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Saturday, September 21, 2002
Hydroponics: Nature’s Gift to its Caretakers
By Emy Pedrosa
Eladio “Boy” Guevarra has been a farmer all his life. He has been planting hectares of every crop that would grow in the plains of Nueva Ecija. Today, he plants as bountifully and as lucratively even on a five-square meter area. “It sounds like magic, but it’s actually using a technology called hydroponics,” Guevarra said.
No soil, no pesticides
While the origin of hydroponics dates as far back as over a thousand years before Christ, it was only in the 1930’s that Prof. W. F. Gericke of the University of California coined the word — “hydro” meaning water and “ponos” meaning “to labor or to work”. In other words, let water work for your plants.
Singapore is a country with a land area smaller than that of the province of Cebu, yet it is exporting vegetables. Holland is 60% under water (though it has reclaimed most of it), but it produces the most beautiful flowers in the world. That’s because of hydroponics. In cramped, limited spaces and scarcity for a good soil that characterize urban settings, gardens are impossible dreams for many residents. This “soil-less” and “pesticide-free” farming technology provides anyone the means to plant vegetables and ornamental plants using only rocks and stones, styrofoam, used gutters, and bamboo poles. Anything that can hold water.
“Our vision is for every backyard to produce its own vegetables or grow plants that do not come in contact with pesticides since pests and insects also contribute to the balance in the ecosystem,” Guevarra explains. “The magic formula for this technology is based on the laws of nature. If you nurture your plants the way you nurture a baby, Mother Nature will reward you for it.” The basic principle behind hydroponics is feeding the plants with the proper nutrients they need to grow directly to the roots. And you can develop your own nutrients from whatever you can find in your surroundings.
A modern-day Babylon
Babylon, an ancient city (1900 B.C.) beside the River Euphrates 90 km. south of modern Baghdad, capital of Iraq, was known for its sybaritic lifestyle; but it was more famous for the celebrated Hanging Gardens which numbered among the Seven Wonders of the World.
In one of Babylon’s huge temples, these carefully-tended gardens were laid out at different levels on terraces supported on huge masonry arches. The gardens were said to have been designed and executed under Nebuchadnezzar (the great Babylonian ruler) who had married a Median princess, and intended the raised gardens to be a comforting reminder of her mountainous homeland. They included many species of Babylonian and Persian plants in addition to the palm trees which were a characteristic feature of Babylonia at that time. The interesting feature of these raised gardens was that they were visible above the tops of the buildings and provided a welcome contrast of greenery against an otherwise barren milieu and great expanse of sky. A number of mechanical hoists provided the means by which water was raised to these elevated terraces.
“There is a strong similarity of this method used in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon with hydroponics. So any ordinary home can create its own modern-day Babylon,” Guevarra said.
Fired by a vision to strengthen our hope for urban agriculture to enable Filipinos to provide themselves year-round supply of vegetables that are clean and healthy, Boy Guevarra is conducting seminars and workshops whose participants come from all walks of life.
“There were retired generals, doctors, housewives, and even nuns who surprised me of their enthusiasm to grow their own gardens,” notes Boy Guevarra who is now considered as a hydroponics guru. He maintains a one-stop shop and demo farm for hydroponics at Nego-Eskwela Compound in North ave., Manila, just across Veterans Memorial Hospital.
On Oct. 12 and 27, Guevarra will exhibit the greenhouse he is now cultivating at Garwood Park Hotel along Fuente Osmeña, and will share his knowledge on hydroponics technology with Cebuanos or any plant enthusiast.
Interested parties may contact Mother Earth Hydroponics in Cebu at Suite 309 Garwood Park Hotel with tel. no. 253-1131 local 309 or cellphone no. 0916-4855176,A gift from Mother Nature
As hydroponics, a seemingly inconceivable method of urban farming manifests itself, a ready source of healthy and chemical-free vegetables and a means of livelihood for Filipinos (as the technology provides fast return of investments as vegetables grow on a faster pace even in times of weather disturbances) are well within our reach.
Hydroponics now gives substance to our dreams of having a copious backyard. For indeed, plants lead the way towards a path of golden health and opportunity —— Mother Nature’s best gift to its caretakers.
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