EARLY HYDROPONICS

This photograph of the Hydroponics (it was called a soil-less culture in the Lago Publication in 1946) facility was taken from the 1952 Pan-O-Ram.
This photo of the Hydroponics was sent in by Jerry Barnes, it is the building in the center of the photograph.
This photo was cropped from the one above it.  The building in the front was the lab and office.  The growing area is the section that is screened and the pumps and chemical mixing to supply the nutrients for the plants was done in the back building.
The following is article is from "Your Aruba Home" published by Lago Oil & Transport Company, Ltd. in November of 1946.

SOIL-LESS CULTURE

The Colony has had in operation since March 20, 1945, a soil-less garden which turns out at various intervals limited crops of fresh perishable vegetables for sale at the Colony Commissary.

The object of the garden is the production of a local supply of fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and limited other crops for Lago employees and their families.  The local output provides a much fresher supply than that shipped from the United States.  This method of supply cuts down greatly the possibility of spoiled or partly spoiled products.

The soil-less or gravel culture method is employed because local conditions make ordinary truck gardening out of the question.  Lack of good soil and water combined with excessive heat and abundance of harmful insects make ordinary soil culture nearly impossible.  However, in a soil-less conditions these factors can be controlled.

The soil-less method employs the use of water tight beds, filled with crushed gravel into which plants are set.  The plants are fed by passing a chemical solution through the gravel.  It is from the solution itself that the plants take all their food needs.
There are of course certain kinds of foods that cannot be grown here, but the types that can include tomatoes, lettuce, chard, spinach (New Zealand), bush beans, pepper, eggplants and carrots.
As this is writing, (1945), plans are being made to enlarge the unit and grow a greater variety of foods.
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