The urban gardener asked:

Hydroponics vs Soil Grown Plants

The benefits, offered by hydroponics, are pretty simple, yet impressive: one can receive 200-1000% increase in yield with only half of time and space requirements in comparison to traditional soil horticulture. Absence of soil also results in protection of growing plants against pests, commonly living in soil. In hydroponic systems, plants receive all the necessary nutrients through hydroponics nutrient solution and never suffer lack of water. As the result, hydroponic plants concentrate of producing fruits instead of growing large roots to extract water and nutrients from the soil. Hydroponic plants have smaller roots in comparison to common plants, which grow in soil. This allows increasing the density of plants in your garden. It is also a proven fact, that food products, produced in indoor hydroponic systems, are cleaner and have longer shelf life.

Usually, hydroponic plants can grow both indoor and outdoor; furthermore, even a loft, cellar, or closet can be turned into a garden with hydroponic system.

There are two major subtypes of hydroponic plants: solution and medium cultures. Solution culture does not require any growing medium for its growing; the only thing necessary is nutrient solution. Among solution cultures aeroponics, static and continuous flow cultures are defined. Medium culture needs a particular growing medium to grow in, for example, rockwool, sand or gravel. In most cases, the growing medium is contained within a reservoir, made from plastic. However, glass, metal or wooden containers are also used. The only requirement to hydroponic container is that it should not let light pass.

History of Hydroponics

Hydroponics as a term was first mentioned in the middle of the previous century to identify a method of plants growing without soil in the special growing medium. However, the method itself has roots in the prehistoric times. The Floating Gardens of Aztecs and those of the Chinese, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, perceived much as the myth only, and the flooding of the Egyptian Nile may now be treated as the very first attempts of hydroponic gardening. Moreover, even ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic records, which are actually documents, not myths, mention the ways of growing plants in water.

Thus, it would be unfair to say hydroponics is a brand new method of gardening: even Da Vinci made much progress in creating what we now call “hydroponic gardening”. At the same time, research of the last decades has significantly explained and improved the nuts and bolts of this agricultural option, actually, reviving it. This process started during World War II thanks to the government financing, and in the 50th of the 20th century it gained worldwide popularity. Just for the record: these days the incidence of hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables occupy about 65% of all those sold in the UK stores, and about 90% of the sold cut fresh flowers are grown with the help of hydroponics and HPS grow lights.

Among the researchers who worked on creating the ideal conditions for plants growing was a Belgian scientist Jan van Helmont, who discovered in 1600 that plants receive elements for the normal growth from water. Robert Boyle from Ireland managed to grow plants in the bottles with water, which is recorded in the documents dated 1666. 33 years later a notable discovery was made by the English scholar John Woodward, who found out that various constituents from different types of soils were also of vital importance for the plants growth. Thus, he made a valuable contribution to the work started by Jan van Helmont. Unfortunately, the absence of the necessary equipment prevented John Woodward from proceeding with his work.

With the development of chemistry the world got to know that plants consist of chemicals obtained from air, soil, and water as food and the materials for the proper growth. This real breakthrough was made by the French scientist Nicolas de Saussure in 1804. Jean Boussingault, his fellow countryman, made much progress in studying plants growth in various types of medium, as quartz, charcoal, and sand. That was he who found out that dry plant material is mainly made of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, received from the air.

Knowing the plants’ chemical structure and the ingredients necessary for the growth scientists became curious whether it was possible to grow plants without soil.

The scientists who succeeded in this task were Germans Sachs and Knop, who managed to grow plants in water solution in 1860’s. They called their invention “nutriculture”. Many years passed till the real interest to the “nutriculture” appeared. The pioneers of the greenhouse industry fully understood its cons and helped in the further improvement of the method between years 1925 and 1935.

The first effort to turn laboratory “nutriculture” into a commercial product was first made by Dr. William F. Gericke, who explored soilless plant growing at University of California Davis and was very successful. It was Dr. Gericke, who first used the term “hydroponics”, which means “waterworking” in Greek. Since then, the public interest to hydroponic gardening spread rapidly around the world.  It is interesting to note that even the U.S. Army had special units, whose main duty was to grow hydroponics and provide fruits and vegetables for kitchen. In the military environment it is not always possible to grow plants in a traditional way, so hydroponic systems and hydroponic supplies was chosen as the way to grow plants virtually anywhere.

The urban gardener asked:


One can enjoy hydroponics gardening any season of the year, but it is especially rewarding during the cold and dark winter days. Being a type of indoor gardening, this system implies growing of plants in a special growing medium, supplied with nutrient solution, instead of soil. Similarly to other indoor gardening methods, with hydroponics gardening it is necessary to use grow lights, which allow plants to grow, make food and reproduce themselves through flowers or fruits. For this purpose HID lights are commonly used. There are several types of HID or high-intensity discharge lights: for example, metal halide grow lights and HPS grow lights. Every HID light requires digital ballast, which is necessary in order to control electrical current within the lamp, and thus provide its seamless functioning. Supplying light with a reflector is highly recommended as well, since it allows pointing the light in proper direction and increasing the light, produced by the bulb itself. Other type of grow lights are cost-effective and lightweight LED lights, where light-emitting diodes are used to produce light in colors beneficial for keeping up plant growth. The use of any of these lamps is highly effective for hydroponics growing.

