HO-166
YARD AND GARDEN
HORTICULTURE DEPARTMENT COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE PURDUE UNIVERSITY WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA 47907
THE NUTRIENT FILM HYDROPONIC SYSTEM
by Gerald E. Wilcox, Department of Horticulture

Introduction
Nutrient film hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in a shallow stream of water complete nutrient solution, recirculated past the bare roots growing in a water tight plastic tube (Figure 1). This process is a successor to hydroponics production in solution tanks or in association with aggregates such as sand, gravel, peat-vermiculite or other inert media. The nutrient film technique removes the inert media and corrects the aeration problems of tank hydroponics by placing the roots in a shallow flow of recirculating solution in a plastic tube. The rise and fall of the solution over the roots, as accomplished by the on/off pump cycles, provides water, nutrients and aeration to the plant.
Plants have been grown in nutrient enriched water since the 17th century. In the 19th century research with hydroponics was the favorite tool of plant physiologists to determine essential nutrients. It was not until 1929 that W. F. Gericke of the University of California attempted to develop the latent commercial potential of water culture. In 1936 F. M. Eaton of the U.S.D.A. and Robert B. Withrow of Purdue developed systems for irrigating sand beds with nutrient solution. Commercial hydroponic ventures in the 1930’s and early 40’s were uneconomic. During the second World War, however, progress was made in hydroponic vegetable production on barren Pacific islands where native soil was unsuitable for vegetable production. The use of relatively inert rooting medium to which nutrients are added, aggregate culture, has since been improved and has gained considerable acceptance.
True water culture proceeded slowly as a commercially developed cultural system due to the difficulty of aerating the liquid and supporting the plants in large volumes of solution. The idea of growing plants in a recirculating nutrient solution film started as a research tool of H.C.M. de Stigter at the Plant Physiology Research Centre in Holland and was developed concurrently by Dr. Allen Cooper at the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute, Littlehampton, England and Hygroponics, Inc., Panama City, Florida as a commercial system of plant production.
Since its development, yields of tomatoes produced in the nutrient film system have been reported to be in excess of traditional ground bed or aggregate culture systems for many commercial installations. The success of many small commercial installations attest to the feasibility of the system.