What are the benefits of hydroponic growing?

Cultivating plants hydroponically is an easy and environmentally sound way to grow a wide variety of healthy plants. It offers numerous benefits over growing in soil, including:

• Plants grow up 50% faster because they have easy access to food and water.
• Plants become "vacation-proof" and "neglect-resistant" as Stonewool retains water so well.
• Plants can "tell" you when to water, because they droop before wilting and damage occurs.
• The absence of a buffer in the growing medium means plants get all the nutrients available (they don't remain "bound up" as occurs in buffered mediums like peat moss and coco fiber).
• Little or no pesticides are necessary. Plants start out in a disease-free medium.
• If disease occurs, it may only affect one plant, not a whole row.
• You use smaller containers, because the roots can grow throughout the media without being rootbound.