Customer Reviews

Hydroponic Food Production: A Definitive Guidebook of Soilless Food-Growing Methods

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Outstanding book full of usefull information and data in setting up and operation of large scale hydroponics farms but the information will aid the smaller scale operations this book is a must for the smaller greenhouse hydroponic grower.

I was convinced to buy this book by your reader reviews but I was disappointed to receive a black and white version (according to your comment on a previous reader's review only an older out of print version comes in b&w).Content is, however,excellent-very comprehensive and well worth having!

This is an excellent book for anybody considering the commerical applications of hydroponics. It covers in detail different hydroponic methods and discusses the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of each. Well illustrated and includes a complete bibliography.

"Hydroponic Food Production" is an outstanding reference. This invaluable resource covers both basic and relatively advanced systems and operational concepts. It uses enough illustrations, pictures and tables to get the information across in a manner that is both comprehensive and comprehensible. A "must-have" for anyone considering commercial hydroponics and highly valuable for the hobbyist as well.

I found this book to be excellently written with informative, down to earth material, photo's and illustrations of most of the newer hydroponic systems that are now being used in commercial applications.

I got the impression that the author has a lot of background experience and knows the hydroponic field very well.

Drawing on over 25 years of personal experience, Howard Resh has written this comprehensive technical manual for the commercial hydroponic food grower. Accompanied by numerous black and white photographs of commercial growing operations, Resh describes the many possible hydroponic systems, along with their strengths and weaknesses, taking into consideration the particular crops grown, regional environments, and geographic availability of various media.

All aspects of growing hydroponically are covered, including:

* Plant nutritional needs
* Managing nutrient solutions
* Diagnosing nutritional deficiencies and excesses
* History of hydroponics
* Various soilless cultures (water, sand, gravel, sawdust, rockwool, peat, rice hulls, vermiculite, perlite, synthetics, etc.)
* Environmental influences
* Water and greenhouse temperature
* Lighting
* Ventilation
* Sanitation
* Pollination
* Dealing with pests and fungal diseases
* Using pesticides and biological controls
* Sterilization

Resh offers suggestions for managing specific crops, such as desired media, germination, transplantation and harvest timeframes, temperature needs, crop spacing, suckering and trimming, and growing supports. The appendices include extensive resource lists and bibliography.

While Resh does offer tips for small-scale operators on a few of the systems, this highly technical, no-nonsense manual is an invaluable reference more appropriate for the large-scale, professional grower.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.

My review comes with mixed emotions. On the one hand overall I gave the book a 5 star, but with some significant reservations. Here goes.

First the reservations: if you definitively are or are going to be small scale, you don't need this pricey book. There are others that will work well for much less. There is more detail than you need for the backyard. Additionally, the author's writing style is at times stiff and wordy and technical terms frequently will have you looking for a dictionary. Another annoyance is that, despite the apparent good organization, based on looking at the table of contents, there are times whem the author wanders off course a bit.

Now the good news: Wow! This book is packed with all kinds of ideas about hydroponic operations (some of them really large scale) in the US, South America, Europe, and the Far East. You really get a great range of ideas to think about. You also will get a great deal of information about alternatives in growing mediums, plant nutrition and delivery thereof, greenhouse organization, on through to harvesting methodologies.

The bottom line is that, knowing what I know now, I would buy the book again, and plan to keep it close to the top of the pile :) where I can reach for some references.

Comprehensive, ditactical, infortunately with photos b&w

Soy un iniciado en el cultivo hidropónico, y con este libro he logrado el apoyo necesario para estimular mi emprendimiento. Dentro de poco, obtendré la primer cosecha y llegaré al autor para acercarle los resultados. Lo felicito por la claridad y simplicidad alcanzada en todos los temas tratados, de por sí complejos para los neófitos como yo. Resalto el capítulo referido a "Cultivo en Agua" !!!