Practical Exploration of Soilless Cultivation Technology in Flower Planting
Soilless cultivation technology uses modern science and technology to cultivate flowers in media other than soil, largely avoiding the drawbacks of soil cultivation, saving money and much labor, making effective use of space, and playing a very important role in the large-scale cultivation of flowers.
1 Characteristics of soilless cultivation technology
Soilless cultivation is a method of growing plants without using a substrate or natural soil, by cultivating plants in a nutrient solution or using other fertilization methods. Soilless cultivation of flowers means applying soilless cultivation technology to the planting of flowers. ①Fast growth, good flowering quality, relatively long flowering period, and a relatively large number of flowers. ②Nutrient solutions are formulated according to the different needs of different flowers, which not only simplifies many labor steps in traditional cultivation, but also saves water and fertilizer and reduces the waste of resources. ③Inorganic salts supply the nutrients needed by plants, reducing the occurrence of pests and diseases and ensuring a clean environment. ④Soilless cultivation technology breaks the spatial limitations on plants and can make full use of three-dimensional space for plant cultivation, with great production potential.
2 Types of soilless cultivation technology
Soilless cultivation of flowers in China can be divided into two types: hydroponics and solid substrate culture.
Solid substrate culture means growing flowers in a natural or synthetic solid substrate to fix the root system and provide the nutrients needed by the plants. There are many materials that can be used as substrates, such as perlite, plain sand, gravel, ceramsite, etc. Some can be used in mixtures, and some can also be used alone. The common feature of these substrates is that they have the basic functions of soil, can continuously and evenly provide water and nutrients to the plants, have a certain degree of drainage and water retention, and also have a certain stability and strength, and must not contain harmful substances. An ideal substrate should not cause pollution, should not give off irritating odors, and should have a stable chemical buffering capacity. In addition, the solid substrate should also contain the nutrients needed by plants, so that the amount of fertilizer used can be reduced and the cultivation cost lowered.
Hydroponics means that the root system of the plant grows directly in the nutrient solution. Generally, when cultivating flowers, except for using a solid substrate during seedling raising, a solid substrate is generally not used. The nutrient elements needed for flower growth generally include macroelements such as O, H, N, C, P, S, K, Ca, etc., and the participation of very small amounts of microelements. Soilless cultivation of flowers requires artificial supply of nutrients, that is, the preparation of a nutrient solution. Whether the nutrient solution is formulated reasonably or not directly affects the survival and growth of flowers, so its supply and management are the core issues of soilless cultivation. When preparing the nutrient solution, the amount and proportion of various elements should be determined according to different flower varieties, their different growth stages, and regional conditions, and finally the specified amount of water is added to prepare a specific nutrient solution.
3 Applications of soilless cultivation in flower planting
(1) Seedling raising.
Soilless seedling raising of flowers is mainly divided into cutting seedling raising, sowing seedling raising, and tissue culture seedling raising. Seedlings cultivated by soilless cultivation have a high rate of strong seedlings, are relatively uniform, and are convenient for mechanized production. Research by Gao Lei and others showed that the treatment of Anthurium with vermiculite + perlite + peat at a ratio of 1:1:2 had the highest survival rate during the seedling recovery stage, with healthy seedlings and fast seedling formation; the treatment of Anthurium with vermiculite + perlite + peat at a ratio of 1:2:2 had a relatively high survival rate during the planting stage, with robust plants and more luxuriant leaf growth, and the raw materials were very cheap, making it suitable as a substrate for Anthurium. From the above examples, it can be seen that compared with traditional seedling raising methods, soilless cultivation saves more time and labor, and the cultivated seedlings also have relatively well-developed root systems and a relatively high survival rate after transplanting, making it suitable for large-scale factory seedling production.
(2) Cut flowers and potted flowers.
Research on cut flowers mainly focuses on the application of soilless cultivation technology in aspects such as substrates suitable for cultivating fresh cut flowers, nutrient solution formulas, and the regulation of environmental factors. Research on potted flowers focuses on aspects such as suitable cultivation substrates, conditions for cultivation management, and nutrient solution formulas. For example, Zhang Xiaobing conducted a thorough comparative study on the nutrient solution for soilless cultivation of rose; Chen Fadi studied the soilless cultivation technology of Dianthus in China. There are many types of cut flowers and potted flowers in China, and their suitable cultivation substrates, environmental factors, and nutrient solution formulas are all different. A large amount of research is still needed to meet production needs and provide better technical support for the further development of cut flowers and potted flowers.
(3) Roof greening.
As people's living standards continue to improve, higher requirements have also been put forward for the living and working environment. In order to meet the needs of people's modern life, improve the living environment, purify urban air, and increase green space area, China has begun research on roof greening. However, roof greening has many problems, such as building load, waterproofing, and drainage. In order to solve these problems more effectively, China has also introduced soilless cultivation technology into roof greening projects.
(4) Water surface greening.
As the name suggests, water surface greening is greening and maintenance within water areas. Through various experiments by predecessors, the technology of soilless floating cultivation on water surfaces has gradually matured. Many kinds of flowers and plants, such as Canna, large-flowered umbrella plant, and Cyperus alternifolius, have fully adapted to water surface floating cultivation technology. Water surface greening not only beautifies the environment, but also purifies water quality, expands the scope of application of soilless cultivation, and has quite good development prospects.
(5) Lawn greening.
Lawn greening occupies an important position in urban landscaping. The coverage degree of lawn greening is one of the important indicators for measuring a modern city. In the past, lawn production used soil as the substrate, the lawn formation effect was relatively poor, and it also wasted seeds, with high planting costs. Applying the soilless cultivation method to lawn cultivation solves these problems, not only achieving a good formation effect, saving seeds, but also reducing planting costs.
4 Application prospects
The development level of soilless cultivation technology and the extent of its application are an important indicator in the world for measuring the level of agricultural modernization. China's soilless cultivation technology started relatively late, but has developed very quickly. Especially in recent years, relevant experts in China have conducted a series of important studies on soilless cultivation technology in light of China's specific conditions, enabling China's soilless cultivation technology to achieve major development and become better adapted to China's production conditions. China's current soilless cultivation technology for flowers has already moved from small-scale experimental research to the application stage of large-scale production. With the further development of society and the improvement of science and technology, the development speed of soilless cultivation technology will be even more rapid, and its degree of modernization, intensification, and automation will also gradually increase, and production benefits will be even more obvious.
The application prospects of soilless cultivation of flowers are quite broad. Places such as deserts, saline-alkali land, and oil fields that are not suitable for flower growth can all use soilless cultivation technology for greening and planting. Moreover, soilless cultivation technology for flowers also has great market potential in household flower applications, because compared with soil-cultivated flowers, it has the characteristics of high quality, no pollution, safety and hygiene, and a long flowering period, so it is more favored by people who grow flowers indoors. The reason why this achievement has not yet become widespread in indoor flower growing is, first, the relatively high cost, and second, the technology is not yet perfect enough. However, as this technology becomes more and more mature, the development of soilless cultivation in indoor flower growing is bound to have considerable prospects.
5 Conclusion
In summary, compared with traditional soil cultivation methods, soilless cultivation technology for flowers has many characteristics such as a long flowering period, vigorous growth, fertilizer savings, and cleanliness. Its practical applications are also very extensive, with wide applications in the seedling raising, cut flowers, and potted flowers of flowers, as well as in the greening of roofs, water surfaces, and lawns. Its further development plays a very important role in the scale-up and industrialization of the flower market.