Hydroponic Plants
Hydroponic Cucumber Kratky Method
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Hydroponic Clematis cuttings rooted and flowering in Winter
Simply placed cuttings in nutrient rich water in late Fall. Dragon fruit plants in the back. |
Lantana, Geraniums, fig trees and other plants I want to save, do well over the winter under LED lights,
Hydroponic Dragon Fruit Plants grown from Seeds
I ate a Dragon fruit and put many of its seeds in some soil to see if they would sprout. Tons of them grew! I transplanted them three in hydroponics and another three in potting soil to see which way would work better.
I took three of the tiny sprouted seeds and put them in some Root Riot with a net cup to hold them above the liquid fertilizer water and placed them a Ball jar so the bottom of the roots could reach the water. I took three tiny sprouted seeds from the same bunch and placed them in good quality potting soil in a container with drainage holes. Two months later the difference was so clear that the hydroponic dragon fruit plants were so much bigger I shot the photo above. I grew all of them for a year. Below are two different varieties of dragon fruit plants one year later from planting. They are now in amber colored Ball jars to cut out the light and prevent algae from growing on the roots. The ones growing in soil, a year later were still under 1" tall. |
Like any hydroponic plant they can be transitioned back to potting soil or ground soil and continued to grow. Above is a photo I took of a dragon fruit plant blooming at night to show how big the flowers get. They must have been 16" across.
Fig cutting propagated in water in a mason jar with a neoprene collar to hold it up.
I try and change the water every other day, shaking the jar often to provide aeration to the roots, and adding an antibacterial help to prevent rot.
Most people fail at rooting in water because the sticks can develop rot if good care is not taken.
After roots are formed, it becomes much easier to care for, you just add nutrients, and let some of the roots remain in the air and others under the water.
I try and change the water every other day, shaking the jar often to provide aeration to the roots, and adding an antibacterial help to prevent rot.
Most people fail at rooting in water because the sticks can develop rot if good care is not taken.
After roots are formed, it becomes much easier to care for, you just add nutrients, and let some of the roots remain in the air and others under the water.
Propagating Fig Cuttings in Water
Fig cuttings are easily propagated that is one of the amazing things about figs.
But placing them in plain water and leaving them they will most likely rot. The water needs changed frequently to prevent bacterial from growing and it needs oxygen.
If you use a larger body of water like a fish tank or a large tote and add an aquarium bubbler that provides oxygen, propagation greatly increases.
Adding something to the water or cutting that prevents bacteria growth such as, many root stimulators, hydrogen peroxide, honey, camomile tea, cinnamon, or willow root will also greatly increase your odds of the cutting rooting. In fact using a root cloner with just the mist and and additive with no water touching the cutting works almost every time.
I have started most of my fig tree using a container filled with water and an airstone until I converted my containers into more of a root cloner. They often do take a little longer to root, but once they root I add hydroponic nutrients and they grow much faster than in soil. I often allow the roots to grow quite a bit so they are no longer delicate before I transfer them into soil or hydrostone.
Hydroponic Fig Trees.
I have grown dozens of varieties of fig trees in hydroponics. They grow faster, fruit faster in the season, often taste better and are much more prolific than the fig trees that I grow in soil pots. They are also more difficult to move outside for the summer and back indoors for the winter. They are more difficult to put into dormancy than a fig tree in a pot of soil that only needs to be moved into an attached garage. They also need their roots pruned more often since I do not grow them bigger than a 5 gallon bucket can handle.
For these reasons I have switch most of my pure hydroponic figs into soil pots that can be more easily set into my garage for winter. If I want I can also set them into a five gallon self watering irrigated planter with a reservoir at the bottom to continue growing under LED lights if all the figs did not ripen before the first frost .
For these reasons I have switch most of my pure hydroponic figs into soil pots that can be more easily set into my garage for winter. If I want I can also set them into a five gallon self watering irrigated planter with a reservoir at the bottom to continue growing under LED lights if all the figs did not ripen before the first frost .
