types of systems such as aquaponics.
4. . Pee-ponics (humonia etc.). This is by far the most controversial type of hydroponics. It involves taking STERILE human urine and adding it to a recirculating system with nitrifying bacteria to convert NH₄⁺ into NO₃^- for plants to use. Like bacterial it uses bacteria to use this source of N and P. It is advised to not use this method if you’re taking any serious medication and/or you use tobacco and/or alcohol on a regular basis. If you do, you can simply grow ornamental plants.

Traditional hydroponics growers, who have TDS and EC meters, will have to convert the readings for organic hydroponics (as it takes time for some resources to be liberated for plant use). The General Hydroponics Guide to Organic Hydroponics is here for your questions.

Some of the experienced growers might want to chime in.