The floating hydroponics system which is in use in our unit is a state of the art development in greenhouse cultivation.

It was designed and developed by big universities and research centers of America and Canada, while many experiments have been carried out by NASA on the well-known French Lettuce species.

• In the floating hydroponics system, plants are placed to a perforated disk made from light and inactive material (in a way so that the roots are hanging from the bottom of the disk).
  
  
• The disk with the plants is left to float in a basin full of water, in which have been dissolved all the vital nutritional elements needed by the plants, in the ideal quantity and composition. In this way, the roots are placed in an environment of an ideal composition, and consequently the plant responds with a rapid development, which Is limited only by the rate of the plant's metabolism. The composition of the solution in nutritional elements is constantly controlled and finely adjusted, so that the plant obtains ideal nurturing at every stage of its development.
  
  
• With the frequent air injections in the planting bowl, the sufficient airing of the solution and of the plant's root system is achieved, a fact that accelerates the metabolic rate of plant to its maximum.
  
  
• The plants, due to the healthy state that they achieve, become more resilient to diseases. This, combined with the lack of a sub layer, reduces or eliminates the need to use herbicides.

The result is that the crops produced have a higher yield, better quality and with more growing cycles in a year, when compared to any other system of cultivation.

Presently, in our unit, the following species of lettuce are cultivated with the above mentioned method:

• European Species
  
  • Lollo rosa
    
  • Lollo bionda
    
  • batavia
    
  • Red oakleaf
    
  • Green oakleaf
  • Iceberg
    
    
• American Species
  
  • Romaine COS
    
    
• Different / New Species
  
  • Greenleaf Salanova
    
  • Redleaf Salanova
    
    
• Baby leaf

• Herbs

This method of cultivation outperforms the traditional method of cultivation in the soil, as well as all other hydroponics methods, because:

• It has a high cost of installation and low operating costs.
  
  
• Simple maintenance and simple cultivation work.
  
  
• Capacity for automation of many of the processes (seeding, replanting, harvesting) which allows for a further decrease in operating costs.
  
  
• It provides the opportunity to achieve high density planting and consequently better exploitation of the cultivated area. In a floating type hydroponics greenhouse the exploitation of the cultivated area is more than 90% instead of 60% which is achieved with the other cultivation methods.
  
  
• It is capable of fully automatic control of the composition and temperature of the nutritional solution which is impossible for the land cultivation, and also for the others hydroponics methods, which often have problems such as hyper warming or lack of oxygenation of the solution.
  
  
• As a closed type cultivation system (with recycling of the nutritional solution), it does not create any wastes and does not pollute in any way the environment, as opposed to land cultivation or to the open hydroponics systems, which pollute the environment with large amounts of fertilizers and especially nitric ones.
  
  
• It uses very little water, just the necessary amount for the vital needs of the plants. Because the cultivated surface is covered, there is no loss of water due to evaporation, while at the same time, due to the closed cultivation system, there is no loss of water into the underground.
  
  
• It does not use any kind of planting sub layer, which means that it does not present any kind of pathogenesis, thanks to the lack of a sub layer where micro organisms grow. Consequently, there is no need to change the sub layer or for periodical disinfections (see cultivation on land - hydroponics in perlite), reducing thus the need for pesticides.
  
  
• In a well organized and equipped unit, with full control and optimization of the growing conditions, the need for pesticide use is very small or zero, and consequently the plants produced are hardly burdened, or even not at all, with chemicals, and even less so when compared to those coming from biologic cultivations.
  
  
• Finally, due to the fully controlled cultivation and growing environment of the plants, as well due to the absolute control of all inputs, such units can be certified.