Oganic Hydroponics

Image Gallery Author's attempt to combine aquaculture withhydroponics was not 100% successful. Effluent-grownbeans?which at first rose inches above beans raised ineither manure tea or commercial nutrient solution?later became stunted and pale.

In MOTHER NO. 29, I described in detail a few of the many advantages hydroponic greenhouse gardening has over more conventional methods of raising fruits and vegetables . . . and in response, a reader wrote to MOTHER expressing the following concern:

James DeKorne's information on hydroponics is quite interesting, but one aspect of the method sticks in my craw: The process seems so dead. It'd be fascinating to discover if plants grown hydroponically differ in manifest energy?on some level apart from "nutrients" alone—as compared to those grown in soil . . . .

I've found that this is a common reaction to hydroponic gardening, even though anyone who has had any experience with the concept will tell you immediately that there's nothing at all "dead" about it. On the contrary: The plants I grow in my hydroponic greenhouse seem more alive than their peers out in the garden mostly because of their more rapid growth and prolific production of fruit.

Laboratory tests have shown that there are no nutritional differences between normal vegetables grown hydroponically and those grown in gardens (organic or otherwise). Neither are there any differences in flavor: Last summer my wife took two tomatoes?one from our garden and one from a hydroponic tank in the greenhouse?and arranged them in slices on two separate plates. Only she knew which was which. After every member of the family tasted pieces from each plate, it turned out that no one could detect any differences in flavor . . . none of us could tell which tomato was "organic" and which "hydroponic".

Even so, it is true that the hydroponically grown tomatoes you buy in the supermarket often taste bland and pulpy. One explanation for this?aside from the fact that supermarket produce is of dubious freshness?is that tomatoes produced in commercial hydroponic greenhouses are special hybrids which have been bred for color, uniformity of size, and ability to ripen all at the same time. And these, of course, are qualities which have nothing to do with flavor, but everything to do with the convenience and profit of the agribusinessman who raises the fruit.

No special hybrids for me, though . . . the tomatoes we raise in our tanks are the same varieties we grow in the garden (Burpee Big Boy being our particular favorite).

Nevertheless, not to evade the issue, the reader's letter that I've quoted calls into question something (namely, "manifest energy") for which I have no ready answer . . . if indeed there is one. When we begin to talk about energy levels beyond those that we have instruments to detect, we begin to run up against a semantic impasse. Many organic gardeners, I've noticed, tend to be very mystical about their subject (and for all I know, they may be onto something). I can only say that nothing in my experience confirms?or denies?their esoteric beliefs. If there are differences in the "vibes" given off by hydroponic tomatoes versus those of soil-grown fruit, I cannot detect them.