Mastering Seedling Propagation for Hydroponic Culture

Seedling Propagation for Hydroponic Culture

• All plants for hydroponic culture should be started from seeds.
• Specialized transplant growers such as Bevo Agro can provide seedlings ready to transplant, but this method is most applicable to North America or Europe.
• Using transplants grown by someone else poses a risk of disease transmission throughout the crop.
• Sanitation methods are usually stringent in most propagators.
• Grafting is becoming the acceptable method of growing most cultivars of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.
• In areas of high sunlight conditions such as desert and tropical regions, it is possible to transplant seedlings at an earlier stage.
• It may be beneficial and cheaper to raise one's own seedlings in these regions.
• Many methods for sowing seeds are available, including seeding directly into multipack trays using a peat-lite mix or any other suitable substrate.
• Plastic "com-packs" and "multi-pots" are shaped like ice-cube trays and come in various sizes.
• Peat pellets, Oasis "Horticubes," rockwool cubes, and coco coir cubes are alternative methods for seeding directly.
• Rockwool blocks are the most widely used form of growing blocks for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplants.
• The new coco coir cubes and blocks are being introduced and are expected to gain market share as more coco coir hydroponic systems are employed.