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For over four decades, hydroponics has been a way of life in The Netherlands.

Due to strict environmental laws that limit the use of fertilisers and pesticides in growing vegetables and fruit, as well as flowers, the Dutch grow crops in greenhouses using hydroponic techniques that ensure their foodstuffs and flowers are of the best quality and on tap all year.

In Australia, the technique, called Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) has been applied for more than 15 years. The industry now uses other hydroponic techniques as well as NFT, and has a turnover worth $1 billion.

There are 1341 hectares of hydroponic greenhouse operations in the country with 1665 growers and the industry is growing at about 6-10 per cent per annum.

To meet this growth, Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT) is running a course in Commercial Hydroponic Crop Production, believed to be the only course of its kind in the metropolitan region.

Hydroponics is a technique of growing plants, herbs and flowers in a film of water, about 2mm-3mm, containing nutrients ebbing and flowing through the roots of produce or nutrients can be given with water directly to crops grown in a growing media.

NMIT Hydroponics Coordinator Isabella Olszewski said hydroponics involved the application of technical skills and while the initial establishment of a system was not cheap, the productivity was so much greater that as a business in the long-term, it was very cost effective.

‘This technique gives you total control of nutrients given to the crop. You achieve much faster growth so it’s much more productive. Average normal tomato crop growth produces 10-15 kgs per square metre, while hydroponic techniques produce 50kgs for every square metre,’ Isabella added.

‘It is also a very environmentally friendly technique as the water is recycled.’
She said while the reputation of hydroponics had been somewhat tarnished by its use to grow ‘recreational’ drugs such as marijuana, the vital plusses for the produce was that with very little use of pesticides the food was safe and of high quality with good presentation that was reliable all year round. Many growers also used biological control of insects instead of pesticides.

The course runs for 90-hours in total over six months and includes 60-hours of classroom study and hands-on practical experience delivered at NMIT’s Fairfield campus utilising purpose built hydroponics span of a greenhouse.

This study is based around two modules – To Implement and Maintain Program Hydroponics and Instal Hyrdroponic Systems which are studied one night a week for three hours.

The course is delivered by NMIT in conjunction with industry consultants, including the President of the Australian Hydroponic & Greenhouse Association, Graeme Smith.

A further 30-hours of the course are designed for students to devise a hydroponics business plan for a commercial business operation.

Isabella said the students, an eclectic mix of diverse age range and background including accountants, teachers, electricians, plumbers and office workers, come out of the course ready to establish their own business.

Hydroponics isn’t the only specialist horticulture course running at NMIT.

At the Fairfield campus, NMIT also offers a 70-hour course in Plant Tissue Culture that runs one night a week for 3.5 hours.

The course covers all aspects of micro-propagation techniques for producing high health native and exotic, rare and endangered plants.

The skills and knowledge are especially useful for plant propagators and breeders, laboratory technicians, horticulturalists, botanists, nursery and allied trade workers.

NMIT has a sophisticated Plant Tissue Culture laboratory at the campus for practical, hands-on tuition where students learn to directly apply the theory of their classroom studies. .

There’s a media preparation room, transfer room for placing the plants into culture and an incubation room where the plant cultures grow.

Teacher Siew Teoh said the course involved the technique of taking a small part of a plant – a bud, portion of the stem or a leaf, for example – cleaning it of all bacteria and fungi and then placing it into a sterile, nutrient culture medium where it would grow at a very fast rate.

‘It is about mass propagation which is very rapid compared to traditional, conventional methods of propagation,’ Siew said.

‘It is also very time effective as you don’t have to weed, water or spray with pesticides.You can also propagate all year round and it’s a good import or export business.’

She added it was an exceptionally good technique for breeding rare, exotic and unusual plants.

‘There is greater control of all the variables like climate and one of the great advantages of it is you can do it in a converted garage or spare room in your home.’

The course offers a mix of theory and practice with topics covered including the history and principles of Plant Tissue Culture, sources of contamination, surface sterilisation of different plant materials and introduction into the culture process as well as transfer and sub-culturing of explants into multiplication and rooting media and deflasking of plantlets.