Hydro-culture: A New Farming Technique

The word hydroponics has its derivation from the combining of two Greek words, hydro meaning water and ponosmeaning labor, i.e., working water. The word first appeared in a scientific magazine article (Science, Feb 178:1) published in 1937 and authored by W.F. Gericke, who had accepted this word as was suggested by Dr. W.A. Setchell at the University of California. Dr. Gericke began experimenting with hydroponic growing techniques in the late 1920s and then published one of the early books on soilless growing (Gericke, 1940). Later he suggested that the ability to produce crops hydroponically would no longer be “chained to the soil but certain commercial crops could be grown in larger quantities without soil in basins containing solutions of plant food.” What Dr. Gericke failed to foresee was that hydroponics would  in the future be essentially confined to its application in enclosed environments  for growing high cash value crops and would not find its way into the  production of a wide range of commercial crops in open environments.

The author went to three dictionaries and three encyclopedias to find how hydroponics is defined. Webster’s New World College Dictionary,Fourth Edition, 1999, defines hydroponics as “the science of growing or the production of plants in nutrient-rich solutions or moist inert material, instead of soil”; the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary,1999, as “the cultivation of plants by placing the roots in liquid nutrient solutions rather than in soils; soilless growth of plants”; and The Oxford English Dictionary,2nd Edition, 1989, as “the process of growing plants without soil, in beds of sand, gravel, or similar supporting material flooded with nutrient solutions.” In the Encyclopedia Americana,International Edition, 2000, hydroponics is defined as “the practice of growing plants in liquid nutrient cultures rather  than in soil,” in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1997 as “the cultivation of plants in nutrient-enriched water with or without the mechanical support of an inert medium, such as sand or gravel,” and in The World Book Encyclopedia,1996 as “the science of growing plants without soil.”
The most common aspect of all these definitions is that hydroponics means growing plants without soil, with the sources of nutrients either a nutrient solution or nutrient-enriched water, and that an inert mechanical root support (sand or gravel) may or may not be used. It is interesting to note that in only two of the six definitions is hydroponics defined as a “science.” Searching for definitions of hydroponics in various books and articles, the following were found. Devries (2003) defines hydroponic plant culture as “one in which all nutrients are supplied to the plant through the irrigation water, with the growing substrate being soilless (mostly inorganic), and that the plant is grown to produce flowers or fruits that are harvested for sale.”

In addition, Devries (2003) states, “hydroponics used to be considered a system where there was no growing media at all, such as the nutrient film technique in vegetables. But today it’s accepted that a soilless growing medium is often used to support the plant root system physically and provide for a favorable buffer of solution around the root system.”

Resh (1995) defines hydroponics as “the science of growing plants without the use of soil, but by use of an inert medium, such as gravel, sand, peat, vermiculite, pumice, or sawdust, to which is added a nutrient solution containing all the essential elements needed by the plant for its normal growth and development.” Wignarjah (1995) defines hydroponics as “the technique of growing plants without soil, in a liquid culture.” In an American Vegetable Grower article entitled “Is hydroponics the answer?” (Anonymous, 1978), hydroponics was defined for the purpose of the article as “any method which uses a nutrient solution on vegetable plants, growing with or without artificial soil mediums.” Harris (1977) suggested that a modern definition of hydroponics would be “the science of growing plants in a medium, other than soil, using mixtures of the essential plant nutrient elements dissolved in water.” Jensen (1997) stated that hydroponics “is a technology for growing plants in nutrient solutions (water containing fertilizers) with or without the use of an artificial medium (sand, gravel, vermiculite, rockwool, perlite, peat moss, coir, or sawdust) to provide mechanical support.” Jensen (1997) defined the growing
of plants without media as “liquid hydroponics” and with media as “aggregate hydroponics.” Another defining aspect of hydroponics is how the nutrient solution system functions, whether as an “open” system in which the nutrient solution is discarded after passing through the root mass or medium, or as a “closed” system in which the nutrient solution, after passing through the root mass or medium, is recovered for reuse. Similarly related hydroponic terms are “aqua (water) culture,” “hydroculture,” “nutriculture,” “soilless culture,” “soilless agriculture,” “tank farming,” or “chemical culture.” A hydroponicist is defined as one who practices hydroponics, and hydroponicum defined as a building or garden in which hydroponics is practiced.