February 10, 2012

Hi all!

I was in desperate search of more information for Plants I could grow, and I found quite a measure of information. I will just post all the plants I found information on, but not all of them can be grown hydroponically (like root plants). I hope I will be able to add even more information in time (please help gather more information which I can add) and it would be great to add a section ‘tested by window farms’ or something to verify the information.

Hope you want to help and have fun researching and using this information.

1.      Electro-conductivity (EC) or Conductivity factor (cF) can be expressed as either millisiemens (mS), cF or parts per million (PPM) 1 mS(/cm?) = 10cF = 700ppm

2.      The pH and electro~conductivity values specified here are given as a broad range. It should be noted that specific plant requirements will vary according to regional climatic conditions, and from season to season within that region.

3.      As a general rule, plants will have a higher nutrient requirement during cooler months, and a lower requirement In the hottest months.  Therefore, a stronger nutrient solution should be maintained during winter, With a weaker solution during summer when plants take up and transpire more water than nutrients.

4.      KNOW YOUR CROP.     Plant EC or cF may vary according to the stage of growth. For example, cucumber prefer cF 20 when establishing, and cF 25 after the first harvest. Between and 7 weeks after first harvest, the optimum cF is 17.

5.      For easy growing reference, plants that share broad groupings of low (L), medium (M) or high (H) can be grown together using the same nutrient electro- conductivity, providing middle ground cF and ph are adopted.

6.      The nutrient solution should be discarded at regular intervals. Should there be a requirement to flush the growing bed, the system should be flushed with fresh nutrients (run-to-waste) rather than water to avoid starving or stressing the plant.

 
The Column ‘Light’ is for the Day- / Night ratio needed (or helpful) for flowering
‘Water’ should someday contain Tipps how much Water (preferred in drip her minute or something) or just low, medium and a general description of that range here.
‘Sun’ will say how much sun/ Shadow the Plant likes
‘Tested’ If tested by someone in the commentary and maybe how hard it is to do it (in planing)
‘Groups’ (L,M,H) as described above, ‘Nutritions needed’ would be a suggestion of Nutrition Solution and other Tipps
Something in brackets (9) means a maximum or minimum not the optimal, something in brackets (?) with a question mark means that the sources said different things or suggested  for example that they used the same EC as for the Strawberries. So it is not born out of a sure source.
 

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Garlic seemed like a bit of a challenge, and it sure provides some food for thought.

The garlic clove I posted about earlier simply stopped growing when its internal nutrient suply ran out, but still had a little surprise in store:

The clove had sat a little too deep in the rockwool, it shriveled, and when I removed the remains, mold had taken root.

As you can see, it had nevertheless developed a nice little new bulb; the roots weren’t too shabby either.

I then started with two cloves from garlic I had bought later, and which somehow already looked different.

Sure enough, they sprouted in a different way (more than one shoot) and are brighter in colour as well.

Garlic apparently is mainly cloned today, not germinated from seed, and commercial plants seem to have lost the ability to flower.

If these two (all three are organic) fail to grow beyond a certain stage as well, I’ll order some heirloom garlic which still has that ability.

“… Anything leafy and green, essentially. You can’t grow carrots and you can’t grow root vegetables. Potatoes, garlic, those things don’t work.”

Mmmmmh. I can accept carrots and potatoes. But I wanted to try garlic, to be able harvest its leaves and shoots.

I know, it’s sitting very high up, but I want to give it every chance to grow sideways.

And it’s not as though root vegetables in hydroponics were generally impossible, as you can see here (3:44).

We shall see. So far it’s looking good.