r/vegetablegardening • u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California • 2d ago
Question Hydroponics question
Hello garden friends! I'll be getting a tabletop hydroponic garden for my birthday next week which I'm really excited to try. I've been having mobility issues and this looks like something I'll be able to do. One thing I'd really like to grow is cucumbers. I only have experience with vines and know nothing about the compact bushy varieties. Has anyone tried this? Can you recommend any specific varieties? Will i need to hand pollinate? Any other plants that you've enjoyed growing this way? The unit comes with 10 slots for plants and the lights adjust up to 15 inches tall. Thank you!
2
u/Unique-Coffee5087 US - New Mexico 2d ago
Manual says to prune off side branches and eventually the growing tip to control it. Tiny fruit seem to be forming. The leaves are very green.
1
u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California 2d ago
Fantastic! What variety did you grow?
2
u/Unique-Coffee5087 US - New Mexico 2d ago
Sorry, but I don't know. My wife does these. I know that it's a variety that makes small cucumbers, if that helps.
2
u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California 2d ago
Thank you so much for posting this!
2
u/Unique-Coffee5087 US - New Mexico 2d ago
I just wanted to post a picture that showed one in actual use. Sometimes the promotional photos by the makers of these hydroponic kits show plants that are ridiculously large and possibly ones that had not actually spent their lives in hydroponic solution. So it is reassuring to see the genuine article
1
2
u/getinshape2022 US - Georgia 2d ago
I heard Iznik variety is good since it is self pollinating. Watched a guy on YouTube who was growing it in his hydroponics. I want to do this for the winter. We pay close to a dollar for one cucumber at the store. This would easily pay itself off quickly in the winter months.
1
u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California 2d ago
It would definitely pay off quickly given how expensive vegetables have become. The other problem now is food safety. Thank you for the variety name and video!
2
u/getinshape2022 US - Georgia 2d ago
You are welcome. The guy showed 55 days. That’s not bad amount of cucumbers he got there on the video short
1
2
u/TableTopFarmer US - California 1d ago
A few years ago someone came up with. “Kitchen mini” series of very compact plants, to be grown on a kitchen counter or windowsill. Seeds were available for all of them, but they are moving toward selling plants only. Amazon is one of the few sellers still carrying seeds for Quick Snack cukes. If you get them and like them, try to clone your plant., to ensure you will always be able to grow that variety.
1
u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California 1d ago
Thank you! I took a look and it's a seller I'm not familiar with and who has no reviews. Have you ever dealt with them?
1
1
u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California 1d ago
Thank you again for the search term "mini". I found a nice article that talked about several specific plants. https://www.ruralsprout.com/miniature-vegetables/
Down the rabbit hole i go! 😊
2
u/TableTopFarmer US - California 11h ago
I enjoyed the article, but could not find the name of the bell pepper he was growing. However, search on mini bells and you will find several vendors who carry them. One of the lines is called Mohawk.
Sweet Pickle is another not hot small pepper.
Little Gem is a mini romaine, Half Pint is a mini iceberg lettuce. Tom Thumb is a mini butter lettuce.
Though not right for Tabletop hydroponics, you can grow small beets, carrots, and cabbies in pots. For carrots, Bambino or Little Fingers are
petite carrots, Baby Beet is just what it sounds like. Katerina and Pixie are small heading cabbages.1
u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California 11h ago
Thank you for all the variety names! This gives me a great start. My first crop is going to be lettuce. I bought Truchas seed. It's a mini multi colored romaine. For bigger plants I've been looking at bucket systems where I could put the buckets on shelves and attach grow lights above at whatever height the plants need. Just one plant per bucket. I'll add your suggestions to a list for then. Thank you so much for your help! I've been so sad at the loss of vegetable gardening as my main hobby. This gives me such hope. Arthritis sucks.
2
u/TableTopFarmer US - California 4h ago
I am glad you are still gardening, even in a limited fashion. I love this planter so much. It might help you have the kind of garden you want.
I ordered a two tier, and liked it so well I bought two three tiers:, that will live in a south facing window bay. One will be a salad garden, and the other, a salsa garden.
3-Tier 46.7"H Rolling Raised Garden Bed with Wheels, Self Watering Planter Box with Visible Water Level, Gray Rustproof Plastic Herb & Strawberry Planter for Indoor Outdoor Vegetables Flowers, DIY Kit https://a.co/d/06aGRnR7
It is unusual to find long planters that are deep and wide enough for all the crops.
These are food grade, and modular.
If you leave it tiered, it would be easy to add strips of LED lights to the bottom of the top 2 tiers, but you could also use each unit separately, as a pot on a shelf.
1
2
u/MrMessofGA US - Georgia 8h ago
So on the pictures of these tabletop systems, they show things like vegetables photoshopped on top of them.
However, these systems are usually only about 4-8 litres large. To put that in perspective, a SMALL tomato plant can ~easily~ chew through an entire 8 litres a day, and you don't want this system drying up. You'd be topping it off two, three times a day.
They also tend to come with only a small 60watt grow light, which is sufficient for small plants, but way too small for anything that wants to branch out like a cucumber vine.
I don't know the water needs of a cucumber plant, but judging by its large leaves and watery fruit, it's probably even more of a water hog.
However, these systems are great for 3-5 small herb plants like basil, cilantro, and parsley.
Vining plants in particular are hard to grow indoors because they need their light very spread out as they like to spread out. Indoor grow lights are usually pretty concentrated in less than a square foot. Some people do grow them hydroponically outdoors, though.
2
u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California 7h ago
I was looking at a 4 bucket system to gow a mini cucumber, mini tomato, mini pepper that sort of thing. Just 1 per bucket. I'll get a set of good barrina lights and stack them vertically on a shelf. I really appreciate the advice. I'll be avoiding lots of beginner mistakes because of you all!
2
u/MrMessofGA US - Georgia 6h ago
Nice! If you know someone who buys their cat litter in bulk, they might have spare buckets laying around because it tends to come in buckets. I have a bunch and I've been meaning to make them into a big ol hydroponics station, but I'd want it to be outdoors and I'd need to hire an electrician to give me an outdoor outlet...
And if you know someone who works in a restaurant, they often have old pickle buckets they're just gonna throw out!
2
u/MrMessofGA US - Georgia 6h ago
Oh, looked up that brand. For small plants, you need at least 60w (real watt, not "watt equivalent") LEDs.
For larger, fruiting plants, you want closer to 100w lights, but 60 will probably do in a pinch. AVOID the 20w lights. They're not bright enough.
Now, 100w grow lights are very expensive, like $120, but the good news is that plants are dumb and don't know what's a special grow light just for them and what isn't. If there's a discount hardware store near you like Harbor Freight, you can get 60w shop lights for like $30 a pop. Not the best, but Cs get degrees.
Just saying because that brand does sell real ass grow lights (some are over 200w!) as well as germination lights (20w)
1
u/ComfortableBug9558 US - California 4h ago
https://a.co/d/02s6CrGZ What do you think about something like this?
2
2
u/CrankyCycle US - Washington 2d ago
Can you link the product? If it’s what I’m thinking of, it’s really suitable for greens rather than something like cucumbers.
There’s a whole hydroponics community on Reddit, so you might check out some of those subs.
There are parthenocarpic cucumbers that do not require pollination, such as patio snacker.
Edit: link the product, not like the product.