Hydroponic Nursery

What about the Mother blocks? The mother block will be 10 meters long, 12 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep. The mother block will be approximately 0.5 meters from the ground. Stairs will be provided on the mother block for easy access and a platform will also be built, to ensure the safety of the workers. The tomatoes will be planted 60 cm apart whilst the basil 20 cm apart and the row with will 45 cm apart. The garlic will be planted 16 cm apart. There will four rows of tomatoes, with each row containing 16 plants. The basil section will consists of 8 rows with each row containing 50 basil plants. 25 rows of garlic will be planted and the rows will contain 62 garlic plants. All of these values are projected, and not 100% correct. You can adapt to what suits you the best. Irrigation The mother block will make use of drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is the most sufficient way of giving water to the plants. Nutrients and fertilizer can also be given through the dri...

As a person living in 2018, it’s hard to ignore the growing awareness of climate change. That results in making it of extreme importance to make sure that your greenhouse your planning is sustainable and have a minimum amount of impact on the environment. To plant crops in a sustainable manner means to be growing food in and ethically and ecologically responsible manner. That is also why choosing Hydroponics as your way of crop production is so suitable as there are many benefits in relation to sustainability. 1.      The use of less space. Making use of the Hydroponics system has a huge benefit when thinking about the space you are going to use. Because the plants aren’t grown in soil in the ground the hydroponics greenhouse can be build in areas that are unfit and impossible to use for agriculture. The greenhouse instantly makes the area agriculturally viable again. Vertical farming is also a very effective way in saving space. Instead of doing the us...

Tamatie Plant Vroeë Roes: Photo by Walter Reeves Vroeë Roes is wanneer die ouer blare van die tamatie plant bruin kolle op kry.   Die blare se groen pigmente verander na ‘n geel kleur rondom die bruin kolle.   Die blaar sal later heeltemal dood begin lyk wat dan gaan veroorsaak dat dit gaan afval.   Die hele plant gaan later net ‘n paar blare op hê of omtrent niks nie.   Dit word veroorsaak deur ‘n swam wat Alternaria solani genoem word.   Die swam lewe in die grond so as die plant in grond geplant word wat voorheen plante bevat het met die siekte kan die siekte oorgedra word in nuwe plant wat in daardie grond geplant word. Dit kan voorkom word deur die grond eers te toets vir swamme.   Swamdoders kan ook gebruik word. Photo by University of Minnesota Septoria Blaar kolle: Die siekte begin wanneer daar geel kolle op die laer blare van die plant voorkom wanneer die plant die eerste tamaties begin dra.   Die kolle begin raak a...

Hydroponics A hydroponic system is growing plants in a liquid medium, mostly water enriched with nutrients, instead of soil. Oxygen is bubbled trough this medium. Read more about the use of nutrients and oxygen  here. As soil is only used to secure the plant and keep it in place, if you find another method to do that, you can eliminate the soil component out of your nursery. Why would you do that? Why not just keep to the traditional methods of growing plants? There are numerous recorded benefits that you can receive from using hydroponics.  Source: Pinterest Benefits of a hydroponic system: On growth Hydroponics has many benefits that will increase not only your growth, but more importantly, the quality of plant that you produce. Since your roots won’t need to work as hard to get nutrients or grow in search of them, your plant will have more energy to use for other vegetative growth. The availability of nourishing nutrients, water and oxygen is also higher...

Taking good care of your mother blocks Photo: Ferm O Field A mother block is the section of plants that you use to get the propagules that you use for propagation. For example, it will be the Basil plant used to take a cutting from. It is of vital importance that you keep these plants healthy and disease free to ensure the quality of the plants that you propagate. We will be growing our mother blocks in soil. Since they are companion plants, they will be grown in the same soil and space. Cuttings, bulbs and seeds will then be taken from this area to propagate other plants from. Here’s a few things that you can keep into consideration: 1.       Keep you Mother block away from the rest of your plants - This is a safety measurement to ensure that no pest or diseases can get transferred to or from them. Isolation is key. 2.       Light- use light with a wave length form 400-700nm for a long duration to ensur...

Selling your plants  What to consider when replanting them in soil and how to transport the end product One of the many advantages of a hydroponic system is the fact that the client can either grow the plants in their own hydroponic system or in soil. If they want a end product in soil, you have to replant them before transportation.  The plants that you propagated is used to very wet conditions, to ensure that the plant doesn’t go into shock, you should help it adjust first. Otherwise the plant won’t survive, and your client won’t be very happy. An advantage is the fact that the roots will be unharmed and undisturbed because it’s easy to remove a plant from the hydroponic system. The plant can be planted in the same soil as you used in your mother blocks, in a container big enough to house all the roots that formed. The same container can also be used to transport the plants. Make sure that the entire root system is covered with soil, up to the bottom of the...