Hydroponic gardening helps to eliminate the need for weeding and helps to cut down on diseases and pests. This form of gardening is also easily adapted to indoor environments, which means it can be used throughout the year to grow a gardener’s favorite plants. The greatest advantage to hydroponics is the overall outcome of the plants, which will be of better quality and are much healthier. Your garden should also be able to support the predator insects. Many biological insects will not survive if the temperature is too hot, or if there isn’t a good source of water. Other ways to protect your hydroponic produce against spider mites include using non-toxic yellow sticky cards. The cards are useful for monitoring spider mites and many other small bugs. Usually, natural sunlight is used, but during the shorter and darker days of winter, many hydroponic gardeners use artificial lights to increase the intensity of light or to expand the daylight length. Different types of artificial lighting are selected for specific plant varieties and optimum plant growth characteristics. Because hydroponic growers produce their own nutrients mixes, it takes the guess work out of figuring out which plants will grow best in a field and what nutrients need to be added to the soil. The nutrient mixture is the right one for the plant, in the right ratios, every time. The fear of soil-based diseases is eliminated, because, of course, there is no soil. General plants prefer the pH to stay in the 5.5 to 7.5 ranges as going beyond this range inhibits certain nutrients to become less available for the plant to absorb. The key is to monitor the nutrient solutions on a regular basis to make sure the pH is at the right level. Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil as hydroponics cultivates plants in nutrient-rich water. It can be used outdoors in a greenhouse but the bug problem and their potential diseases need to be addressed in order to save your plants from their adverse effects. The most popular method of generating carbon dioxide for your hydroponic plants is the use of a pressurized carbon dioxide system. The equipment is relatively inexpensive (under $500) and the operating expense is low.