ABSTRACT

While hydroponics is a fairly recent term used for growing plants without soil, the method dates back much earlier. The hanging gardens of Babylon, the oating gardens of the Aztecs of Mexico, and those of the Chinese were a form of “hydroponic” culture, although not referred to as that. Even Egyptian hieroglyphic records of several hundred years b.c. describe the growing of plants in water. Theophrastus (372-287 b.c.) undertook various experiments in crop nutrition. Botanical studies by Dioscorides date back to the rst century a.d.