A long and illustrious history of hydroponics...

The History of Hydroponics

Ever heard of hydroponics? It's the art of growing flowers and crops in liquid nutrient solution -- basically, water. The reason the name seems so odd to modern ears is because it's derived from the Greek language that's provided so many of our technical terms: in Greek, "hydroponics" breaks down to "hydro" (water) and "ponos" (work). FYI, growing plants in soil is technically known as "geoponics."

For a practice that few of us have heard of and fewer have tried, hydroponics has a surprisingly long history. Consider the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the aerial landscaping that graced the palace of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in the sixth century B.C. If ancient Greek accounts are accurate, the Babylonians employed hydroponics to grow vegetation in a series of terraces high on the palace walls, delivering the water and nutrients through a cunningly devised mechanical system like nothing seen before. This was probably a great relief to the King's landscapers, since back then sprinkler systems were 2,500 years away, and they couldn't just break out their Little Giant ladders, climb up, and water the plants by hand. At the time, ladders were still primitive, and you were taking your life into your hands every time you stepped onto one.

A worldwide practice

Other ancient cultures were also well known for their hydroponics gardens, including the Chinese, the Egyptians, and the Aztecs (who presumable came up with the idea independent of their Old World counterparts). These hydroponics experts grew their floating gardens directly in plain, everyday water without any special nutrients, except of course those added by Mother Nature herself. This remained the state-of-the-art for thousands of years. Little progress was made in the world of hydroponics gardening during this period, because it wasn't necessary; there was plenty of arable land for just about everyone.

That's not the case anymore. Over the past century, hydroponics has caught the attention of scientists and hobbyists all over the world, mostly because of its inherent superiority to geoponics. It's even become an integral part of the U.S. space program. Hydroponics gardening can be undertaken in environments without soil, and can even be incorporated into a variety of small house plans for those of us who want to become more self-sufficient. Furthermore, hydroponics doesn't require the excessive use of pesticides, and the yields are typically higher than geoponics yields. Heck, since there's no dirt involved, you don't even have to deal with weeds.

Is hydroponics for you?

If you want to get into hydroponics as a hobby, you don't need to worry about unique house plans with attached greenhouses, or figuring out how to cut the glass or stretch the plastic you need to build greenhouses of your own (unless you really, really want to). All you need is a little space, lots of water and sunlight, some nutrients, and some seeds or cuttings. Sure, it may cost a bit of time, money, and effort to set up a hydroponics system, but in the end you'll end up doing less work than you would with a dirt garden. Then, too, think of what you'll get out of it: fresh, delicious veggies and lovely flowers, without once digging in the dirt, pulling a weed, or watering (the plants are already watered, aren't they?). Not only that, you get fewer problems with pests and diseases, especially if you do the work indoors. It's the rare banana slug that can make it through all the various obstacles, from doorstep to people feet to nutrient solution, to claim your precious hydroponics lettuce.

Published with permission (FCDMInc)