How to Grow Hydroponic Vegetables? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Growing Methods
Hydroponic vegetables refer to a cultivation form in which most of the root system grows in the layers of nutrient solution, and water, nutrients and oxygen are supplied only through the nutrient solution. Leafy vegetables are the most common, such as lettuce, Malabar spinach, water spinach, Gynura bicolor, etc. Some fruiting vegetables can also be grown hydroponically, such as cucumber, melon, tomato, etc. Now let us take a look at how to grow hydroponic vegetables!
What are the characteristics of hydroponic vegetables?
1. The root system is mainly composed of milky white fibrous roots, used to absorb water and nutrients.
2. The root system adapts to the aquatic environment, with some aerial roots on the outer part, used to absorb oxygen.
3. Hydroponic vegetables have a short growth cycle and come to market early.
Root treatment for hydroponic vegetables
1. Wash off the soil or other growing medium from the root system with clean water.
2. Cut off old roots or dead roots, dead skin and excess lateral roots.
3. Soak the roots in hydroponic plant disinfectant for 15-20 minutes to sterilize and disinfect and to play a domesticating role.
4. Rinse again several times with clean water, then plant into the growing container.
How to grow hydroponic vegetables?
1. Make a hydroponic box: The main body of the hydroponic box is a watertight box body. Basins, pots, wooden boxes, etc. can be used. It is best to use a polystyrene foam plastic box. A foam plastic floating board of the same length and width is fitted onto the box body to carry small plastic bowls or cups containing vegetable seedlings and medium. Holes are drilled in the floating board, and the hole diameter should be just suitable for holding the planting cups.
2. Prepare nutrient solution: There are many nutrient solution formulas for hydroponic vegetables. The widely used Versailles nutrient solution formula is, per 1 liter of water, potassium nitrate 0.568 g, calcium nitrate 0.710 g, ammonium phosphate 0.142 g, magnesium sulfate 0.284 g, ferric chloride 0.112 g, potassium iodide 0.00284 g, boric acid 0.00056 g, zinc sulfate 0.00056 g, manganese sulfate 0.00056 g.
3. Planting medium: Seedlings can be raised in advance using nutrient soil. Plant them when the seedlings have 2 true leaves and 1 heart leaf to 4 true leaves and 1 heart leaf. Use peat and water-washed cinder at a ratio of 1:1 to prepare the planting medium. Drill holes in the bottom of the planting cup, and thread through a non-woven fabric strip about 2 cm wide and about 10 cm long, with about 3 cm of the non-woven fabric strip going into the cup. First put 1/2 of the medium into the planting cup, then plant the small vegetable seedling, and add more medium to complete planting.
4. Seedling planting: When planting the seedlings, try to keep the roots of the seedlings straight and uninjured. Add half the amount of nutrient solution to the hydroponic box. Fit the planting cups into the holes of the floating board, and the non-woven fabric strips must extend at least 3 cm below the bottom of the floating board. Fit the planted floating board onto the hydroponic box, and adjust the liquid level so that it just touches the bottom of the planting cups.
What types of hydroponic vegetables are there?
1. Tomato: Tomatoes are generally grown hydroponically in greenhouses, and this cultivation method can be carried out all year round. Hydroponic tomato cultivation in solar greenhouses can determine the crop rotation arrangement according to the specific greenhouse performance, generally focusing on winter-spring and early-spring production.
2. Bitter gourd: Bitter gourd is an annual climbing herbaceous plant of the Cucurbitaceae family. Its stems, branches, petioles and pedicels are covered with soft hairs, and it has axillary tendrils. The conditions required for cultivation are not strict, its growth vigor is strong, its fruit-setting ability is strong, and its harvest period is long, making it very suitable for hydroponics.
3. Eggplant: In recent years, the area of eggplant cultivated using solar greenhouses and plastic tunnels has been continuously expanding, but because of continuous cropping and repeated cropping, diseases, especially soil-borne diseases, occur seriously. Hydroponics can overcome this problem and has gradually become popular in recent years.
4. Ginger: In the traditional planting model, because continuous cropping cannot clear the nematodes and ginger blast pathogens remaining in the soil, ginger is very easily infected with ginger blast. Once infected with ginger blast, a large area of plants will wither and die. Hydroponics can solve this problem.
5. Cucumber: Cucumbers are often harmed by pests and diseases in production, while hydroponics can avoid soil-borne pests and diseases and continuous cropping obstacles, and also has the characteristics of reducing pesticide use, improving crop yield and quality, saving fertilizer and labor, and not being limited by soil fertility conditions.