Recent findings in hydroponic and soilless strawberries: a data-first look at the last decade
Strawberry in controlled environments is not short on opinions. Research from the past 10 years has given us a lot of information on strategies to increase yields and reduce costs.…
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Recent advances in the cultivation of CEA tomatoes: evidence from 2015–2025
Hydroponic tomato yields are already high, yet many operations still leak performance through nutrient scheduling, canopy design, and stress control. Below is a blunt, data-driven synthesis for controlled environments based…
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How to easily lower the costs of your Athena nutrient regime
You can make your Athena schedule much cheaper by replacing the pH up products with simple raw salts. Branded pH management and buffering products like Athena Balance and Athena Pro…
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Chitosan in hydroponic and soilless crops: what actually works
In hydroponic and substrate systems chitosan can help, but only inside fairly narrow windows of dose, molecular traits, and crop context. Here is what the strongest hydroponic and soilless evidence…
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Iodine in Hydroponic Crops: An Emerging Biostimulant
Introduction Iodine sits in a weird spot in plant nutrition. It is essential for humans, not officially essential for higher plants, yet low, well chosen doses often push crops to…
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Cobalt in hydroponics as a biostimulant
People ask about dosing cobalt in recirculating systems to “stimulate” growth or flowering. For the crops that matter in hydroponics and soilless culture, peer-reviewed work does not show reliable growth…
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Common questions about silicon in nutrient solutions
Introduction We know that silicon can be a very beneficial element for many plant species (see some of my previous posts here and here). It mainly enhances disease resistance and…
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Connecting a low cost TDR moisture content/EC/temp sensor to a NodeMCUv3
I have discussed moisture content sensors extensively in the past. I have written posts about the use of capacitive moisture sensors to measure volumetric moisture content, including how to create…
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How to prepare your own hypochlorous acid cleaner using bleach
During the past couple of years, cleaning products based on hypochlorous acid derived from electrolysis have become popular in the hydroponic industry. This is because, in the USA – per…
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A cost analysis of fertilizers for hydroponic/soilless growing in 2022
Why fertilizer costs matter Fertilizer can be one of the largest expenses of a hydroponic growing facility. This is especially true when boutique fertilizers are used, instead of large scale…
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