Earthbox or Hydro Box? Which one should I choose?

In looking at hydroponic gardening, growers are choosing between various alternatives for cultivating plants in a small space, to feed their families, or for a small commercial venture.

Small gardening is becoming more and more of an industry, with more manufacturers and vendors jumping on the bandwagon to serve urban dwellers and others who want to produce their own food where they live. This is a great trend, and now, people have a lot of options in how they build systems.

The “Earth Box”

One rather interesting alternative to a hydroponics garden is a type of system that offers a soil-based, closed, indoor grow space. This type of system, some aspects of which are vendor trademarked, involves offering a box where plants grow in soil, rather than hydroponically.

Different Philosophies

One area that growers have to think about is the difference in philosophy between growing in hydroponic grow boxes, and growing in a box that contains soil, but is otherwise similar to a hydroponic gardening kit.

There are a number of things that people think about in terms of soil-based agriculture. One is that natural soil has a lot of good components that feed plants. Another is that putting plants in regular grow boxes is one of the simplest ways to grow them. The question has to be asked, when systems are designed to carefully construct a plant environment artificially, why does soil need to be involved?

The philosophy with hydroponics is that soil is an unnecessary ingredient that adds cost and other burdens to a project. In many ways, nurturing plants with nutrient-rich water is an efficient way to get results. It's less messy in general, and it requires less space.

There's also the issue of irrigation. Hydroponics systems irrigate plants naturally, because the water is the nutrient delivery vehicle. With soil-based growing, irrigation has to be done some other way. In some types of ‘soil box’ products, there may be an artificial reservoir that pumps water into the soil environment. Again, this basic design is structurally similar to grow box design. The difference is in the philosophy.

Regardless of what type of project you choose, it's essential to look at nutrients provided for plants. What they get in terms of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium) and other types of chemical elements will determine their growth. Other environmental conditions also apply, such as pH value, temperature and humidity.

For more, take a look at everything that today's retailers offer to allow you to grow plants in a small indoor space or a specifically constructed greenhouse.