CAN WE GROW PLANT WITHOUT SOIL?

Hydroponics (from the Greek words hydro water and ponos labor)
is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions,
in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with
their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert
medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk.

Researchers discovered in the 19th century that plants absorb
essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water. In natural
conditions, soil acts as a mineral nutrient reservoir but the soil
itself is not essential to plant growth. When the mineral nutrients
in the soil dissolve in water, plant roots are able to absorb them.
When the required mineral nutrients are introduced into a plant's
water supply artificially, soil is no longer required for the plant
to thrive. Almost any terrestrial plant will grow with hydroponics.
Hydroponics is also a standard technique in biology research and
teaching.
Techniques
The two main types of hydroponics are solution culture and medium
culture. Solution culture does not use a solid medium for the roots,
just the nutrient solution. The three main types of solution culture
are static solution culture, continuous flow solution culture and
aeroponics. The medium culture method has a solid medium for the roots
and is named for the type of medium, e.g. sand culture, gravel culture
or rockwool culture. There are two main variations for each medium,
subirrigation and top irrigation. For all techniques, most hydroponic
reservoirs are now built of plastic but other materials have been used
including concrete, glass, metal, vegetable solids and wood. The
containers should exclude light to prevent algae growth in the nutrient
solution