Is Organic Hydroponic Gardening Truly Organic?

Hydroponics is defined by Merriam Webster Online Dictionary as: “the growing of plants in nutrient solutions with or without an inert medium (as soil) to provide mechanical support.”

Can hydroponic gardening qualify as organic hydroponic gardening? Some organic gardeners believe it cannot, since it uses no soil. Good soil is required, they believe, for truly Organic Gardening.

How do You Define Organic?

Most organic gardeners define organic as a type of gardening that allows no pesticides, herbicides, toxic sprays, chemical fertilizers, or other man-made materials.

Without Soil

Many people think organic hydroponic gardening would have to be done with plant roots suspended directly into water - nothing else. That may be the most common form of organic hydroponic gardening, but there are many other types. Organic hydroponic gardening is dirt-less Organic Gardening, but things (inert mediums) can be used in place of dirt. If a medium that is not man-made is used, we still fall within the common definition of organic.

Nutrient Film Technique

Organic hydroponic gardening that uses only water is called Nutrient Film Technique (NFT). The water is enriched with a nutrient tea. The gardener hangs the plants in small baskets with the roots dangling into the nutrient tea. To keep this truly organic hydroponic gardening, both the original water and the tea will need to be free of chemical additives. In most cases, this precludes the use of municipal or other treated water supplies - unless all chemicals are filtered from it first.

* Compost Tea: One nutrient tea for organic hydroponic gardening is compost tea. Compost tea is created by soaking compost in water, and then straining out solid material. The rich nutrients dissolve in the water, making a rich nutrient tea for organic hydroponic gardening.

* Manure tea: A second type of nutrient tea for use in organic hydroponic gardening is manure tea. Manure tea should be well composted or sterilized before creating the tea, to be sure bacterial contamination is not introduced into organic hydroponic gardening. The tea is made the same way as compost tea is.

* Fish-seaweed Tea: Another nutrient tea you may want to try with organic hydroponic gardening is a tea made of seaweed and fish. As above, soak the seaweed and fish in water to dissolve out rich nutrients.

Gardening that uses the Nutrient Film Technique can be organic hydroponic gardening. It is not yet commercially viable as an efficient way to produce large quantities of vegetables, but it is an option for the home gardener.