Lawrence Brooke: The Godfather of Cannabis Nutrients

Cannabis was too expensive, and finding it could be a nuisance. Lawrence Brooke’s solution was to grow his own.

It is a refreshingly ordinary beginning for a man whose work would help shape an industry. In a 2012 interview, Brooke recalled that his first hydroponic system, the AquaFarm, worked well enough to attract interest from friends. What began as a personal experiment became something people wanted to buy. General Hydroponics traces its beginnings to a Berkeley garage in 1976.

Brooke had the right sort of curiosity for the job. His scientific career included magnetic-fusion research at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, work aimed at harnessing the process that powers the sun. Yet when it came to plant nutrition, he was willing to start by taking a class.

In 1978, he enrolled in a hydroponics course at UC Berkeley. The instructor, whom Brooke described as a NASA technician, taught the chemistry of nutrient solutions. With laboratory access and room to experiment, Brooke began developing a system that let growers change the nutritional balance instead of being stuck with one formula.

The thinking inside the bottles

The familiar trio did not emerge from one man working alone. Chemist Cal Herrmann helped develop FloraSeries, while William Texier, a French grower working with General Hydroponics in California, tested it specifically to better suit cannabis.

Their idea had an appealing simplicity: FloraGro, FloraMicro and FloraBloom, three components whose proportions could change with a plant’s needs. The complicated chemistry stayed inside the bottles. The grower gained a manageable set of controls.

And despite the company’s name, the system was never restricted to roots dangling in water. FloraSeries is suitable for soil, coco and other growing media. It supplies nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the familiar NPK, along with other essential elements such as calcium, magnesium and micronutrients. Its versatility comes from that broader nutritional design, not from NPK alone. The medium still matters, but using it in soil is not a workaround.

A company held together by people

Texier’s role in the story extended well beyond testing fertilizer.

In 1989, Noucetta Kehdi, a woman he had known since their younger days in Belgium, traveled to California to visit him. She expected a short holiday. Three weeks after her arrival, Texier was arrested for commercially growing cannabis.

Kehdi was also briefly jailed. After her release, she faced caring for their two children —specifically, Texier’s daughter and Kehdi’s son (from their respective previous relationships)— and keeping life moving while Texier served 14 months in prison. She worked at General Hydroponics and helped maintain their livelihood. According to Texier, Brooke continued paying her the equivalent of both their salaries throughout his imprisonment. That’s a big growmie!

When the couple eventually returned to France, legal costs had consumed their savings and home. Brooke helped them start again, providing the formulas and branding for General Hydroponics Europe. Kehdi recalled making the first batches in a 200-liter barrel in their laundry room, with the children sticking labels on bottles.

Brooke had a phrase for their second chance: “revenge through success.”

That European venture became Terra Aquatica. It remained separate following the sale of the American business, and its three-part line is now called TriPart. For European growers wondering why those bottles look so familiar, the resemblance has a family history.

Brooke’s legacy is easy to overlook because it sits on a shelf. Three bottles are not an especially dramatic monument. But behind them is a story of scientific curiosity, cannabis, friendship and a laundry room in France. That is considerably more interesting than the label lets on.

The bottles behind the story

Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, HWGrow earns from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

General Hydroponics FloraSeries TrioThe FloraGro, FloraMicro and FloraBloom three-part set discussed in this article.View product

General Hydroponics pH Up and Down KitThe pH Control Kit combines pH Up, pH Down and testing supplies.View product

General Hydroponics CALiMAGicGeneral Hydroponics’ calcium and magnesium supplement, sold separately from the trio.View product

More from HWGrow

• Yellow bottom leaves: causes and troubleshooting
• Nutrient Deficiencies 101: understanding leaf symptoms
• A closer look at the General Hydroponics FloraSeries trio
• The interactive HWGrow cheat sheet
• Understanding pH Up and pH Down
• Everything HWGrow Uses

Sources

1. M. Meyer, Hanf Journal, issue 151, October 2012, page 14: “Lawrence L. Brooke: Ein Pionier entdeckt neue Pflaster.” Interview covering Brooke’s beginnings, laboratory career and nutrient research. Original issue PDF; archived issue viewer.
2. General Hydroponics: About Us. The company’s account of its Berkeley origins.
3. Fabrizio Dentini, “The Evolution of GHE to Terra Aquatica: A Legacy of Hydroponic Innovation,” Soft Secrets, December 17, 2018. First-person recollections from William Texier and Noucetta Kehdi.
4. General Hydroponics: FloraSeries. The three components, essential nutrients and compatibility with soil, coco and hydroponic media.
5. “General Hydroponics Europe,” Soft Secrets, December 11, 2019. Background on the change from GHE FloraSeries to Terra Aquatica TriPart.
6. Terra Aquatica: TriPart. The European three-part product line.

Image credits and draft review

Unpublished draft: image permissions must be cleared before publication. The historical photographs are credited reference images only. No Creative Commons license has been verified, and a source credit is not a substitute for permission.

• Featured image: Lawrence Brooke at the General Hydroponics bottling line. Video still supplied by HWGrow. Original video ownership and publication rights require confirmation.
• Brooke and Texier in a greenhouse, and Texier, Kehdi and Brooke together: Soft Secrets / Fabrizio Dentini article. Individual photographer credits were not specified in the source reviewed. Permission needed.
• FloraSeries bottle photograph: General Hydroponics. Product photography used for draft reference; rights to be confirmed.
• Affiliate-card product images: the existing Amazon product images used by HWGrow’s product-card system for ASINs B0B2C22L3G, B000BNKWZY and B00GZRKI40.