Eggplant in Dutch Buckets: Commercial Setup
Eggplant in Dutch Buckets: Commercial Setup Eggplant hydroponics asks more of a container than most vine crops do, because the plant stays in it for six months or longer. A Dutch bucket gives each plant its own drainage path, its own emitter set and its own media volume, which is what a woody, long-cycle crop […]
Green Onions and Leeks: Hydroponic Production
Green Onions and Leeks: Hydroponic Production Green onions hydroponics is one of the quieter commercial lines, and that is its advantage. Bunching onions are a short-cycle, low-feed crop that uses the same raft beds and channels a lettuce house already owns, sells into foodservice year round, and does not need the climate control a fruiting […]
Melons in Grow Bags and Dutch Buckets: Setup
Melons in Grow Bags and Dutch Buckets: Setup Melon hydroponics is a water-volume and load problem before it is a nutrient problem. A fruiting vine carries several kilograms of fruit on a canopy that transpires far harder than a tomato, and the container has to hold enough media to buffer that demand between irrigation events. […]
Asian Greens in NFT: Bok Choy, Tatsoi, Kale
Asian Greens in NFT: Bok Choy, Tatsoi, Kale Bok choy hydroponics runs on the same film of nutrient that lettuce does, and that is exactly where growers get into trouble. Brassica greens put down a denser, faster root mat, tolerate a higher feed strength, and bolt or tipburn on different triggers than a butterhead does. […]
Hydroponic Equipment Lead Times: Full Path
Hydroponic Equipment Lead Times: Full Path Hydroponic system lead time is rarely lost in production. It is lost in the gaps between stages: the week a drawing waits for an internal signature, the fortnight a container sits at a transhipment port, the month a slab cures while the channel order has already shipped. For a […]
Inbound QC: Checking Equipment on Arrival
Inbound QC: Checking Equipment on Arrival Incoming quality control for imported hydroponic equipment happens in the hour the container is opened, and most of what goes wrong later traces back to that hour. A clean signature on the delivery note removes the buyer’s position against the carrier, and a count taken after the cartons have […]
Buying Hydroponic Fertilizer in Bulk: Checks
Buying Hydroponic Fertilizer in Bulk: Checks Hydroponic fertilizer is bought by analysis, not by brand, and buying fertilizer in bulk rewards the buyer who can read a certificate of analysis. Two products with the same description can differ in chloride, insoluble matter and heavy metals, and those differences surface later as blocked emitters, drifting pH […]
Greenhouse Ground Cover: Specs That Last
Greenhouse Ground Cover: Specs That Last A weed mat in a greenhouse does four jobs at once: it suppresses weeds, carries foot and trolley traffic, survives wash-down with detergent and disinfectant, and keeps the floor from becoming a reservoir for algae and splash. Most floor failures come from specifying for the first job and discovering […]
Shade Net vs Insect Net vs Bird Net: Changes
Shade Net vs Insect Net vs Bird Net: Changes Agricultural netting comes in three families that look alike on a roll and behave very differently once they are on a structure. A shade net for plants is graded by the percentage of light it removes, an insect net by its aperture in millimetres, and a […]
Greenhouse Insect Netting: Mesh and Install
Greenhouse Insect Netting: Mesh and Install Greenhouse insect netting is an exclusion barrier, not a pesticide. The mesh is a sieve sized against the smallest pest that has to stay out, and every other specification decision follows from that one number. Mesh count is stated per linear inch; aperture in millimetres is what actually stops […]