Contrary to popular mythology, hydroponics is not a new technology. It goes back at least as far as ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs enjoyed of fruits and vegetables grown hydroponically. It is thought one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—the Hanging Gardens—was probably a hydroponic garden.
The earliest published work on hydroponics, however, dates from 1627. That’s when Sir Francis Bacon published Sylva Sylvarum. It was not printed until a year after his death, however. Hydroponics became a popular research subject after Bacon’s fine work. In 1699, John Woodward conducted experiments on spearmint and published the results. He discovered that plants grew better in less pure water than in distilled water.
By 1842, nine minerals known to be beneficial to plant growth had been discovered. The German botanists, Julius von Sachs and Wilhelm Knop developed methods of soil-less cultivation between the years 1859 and 1865. At that time, they called the terrestrial plants growing in mineral solution without soil “solution culture.” It became a standard research technique and teaching method. It is these days considered a method of hydroponics, albeit one that involves no inert medium.
In 1929, Professor William Frederick Gericke of the University of California at Berkeley began started publicly advocating the use of solution culture for the production of agricultural crops. He had a talent for hype, and grew massive 25-foot tall tomato vines in his back yard in mineral solutions rather than soil. He introduced the term hydroponics in 1937, although he gives credit to one Dr. . W. A. Setchell, of the University of California.
Hydroponics has come a long way since then. Hydroponics is an old technology, not rocket science. While it can be very sophisticated, and high tech, and use computers and all sorts of high tech gadgets, it can also be simple and straightforward. Remember, the Egyptians didn’t have all that. You can grow a plant hydroponically in a single hand-watered bucket of sawdust.
One advantage of hydroponics that led to its catching on is its cost. Hydroponics doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, either. It could be—if you intend to grow food hydroponically in the desert, or in outer space. However, if you want to grow plants hydroponically in a less exotic setting, it’s pretty straightforward and not expensive at all. It’s practical, easy and affordable. In fact, it is every bit as easy and affordable as the average hobby garden.
Today, hydroponics is used in countries where the climate isn’t great for growing crops, or where the soil is poor, or where the soil is depleted. The majority of greenhouses are in fact hydroponic. The fact that most greenhouses are hydroponic seems to convince people that hydroponics have to be used indoors, but this isn’t the case at all. The main advantage of growing indoors is that by using growth lights, you control the seasons, not Mother Nature. You can make the growing season last all year long.
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