I love working with and learning about plants. It’s more than just a hobby; it’s a key ingredient in my life. I spend a fair amount of time reading about plants, learning about their needs and appreciating some of their idiosyncrasies. In fact I’ve created my own little library at home over time and can’t seem to resist adding a new houseplant book now and then to my already cherished bunch whenever I run across a new one at the bookstore. You can never have enough plant books, especially the ones that have beautiful photographs assigned to each plant. Don’t you agree?

Along with books I spend time surfing the internet for articles about houseplants and even visit websites that cater to them. I’ve returned many times to some of my favourite sites to read the latest additions. All the sniffing around for information – you learn something new every day – has paid off over the years. I stumbled across hydroculture with my incessant information gathering and it has revolutionized my entire houseplant world – not just for the better but for the best. And it’s not just a wonderful alternative but such a wonderful alternative. Although I respect and appreciate plant lovers who continue to grow their houseplants in soil – the traditional method – it just doesn’t appeal to me anymore. There isn’t an argument or reason on earth why I would go back to soil-grown plants. I have found my plant haven while allowing for others to do the same with their own methods.

But even all that information gathering wouldn’t amount to much if I had absolutely no hands-on knowledge. Theory – albeit important – is not worth as much on paper as it is when it’s put into practice – real-time. And before I started converting and growing my houseplants in hydroculture, hydroculture really was just that - theory. So I kept quiet about this incredible system until I could safely put my money where my mouth is. I rolled up my sleeves and put in the necessary time and effort to really learn about this soilless way of growing plants. Now that it is in real-time for quite awhile with real-time examples – my ‘happy as a pig in mud’ clan of houseplants - I can honestly voice a veteran opinion with all that experience under my belt.

I would never suggest to anyone that growing plants in soil is obsolete – telling them it’s time to blow the cobwebs away - any more than I would expect anyone to tell me that hydroculture is bound to fail. There is enough evidence on both ends to support the fact that plants can be grown successfully with and without soil.

But the truth is that you will likely run across many individuals that will insist that hydroculture not only won’t work but that it can’t work.


Pay No Heed To The Hydro Critics

If you decide to change to hydroculture at some point, prepare for varying opinions about your new hobby. Some will be completely unaware of the entire method – hydroponics included – but will show curiosity towards it. They will ask a lot of questions, express fascination as you explain and ponder trying it out. Most of them never will.

Others will have a general idea of hydroponics, have no idea that hydroculture is slightly different (smaller scale without all the automation) and be sincerely surprised that houseplants can be grown that way. They may make statements such as: “Isn’t that a method used for growing tomatoes and stuff like that?” or “I thought that only aquarium plants can live in water” and even “Is this like that Betta and plant craze thing?”

And then there are the doubting Thomases – although visual evidence finally changed the real Thomas’s mind – that will be tenacious about following the ‘letter of the law’ for properly growing houseplants instead of the ‘spirit of the law’. They will remind you and everyone else to do the same.

“Plants cannot be grown without soil”, they tell you. “There is only one way – the right way - and that’s in soil”

“Look around you”, you point to your soilless plants, “It works”

But they won’t look. They are convinced that what you are doing is bound to fail (even though it’s been years and the plants are happily growing away). They believe that your method dishonors the written rules of nature; it’s a mutated, twisted abomination; it’s a perverted and deranged way to handle and maintain plants.

Okay so I’m exaggerating a little; having a little fun. I’m allowed; this is my website after all. The point is that in the typically carefree world of plant lovers - that open up their minds to new ideas without feeling threatened by it or pressured into converting - there are the unyielding. They ignore evidence, even if it’s right before their eyes. They tell you it doesn’t work when you have dozens of samples of proof. You point at your plants and they wave them away, insisting that you’ve been lucky so far and your plants will keel over eventually. When? Ultimately. But when? Sooner or later. “You just wait and see” the finger wags at you.

Well, I’m still waiting...

Even if you mention the many different plants you’ve converted and how all of them have taken to hydroculture with little or no effort, they’ll simply stare at you like you’ve gone mad. If it’s not in the books, if it wasn’t taught in the classroom, if it’s not popular in the market - it can’t possibly work. It’s not the practical way to grow houseplants.


Ideas stand or fall on their own merits

There are individuals who have already made up their mind how things should be and nothing you do or say will ever convince them otherwise. I’ve always appreciated people who allow for new insights, exciting discoveries, fresh ideas and alternative points of view. Ideas stand or fall on their own merits in the end.

Imagine if no one ever expanded on their ideas or attempted new things. We’d never grow and progress in any way. We’d never discover new things or challenge old conventions. Sure, you don’t have to jump on the bandwagon if you don’t want to, but if someone else does, don’t say it won’t work – just say it doesn’t work for you.

My very own experience with the unyielding happened quite awhile back. I had just joined a houseplant forum and was quite eager and excited to share my hydroculture discovery. After all, how could I benefit from this phenomenal way of growing houseplants without sharing it with anyone? Wouldn’t it be terribly selfish to simply hoard it, never letting anyone else in on the beauty of it? That’s the way I saw it. I decided to share my good fortune.

