indoorsoilless
Hydroponics
Growing in a nutrient solution with no soil, whether in flowing film, deep water or an inert medium. Covers several distinct techniques that share one constraint: the grower supplies every nutrient.
The four techniques
What separates them is where the water sits and what holds the roots — and, in practice, what happens when the power goes off.
What this changes about growing
- Growth can be faster than in soil because water and nutrients are never limiting — when the system is right.
- There is no buffer. A soil error takes days to show; a solution error takes hours.
- Suits fast leafy and fruiting crops. Root and tuber crops are mostly a poor fit, and the ones that work need a technique chosen for them.
- Solution temperature, pH and electrical conductivity are the daily measurements, in place of the weather.
Safety
Pumps and lighting sit next to standing water; supplies need residual-current protection.
Concentrated nutrient stock solutions are chemicals and are harmful if swallowed. Keep them labelled and out of reach.
What GrowingHQ has assessed in it
Only plants with an actual assessment appear here. A plant that is absent has not been ruled out — it has not been looked at for this method.
| Plant | Suitability | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Basil | Well suited | Along with lettuce, one of the two crops soilless systems handle best, and grown this way commercially at scale. |
| Chicory | Well suited | |
| Chilli pepper | Well suited | |
| Cucumber | Well suited | |
| Endive | Well suited | |
| Garlic chives | Well suited | |
| Lettuce | Well suited | The archetypal hydroponic crop: fast, shallow-rooted, entirely leaf, and grown this way commercially at enormous scale. |
| Mint | Well suited | |
| Pothos | Well suited | One of the few houseplants that grows indefinitely in plain water. |
| Rocket | Well suited | Fast, shallow-rooted and leafy — close to the ideal soilless crop. |
| Spinach | Well suited | |
| Strawberry | Well suited | One of the two or three most successful soilless fruit crops, grown commercially in substrate at scale. |
| Sweet pepper | Well suited | |
| Thai basil | Well suited | |
| Tomato | Well suited | Support to full height; Assistance with pollination where insects cannot reach the flowers |
| Vietnamese coriander | Well suited | |
| Aubergine | Workable | |
| Beetroot | Workable | |
| Blueberry | Workable | |
| Celery | Workable | One of the crops soilless growing genuinely improves: constant water at the roots is exactly what celery wants and what soil struggles to give it. |
| Chard | Workable | |
| Chervil | Workable | |
| Chives | Workable | |
| Coriander | Workable | |
| Courgette | Workable | |
| Dill | Workable | |
| Fennel | Workable | |
| Fig | Workable | |
| French bean | Workable | |
| Heartleaf philodendron | Workable | |
| Hyssop | Workable | |
| Kale | Workable | |
| Kohlrabi | Workable | |
| Lamb's lettuce | Workable | |
| Land cress | Workable | |
| Lemon balm | Workable | |
| Lemon thyme | Workable | |
| Lemongrass | Workable | |
| Marjoram | Workable | |
| Melon | Workable | |
| Monstera | Workable | |
| Oregano | Workable | |
| Pak choi | Workable | A fast leafy crop with shallow roots — the profile that suits soilless growing best. |
| Parsley | Workable | |
| Pea | Workable | |
| Peace lily | Workable | |
| Radish | Workable | |
| Rosemary | Workable | |
| Sage | Workable | |
| Salad burnet | Workable | |
| Savory | Workable | |
| Shiso | Workable | |
| Sorrel | Workable | |
| Spider plant | Workable | |
| Spring onion | Workable | Shallow-rooted and quick — a good soilless crop. |
| Swiss cheese vine | Workable | |
| Syngonium | Workable | |
| Tarragon | Workable | |
| Thyme | Workable | |
| Turnip | Workable | |
| Winter savory | Workable | |
| Apple | Marginal | |
| Apricot | Marginal | |
| Bay | Marginal | |
| Blackberry | Marginal | |
| Blackcurrant | Marginal | |
| Borage | Marginal | |
| Broad bean | Marginal | |
| Broccoli | Marginal | |
| Brussels sprouts | Marginal | |
| Cabbage | Marginal | |
| Carrot | Marginal | |
| Cauliflower | Marginal | |
| Celeriac | Marginal | |
| Chamomile | Marginal | |
| Cherry | Marginal | |
| Curry leaf | Marginal | |
| Garlic | Marginal | |
| Gooseberry | Marginal | |
| Grape | Marginal | |
| Leek | Marginal | |
| Lemon verbena | Marginal | |
| Loganberry | Marginal | |
| Lovage | Marginal | |
| Onion | Marginal | |
| Peach | Marginal | |
| Pear | Marginal | |
| Plum | Marginal | |
| Potato | Marginal | |
| Pumpkin | Marginal | |
| Quince | Marginal | |
| Raspberry | Marginal | |
| Redcurrant | Marginal | |
| Rhubarb | Marginal | |
| Runner bean | Marginal | |
| Shallot | Marginal | |
| Swede | Marginal | |
| Tayberry | Marginal | |
| Whitecurrant | Marginal | |
| Winter squash | Marginal | |
| Aloe vera | Not suitable | |
| Asparagus | Not suitable | |
| Buddleja | Not suitable | |
| Camellia | Not suitable | |
| Clematis | Not suitable | |
| Dahlia | Not suitable | |
| Fuchsia | Not suitable | |
| Globe artichoke | Not suitable | |
| Hebe | Not suitable | |
| Hosta | Not suitable | |
| Hydrangea | Not suitable | |
| Jade plant | Not suitable | |
| Jerusalem artichoke | Not suitable | |
| Lavender | Not suitable | |
| Parsnip | Not suitable | A long taproot needing depth and time — the opposite of what soilless systems do well. |
| Rhododendron | Not suitable | |
| Rose | Not suitable | |
| Salvia | Not suitable | |
| String of hearts | Not suitable | |
| Sweetcorn | Not suitable | Far too large and too demanding of root volume. |
Ready-made lists from this group
Built from the same assessments as the table above, filtered to the question a person standing in front of the structure is actually asking.