Purdue University will develop research-based information for profitable indoor or vertical farming and train beginner farmers and entrepreneurs with best practices through effective extension education. Indoor farming involves growing leafy greens in vertically stacked layers in a building or warehouse to produce more food per unit area and make fresh food readily available to consumers[Read More…]
Purdue University will develop research based and Indiana region-specific information for hydroponic lettuce production in greenhouses and transfer crop production and marketing knowledge to Indiana farmers through effective extension education. Specifically, (i) the proposed research will develop region-specific information by conducting research on the performance of different leaf lettuce varieties for increased productivity, quality[Read More…]
A question many growers are asking is whether vertical farming of hydroponic lettuce production is profitable. Light requirement (daily light integral, DLI) of lettuce can vary from 15-20 mol/m2/day. Lettuce grown under low DLI has slow growth rate (i.e., takes longer to harvest) and appear poor in quality (elongated). Current estimate is that energy costs[Read More…]
Hydroponic lettuce is usually grown by continuously recycling the nutrient solution during production. As nutrients are absorbed by plant roots, stock solution is added to the recycled solution to maintain the electrical conductivity (EC) at a target level. Because plants absorb nutrients from the solution at different rates, the recycled solutions accumulates elements which are[Read More…]
Hydroponics Workshop II Greenhouse and Indoor based hydroponics for growing green leaf produce is rapidly growing near urban areas in Indiana. To bridge the gap in learning and increase the competitiveness of Indiana and Midwestern growers, Purdue Extension specialists and researchers in the department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture have developed workshops that provide experiential[Read More…]