Hydroponic - First Try

Like your website by the way. Allotment gardening at it's best

 

Try putting chillies in one!
Check out http://www.nutriculture.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=2&id=17&Itemid=48

 

Rich,

I've got a chilli plant in so we will see how it goes.

 

Another 10 days since my last update and the lollo rossa's are going great guns.



The lettuce is being held at arms length and I can't get the end of the roots into the shot. My estimate is that they are 24'' - 30'' in length now.

Compare this shot of the hydroponic unit to my first post taken on the 4th March.



The rear of the unit has two week old lettuce in for the next crop.

Compare my cloche grown lollo's were started under glass in January.



They are much the same size and both will be ready for cropping next week. The only difference I can see apart from the speed of growth is the colour of the plants. All the seeds are from the same packet of lollo rossa's but the soil grown plants have developed the characteristics red fringes where as the hydroponic plants are still largely green with only faint tinges of red creeping in to the leaf margins. Any ideas anyone ?

Next week I'll be harvesting and conducting a taste comparison between the two.

 

Could the hydroponic plants be missing a trace element of some sort? That seems the likeliest.

 

Could be Dai although they are getting a purpose designed feed which should in theory contain all the required trace elements. You may well be right though.

I'm wondering is it just the speed of growth causing it as the soil grown plants start green and progresively turn reddish with age. :confused:

 

I would say it was a light factor envirolights are no substitute for full spectrum natural light.

 

That sounds possible Walnut but the plants get the normal light in the greenhouse for the same duration as those under cloches. Their only advantage is envirolight for about 4 hrs per day after dark.