Hydroponic seeds for growing on an aeroponic Tower Garden.
Do you have to have special seeds when hydroponic gardening? This was a question I had when I began my hydroponic journey. In 2021 I decided it was time to take control over more of our food security. I wanted to be able to grow fresh produce year-round, but I wasn’t sure if I needed special seeds when growing hydroponically. I discovered that a wide variety of seeds could be grown hydroponically, depending on the type of hydroponic system. There is some thought that seeds grown hydroponically that are then allowed to produce seeds create what is called a hydroponic adapted seed, and that seed will offer greater success in a hydroponic situation. This idea is valid. The same concept works for soil gardening. Plants adapted to your growing conditions tend to create stronger, healthier plants over time, but it doesn’t mean you have to purchase a special kind of seed to have success growing hydroponically.
What is a hydroponic seed?
True hydroponic seeds are specifically grown using hydroponic techniques and then allowed to produce seeds that create a hydroponic adapted seed. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in nutrient-rich water without soil. In hydroponic gardening, the plant’s roots are directly exposed to a nutrient-rich solution, which provides all the necessary nutrients for the plant’s growth. Hydroponic seeds can be specially bred to thrive in a hydroponic system, and you can grow various plants, including vegetables, herbs, and even flowers. Some popular hydroponic plants include lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, basil, and strawberries.
Through my hydroponic growing experience, I have found that there are better choices than special hydroponic seeds. Hydroponic seeds are more expensive, and the varieties of vegetable seeds are limited. I have had more success focusing on heirloom seeds, growing the right types of plants for my system, and focusing on companies that provide quality seeds.
The best way to successfully grow hydroponic plants is to make sure you are buying the type of plants that like to be grown in a soilless garden. Not all vegetables and fruits thrive in a hydroponic system. You are also limited by less space with a soilless system. What that means is you may be able to grow something like a cucumber in a hydroponic system, but choosing the best vegetable variety can offer added benefits. For example, the plant growth for a standard cucumber can be 12-15 feet of sprawling vines. That can take up a large portion of a hydroponic system, limiting the ability of the system to have the space to grow other things like leafy greens. If however, you choose vegetable garden seeds that are bred to be smaller, you may be able to increase the variety of things you can grow in a hydroponic system. You can choose a container variety cucumber, for example, that will only get about 4″ and be able to harvest tons of produce without overwhelming a hydroponic system. Which seed varieties are best will depend on which hydroponic system you use and how much space you have to grow.
I use a form of hydroponics called aeroponics with an aeroponic Tower Garden System to grow food year-round to replace our reliance on grocery stores. I choose the best seeds for indoor gardening and use grow lights, a nutrient solution with optimal hydroponic nutrients, and rockwool cubes to grow my favorite vegetables. My hydroponic Tower Garden system allows me to grow a variety of vegetables, pretty much everything except deep root crops. Because I use a vertical growing system, the best results come from choosing plant varieties with a shorter growth-to-maturity rate and bred to be smaller without losing flavor and abundance.
How I choose the kind of seeds I will grow depends on a few factors. The best way to select seeds for growing hydroponic crops is first to choose the foods you like to eat or that have a high resale value if you plan to sell your produce. Next, research the available different varieties of that plant. Lastly, choose the varieties that best fit the growing parameters of your hydroponic system.
Below is how I make the best choice when choosing the perfect plants to grow in my Aeroponic Tower Garden System for indoor and outdoor growing.
Cabbage and Leafy greens: With leafy greens and things like Cabbage and brassicas, it’s a good idea to look for early-season varieties. With Cabbage, for example, an early cabbage will mature and be ready to harvest in 50-70 days vs. 70-125 days. This will allow you to grow Cabbage without taking up space in your hydroponic system for too long. With leafy greens, most grow quickly, but when it comes to romaine lettuce varieties, the best option may be to grow mini romaine that will mature in 50-60 days vs. standard romaine, which can take 80-100 days to mature. Choosing short-season crops allows me to turn over my plants more frequently and gives us a more consistent flow of fresh produce to harvest.
