Many people wrongly assume that hydroponics, or the skill of effectively growing plants without soil, is a new technology. Great Stuff Hydroponics, a leading hydroponics specialist and provider, aims to shed some light on the origins of this ancient practice.
According to gardening specialists, the famous Babylonian hanging gardens are regarded to be the oldest example of a complicated usage of hydroponic technology. Without any dirt surrounding their root systems, freshwater providing lots of oxygen and nutrients was employed to keep plants alive. Other old world applications of hydroponics have also been hypothesised within the Aztec culture.
However, scientific understanding of the workings of plant life did not begin to emerge until the Middle Ages. Jan Van Helmont concluded in 1600 that plants get their nutrition only from precipitation, not from the soil itself. He recognised this because, whereas plant mass increases with plant development over time, soil mass remains relatively constant. It cleared the path for scientists and chemists to learn more about which nutrients must be present in water for plants to thrive properly.
By the mid-nineteenth century, a complete list of minerals and nutrients required by plants to flourish had been published, with nutrient solutions made by German botanist Wilhelm Knop due to significant attention and numerous trials.
Hydroponic growth techniques, such as managing the quantity of grow light, water, and nutrients accessible to the plant, are great for growing vegetables. As a result, commercial greenhouse farmers began to see the promise of hydroponics in the early twentieth century. Traditional (soil-based) agriculture requires 1/20th of the amount of water that hydroponic plant development requires.
These techniques are not only ecologically sound since they use less water and reduce agricultural ‘runoff,’ which would otherwise enter the water supply, but they are also well adapted to dry conditions. It was beautifully shown during WWII when American forces stationed on desolate Wake Island in the Pacific could exist by hydroponically cultivating fresh food.
During the 1940s, Dr William Gericke developed hydroponic techniques and even came up with the term, combining the Greek words ‘hydros’ (meaning ‘water’) and ‘ponos’ (indicating ‘working’) at one time.
Since then, hydroponics growth techniques have evolved into a range of ways to grow plants in soilless cultures; however, they now employ alternative mediums instead of soil, implying that not all soilless cultures are hydroponic. Not only that, but there are now a variety of growth stimulants, fertiliser solutions, and hydroponic lighting options to choose from.