I love the topic and there is no such thing as bad publicity. However, as a skilled practitioner of vertical farming or gardening, I have to comment that there is nothing "low tech" about hydroponic growing systems. Continuous pumping of water to flow over roots is subject to power outages that quickly kill plants and the water has to have dissolved chemical fertilizers, antifungals and antibacterials to keep it all going. That has never looked low tech to me. The taste and nutrition derived from growing in soil is not there either. Vertical growing in soil is not sexy looking to most gardeners but it does not take up the room that a raise bed will, so it is considered more often as the gardening trend deepens. I would love to hear your thoughts on this comment and thanks for posting. Keep up the great press on this awesome topic!
I love the topic and there is no such thing as bad publicity. However, as a skilled practitioner of vertical farming or gardening, I have to comment that there is nothing "low tech" about hydroponic growing systems. Continuous pumping of water to flow over roots is subject to power outages that quickly kill plants and the water has to have dissolved chemical fertilizers, antifungals and antibacterials to keep it all going. That has never looked low tech to me. The taste and nutrition derived from growing in soil is not there either. Vertical growing in soil is not sexy looking to most gardeners but it does not take up the room that a raise bed will, so it is considered more often as the gardening trend deepens. I would love to hear your thoughts on this comment and thanks for posting. Keep up the great press on this awesome topic!
Love this article, Marc. I'm taking a similar approach with low-tech hydroponics.
Phil