Dein Iftitah

By Retno Widyani, Dein Iftitah and Mus Nilamcaya

It’s time to eat healthy vegetables. One of the ways to get healthy vegetables is to growthem hydroponically to avoid various environmental pollution. However, it turns out that even hydroponic cultivation still has itsown downside, namely the growth of moss. This is because the conditions for moss to growhavebeen metsuch asthe supply ofwater whish is rich in nutrients and oxygen, and enough sunlight for grow. Usually, in hydroponic systems, we often find moss attached to rock wool and gutter planting media. This begins when the rock wool is submerged in water and the gutterarefed by water that containing nutrients and also exposed to sunlight. Is there an effect of moss on the productivity of hydroponic plantsand how to overcomeit? This research was conducted to find out how overcome moss so as not to interfere with the production of vegetable crops in ahydroponic maintenance system. Based on our observations, the growth of mosscertainly affectedthe development of plants. With minimal moss, the growth of kale seemedto be the mostoptimal, with wider leaves and dense stem condition. On the other hand, the spinach thatwas investedwith mossdidn’t growas optimal as our kale, with thinner leaves and sparse.

Part of the book: Vegetable Crops