Hydroponics has an interesting history. Perhaps the first instance could be traced back to the times of the Romans or even before that when man learnt that plants can be grown with water and some nutrients, without the need for soil. However, hydroponics as it is practiced today perhaps owes its origins to Jean Van Helmont, who, in the 17th century experimented to show that plants draw nutrients from water. After that it was left to Julium von Sachs and W.Knop of Germany to find out that plants use Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus as nutrients. In the early part of the 20th century, Dennis Hoagland developed a nutrient solution the formula of which is still in use. In addition to the three basic nutrients, he also included minute amounts of other metal salts. Then, in WW2, the Americans used hydroponics to grow vegetables on the rocky and barren islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Then in 1960s came along nutrient film technique and drip irrigation system that gave a fillip to hydroponics. Growers used mineral wool and these two techniques to deliver nutrients to plants. A decade later growers of cannabis “discovered” this as being perfectly suited to their requirements. Around this time General Hydroponics arrived on the scene with its ready to use mix of liquid nutrients. In the 1980s, Dr Hillel Soffer, a scientist from Israel developed a unique aero hydroponic method that was applied in the deserts of Sinai to grow vegetables in abundance. In this method a fine mist of nutrient mixed with water is sprayed on the roots of the plant.
Light is crucial for indoor hydroponics, a practice much preferred by cannabis and marijuana growers. High intensity discharge lamps arrived on the scene and gave a further fillip to hydroponics as did halogen and sodium vapor lamps. However, these were incremental progresses in lighting technology. The quantum leap came with the introduction of led lights for hydroponics grow purposes. All other forms of lighting are inefficient, consume too much power, emit too much heat and need frequent replacement. LED lights used for hydroponics (or any other purpose) last for 100000 hours and have none of the drawbacks.
The earliest LEDs were used as indicator but research and development led to better and more improved LEDs. LEDs are becoming increasingly popular and more widespread in use as lighting devices. The latest about LEDs is that the Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Hiroshi Amano, Shuji Nakamura and Isamu Akasaki for their invention of efficient blue LEDs that pave the way for high brightness white LEDs. LEDs and hydroponics is a marriage made in heaven: just perfect.
MVP presents the essence of all these researches distilled into its new age LED grow lights.