Hydro Facts

Hydroponics has some fascinating origins and uses...

Floating gardens of the ancient Aztecs

The Aztecs were a nomadic tribe who were driven onto the marshy shore of Lake Tenochtitlan, located in what is now Mexico. They had no land on which to grow crops, so they learned how to build rafts of rushes and reeds and grow vegetables, flowers, and even trees on these rafts which they called Chinampas.

They dredged up soil from the bottom of the lake and piled it on the rafts. The soil was rich of organic debris that released large amounts of nutrients which fed the abundant crops of vegetables, flowers, and even trees planted on them. The roots of these plants grew though the floor of the raft and down into the water.

Sometimes the rafts were joined together to form floating islands as long as two hundred feet long. Some Chinampas even had a hut for a resident gardener.

The Aztecs eventually developed a large and powerful empire but they continued to maintain the rafts. In the 16th Century when the Spanish arrived in the New World in search of gold, they were fascinated by these islands of trees seemingly suspended on the water. Chinampas continued to be used in the area into the nineteenth century.

Hanging gardens of Babylon

Many garden writers believe that the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, were grown using a sophisticated hyrdroponic system into which oxygen and nutrient rich fresh water was regularly pumped.

Egypt & Antartica

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic records dating back to several hundred years B.C. describe the growing of plants in water along the Nile without soil.

The extreme environmental conditions found in the Arctic make the process of growing food a formidable challenge. Four months of solid daylight, four months of total darkness, and unpredictable winds and temperature changes make growing extremely difficult. However, in Antarctica, successful harvests are achieved on a daily basis.

Astrastronauts & Military

NASA have been trialing hydro growing systems and now astronauts are likely to be fed on long flights using hydro grown food.

In World War 2 the shipping of fresh vegetables to overseas outposts was not practical so both the American Army and the Royal Air Force opened hydroponic units at military bases. Many millions of tons of vegetables produced without soil were eaten by Allied Soldiers and Airmen during the war years. After World War II the military command continued to use hydroponics. The United States Army had a special hydroponics branch and in 1952 it grew over 8,000,000 lbs. of fresh produce.

Ten People who'd love a hydro system

Hydro systems are great gifts. A lovely big box containing everything needed for hours of fun growing fabulous plants.

We’ve listed the top ten ‘types’ who would love a hydro system, if you know anyone who matches a description order them a hydro system and they might even give you a share of what they grow!

1. Arty apartment dweller – just because they don’t have a garden doesn’t mean they can’t have the fun of growing fresh herbs or gorgeous trendy black plants in a hydro system in a well-lit hallway.

2. Curious child – we don’t mean ‘odd’, we mean inquisitive. Children love watching plants grow in hydro systems and with up to 74cms growth in a week (cucumbers) who can blame them. Wherever we take hydro systems children love peeking inside them to watch the nutrient solution flowing over the roots. Hydro systems really help children to understand what plants need in order to grow.

3. Foodie friend – foodies can grow up to 5 different ‘ingredients’ in an NFT GS200 and with yields three times greater than soil-grown plants produce your foodie friends need never run out of their favourite ingredients again.

4. Groaning grower – we all get back-ache when we dig and weed too much, but for those who would rather have less pain for their gain, hydro systems are perfect. There’s no digging, no weeding and no heavy lifting and they can be used on table tops – perfect for anyone who has difficulty bending.

5. Happy holiday-maker – holidays are great but when they are in the height of the growing season you can return to seriously dehydrated plants. Buy them a hydro system linked to an Auto-Top-Up and the plants will be automatically fed and watered for weeks.

6. Hapless hopeful – they really love the idea of growing an amazing array of vegetables, herbs and decorative flowers but are never too sure how much water to give the plants so they under-water and then over-water. All these confused growers need to do is top-up the reservoir when it runs low and the plants will decide how much or how little they want to take, anything they don’t need is drained back into the reservoir.

7. Short-on-spacers – sometimes the best things come in small packages, 3 plants in just over half a metre or a whole herb or floral display in a half metre Rain & Drain Small, sometimes the best things come in small packages.

8. Got everything golden girl (or boy) – the person who has everything needs a hobby, then you will always have something to buy them, even if it is seeds, books about the plants they are growing, recipes for the edibles they grow, vases to display cut flowers or jars to preserve the masses of fruit produced or scissors for cutting side-shoots (see what we mean).

9. Gorgeous glamour puss – far too glam to don the wellies and dig but would love their own supply of stunning flowers to adorn their boudoirs. Even the most glamorous kitten will be willing to top-up the water in a reservoir in a terracotta Rain & Drain.

10. Various veg haters – any veg-hater can be helped on their way to 5-a-day with a hydro system. Children, teens and adults love eating anything they have grown themselves. Beans are especially great at tempting children to give veg’ a try, partly because of the Jack and the Beanstalk magic.

Hydro Facts

Floating gardens of the ancient Aztecs

Hanging gardens of Babylon

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