Plants grown in the ground have a number of maintenance issues not found in an aquaponics system. Weeds often become a problem in a soil based garden and they have to be removed. The weeds us up valuable growing space and nutrients intended for your vegetable producing plants. Removal takes work and is often an ongoing process. Weeds do not exist in a hydroculture system.
Other maintenance issues include the watering and fertilization of your soil based plants. Because plants growing in an aquaponics system are growing in water you do not have to water them. Most of the nutrients are provided by waste from the aquatic animals in the aquaponics system, so the work involved in fertilization is greatly reduced.
Typically a aquaponics system uses only a fraction of the water a soil based garden uses. Once the system is filled with the necessary amount of water for proper operation, you only have to replace the water used by the plants and lost through evaporation.Soil based gardens produce run-off, which can be unhealthy for the surrounding environment. Because you very rarely have to discharge the water in an aquaponics system, there is no run-off. Aquaponics does not impact the environment like soil based agriculture does.
Growing vegetables in your backyard using an aquaponics system has a number of advantages over a ground based system. Which system you choose depends on you. Having the proper understanding of how these systems work and how to maintain them will help you choose the system that is right for you.
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