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| PROPAGATION - INTRODUCTION |
| Plants which are to be grown in a hydroponic system must first be rooted in a sterile rooting medium, such as Rockwool or perlite. As it is difficult to purchase plants grown in this way, the hydroponic gardener needs to know how to produce their own plants. There are two methods of propagating plants, either by growing from a seed or by taking cuttings (cloning). Both of these methods are detailed in this guide. Seedlings or cuttings grown in the rooting medium must then be allowed to develop roots before they are put into a hydroponic system. There is no generally accepted term for this process, throughout this guide it is referred to as ‘hardening-off. The seedling or cutting is ready to be transferred when the roots can be seen emerging from the rooting medium. |
| SECTIONS SECTION 1 - SEEDS GROWING FROM SEEDS (sexual reproduction) There is a potential choice of thousands of plants which can be grown from seed. By germinating and growing your own seeds you can be sure that your plants will be disease and pest free. There are however two slight disadvantages to growing from seed: the characteristics of the plants grown can be inconsistent. Some plants also require sexing (separating the male plants from the productive female plants) before they are transferred into the hydroponic system. Growing plants from seed is fine if you only plan to grow a single crop. For consistent repeat crops it is better to germinate several seeds to select one ‘mother’ (or stock plant), from which cuttings can be taken. Click on the links below to find out more information or click here to download the full document PDF (5.5MB) The anatomy of a seed >>
There are several advantages of taking cuttings to generate new plants. Firstly, the cuttings will have identical characteristics to the mother plant, so the sex, size, quality, smell, taste, strength etc will be known. The plants will also grow to a similar shape and size, so space can be used more efficiently. A further benefit is that once the initial outlay has been made for the seeds, new plants can be grown for a minimal cost.
SECTION 3 - HARDENING OFF SECTION 4 - THE ENVIRONMENT SECTION 5 - PRODUCT INFORMATION |
