Articles
HYDROPONIC SYSTEM FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ALL YEAR ROUND CHRYSANTHEMUMS
All-year-round (AYR) chrysanthemums however are still widely grown in the soil and attempts by research workers to develop hydroponic systems have generally been perceived by growers as too costly or as a risk in terms of spread of root disease.
Renewed interest in developing hydroponic systems for AYR chrysanthemums arose from both environmental concerns over emission of chemicals into the sub-soil and the recognised potential for improvements in quality (particularly for the winter grown crop). Hence a programme of work funded by the UK Horticultural Development Council was initiated at Horticulture Research International Efford to investigate commercial scale hydroponic systems for AYR Chrysanthemums.
Successful production of AYR Chrysanthemums was achieved on recirculating sand-based systems.
Furthermore these crops outperformed those grown in soil with taller and heavier stems.
Subsequent studies on sand-based systems including the manipulation of pH of the recirculating solution and the use of etridiazole for disease suppression, had no consistent influence on crop performance.
Re-use of substrate has formed an additional on-going theme throughout this work and seven successive crops have been grown on a sand-based system (with no sterilisation between crops) without any decline in yield or indication of debilitating root disease.