Hydroponics: Gardening without the Soil
Hydroponics was first accepted in mainstream America in the 1930’s. Hydroponics is the system of growing plants with the roots suspended in mineral-rich waters. In 1930, the scientist Gericke had grown the first commercial hydroponic unit in the USA. And such acceptance saved the American forces in the Pacific during the World War II. They grew vegetables the hydroponic way to survive and feed the soldiers.
Hydroponics literally means ‘working with water’. The definition has actually become popular and widened to account all types of gardening without the usual use of soil. Hydroponics is actually the soil-less gardening.
A German scientist named Liebig originated the use of nutrient solutions to study the required nutrition of plants in the 1850’s. This method was adopted by Sachs in 1860. It was Knop in 1861 however who made studies of nutrient elements in water solutions. They were able to grow plants in nutrients-rich solutions made up from mineral salts getting rid of the soil.
Research on the nutritional requirements of plants extended through into the 1870’s leading to the practical applications of hydroponics by 1925. By the late 1920’s, hydroponics was already employed with the greenhouse industry.
Developments remained and it was the development of a system known as N.F.T. by Dr Alan Cooper in the 1970’s that made the use of hydroponics for a wide variety of plants. This had driven the technique for the commercially feasible crops and staples. Thus, with the automatic control systems available, field of hydroponics has became available as a soil-less form of gardening even to the ordinary house gardener.
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