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Growing Artichoke Hydroponically – A Full Guide

A step by step guide to growing Artichoke hydroponically

Guys, are you wondering of growing artichoke hydroponically? don’t worry we are here to help you from planting the artichoke in hydroponics to harvesting. As is spot on with any other form of gardening be it hydroponics, choosing the right plant is an indispensable part of hydroponics. Choosing plants that are appropriate for soil-free gardening will facilitate the garden thrive. Choosing the wrong plants can leave you frustrated with the entire hydroponic approach for growing plants. One of the great things about hydroponic gardening is that growers can take several different approaches to the subject. There are quite a few different types of hydroponic gardening, each with its own set of appropriate and inappropriate plants. In this article, we will take a look at one of the suitable hydroponic plant artichoke, and provide a complete guide on how to grow artichokes indoors, how to grow artichokes from crowns, how to grow artichokes from seed a lot full package of information.

Artichoke is an heirloom vegetable grown especially for its tender, edible flower buds. With their large, silvery-green coloured leaves and thick stems topped with pinecone-like flower buds, artichoke plants also add a great architectural element to your vegetable garden plantings using hydroponics for indoors as well. It is a herbaceous perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region. Most of these plant parts are edible, whereas the immature, tender flower is mostly consumed and grown for. Artichoke plants are mainly grown for its young buds if allowed to mature artichoke plant flower develops into large purple coloured thistles with a sweet fragrance. It is more of an indoor plant growing artichokes in pots is more common practice than hydroponics.

Artichokes.
Artichokes.

Growing artichoke in hydroponics

February is the perfect month for germinating artichoke seed, but they can be started as early as January or as late as the middle of March as long as conditions are maintained. Your artichokes can be grown as short-lived perennials and seed should be sown directly into the system during fall. When to start seeds is secret to healthy flower head production. They will develop into large, bush-like plants that require a very long growing season. To set their buds, artichokes require a period of vernalization, at least about two weeks of cold temperatures below 50°F. (10 C.) Temperature, but they are extremely frost-sensitive. For that reason, your seedlings must be prepared to set out right after the last frost date, but earlier than the spring temperatures rise too high.

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Artichoke seed plants are not fast starters, which is an additional reason for its early indoor planting. Give your seeds a healthy start by planting two or three seeds starter grow media plugs. You can use rockwool or add a little perlite for better drainage. Sprinkle your seeds in the media and cover with a light dusting of potting mix. Make this first watering a good one, soaking it well and allowing the container to drain. From here on in, water only when it is necessary or it appears dried out. The grow media should never be allowed to become soggy, but don’t allow it to dry out either. The sprouting duration depends on the richness of the growth medium and the quality of light that plants receive. preferably, germinating artichoke seeds grow best under a controlled grow light, but they can do just as well in a warm, sunny window or a greenhouse for growers who are fortunate enough to have one. To begin germinating, artichoke seeds require a temperature around 70-75°F. (20°C) and will usually take two to three weeks to sprout, the temperature is another thing that should be taken into account when deciding the time to start your artichoke plants. Once seedlings have sprouted, water them along with a diluted fertilizer solution at least once a week. About a month after germination, rogue out the smallest and weakest seedlings leaving only one per container. Your indoor-grown seedlings must be 8-10 inches (20-25 cm) in height when they are ready to be hardened off and planted to the hydroponic system.

You can use offshoots or suckers or root crowns for propagating artichoke this is usually mostly used method but when using root crowns there are chances of soil-borne disease or insect-pest infection because they are grown on the field. You can cut two or three sections of root cutting that each have a node for further growth. This cutting should be submerged about 10 cm in different types of grow media. Root cuttings from artichoke plant for sale can be obtained from online sites.

Choose an Irrigation Method

There are certain types of hydroponic grow systems to cater to plants like artichoke. Some of the commonly used are flood and drain systems, ebb and flow, where the plants just get submerged in nutrient-enriched water for short periods of time every day. A drip irrigation system can also be used where nutrient film technique systems and other kinds of thin client setups utilize just a thin channel of nutrient solution. These systems facilitate you to grow plants like artichokes as well as other diverse plants such as greens, herbs, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and other types of plants in the same system.

The nutrient solution for growing Artichoke hydroponically

For growing artichoke in the hydroponic system, you can easily fetch formulated hydroponic nutrient solution from online stores. They’re ready to use nutrient solutions and are easy to use you just have to follow the steps mentioned. It also important to standardize the attributes in the recommended range like:

pH: 6.5-7.5      CF : 8-18      PPM: 560-1260

Harvesting hydroponic artichoke

Best time to harvest artichokes is when the buds are tight and firm and about 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter. One should harvest buds prior to the petals starts to open. If you wait until the bud opens, the petals will no longer remain tender it will be fibrous, stringy, and inedible. An artichoke plant produces several flower buds beginning in late spring. The bud at the top of each stalk will ripen first and buds present lower on the stalk will follow but it will not be as large as the top bud. Artichoke plants can live for about 5 years. Production will start about a year after planting. How many artichokes per plant answer are 10 or more stalks will produce in each season and each stalk will produce four to five buds. Pruning artichoke plants cut artichoke buds from the stalk using a garden pruner or lopper; leave about 1 to 3 inches below the base of the bud. The stem you leave attached will make the thorny bud easy to handle. Try handling buds carefully during harvest to prevent bruising bud petals.

Once all the buds on all of the stalks have been harvested, cut the entire plant down to slightly below and reduce nutrient supply. Soon new stalks will be bearing new buds that will be ready for fall harvest. Store artichoke buds in the refrigerator soon after it is harvested. That’s all gardeners about growing Artichoke hydroponically. Keep growing veggies in hydroponics. Please leave your comments or suggestions below.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Thanks Jagdish for the informative article. Could you please also advise the type of media bed. I am planning to try this in my home aquaponics project. Does it need gravel bed / Floating raft or NFT is OK.
    Much appreciate your guidance.

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