5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Beginning Hydroponics: Soilless Gardening : A Beginner's Guide to Growing Vegetables, House Plants, Flowers, and Herbs Without S, 2006-02-19
book recieved in a timely manner. Information is OK. Outdated information, lacks specifics. Need better clarification.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Waste of Money, 2005-04-05
What I was expecting was a guide on how I could start/build/create a hydroponic garden from scratch. What i got was a simpletons generic, vague something that really taught me nothing. I don't need the history of it, or the theories behind it. The title said 'simplified workbook' but it taught me nothing, I'm at square one which is "how do I build and start a hydroponic garden? What supplies and where do I get them?"
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
As it says..., 2004-08-01
It is a beginner's introduction to hydroponics. While it is an exceptionally good overview and a great place to begin studying the topic, it is by no means a canon on the topic. Grab this book, read it cover to cover, photocopy it's tables to tack to the wall in whatever area you do your plant working. It will give you a skeleton, but your flesh is earned via experience and communicating with other gardeners, especially in better hydroponics forums on the internet.
These forums, however, can be confusing without the background provided by books such as this.
8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
An Excellent Intro to a Technology with Proven Potential, 2004-06-19
Hydroponics... presents an open and honest introduction to the subject of growing plants without soil, covering its long history (especially before it was called 'hydroponics' and before Western Europeans happened upon it), the basic principles underlying hydroponics and the more common methods of the field from the simple to the complex. It also includes a chapter on troubleshooting, provides copious resources in the form of a book list for further reading and suppliers to hydroponic growers (from backyard gardeners to commercial growers), and is an all-around accessible text for both beginning non-gardeners and to gardeners of all ability ranges. It also lays out the need for and benefits derived from hydroponics without embellishment, and presents just a small amount of the technology's practical applications and tremendous (and proven) potential.However, based on this text alone, the reader has no real idea just how big the field of soil-less gardening has become. For example, a sizable amount of commercial tomato production in the United States is done hydroponically, and virtually all of the fresh lettuce in Japan is produced this way. Additionally, the technology has proven itself to be commercially viable for the production of a variety of specialty crops. After reading this book, I could easily think of five or six spin-offs for potential research.
Probably the best endorsement for the power and capability of this applied technology is the fact that more research is done in hydroponics by commercial growers and big multinationals than is done by (and this is in the United States context) both universities and the USDA. As an aside, although not originally intended as an application, more than a few enterprising individuals have co-opted its utilization, and advanced its development in order to cultivate, produce and distribute cannabis!
This in turn may or may not explain the reticence of the United States government, through the USDA, to fund research into improved hydroponic methods. However, a more reasonable possibility may be that the technology is first a proven concept and second is very highly developed. Still, there is considerable room for creative thinking, improvement, improvisation and innovation, as many an enterprising law-breaker has demonstrated.
On the other hand, foreign governments in arid regions of the world, such as Israel, the greater Middle East and the North African region, have invested heavily in hydroponics research as a means to simultaneously produce food for domestic requirements and to conserve scarce water resources. Israel in particular is very aggressive in its attempts to use hydroponics as a basis for export-led agricultural production.
Considering how long this book has been on the market (some 27 years), and how bad the situation in the world is with regard to hunger and food insecurity, and environmental degradation, I have to wonder aloud why environmental types like Lester Brown, Helen Caldicott and environmental groups such as the Worldwatch Institute, Sierra Club and Greenpeace have not bothered to champion this technology. Given all of the benefits of the technology, and the number of greedy corporate fingers using it to rake in beaucoup bucks, you have to wonder exactly where the priorities of many of the so-called 'eco-advocacy' groups lay, as they should be grinning from ear to ear over this water conserving (and in many cases water recycling), decreased energy, pesticide and fertilizer utilizing technology.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
A little help for my Greenhouse Business!, 2001-02-11
Good growing information but lacks details. Not a complete guide but worth the price for sure. I got a few good ideas from this one, making it a worthy purchase. Another book for learning the most up to date hydroponic methods is my favorite, "Secrets to a Successful Greenhouse and Business".