Hydroponics?

[nao57]

So... few years ago I did a hydroponics experiment. It didn't work. I tried to mess around with it a bit but couldn't get it to work. I put the brakes on it and decided to do other things instead. The other things I did worked.

And... now I'm starting to see a few things I could do differently with hydroponics and maybe come back to it later now? But I have so many questions...

Does it work in hot, dry climates if you can get the system up? Or will the arid climate with TOO LOW humidity prevent them from working? (Do they only work in areas with enough humidity?)

Also, it seems like a lot of people are only doing salads and bok choy and stuff like that in their hydroponics setups... is it not possible to do something else like other vegetable plants? What vegetable plants have been proven to work with a hydroponics, aquaponics set up? (Is growing grains and wheat even possible also? Although I'm more interested to know how to do things like cucs and tomtoes, stuff you can feed people off of...)

How do you keep roots from rotting? Is there something you can do w that to have more growing choices?

 

[Chuck]

Back in the early 1980"s I became involved with one of the first hydroponic farms in Texas, San Leon to be exact. At that time we had 3 Quonset huts each 300ft x 150ft. All we grew in these buildings was tomatoes. We experimented with different growing mediums, different soluable fertilizers, different oxygen levels, lighting and temperatures. In the 3 years I was there production increased drastically. We grew literally tons of tomatoes but, the one thing that we did not overcome was the taste of the tomatoes. They just didn't taste like a tomato should. So, I sold out my interest and moved on to other things. I don't know if things have changed much or not. When I am forced to purchase a tomato at the grocery I am always disappointed in the taste, whether it be soil grown or hydroponically. I fully understand that commercially grown tomatoes are always picked early, many times when still in the green stage of growth and this greatly affects the taste. I really hope that things have changed in the past 40+ years but somehow I doubt it.

And as far as your last question. Water does not harm the roots. It is the lack of oxygen that causes root rot.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

If you hit 'search' at the top right, type i 'Hydroponics', and tick on 'titles only' you get a long list of threads. Some are probably more useful than others, but a number have titles similar to yours, which comes out at the top

 

[YumYum]

When I am forced to purchase a tomato at the grocery I am always disappointed in the taste, whether it be soil grown or hydroponically. I fully understand that commercially grown tomatoes are always picked early, many times when still in the green stage of growth and this greatly affects the taste. I really hope that things have changed in the past 40+ years but somehow I doubt it.

Has not changed. Has gotten worser as they lean more and more towards disease resistance or harvest time reduction as opposed to a good tasting tomato.