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Benefits of Aquaponics

Aquaponics, which has grown in popularity in recent years, is a combination of hydroponics, growing plants in water, and aquaculture, the practice of raising fish in containers. The idea is that the waste produced by the fish provides fertilizer to the plants, and the plants provide food for the fish.

It might sound rather complicated, but there are a lot of resources available to you to get started if you’re interested. It does require a bit of a set-up but it doesn’t have to be too fancy. It might be worth the investment when you weigh the benefits.

Here are some of the reasons you might want to consider aquaponics for your homestead:

1. Space

Because plants don’t compete for water and nutrients as they would in the ground, aquaponics allows you to grow more food in a smaller space. High yields are a great reason to consider aquaponics

2. Free fertilizer

The fish provide the fertilizer so you don’t ever have to worry about compost, soil amendment, or fertilizer of any kind! Keeping track of when to fertilize and the state of your soil can be a big hassle, so this is much less of a headache than traditional gardening.

3. Less water

Although the system runs on water, it is a closed system so you use far less water overall than you would to regularly water a garden in the ground. Plus, you don’t have to worry about constant watering! This is great if you live in an area where water is scarce or water bills are high.

4. No weeding

One of the most time-consuming aspects of growing a garden is staying on top of regular weeding. But with aquaponics, you don’t have to!

5. Extra protein

Perhaps the coolest aspect of aquaponics, of course, is that you are growing plants in a symbiotic relationship with fish. This means you are also growing fish along with your plants, that can be harvested and eaten as well!

If you’re sold on aquaponics, we’d highly recommend researching further to see if it is right for your homestead! These are definitely some very appealing reasons to give this trendy gardening method a try.

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