Hydroponics Wonderland In The World of Disney Horticulture

Sept. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- With increased burden on our environment due to unsustainable practices like depeltion of soil, water and other natural resources, people have started taking active interest in technology and innovation that EPCOT's (The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) The Land Pavilion in Disney World can bring. Started way back in in 1982, Disney's EPCOT in Orlando, Florida has hosted a state-of-the-art, ever expanding and evolving interactive hydroponics experience, mixing Aquaponics, Aeroponics, Nutrient Film Techniques (NFTs) and basic Flood & Drain hydroponic technology to create exciting new innovations in the field of indoor horticulture.

The Land Pavilion – “Living With the Land” in Disney World, has introduced to the world a host of interesting as well as meaningful advancements in the domain of indoor hydroponics. Another notable innovation featured here  is the ‘Sand Culture’, wherein subsurface irrigation have been used to grow a wide range of agricultural products ranging from cotton to giant citrus fruits in deserts.  

However, the most prevalent hydroponic technique which is showcased in the Land Pavillion is the ‘Bag Culture’. Plants such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and of course the famous Mickey Mouse pumpkins, are hung in bags or pots, with their roots suspended in a growing medium like coco coir, perlite, or rockwool, and are flooded with a nutrient-rich solution at predetermined intervals. They use prevalent hydroponic  systems like Flood & Drain or Ebb &Flow . The hydroponic garden in The Land is huge with innumerable variety of fruits and vegetables. The crops are grown without any pesticide or synthetic hormones, but still the size is much bigger than the normal crops you grow in your backyard.

At the Land Pavilion, you can also see innovative use of other prevalent hydroponic systems like NFT. The Land Pavilion has been able to build some creative looks with their NFT set-ups, like double-helix designs. This technique, along with the similar system of Aeroponics, where roots are suspended in the air and sprayed with nutrients, is how The Land Pavilion grows a majority of their herbs and leafy green vegetables. A vast part of the greenhouses uses evolved hydroponic techniques like Aquaponics, where a pond filled with certain beneficial fish is used as a reservoir, and the water from that pond, containing vital nutrients that are by-products from the fish, is filtered and used to water the plants. This symbiotic relationship could be the key to more successful hydroponics gardening in the future. The produce is used at the restaurants nearby, which is ideal from a nutritional and environmental standpoint.

Even though no pesticides are introduced in this garden, they effectively utilize an Integrated Pest Management system which is essentially an organic mechanism wherein good insects are introduced in the garden to control the pests and pathogen. EPCOT’s land thus acts as an excellent example of teaching people how to maintain ecological balance. It showcases excellent techniques of growing amazing nutritious fruits and vegetables and thereby balancing the utilization of our scarce natural resources.

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