Some of my greatest hydroculture lovers are my Sansevierias. It may be a little surprising, considering they are succulents, but not impossible. In all honestly, when I first started this method, I never imagined they would do so well; even better than the tropical plants I’ve converted. I admit that there was a small part of me that expected all my succulents to rot, instead they thrived. They were an experiment with pleasant results. Looking back now, after all the plants I’ve worked with, I can see there was no reason on earth why succulents shouldn’t adopt the method. After all, a plant’s roots – or any part of the plant – never sit in water.

But at the starting point I didn’t have as much experience with succulents in hydroculture as I did with tropical plants so when a member of the houseplant forum chastised me – politely – when I suggested to the other members that Sansevierias can be grown in hydroculture, I didn’t debate with her over it. You see, her expertise with plants revolves around this group of plants – but in soil. She can’t possibly understand how these succulent houseplants can be grown without soil; her logic won’t allow it. The rational equation typical of these plants is: succulents + over-watering = death. And this would be true if this plant was dunked directly in water 24/7, which is far from what hydroculture does. Again the important thing to remember about hydroculture is that plants are grown with water, not in water. I can’t stress enough how much of a difference this makes in the long-term health of your plants. It also opens the door to a wide selection of houseplants suitable to this method when you are growing them with water instead of in it. In water, the selection would be smaller since many plants would indeed rot.

So all that to say that a lot of time has elapsed since I converted my succulents therefore a strong case can now be built in favour of the extraordinary results found in hydroculture. There is enough sufficient evidence to prove this method’s success. I didn’t debate then but I would now.

The above is just one example of disbelievers; there are many. The reason I am writing this article is to help alleviate any objections, misgivings or misunderstandings you may have (or hear from others) about hydroculture. My plants are living, breathing proof that it does work – and it works very well. In fact, for many plants it works better than being grown in conventional methods. Don’t be deterred from trying this wonderful way of growing houseplants because of its unfamiliarity, especially from individuals who have never tried it and – more often than not - don’t even really know what it is. Without a hands-on approach, how can they offer an honest and reliable opinion?


Just When You Think You’ve Heard It All

My jaw drops – although it shouldn’t anymore - at some of the misleading advice floating around about conventionally and unconventionally grown plants. Hydroculture is undoubtedly uncommon but not new. And since it’s been around for decades, it has earned its reputation as being an alternative to soil that is highly successful. With that in mind, it surprises me that individuals will comment negatively, offer faulty advice and even go so far as instill apprehension in houseplant growers about this system that they swear to you is ‘guaranteed to fail’.

Here’s an example of faulty advice:

One of the first emails I received after I launched this website was from an online visitor in North Carolina who had decided to take the plunge into the hydroculture world – plants, pellets and all. On my contact form, which has the field: "What I'd like to see added on this website” for visitors to send in, he suggested that maybe I should include: “...a list of "objections" that people might need to consider or overcome.” He sent that in because when he went to pick up the clay pellets that he needed for hydroculture he was offered some rather interesting advice. Imagine my surprise at this: “...my hydroponics store clerk insisted that my roots would be dead within two months from lack of oxygen/soaking in water"

Although hardly surprised by such comments, I am thoroughly entertained by them. My reader did not debate with the clerk or argue either; he simply didn’t have the experience and knowledge – yet – to oppose the statement. But in time, he will. If you happen to run across derogatory statements such as the one above, here is what you can answer if you’re new to the hydroculture scene (my response to my website visitor):

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1) I would be a little reluctant to be taking advice from a clerk that works in a hydroponics store and has NO CLUE what hydroculture is all about. Hydroculture is a member of the hydroponics world! How can he/she NOT know about it??

(Note: Hydroculture is a passive hydroponics system - which means that it lacks all the automation commonly associated with hydroponics but shares the same ideology (no soil) – therefore the two systems are related. A clerk working in a hydroponics shop should know that, unless he/she is just working the cash register. In that case, no advice should be offered about hydroculture since it will be incorrect)

2) The next time you get a remark about your roots dying within two months for lack of oxygen/soaking in water, you can simply reply, "That would be true if the roots WERE soaking in water AND the water was never changed."

(Note: Even if you are growing your plants directly in water, they can remain that way indefinitely as long as you follow certain steps to maintain the water’s quality. See: Hydroculture vs. Growing In Water

If you change the water your plant is soaking in to replenish the oxygen in it, your plant can stay that way forever. Furthermore, with hydroculture you don't have to worry at all since the roots are never submerged in the water, only above it...)

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“Stick to growing plants the traditional way, pots and soil.”
“Be prepared for a short lived plant life”
“Plants not grown in soil are just a novelty item, enjoyed only short-term”
“A plant cannot grow without soil; it needs soil to stay alive”
“Hydroculture is just a fad, a decoration, like the Betta and Peace Lily thing”
“Only soil-grown plants will thrive, the hydroculture ones will decline”

Which of the statements above is true?

The correct answer is: none of the above.

Yes, the traditional way of growing houseplants is with pots and soil. It’s the ‘traditional’ way but not the ‘only’ way. Don’t be misguided or discouraged by the ‘doubting Thomases’ and trust me when I say that hydroculture will provide you with a home full of healthy, happy plants. You may run across individuals now and again that will insist that this method is bound to fail - "Eventually...Sooner or later...Just wait and see" Pffft. Just wave them away. The next time someone tells you that hydroculture doesn’t/can’t/won’t work simply smile and answer “Well, someone better have a good talk with these plants of mine so they’ll stop thriving in this unsuccessful method!”

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