What is the IPO (input, process and output) system in hydroponic farming?

Question

What is the IPO (input, process and output) system in hydroponic farming?

Answer 1

Hydroponics is a highly controlled system of agriculture based on liquid/ water fertilizer solutions in an inert medium (or no medium at all). For the grower or farmer that crops a monoculture it provides a way to get a consistent crop with the fastest cycle or turn-around, a requirement of large scale food (plant) production that is most cost efficient. On a smaller scale and for the hobbyist as well it can also be used with a great diversity of crops. Though associated with greenhouse production that is not a necessity, and though also frequently considered an inorganic/ chemical means of production, that also is not absolute. Some of my best production of the finest products I have been able to put out were done "organically" and they were absolutely superior with no more extra cost. A great organic base is waste-water from fish farming (aquaculture) and it is quite a trick to take that waste-water and use it to grow produce. The best of us can grow a finfish that is organic in tandem systems that hydroponically grow produce that is also organic and keep both crops health and productive. That was a lot of years of research for me and is way beyond the scope of this article, but suffice to say you can grow a product that is superior beyond belief!

Input is the medium, if needed, the fertilizer solutions which is the food and water all plants need, and sunlight. It is a given that there is either a facility or some arrangement to support the needs of a plant in a tightly controlled situation with consideration that an inert medium or structure with keep the root of the plant in the controlled situation that is the basic reasoning and purpose of this form of growing. It could be troughs or grow bags in the greenhouse but they can also be out of the greenhouse if the "field" is separate from the environment (for true hydroponics, but no one says that it is a must as the rules are made to be bent or broken with no consequence).

Given the above, the process is that plants are started, then lined out in arrangement as with any form of agriculture. Pumps or metering devices with water pressure provide solutions to the growing plants in either a closed or open system, recycling or wasting solutions, of which proper aeration is of utmost importance, as roots need air just as much as leaves do. Recycled solutions are checked periodically with instruments to make sure that optimum parameters are maintained for all nutrients and that disease considerations and deficiencies are accounted for and corrected.

The result is the output, a quality product that matures all together and is consistent in all respects. All that remains to be done is cleaning and maintenance before the next cycle to start fresh with minimum disease.

Answer 2

The input could be the temperature, water, labour, seeds, and humidity needed for hydroponic growing. The processes could be the cultivation of the hydroponics. The output is the pesticide- free, more nutritious plants grown using the method of hydroponics.