Many people like to eat tomatoes in daily life. We can see tomatoes in supermarkets and restaurants. Despite this, the price of tomatoes is still very expensive. That's why some gardeners grow tomatoes indoors for home consumption. There are many ways to grow tomatoes. Which method of growing tomatoes is better, hydroponics or substrate cultivation?
To find out this answer, we carried out experimental planting. We grew cherry tomatoes indoors in two ways: substrate and hydroponics.
Nursery
Our planting starts from seed, starting with seedlings. It takes about a month to grow tomato seeds in rock wool. It takes a long time to grow seedlings from seeds. It will save a lot of time if you start with tomato seedlings.
Transplant
After the tomato seedlings are grown, our experiment will begin. We transplanted some tomato seedlings to the
hydroponic tower system for planting, and some tomato seedlings were planted with matrix cultivation, and then waited for the tomato seedlings to grow.
Lighting time
Because it is planted indoors, we are equipped with plant growth lights for both hydroponics and substrate cultivation to help the small tomatoes grow healthier.
Small tomatoes are grown on the tower system and in the nutrient soil for substrate cultivation, and will receive 12-14 hours of light every day, which is also a necessary condition for plant growth. If you want to grow cherry tomatoes indoors, remember to give your tomatoes plenty of light.
Temperature
The indoor temperature is 18-25 degrees Celsius, and the small tomatoes grow smoothly in it. Neither high temperature nor low temperature is conducive to the growth of small tomatoes.
Moisture
The small tomatoes grown on the hydroponic tower system, because the tower system uses automatic water circulation technology, save water and labor, while substrate cultivation requires artificial watering. The substrate cultivation we use is not a
Dutch bucket system, so there is no advantage in water saving.
Flowering
The small tomatoes transplanted to the hydroponic tower system will bloom in about a month, and the flowering time of the small tomatoes planted with substrate cultivation may be delayed.
Result
The result here is not ripe. After the small tomato blooms, it will bear fruit in 30 days, and the fruit will be green. It is not yet ripe at this time, and you need to wait.
Mature
The cyan fruit will turn red after another month, and the red tomatoes are ready to eat at this time. From seed to maturity, it takes about 3 months for small tomatoes grown in hydroponics, while it will take longer for substrate cultivation.
Taste
After the small tomatoes matured, we tried to eat them. The small tomatoes grown in hydroponics are sweet and sour, with plenty of juice, but the small tomatoes grown in nutrient soil may not taste as good as those grown in water because of problems in the middle.
Generally speaking, tomatoes grown in hydroponics are better. If you want to try indoor cultivation, you can give it a try.
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