Hydroponic Crops

Theoretically, every kind of plant could be cultivated in a hydroponic system, since they (aim to) provide the same environmental conditions as in nature [23, 26, 31]. Nonetheless, hydroponic systems face several limitations, or at least challenges you should take into account [46].

Foremost, there is the plant's support. Since hydroponic substitutes the natural soil with either substrates or completely resigns alternatives, the roots may have difficulties to secure a big plant's weight. Therefore, some systems are not well suited for growing larger crops [5]. On the contrary, some plant bases may not be appropriate to cultivate micro greens, due to too coarse substrate, or hold to much water which leads to low oxygen levels and suffocation [37, 55].

The latter is also a challenge in system techniques without any soil alternative, where the crops grow directly in the nutrient solution. That in return, not only has to obtain enough oxygen for the plant's roots, but also the correct concentrations of dissolved ions and level of acidity. These parameters are different from plant to plant, but also change during the plant's growing states.

Therefore, it is important to know which crops you are planning to grow in your system to derive the best suitable growing techniques. It even is possible, that you will have a hard time growing your desired crops within the very same system due to the plants' diverse preferences and needs. Hence, you will learn all you need to know to actually plan your hydroponic system in the following sections. 

The crops are divided into Herbs (which doesn't need that much of support), Greens (which are suitable for almost all hydroponic techniques) and Fruiting Crops (which, depending on their size, depend on special root support, oxygen and nutrition levels).

Link to References