Tomatoes: Growing tomato plants in an aeroponic Tower Garden, or any hydroponic system, is straightforward. Tomatoes thrive in a hydroponic system because the automatic watering system in hydroponics allows the tomatoes to get the right amount of water and nutrients throughout the growing season. The characteristics I look for when growing tomatoes in my Tower Gardens are varieties that offer a specific small plant size and excellent flavor and texture of the fruit. These are called dwarf tomatoes. But not all dwarf tomatoes are ideal. Over the years, there has been a movement to create hybrid dwarf tomatoes that are super tiny plants for aesthetic purposes. A common mistake is being tempted to grow these varieties because they are so small, produce a lot of fruit, and are disease resistant. The issue, however, with some of these varieties is that the goal of size became more important than the taste and texture of the fruit. Little Tom Tomato plant is an excellent example of this. It will grow into a beautiful fruiting tiny tomato plant that is disease resistant, but the fruit has thick skin and lacks flavor. Not all dwarf tomato plants have this issue, though. Many have been bred to be smaller but have maintained fantastic flavor and texture. There is a fabulous cooperative called The Dwarf Tomato Project, whose goal is to create low-maintenance varieties that are also delicious. You can follow their journey HERE to learn more about dwarf tomato plants.
Cucumbers: When growing cucumbers in a hydroponic system, you must keep a few things in mind. If you plan to grow indoors or in a greenhouse, you may want to choose a self-pollinating variety. If you don’t select a self-pollinating variety, you must manually pollinate the flowers yourself to ensure you get fruit. The issue with self-pollinating varieties is that they all tend to be large plants. Large plants are hard to manage in most hydroponic systems and limit the amount of other produce you can grow. When I grow cucumbers on my Aeroponic Tower Gardens, I choose dwarf or container-size cucumber plants. They may also be called bush cucumbers even though; technically, they are not a bush. These varieties allow me to grow an abundance of cucumbers in a much more manageable way. If growing indoors, they are small enough that I can manually pollinate flowers efficiently. When grown outdoors, they thrive without overtaking my growing space, so I can also grow the many other fresh produce items we like to eat.
Green beans and peas: The last two plants I want to cover are peas and green beans. Greens bean bush plants grow amazing on a tower garden. Depending on the variety, they provide abundant food and only take up a little space. However, there are smaller varieties that mature earlier, so looking over the seed packet to determine the growing behavior of green beans is a good idea. With peas, you can choose a container size pea to make sure you can grow a lot of peas without having pea vines take over your entire growing space. Tom Thumb is an excellent variety to try to maximize your harvest in a small space while maintaining fantastic flavor. You can also set up unique trellising systems for a hydroponic system if you choose standard-size plants. Trellises will allow the plants to grow up and away from the hydroponic system so you can grow more varieties and have better airflow. Choosing which green bean and pea variety will depend on the space your hydroponic system provides. To see ideas on creating trellis systems for an aeroponic tower garden system, make sure to subscribe to my Youtube.
As hydroponic gardeners, specifically those using Aeroponic Tower Gardens, we have a significant advantage over those growing in soil gardens. We can grow year-round, have a high chance of success, grow 30% more 3x faster than traditional gardening, and use 98% less water. We also don’t have to work as hard or get nearly as dirty. We are not limited to specific hydroponic seeds that may be more expensive and limiting in variety. We are not limited by seasons and can grow healthy plants any time of year.
With inflation on the rise, food security a common topic on the news, and the many other world issues happening as I write this, Starting your own hydroponic garden is an excellent choice if you want to take control of some of your food sources. Check out my video below to see which seeds I chose to grow in my Aeroponic Tower Garden.
More information on the Tower Garden systems I use click HERE
You can also read THIS post on why I chose Tower Garden as my source for hydroponic growing.
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