Commercial soiless culture of plantsIn 1936, the first U.S. patent was issued for the soiless culture of plants in a large commercial hydroponicum (No. 2,062,755) to Ernest Walfrid Brundin and Frank Farrington Lyon as a “system of water culture.” Their installation, the first on a large scale in the U.S., was established on 5 Dec 1935 in Montebello, California, with a circulating system. They incorporated as the Chemi-Culture Company on 19 Oct 1937. The word hydroponics was coined in the early 1930s, by Professor Gericke at the University of California at Los Angeles to describe the growing of plants with their roots suspended in water containing mineral nutrients. It comes from two Greek words: “hydro” (water) and “ponos” (to work, labor). |
