![]() Hybrid seeds that have been bred for greenhouse production is worth the extra cost. The quality of your seeds is important when growing tomatoes (or any other plant) for profit. The plants put more of their energy into producing fruit than more foliage and growing tips. ![]() The plants are suckered (removing any new growing tips) and working with just one or two main vines. The plants are clipped to twine that hangs from the support wires by using a vine clip. Once in the bucket, nutrients are drip fed to the plant, and the plant is trained to grow vertically, supported by a plant support system that consists of support post and wires. The seedlings are generally started in rockwool 1.5”cubes and when the plants are 8”-12” tall and ready to be clipped up to the plant support systems they are ready to transplanted in a Dutch or Bato bucket. Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers, and eggplants all grow well in Dutch bucket hydroponics. In commercial hydroponics the most commonly grown plant in Dutch buckets is tomatoes, but you can grow virtually any vining plant. The waste stream is not recirculated because the plants might stay in these buckets for up to one year and recirculating the nutrients could move pathogens from one plant to another. These buckets are filled with a growing media - usually Perlite - and nutrients drip through a tube into the bucket to keep the Perlite moist. Each square bucket measures about 12" to 14" (30 cm to 35 cms) on side and stands about 12" to 16" (30 cms to 40 cms) deep. We just feel that Bato Buckets are more user friendly ) We use bato buckets because growers use larger containers known as "Dutch" or Bato" buckets. The elbows and overflow that are part of the bato bucket keep the plants from ever getting their roots drowned from too much nutrient that the plants did need because there was not as much sun or the day was cool and the plant did not take up as much as was being fed. One of the main reasons that we use the Bato bucket systems & supplies is the fact that it is easy to re-wet perlite and the other is the reservoir at the bottom of the bucket that holds some reserve nutrient in case power goes off or even if the plant needs a little more nutrient that day because it is extra sunny. That is bad because as the plants continue to grow the roots will not branch out into the dry areas. ![]() The water is looking for the easiest path and just flow along and around the roots. Even if you flood it with water the water will tend to just wet area right around the roots. It is very difficult to “re-wet” it completely. However for a smaller grower without all of the monitors and alarms, those rockwool slabs could dry out if the injection system failed in any way or was just not feeding enough to a growing plant. Large plants are usually more of a “long term” plant and need more root area than an NFT channels offers (they can also capsize the channels), so hydroponics (a lot of very large growers use hanging gutters and rockwool slabs. ![]() NFT channels are designed for growing small leaf crops such as lettuce and small herbs, but growing larger plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and peppers in NFT channels is difficult, if not impossible.
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