A low cost DIY oil IPM for your crops
An emulsified vegetable oil spray can smother mites and soft-bodied insects and can suppress powdery mildew if you actually coat the target. Soybean oil has the strongest evidence. Corn oil…
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Recent advances in hydroponic cucumber cultivation: media, irrigation, nutrition and biostimulants
Cucumber has become a model crop for testing new soilless technologies, with greenhouses adopting alternative substrates, precision fertigation and biostimulants. Over the last decade a series of peer-reviewed studies have…
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Moringa extract as a biostimulant in hydroponics
Moringa leaf extract (MLE) is a rather recent addition to the biostimulant market. Below I focus on peer-reviewed work in hydroponic or soilless systems, with attention to yield, quality, toxicity,…
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Exogenous Root Applications of Wetting Agents in Soilless Media
Introduction Dry peat, coir, rockwool or bark mixes can become water repellent, which creates uneven moisture and nutrient delivery around roots. Wetting agents reduce surface tension and restore wettability by…
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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 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 guide to different pH up options in hydroponics
When is pH up needed? The control of pH in hydroponics is critical. Most commonly, we need to decrease the pH of our solutions as most nutrients will initially be…
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A one-part hydroponic nutrient formulation for very hard water
What is water hardness? There are many parameters that determine the quality of a water source. Water that has a composition closer to distilled water is considered of a higher…
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The Potassium to Calcium ratio in hydroponics
To have a healthy hydroponic crop, you need to supply plants with all the nutrients they need. One of the most important variables that determine proper nutrient absorption, is the…
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