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A Brief History Hydroponics is not a recent invention. Historians have found Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting the cultivation of plants in water as far back as several thousand years BC! The hanging gardens of Babylon and the Aztecs Floating gardens of Mexico City are both examples of early hydroponic gardening. Modern hydroponics made major advances in the 1930s. W.F.Gericke coined the term hydoponics from the Greek "hydro" or "water" and "ponos" or "working." Literally, water working. Hydroponics has evolved through the use of various growing media such as sand, gravel, rootwool, coconut fiber, etc. to bare-root systems such as Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) and Aeroponics. Since launching massive amounts of soil into space is cost prohibitive, hydroponics is, and will be, used to grow plants in space. The science of hydroponics began with experiments to determine the elementary nutrient requirements of plants and how plants processed those elements. That knowledge has evolved into the desire to automate the delivery of the precise nutrient mix to the plant to optimize the growth and quality of the plants. Further, the fine tuning of varying the nutrient mix not only for specific plants, but also varying the nutrient mix for the specific stage of growth. For example, we know plants use more Nitrogen during the green growth phase, and more Phosphorus during the flowering and fruit production stage. Additionally, plants will adapt and do what they can to survive when subjected to less than ideal conditions. These less than ideal conditions slow down the growth, and can seriously affect the quality and flavor of the plant. One major objective of hydroponics is to provide the ideal nutritional environment for optimum plant performance. Althought technically not part of hydropoincs, hydroponic growers typically attempt to provide other ideal environmental factors as well. Plant performance can be further optimized by controlling temperature, humidity, and lighting. Using a greenhouse provides natural lighting while controlling temperature and humidity. Using supplemental lighting can also provide the ideal season for the plant performance desired. Advances in technology in lighting, nutrient delivery, and environmental control, will continue to improve productivity and quality of plant performance. |