How close together can you place your plants?

There is established recommended spacing for each type of plant when transplanting into a dirt garden. This allows room for the plant to spread out it's foliage and to expand it's root system in search of needed nutrients.

In a hydroponics garden, the constant dose of nutrient solution into an aerated medium will result in a smaller root system allowing the plant to redirect it's energies into growth. Therefore you can plants closer together than recommended. But how close is close enough?

Too close will increase the risk of pest infestation and disease and too far away is merely wasted space. Another factor to keep in mind are individual plant characteristics; for instance, tomatoes need room to spread out or strange things will happen. In my first hydroponics garden I planted 6 beefsteak tomatoes in a Mittleider Grow Box, 3 feet by 6 feet. This was too many plants and way too close...

Even though each plant received an adequate dose of nutrients, the lack of room to spread out made them grow very tall in their effort to spread out.

I ended up with 14 foot plants on top of a dense tomato plant jungle I could barely see into to pick tomatoes. Just as they achieved full tomato production they caught a plant disease and all died despite all my treatments.

In the 3 foot by 6 foot grow box, two tomato plants would have been sufficient - not six...So when deciding how close to put your plants, stick with the recommended distance and decrease the distance by 1/3 so if 3 feet apart is recommended, space them 2 to 2.5 feet apart at the closest.

Just use your best judgement. If the plants tend to spread out then plant the recommended distance apart or you will be searching through a jungle of foliage to find your vegetables.

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