Hydroponic growing has become increasingly popular over the last few years.
There are varying reasons why many have made the switch to growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs in soil-less options.
But it doesn’t really matter why; the only thing that matters is that it is a viable option to grow your own food.
Certain vegetables will not do well in hydroponic growing systems, but there are many vegetables that do well. We will discuss 9 of them: lettuce, spinach, kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, beans, peppers, and celery.
Best Vegetables for Hydroponic Gardens
When selecting which vegetables to grow, it’s worth noting that some will take more effort than others.
Nevertheless, all of these can benefit your garden.
Now let’s go through each of these options below.
Lettuce
Leaf lettuce is an easy crop to grow hydroponically.
It is simple, and you don’t have to spend too much time caring for it.
When the lettuces produce new leaves, you simply harvest the outer leaves and the inner leaves will continue growing, giving you multiple harvests of fresh lettuce whenever you want.
Lettuce grows easily in DWC, Ebb and Flow and NFT systems which prefer cool temperatures from 50°F to 70°F.
If it gets too hot, lettuce can bolt and turn bitter. Lettuce also likes high Nitrogen levels.
Kale
Kale has gained popularity due to its health benefits, as well as the great taste.
You can germinate it from seeds, and once it starts to grow, it has a limited range when it comes to temperatures between 45 degrees and 85 degrees.
The process will take about 10 weeks, but you can take 30 percent of the leaves. The new leaves that grow will increase the time kale can be viable in a garden.
What We Like: Like lettuce, it is not a target plant for pests, but can also have powdery mildew invades it.
Spinach
Spinach is a crop that thrives in cooler temperatures and can be grown right beside lettuce and kale.
If the temperature begins to exceed 75°, it could cause stress on the plant. This is another crop you can start from seed, but most growers will place the seeds in the fridge for 3 weeks before they plant.
This ultimately produces a more robust and healthier plant.
Spinach does, while grow best in a cool environment, enjoy around 12 hours of light per day. Be sure to use lighting that does not expel much heat.
When it comes time to harvest, putting the spinach under cooler temperatures will ultimately produce a sweeter spinach. Of course, this will mess with growth – but it is better to go for quality over quantity.
Most systems are sufficient for growing spinach. The only thing to consider being you Plant a few a weeks apart so you can have continual harvests.
Cucumbers
Adding cucumbers to your hydroponic garden can be rewarding.
These veggies love:
- warmth
- plenty of moisture
- nutrients
In terms of yields, this plant could be one of the highest-yielding plants that you grow.
Temperatures are most ideal if you can keep them just above the upper range preferred by leafy greens. Leafy greens, including cucumbers, grow best at 60°F to 82°F. Cucumbers prefer a pH of 5.8 and EC of between 1.8 and 2.
The seeds can be pricey, but once you see the yield from just one seed, it is well worth the price.
The most difficult thing about growing brine cucumbers is that it is a vining plant and needs support, such as a trellis system.
A bucket hydroponic system is ideal for this plant because you have plenty of growing bed material to support the plant as it grows.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are a warm-weather plant that will do great in temperatures that cucumbers would thrive in, ideally on the upper range of 58°F to 82°F.
However, tomatoes would like an EC of 2 to 5 which would necessitate a separate system from your cucumbers.
Tomatoes prefer a pH of 5.5 to 6.5.
Tomatoes can be grown from seed, but cuttings or seedlings are optimum because it takes time to go from seed to when the plant will fruit.
Quick Tip: The most popular tomatoes are the vining varieties, and like cucumbers, they will need a trellis.
Radishes
Despite their reputation as poor candidates for hydroponic growing, radishes should prove to be an exception.
Being a cool-weather crop, they will perform well along with the initial greens noted back in the beginning.
Moreover, radishes are, by far, the most simplistic and quickest to develop here.
They require a pH between 6 and 7, and those plants require slightly cooler temperatures of 50 to 65°F, and an EC of 1.6 to 2.2.
They should have 8 to 10 hours of light ideally.
Unlike the tomatoes noted earlier, radish grows better from the seeds.
You can move from germination to harvest in as little as three weeks.
You can enjoy fresh tasting radish year-round by staggering your planting.
Beans
Hydroponically, it is possible to grow virtually any kind of bean.
There are enumber of varieties in the legume family, however, the most popular beans that will grow hydroponically include bush beans, pole beans, runners, and string beans.
All are very productive and require little maintenance. If you choose a vining type of bean, you will need to trellis your growth.
Beans germinate quickly from seed and in many cases sprout from seeds in as little as two weeks (varies by type).
Beans are also great because they are self-pollinators and the growing bed material should be kept loose.
Finally, beans don’t use a lot of nutrients during their growing period, and if you space the planting apart you can have a continuous harvest over time!
Peppers
Because peppers can grow in any season, you can always use them in your hydroponic garden.
With hydroponics, you can also expect a better yield than if you were to grow the peppers in dirt.
The lighting should be provided for 10-12 hours a day, hanging about 6 to 8″ above the plants.
If the lights are hanging any closer, they can scorch the plants, and any farther away the plants will be affected in terms of any yield, growth, and development.
Celery
It is true that growing celery hydroponically is a little bit more tricky than some of the other crops we have been talking about, but it is not impossible.
This species can be grown as seed, and they could take 2 weeks to germinate, but I think a better idea would be to use the stalk of celery purchased from the grocery store.
Celery is a cool weather crop, so it can be grown in the same room as greens and other such crops.
One last note: The pH should be 6.5, with an EC of 1.8 to 2.4.
Conclusion
Once your hydroponic garden is up and running, you will have lots of fresh veggies to share with your family.
This is how many people start. Soon you will find yourself with way too much food, while giving it away to your friends and family, or selling it at your local farmer’s market.
However, these 9 veggies are excellent veggies to start in the the hydroponic gardening world!