Do you need special seeds for hydroponic gardens? If you want to start your own hydroponics indoor garden, you probably have a lot of questions about how to get started. One of the most important questions is whether or not you need special seeds for hydroponics.
No, that’s not true. To grow a hydroponics garden, you don’t need to buy any special seeds. But you should choose seeds that are useful and will grow in the space you have set aside for them.
You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for the best hydroponic seeds to start your hydroponics garden.
Read on to learn about some great seeds and why hydroponics is a great way to grow plants.
Table of Contents
Can normal seeds be grown in hydroponics?
Yes, a hydroponic system can grow any seed.
This type of gardening is becoming so popular because of this.
Because you control the environment of the garden, you can easily grow almost anything on the market:
you can change the temperature quickly and easily
you don’t have to be concerned about the soil.
Pests and pollution are no longer problems, which makes farming much easier and more convenient.
What are the Best Seeds for Hydroponic Gardens?
What are the best seeds for hydroponics? There are a lot of seeds that seem to do very well in a hydroponics garden.
Once you get your foot in the door, you will grow flowers, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and so much more.
Even though there are no specific seeds for hydroponics, here are five options that are great for beginners and almost take care of themselves:
- Herbs
- Lettuce
- Bell Peppers
- Spinach
- Strawberries
Once you know what you’re doing, you can start adding other things to the mix so you can grow a lot of different things.
Most of the time, these fruits and vegetables do very well in an all-water system and don’t seem to miss soil at all.
There are also a lot of flowers that grow well here and are easy to start from seedlings or cuttings.
Here is a list of flowers that many people grow in their indoor gardens:
- Carnations
- Daffodils
- Dahlia
- Gerbera
- Hoya
- Amaryllis
- Begonias
- Lily Peace
- Petunia
- Snapdragon
- Zinnia
- Freesia
- Lavender
- Chrysanthemums
- Daisies
- Hyacinth
- Iris
- Poppy or Morning Glory
- Orchid
Even though this list looks long, it only has a few of the most popular choices.
There are a few things that are hard to grow this way, but there aren’t that many that can’t be grown at all.
Plan ahead, because some types may take more time and work than others.
Seeds to Stay Away From
As was already said, there are some plants or crops you may not want to try in a hydroponic garden because they may be hard to grow because of their size or how they grow.
Gardeners can have a hard time with plants that grow very high or deep underground:
Melons: Melons
Crawling vines: As you might expect, it will be hard to keep these under control inside.
Corn: Corn is hard to grow in a hydroponic garden because it grows so tall.
Potatoes: Any plant that grows underground will be hard to grow hydroponically.
We just want to say again that it is not impossible to grow these crops, even though it may be hard.
If you want to add them to your hydroponic garden, you can.
Growing Heirloom Seeds
If you are just starting out with hydroponics, you can be sure that heirloom seeds will give you seeds that will last and grow well.
Heirloom seeds are seeds that have been passed down from generation to generation of a certain plant.
Because they don’t need any help to stay alive and grow, these plants are popular because they are easy to grow and care for.
Gardeners like these seeds because of how adaptable they are and how strong their genes are.
What is the best medium for hydroponic seeds to grow?
Well, there are many ways to grow seeds in a hydroponic system.
There are a few that hydroponic gardeners would recommend:
- coconut coir
- expanded Clay
- Rockwool
- pumice
- peat moss
- grow stones
When choosing a medium for your hydroponic seeds, you need to think about the plant you want to grow, as well as its size and where it will be grown.
If you want to grow herbs or succulents, for example, you won’t want to buy grow stones because they are too big and won’t work.
If you use coco peat, you must add a source of nutrients because this medium doesn’t have any of its own.
Seeds vs Cutting
In a hydroponic system, there are two ways to grow your own plants:
Using the seeds
The other way is by cuttings.
Cuttings are pieces of a plant that are taken from its parent and planted in a garden to grow into a new adult plant.
These are also called “clones” because they look exactly like the plant they came from.
Cuttings
People like to use cuttings because they let gardeners know exactly what kind of plant they will get and let them keep growing their best crops.
Good to know: Cuttings also grow about three months faster than seeds.
Seeds
On the other hand, seeds are a safer choice because they give gardeners a fresh start. This means that they don’t have to worry about replanting a sick plant, which means they can grow healthier crops.
When you grow from seeds, you also have a lot more choices. Unlike with cuttings, you don’t have to settle for what’s in season; you can grow whatever you want at the time.
Lastly, seeds are helpful because they are much cheaper to buy and can be found almost anywhere. This will save you a lot of money.
How to Get Hydroponic Seeds to Grow
When you’re ready to start growing, you’ll need to let your seeds sprout.
This is easy to do if you buy Rockwool starter cubes that have already been cut. These cubes are cut evenly and have holes for each seed.
Before you put your seeds in the Rockwool, you need to soak it in water for 5–10 minutes and then put it on a warming mat.
If you do this, your seeds will start to grow much faster than if you just put them in a dry mat and watered them from time to time.
Once your Rockwool is wet, get rid of any water that is still dripping and put your chosen seeds in each hole.
The last step is to put the Rockwool and seeds on the heating mat and cover the tray. Water the seeds every day until they start to grow.
To sum things up
Some places may sell seeds as “hydroponics,” but there is no such thing.
If the conditions are right, any seed you buy at a farmer’s market or farm and tractor supply store will grow just fine in your hydroponics garden. This is one of the best things about this way of growing plants.
