this should be true and correct:
i have it in a pdf file, so i copied and pasted sorry i know... i know
There is really no difference between an atom, mineral or the element itself. What matters is whether or not they are in a form that is non-harmful and that can used by plants. If so, they are beneficial whether natural or manmade. Plants do not take up carbon at the roots, they get all they need from the CO[SUB]2[/SUB] in the air, so the term "organic gardening" is confusing. The same minerals are needed in either hydroponic or organic growing. These minerals are provided to plants in the organic garden as they are released from organic matter by the action of microbes, worms and bacteria. In hydroponics, these same elements are provided by water soluble mineral salts.
But is it organic? Can a hydroponic plant nutrient be classified as organic? Probably not, unless you go back to the chemical definition of the word, that is a substance that contains carbon. By this definition, many "chemical" nutrient formulas would be considered organic. These include the chelated trace elements as well as urea, which contains carbon in the form (NH[SUB]2[/SUB])CO[SUB]2[/SUB]. It is also possible to define a hydroponic nutrient solution as organic by drawing on the definition many people use that organic is "natural".
Most of the mineral elements used in hydroponics start out as mined rock or mineral deposits which are as natural as the earth itself. The important point is that it is not the elements that are different in organic and hydroponic growing, it is how these elements are obtained and delivered to the plant.