How Do Hydroponic Vegetables Taste?

Are you wondering if the hydroponic peppers or tomatoes at your local grocery store taste as good as they look?

Yes they do! Hydroponic vegetables are delicious! Just like rare field grown crops that are grown in absolutely the best of conditions, hydroponic vegetables are provided with the best nutrients in perfect proportions, giving them a flavor and texture that is consistently better than field grown vegetables. It is up to the grower or greenhouse manager to provide the hydroponic plants with the specific nutrient solution in the optimal pH range and to maintain the most efficient levels for temperature, light, humidity and CO2. There are many variables that the hydroponic greenhouse grower must be accountable for, but the benefits of hydroponics are clear. When the hydroponic grower is good at what they do, the proof is in the produce!

Hydroponic vegetables are often more nutritious and with no dirt, they are cleaner. With recent advances in nutrient formulation and nutrient management technology, organic hydroponics are gaining in popularity. If you are thinking about growing your own hydroponic produce or simply trying the hydroponic vegetables that your local grocer has on their produce isle shelves, I am sure that you will not regret it!

Growing Healthy Hydroponic Vegetables: Preparing a Greenhouse for Hydroponics

Ready to start growing with hydroponics? Growing hydroponic vegetables is a great green business idea and a great way to produce healthy food for you, your friends, and your family! Beginning to grow with hydroponics means making time to start cleaning. The best environment for hydroponics is a clean one. Dirty growing environments equal problems for those who are growing healthy hydroponic vegetables in a hydroponics greenhouse or indoor growing system. If you want to get the best yield from your crops and minimize problems for your plants and flowers, here are some tips:

• Clean, Clean, Clean and then sanitize with at least a 10% solution of bleach and water, then rinse well with good water. Hydrogen peroxide is also an option for sanitizing hydroponic systems as its residue will be less harmful to plants growing in the set up.
• Problems can spread rapidly through a hydroponics growing system. Sanitizing all equipment between crops can save you a lot of trouble with bacteria and viruses which can spread through your whole crop of hydroponic vegetables or flowers in a very short time.
• Use a sterile growing medium or media such as Sure to Grow, coco-coir, hydroton, lecca, perfect starts, or rapid rooter plugs.. Keep it free from contamination by dirt or any foreign organic matter.
• Keep pets and pests both away from your hydroponic growing systems. They can introduce contaminated particles of organic matter as well as physically damage the plants, vegetables, or flowers growing in your set up. You also would not want to pay for Fido to get his stomach pumped after he decided to taste test your hydroponic nutrient.
• Loose dirt and wind blown organic matter can also cause your hydroponic plants problems, try to use screens on vents which will also help to keep out pests. Thrips are small enough to pass through a regular window screen so look for special greenhouse vent screen that is designed to keep pests out.

After thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing it is time to mix your hydroponic nutrients into a nutrient solution. It is wise to have a water analysis done before choosing your hydroponic nutrient formula. If possible, use rain water or water purified by reverse osmosis. RO filters can be expensive, but they can clean your water well enough to avoid building up minerals in your nutrient to levels that can be toxic to hydroponic vegetables. If you have to use a water source that is not as clean as you would like, hydroponic nutrient supply companies can make nutrient solutions that are specifically tailored to your water and plant needs.

God Bless and Happy Growing!

Growing Healthy Hydroponic Vegetables: Getting Started

First harvest of Lapham's Living Lettuce

Trials in Sure to Grow Cubes

Basil growing in a homemade Hydroponic / Aeroponic Hybrid growing chamber in a homemade greenhouse built using a carport frame and left over scraps from a commercial greenhouse

These are some pictures of my first trials growing hydroponic vegetables. Just get started on a small scale and do not be afraid to make mistakes. Growing healthy hydroponics vegetables indoors is fun and easy! Experiment with different plants and different systems to see what works best for you.

• I had great success growing organic basil from seed in rapid rooter plugs.
  
• Growing Living Lettuce was best with the STG cubes in a raft or deep water culture system.
• For growing tomatoes I had the best results witha 50/50% mix of hydroton or lecca expanded clay pellets and coco-coir.
• In the hybrid hydroponic / aeroponic growing chamber, I also had good results growing a variety os peppers which were started from seed in rapid rooter plugs then placed into grow cups and filled in with lecca or hydroton expanded clay pellets. This was the same method used for growing basil and it prooved to be very successful.

In order to get started growing healthy hydroponic vegetables, all you need is to do some research online, read some books or make a trip to your local hydroponic supply store. They should be able to get you set up with the materials that youll need to begin indoors or outdoors. Do not feel pressured to buy any expensive growing systems or kits. You can do it your self for much less money.
God Bless and happy growing!