Hydroponic tomatoes: cultivation, solution and best varieties

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil using an artificially created environment that provides the plants with the necessary mineral supplements as well as nutrients. Therefore, hydroponic tomatoes are in no way inferior in quality to their counterparts grown in the garden.

In winter, you have to be content with purchased tomatoes, the quality of which often leaves much to be desired. And sometimes you want to treat yourself to a fresh fragrant tomato right from the bush. Salvation for all lovers of fresh vegetables will be hydroponics. Due to the fact that the root system of tomatoes is located superficially, they are ideal for growing with this method.Hydroponics will allow you to grow tomatoes right at home, even when it's cold outside.

What you need to grow

Growing tomatoes using hydroponics is not an easy and painstaking task, but you can cope with it even without experience. It is important to purchase everything you need or build a system yourself from improvised means.

Capacities: external - larger and internal - smaller.
The substrate for internal containers can be anything: perlite, coconut flakes, crushed stone, expanded clay, moss, coarse sand or mineral wool.
Internal tanks, it is desirable to provide a liquid level indicator.
Nutrient solution for external containers can be purchased ready-made or you can make your own.
Indicator of electrical conductivity, with which it will be possible to measure the concentration of the nutritional value of the solution.
Lighting: Tomatoes need a lot of light for normal development, so be sure to provide plants with additional light sources. Install UV or fluorescent lamps at home.
Hydroponic system can be equipped with drip irrigation, gradual flooding or nutrient layer technique.

How to make a system yourself

First of all, you need to prepare containers with a depth of 15 cm. You can make them by cutting off the top of five-liter plastic bottles. At the bottom of each "pot" it is necessary to drill holes for the outflow of excess moisture. Ready-made containers must be disinfected with a solution of chlorine, rinsed well and dried. After all the manipulations, the substrate must be poured into plastic containers.

Now we need a stand-pallet on which the containers will be placed.To simplify and facilitate the care of plants, the stand should be placed half a meter from the floor. It is important to keep some distance between the stand and the bottoms of the containers. This will allow the root system to receive both nutrition and oxygen in the right amount.

Next you need to adjust the irrigation. To do this, place an open container (for example, a bucket) under the pallet and fill it with nutrient solution, which will flow into plastic pots, and the excess will return to the container under the pallet. To build a complete irrigation system, you can use a special pump or aquarium pump.

The system is ready, you can plant seedlings in impromptu pots.

Nutrient solution

For tomatoes, the nutrient solution can be purchased ready-made or you can buy all the ingredients and prepare the mixture yourself using complex fertilizers.When preparing the mixture, it is necessary to observe the exact dosage to the gram. Since a poor-quality solution can damage plants and even kill them.

The nutrient composition for tomatoes must be constantly checked for acidity and electrical conductivity.

Acidity is determined by pH, which should be between 6.0 and 6.3. To increase the level of acidity, it is recommended to add potassium hydroxide to the solution, and to lower it - phosphoric acid.
Also, the nutrient solution should contain an electrical conductivity of 1.5 to 3 mS. Over time, the level will begin to decline, and when it goes beyond the permissible norm, the solution must be replaced or updated by adding the missing elements.

To make it easier to keep track of everything, it is necessary to keep daily records. Hydroponics is a science, an exact science, difficult at first, but extremely exciting.

Choice variety

Which variety to choose mainly depends on taste preferences, as the hydroponics method makes no exceptions. But to get a bigger harvest, when choosing a variety, it is worth considering the recommendations for growing. Therefore, it will be easier to grow early and heat-loving varieties of tomatoes.

Growing Technology

Growing tomatoes is a step-by-step process and the hydroponic method also adheres to this rule.

When growing tomatoes in hydroponics, agronomists recommend sowing seeds in a special sponge plug for seedlings. Due to its excellent drainage capacity, the plug will provide the sprouts with enough oxygen. And after a week, when the sprouts begin to stretch, the plugs can be laid on their side, which will allow the shoots to get stronger and form a powerful root system.In extreme cases, instead of a cork, you can use cotton soaked in a nutrient solution.
After 7-10 days, when the first true leaves form in the grown seedlings, transplant into larger spongy cork cubes and grow in this way for another three weeks.

At the same time, every two days of planting, you need to water the nutrient mixture, and also monitor the lighting and temperature. Tomatoes are very sensitive to light. Low light can lead to stretching of the plant, thinning of the stem and low yields. Therefore, at the initial stage of development, seedlings need additional lighting. And the air temperature should be + 20-22 degrees.

After three weeks, seedling cubes should be well moistened and placed on a pallet in a checkerboard pattern. The tray must be thoroughly rinsed in advance and treated with a solution of chlorine.
Further, the grown sprouts are transplanted directly into the hydroponic system, where their further cultivation will take place. In this case, the interval between plants should be observed, so not a single bush will experience a lack of light. It is optimal to allocate a plot from 0.9 to 1.2 square meters for each seedling. m.
Growing in the absence of soil deprives tomatoes of support. Therefore, even undersized varieties, reaching 20 cm in height, need to be tied up.
If tomatoes are grown at home, artificial pollination of plants must be carried out during the period of intensive flowering. To do this, it is convenient to use a soft brush or an electric toothbrush as a fan. If the hydroponic method is used to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse, insects should be allowed access.
After moving to permanent residence, young bushes should extend daylight hours to 15 hours a day, and increase to 20 hours during active flowering. When the tomatoes begin to ripen, daylight hours can be reduced to 15-17 hours, but it is important to ensure that the temperature does not fall below + 28 degrees.

Pros and cons

The hydroponics method has both advantages and disadvantages. Among the quality pluses can be noted:

allows you to grow your favorite vegetables at home;
saves space, time and fertilizer;
provides full control over plant development;
fast growth and high yield of tomatoes.

As for the cons:

firstly, it is the high cost of consumables and equipment;
you can't do without theory, you need to carefully study the technology;
a lot of time is spent on planting plants and daily monitoring of the state of the nutrient solution.

In addition, there remains the risk of diseases and pests. But with the right approach, growing tomatoes using hydroponics can greatly facilitate the life of an avid vegetable grower.