Israeli Tomato Hydroponics

[MsCowpea]

It is the scale of the thing that is mind boggling.

With all that mechanization wonder what worker is hand spooning on the plant in 7:58?






****Oops, thanks for reminding me***

[Setec Astronomy]

Um...did you intend to insert a video or post a link?

[Barb_FL]

That was amazing. Yes, I wonder what she spooned too.

[rossomendblot]

Perhaps it is some kind of integrated pest management? When I've used predatory mites to control fungus gnats, they arrived in some sort of bran and it made the mites much easier to dose and distribute in containers with a spoon.

[MsCowpea]

Rossomendblot,
That is an excellent guess! You may very well be on the right track as any fertilization would be through the drip so it would be something else.

Disney world in Orlando grew a gigantic tomato plant in a greenhouse that set world record with a harvest of 32,000 tomatoes.
They offered a backstage tour of the whole setup for an extra charge. The tour was conducted by agricultural intern.
She mentioned they used bran to combat pests. But the bran was just bran—she said something to the effect that the good mites were already in the bran and would eventually help control pests. I can’t remember which pests the bran mites helped to control at Disney.

Here is a predatory mite that comes in bran and other mixes — controls thrips, ‘bad’ mites, etc. The bran , as you mentioned, is the vehicle that the mites
arrive in.

https://www.arbico-organics.com/product ... -predators

That does make sense that they may be utilizing predator mites/ insects in that Israel greenhouse. And that is something they couldn’t send thru the drip.

[arnorrian]

This farm from north of Toronto I follow on Youtube tried pretty much the same hydroponic system. They are so happy with it they will switch to it completely. They have other earlier videos about the details of the setup on their channel.

[Cole_Robbie]

Fwiw if anyone is building a system like that, coco peat is an alternative to rockwool that is much more user and earth friendly. It may not be worthwhile on a commercial scale, but on a home garden level the cost difference is not significant. On that note, there are also a lot of more efficient ways to grow hydroponically on a small level that just don't scale up and turn a profit against global competition when trying to run a business.

[arnorrian]

I think rock wool is only the small cubes. Long bags are coco peat.