Kitchen Garden Forum

I have been growing chilies for many years, and having read how growing hydroponically can treble your total crop, have invested in some NFT tables from ebay.

Can anybody give me any advice on how best to use them and to get the best crops as I haven't any instructions or experience with hydroponics.

thanks

I've grown quite a few things in hydroponic systems. Most plants grow outrageously well and crop very heavily. Chillies grow well and crop very heavily in nutrient film technique systems (NFT) and I have also used the Atami Wilma system to good effect.

Trouble with all these is that they are relatively expensive to set up and the cost of nutrient isn't really that cheap if you grow a lot of plants. I get all my stuff as seconds from Mellow Yellow, the nutriculture factory shop at Mawdsley in Lancashire at http://www.mellowyellowhydro.com/index.html

Try a single GT205i
(http://www.nutriculture.com/grotank.html) which should grow 3 huge plants.

Only problem really with hydroponics is that some crops are tasteless compared with soil grown - especially tomatoes. OTOH Peppers and cucumbers are in my experience just as good. Chillies seem OK to me - but I am no expert in this crop as it is an occasional rather than regular crop on my greenhouses.