Hydroponics, a Greek words meaning water and labor, is a way of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions in water without soil.  Plants can be grown with their roots in mineral solutuion only, or in an inert medium such as perlite, gravel or mineral wool.

In the 19th century, researchers discovered that plants absorb essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water.  Under natural conditions, soil acts as a mineral nutrient reservoir.  The soil, itself, is not essential to the plant growth.  As long as it can have soluble nutrients available, it can happily grow and thrive.  Almost any plant will grow in hydroponics.  It’s the way NASA feeds astronauts fresh food in space.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Hydroponic Systems, Hydroponics, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.