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…]
Krishna Nemali
Pore space in soilless substrates Do you know that you are mostly paying for ‘pore space’ when buying a bag of soilless substrate? This is because, unlike mineral soils, nearly three-fourth volume of soilless substrates is pore space. I like to refer pore space as the ‘functional’ component of a substrate. By definition, pore space[Read More…]
Managing plant nutrition based on substrate EC is better than fertilizer solution EC as substrate EC directly measures the amount of nutrients in the root zone. There are both in-house and laboratory based methods of measuring substrate EC. One in-house method that is commonly used is ‘pour-thru’ technique. This technique is rapid, inexpensive and measures[Read More…]
Nitrogen (N) deficiency results in stunted plants that are chlorotic in appearance. Maintaining plant N status at an optimal level is important as plant growth is related to the tissue N content in many species. Currently, laboratory analysis is the only method available to accurately measure tissue N in plants. This method is expensive ($15-20[Read More…]
Krishna Nemali and Petrus Langenhoven (plangenh@purdue.edu, 765-496-7955), Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University A question many growers are asking is whether supplemental lighting is profitable for hydroponic lettuce production during the winter. We will address this specific question in this article. Light requirement (daily light integral, DLI) of lettuce can vary from 15-20[Read More…]
As outside light levels are steadily increasing, many of you must have noticed rapid plant growth inside the greenhouses. This is the time to pay close attention to nutrient deficiencies in plants. If supplied nutrients are not proportional to plant growth rate, then deficiency symptoms start to appear on plants. There are a few important[Read More…]
Hanging baskets are very popular around this time in many Indiana greenhouses and are targeted for the Mother’s day. Petunias and geraniums are popular bedding plant choices for hanging baskets. Temperature affects both growth (ex: change in size) and development (ex: change from vegetative to flowering stage) in plants. This means that greenhouse temperatures during[Read More…]
I started discussing about fertilizers in the last report. I want to further expand fertilizer concepts in this and perhaps, a few more reports. The purpose of this report is to provide information on fertilizer needs of green leaf lettuce grown in containers filled with a peat based media. The recommendations from this report should NOT be used for hydroponically grown[Read More…]