Metal halide lamps contain aluminum arc tube, filled with argon, mercury and a variety of specific metals. It is a set of different metals that provide a particular color of the light, produced by the lamp. The argon gas works to start a lamp, when electric current is introduced at the electrodes on either end inside the arc tube. Under the effect of electric current mercury and metals start to vaporize and the light is produced. The key benefit of these lamps is that being small in size they produce a significant amount of light.

HPS grow lights, also known as high-pressure sodium lights, also have an aluminum arc tube inside, similarly to metal halide lights. However, the filling of the tubes is different: in case of HPS there are sodium, mercury, and the Xenon gas inside. Both metal halide lights and HPS lights require ballast for stabilizing electric current and providing smooth performance.

LED grow lights are small, but work very efficiently providing a lot of bright light. In general, they are similar to the lights, used for decorating Christmas tree. The light is produced when electric current moves between the two crystals inside a diode, which works as semi-conductor. Furthermore, LED grow lights usually have a reflector and a lens to direct the light where it is needed.

 Along with being cost effective and energy saving, there are multiple different color spectrums to choose among in order to suit specific plants needs in the best way. So, irrespectively to what type of grow light you choose, it will work accurately and provide effective growth of your indoor plants.  

The urban gardener asked:


Key Facts on Hydroponics

Hydroponic plants do not require soil to grow in. They use different growing media instead. All the required nutrients are supplied through nutrient solution. Hydroponic system allows cultivation of plants, irrespectively to climate and environmental condition. Hydroponic system allows increasing the density of plants significantly (up to 3 times higher in comparison with traditional soil gardens). It may be surprising but hydroponic plants consume considerable less water than those, growing in soil. Since soil is not used in hydroponic systems, there is no need to worry about crops rotation. Hydroponic plants are healthier, because there are no or very little risks for them to get infected by parasites, living in soil. Hydroponic gardening does not depend on seasons of the year. You can grow plants and gather harvest all year round.

Hydroponics in the Present

Thanks to many technological achievements and innovations, hydroponic growing has already become much more effective, convenient and affordable. Plastic, used for manufacturing of hydroponic equipment, such as plumbing products, fittings, growing pots and containers, etc., made it possible to lower the cost of hydroponic systems significantly.

Multiple electronic devices, such as pumps, timers and monitors, have made hydroponic growing a fully automated process. Furthermore, the hydroponic plants themselves have evolved significantly, ensuring high yield results even if used under the most extreme environmental conditions, for example, at the submarines.

Hydroponics in the Future

The next goal of hydroponics developers is to make indoor gardening eco-friendly and more energy-saving. In this regard, current achievements in the development of solar heating systems look very promising. On the other hand, current innovations open new opportunities for designing new growing light systems with higher lumen output, better spectrum profile and lower electricity consumption. In the long run, hydroponic systems may allow increasing the amount of grown plants to completely satisfy the needs of people in food products, without using additional natural resources and soil.

Furthermore, maybe in the nearest future hydroponic systems, which have already been tested in space on the space stations, will even become another valuable step in the space exploration by the humans.

The urban gardener asked:


What is Hydroponic Gardening

These days, when the humanity faces many challenges, associated with natural resources depletion, bad ecology and many health problems, stemming out of the wrong food choices, it is, perhaps, the best time ever to return to natural ways of producing food for the sake of our own and our planet.

It was a common practice for our ancestors to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers for their own needs. Nowadays, the natural way of growing plants reappears with hydroponics as the particular technique, which makes plant cultivation possible even in urban areas without the use of soil. With more and more people involved, hydroponic gardening develops rapidly these days. Irrespectively to whether it is your hobby or professional activity, indoor gardening brings significant benefits for all.

Hydroponic and soil indoor gardening – The World of Gardening for the Future

If you are only making your first steps in mastering the art of hydroponic gardening, our site will become a valuable resource for you. Our hydroponic library is a source of theory on the basics of indoor plants growing, and our shop is a one-stop destination to find everything you need for your hydroponic needs, starting from vegetable seeds and wide variety of growing media to start growing your plants, and finishing with reliable equipment, such as growing lamps and climate control, to help you gather rich harvest.

The definition of hydroponics

Hydroponics most often refers to the science of growing plants (vegetables, herbs, flowers) without the use of soil. Plants are cultivated on a special growing medium, and all the nutrients, required for growing, are supplied via specially formulated nutrient solution. The primary task of any growing medium, used in hydroponic gardens, is to support plants’ roots along with retaining water. There are many books on hydroponic gardening, so if you would need to expand your knowledge in this field, please browse our Literature section or the online library for further information on hydroponics.