Beschreibung

• The production systems found in modern greenhouses can be divided into two categories: soilless and soil-based. While soil-based production can be found in older operations, the current trend is for growers to optimize root conditions for crops by designing and implementing systems that allow greater control of the vital root zone variables than is possible with soil. This generally involves using little or no soil other than, perhaps, sand or gravel.

  In general, hydroponic systems are soilless production systems. In this chapter the two terms will be used interchangeably. The public generally thinks of hydroponic systems as being water culture systems, without media; however, most hydroponic systems in commercial production use some sort of substrate to create a matrix that forms the root zone. The only thing that all hydroponic systems have in common is that no soil is used. Conversely, all containerized soilless