Hi Dominic, very fascinating setup you have here. How you were able to get the initial tubers in this system to produce roots before they were in contact with the water? Did you top-water the media? You also mentioned in a previous video that the stolons need to encounter mechanical resistance from the media in order to begin producing actual potatoes. I've seen another video of a aeroponics farm in India where they grow potatoes. In their case it appears that the potatoes grew completely suspended in the air! I'm wondering how the stolons were stimulated to swell in the absence of any mechanical resistance as there was no media at all in their case. It also makes me wonder if your system would work without a media, if you just instead left a lid to cover the top chamber with a hole to allow the potato leaves to grow. You've probably thought a lot about these sorts of things so if you see this comment let me know what you think!
Good question. Root growth is very quick so the roots were well-established before 'tuber initiation' - the point at which the stolons start to swell. I didn't need to top-water as the humidity from the water chamber kept the substrate moist enough that the roots reached the water before it dried out. I did have to top-water for the "MASSIVE Hydroponic Potato Yield" video though, as this was under lights in a glasshouse, so the substrate dried out much faster. It's been a long time since I made this video and I perhaps overstated the requirement of stolons for mechanical stimulation to tuberise. They certainly will in aeroponic systems, but such systems produce very small tubers that are only really useful for seed production. I now think that mechanical stimulation encourages tuber growth and facilitates the growth of larger tubers by reducing tension on the stolons. There are a couple of studies that have been published on using NFT for soilless potato production, but they result in serious quality issues!
Nice sharing, keep it up! I'm your new friend ✌😎
Hi Dominic, very fascinating setup you have here. How you were able to get the initial tubers in this system to produce roots before they were in contact with the water? Did you top-water the media?
You also mentioned in a previous video that the stolons need to encounter mechanical resistance from the media in order to begin producing actual potatoes. I've seen another video of a aeroponics farm in India where they grow potatoes. In their case it appears that the potatoes grew completely suspended in the air! I'm wondering how the stolons were stimulated to swell in the absence of any mechanical resistance as there was no media at all in their case. It also makes me wonder if your system would work without a media, if you just instead left a lid to cover the top chamber with a hole to allow the potato leaves to grow. You've probably thought a lot about these sorts of things so if you see this comment let me know what you think!
Good question. Root growth is very quick so the roots were well-established before 'tuber initiation' - the point at which the stolons start to swell. I didn't need to top-water as the humidity from the water chamber kept the substrate moist enough that the roots reached the water before it dried out. I did have to top-water for the "MASSIVE Hydroponic Potato Yield" video though, as this was under lights in a glasshouse, so the substrate dried out much faster.
It's been a long time since I made this video and I perhaps overstated the requirement of stolons for mechanical stimulation to tuberise. They certainly will in aeroponic systems, but such systems produce very small tubers that are only really useful for seed production. I now think that mechanical stimulation encourages tuber growth and facilitates the growth of larger tubers by reducing tension on the stolons. There are a couple of studies that have been published on using NFT for soilless potato production, but they result in serious quality issues!