Basic Home Hydroponics: A workshop for DIY enthusiasts
December 22, 2020
On Jan. 2, 2021, the Basic Home Hydroponics workshop will teach participants everything they need to know to begin hydroponics at home.
Experimental blueberry transplants being grown in a do-it-yourself hydroponic system. Photo by Christopher Imler, MSU Extension.
What is hydroponics? A perfunctory search of the internet produces all manner of explanations, from historical accounts of a Roman emperor’s cucumbers to futuristic images of modern theme park gardens. Less considered is the actual science that underpins why growing plants without soil is even possible, which is precisely what hydroponics does.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, plants do not need soil to grow. The basic requirements for plant life are light, an adequately warm environment, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen and mineral nutrients. In his early 1600s experiments, Jan Baptist van Helmont revealed that plants do not consume soil to grow a