Malta Black VS producing a plate of figs from a cutting in under 10 months from starting the cutting!
You can see I had to pruned this very young tree to control growth.
You can see I had to pruned this very young tree to control growth.
A plate of hydroponic Malta Black VS figs grown indoors under LED lights.
Many of my ripe fig photos through out my website were grown indoors under LED lights and in a hydroponic system.
Sub-Irrigated Planters
Soil on Top & Nutrient Water on the bottom
I grow many of my fig trees in 5-gallon trade pots filled will Pro Mix growing medium that are placed inside of a 5-gallon bucket. My figs on this system are automatically watered daily with a Master Blend liquid fertilizer (see my Hydroponic page for details). The 5-gallon bucket has a hole and tube 2 1/2" from the bottom to catch and recirculate the fertilizer water into a larger container. Roots grow out of the smaller 5-gallon trade pot through the air gap into the 2" of fertilizer water at the bottom of the bucket to constantly supply the fig tree with the nutrients it needs. These grow much faster, fruit earlier, and are more prolific than my figs that are watered daily and have slow release fertilizer in the potting mix and fertilized with a liquid fertilizer every few weeks.
5-Gallon Go Pro trade pot with Pro Mix soil.
Using a soil mix instead of pure hydroponics, makes it easier to take the pot out of the SIP and store dormant fig trees for the Winter. |
Go Pro and many
5-gallon trade pots have a lip that sets nicely inside a 5-gallon bucket proving water and airspace at the bottom of the bucket. |
Self Watering - Sub-Irrigated Planter
Like the hydroponic Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) with water flowing and available all the time. This SIP has nutrient water supplied daily from the top drip lines and constant nutrient water at the bottom of the 5-Gallon bucket. |
Hydroponic Figs
Growing Figs Indoors in the Winter
under LED lights
using self watering 5 gallon buckets
Preparing for dormancy
After fig trees are done producing figs indoors, I take them outside to be hit by frost and prepare for dormancy in the garage. The two trees on the right were hit by frost the green one was just brought outdoors. In under three weeks indoors the fig on the left the left was taken outside. It had started to develop hydroponic roots on the side of the bucket. Notice the difference between the brown roots that had reached into the soil over the summer, compared to the new white hydroponic roots. Photos taken November 4th after 2nd frost.
Trimming hydroponic roots is easier than potted plants, but preparing for winter is more difficult.
Do the figs ripen well under good LED lights?
My figs taste better grown indoors than outdoors!
They hang on the trees longer without fear of ants, bugs, birds, squirrels or other critters!
They get better nutrition because they are all in self watering containers, watered daily with fertilizer water that I catch and reuse.
Hydroponic Nutrients
Hydroponic roots attached to a large net pot filled with hydrostone, grown indoors, inside of a 32 gallon brute container with an airstone.
Col de Dames are perfect for ripening indoors.
Marseilles Black VS was amazing grown hydroponicically indoors, better than my older MBVS trees grown outdoors!
Genovese Nero AF
As you may have notice the Genovese Nero AF did not get the dark skin grown indoors under lights like it does outdoors in the sun.
Most other varieties do get dark skin grown indoors.
They still tasted amazingly good.
As you may have notice the Genovese Nero AF did not get the dark skin grown indoors under lights like it does outdoors in the sun.
Most other varieties do get dark skin grown indoors.
They still tasted amazingly good.
Maltese Beauty is always better grown indoors. It never develops a thick skin while grown indoors and is still supper sweet with honey dripping from its eye.
How did I get this Maltese Beauty to ripen in the Spring when the Dogwood were in bloom?
I started them extremely early indoors and moved them outdoor to ripened.
They were not as good as the ones that ripened indoors.
I started them extremely early indoors and moved them outdoor to ripened.
They were not as good as the ones that ripened indoors.
Even my best looking Martineca Rimada looked better grown indoors than the ones that I ripened outdoors.
There is one cute little critter that can get to my low growing figs indoors.