SimonL
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Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:24 pm

Room for roots / fast growing plants

Hey, so I'm doing a final project about hydroponics as I found it a very interesting topic as we are in desperate need of saving as much water as we possibly can. So anyways, back to the point, I'm doing this project and I just wanted to ask you guys how much space you should leave below the plant so that the roots can grow properly, is there any requirement or will the roots just grow as they please or do they need to "flow down" towards the bottom?

I was thinking about growing basil as it seems to be one of the most commonly grown plants in a hydroponics system. But I have heard they can be a little fragile sometimes when it comes to light and stuff, so does anyone have any suggestions for plants that are hardy and fast growing?

Have a tremendous day, thank you so very much in advance! :lol:

pepperhead212
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Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

Welcome to the forum! What kind of system do you grow, or are you thinking of growing? I grow deepwater, which doesn't use that much water, after the I initial fill, though eventually, when the plants have a lot of leaves, they need to be topped off more often. Once I get the nutrients leveled out, I never change water, as often recommended.

I have never thought of basil as "fragile", in my hydroponics. The basil, dill, epazote...just about every herb I've tried, has grown very well. However, some attracted spider mites, others, aphids, that appeared out of nowhere! Leaf lettuce, mizuna, and bok choy do great, too.

Basil is not fast to grow from seed, but once it is settled in, you only need one plant of each, it grows so fast. Same with parsley, and though I prefer flat leaf outside, I have found that the plain curly is better in the hydro, as the flat leaf gets way too large. And with all of them, I look for smaller varieties, instead of the 2 or 3 foot tall ones.

Here's a bunch of photos from my system, that I grow in the off-season:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/91097628@ ... 0578587486

SimonL
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Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:24 pm

pepperhead212 wrote:
Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:08 pm
Basil is not fast to grow from seed
Sorry, I should have worded it differently, basically me and my friend are doing a comparative study about how much less water is used when you grow hydroponically. Because it is a school project we have a few limitations.
1. We don't have a lot of space, so we need to kind of make it as tiny as we can, we can't really have a deepwater system.
2. We are on a time limit, everything is to be done on week 10 next year, and by everything I mean a 40 page report aswell. So we were thinking about giving it around 2-3 weeks or so.
3. We don't have a lot of maneuverability when it comes to funding so we have to do it on a budget kind of.

So basically I was just wondering about how much space do the roots take up and which plants sprout and grow the fastest, we want results to be as quickly obtained as possible.

Thank you for replying!

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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Ah. We’re not supposed to help with school projects…. Our members can get overeager and help too enthusiastically.

SimonL
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Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:24 pm

applestar wrote:
Wed Sep 08, 2021 6:12 pm
Ah. We’re not supposed to help with school projects…. Our members can get overeager and help too enthusiastically.
Oh well I'm not permitted to use any of this as a source, it's very strict, I was just wondering how much room the roots tend to need and what the fastest sprouting plant is, I will do further research based on that, I would not even let you help me with that since my school doesnt allow it.

I solely wanted a little push in the right direction so I can do further research on it. :D



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