Certain Plants Ward Off Neighbors with Chemical Compounds?

[adrumsolo4u]

The following article describes some research NASA was doing a few years ago on hydroponics.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/biofarming.html

The article highlights how different plants require differring ammounts of nitrogen and also how certain plants give off chemical compounds to "poison" their neighbors. Is any of this information available? I have looked, but cannot seem to find any.

I'm attempting to create a hydroponics setup in an extremly confined space so max efficiency is what I'm looking for here.

[webmaster]

I'm only aware of pine tree needles and eucalyptus tree leaves on top of soil being a hindrance to other plants growing. Here is a post entitled, Companion Planting Guide that has information about different veggies and herbs and what grows well next to what and why.

[imafan26]

There are many plants that have strategies for keeping other plants away. Mango trees exude substances from the bark and roots and have dense canopies that will keep lichen from growing on the trunks and anything else from growing under the tree.

Sunflowers will prevent seeds from germinating near their roots.

Eucalyptus roots are hostile to many plants and steal nutrients from the rest.

cabbages alkalinize the soil

onions and garlic should not be planted by beans because they attract the same pest black aphids for one.

Pine needles and alliums are not a good combination.

The hydroponic systems, I have encountered were all growing only one thing in the system, either all tomatoes, cucumbers or lettuce. I would think that since the solution's nutrient and pH levels have to be so closely monitored it would make sense not to mix your greens within one set up, especially if they have very different requirements.

[rainbowgardener]

yeah, really hard to answer, because hydro is so different. A lot of the companion planting stuff is about herbs will repel pests from your veggies, or plants that will attract beneficial insects. Parsley that I let flower, next to the tomato plants for example has been a major success, because all the tomato hornworms are parasitized by the braconid wasps that came for the parsley flowers.

But hydro is presumably indoors and not worrying about either insect pests or beneficial insects.

Seems like you need a really good hydroponics reference book.

[applestar]

I believe, too, that some of the inter-plant communication and action takes place via the soil microbes as intermediaries and chemical signals and reactions take place.

Didn't somebody post a link to a video about this in the last year?