Beans, cucumber and tomato in hydroponics

[bghayad]

Hello;

Can someone advise if to grow beans, cucumber and tomato hydroponically using NFT or drip system?
And if to use rockwool cubes or to use stonewool slabs (so the roots to propagate in the slabs instead of staying in free space)?

Regards
Bilal

[Kangaroo1943]

I have grown beans, tomatoes,peppers and strawberries successfully in a drip system, I usually start the seedlings in soil and then wash off and transplant in hydroton with very good results. I have not grown cucumbers but I believe this is possible. I see a lot of people using rockwool successfully but I have found ( and it is only me) that rockwool holds the moisture even in between waterings. The cost is fairly high but then that is only me and I suppose after others read this posting some will say nonsense and they could be 100% correct. After 40 years of growing hydroponically I have found something that works for me and I will stick with it. NFT is the only system I have not used but I believe strawberries, beans, and especially lettuce and asian vegetables could be very good. I grow most of my larger plants, eg tomatoes, peppers, egg plant etc in my ebb and flow system , and my leafy vegetables in my DWC trays. At present my strawberries have pride of place in my drip system.


The attached photo was last year when I grew Thai Tomatoes in my drip system which went very well.
I was growing Kang Kong a chinese vegetable at the same time as you can see in the back of the photo.