Your plants can survive without soil, but their roots still need something to cling onto. You might think if you’re going to the trouble of putting your plants in a soil substitute, why not just grow them in the dirt? The answer is control.

When you grow hydroponic plants, you keep them away from bugs and disease, you give them more nutrients than they would have access to in the soil, you give them more light than they would have access to from the sun. Hydro- ponics put you in control over all the things farmers have to worry about day-to-day.