Low String Training method explained

If you're trying to help certain kinds of crops to work better inside a hydroponic environment, you may benefit from a process called low string training.

Low string training is critical for certain kinds of vining plants or plants that grow in specific directions, but don't have thick enough stems or natural vertical structures to propel them upward. Think of plants like peas or beans that operate from dense vines, or bushes with many individual strands. These plants often run into problems growing in particular spaces. This can happen in soil-based growing and hydroponics as well.

The Essential Idea

The basic idea of low string training is that growers provide incremental steps for plants to grow outward and upward. They do this by stringing a horizontal strand just a few inches from the ground. Then they string other strings higher and higher, so that the plant vines or tendrils can hold onto the strings to go up and out from where the seed or seedling was originally planted.

Applying Low String Training to Hydroponics

Here's how low string training often works in hydroponics. The grow box is a finite space, and vine plant seeds and roots systems start at the bottom. These plants need to grow in a specific direction to stay well inside the box, but they also need to travel up from the bottom of the box, so that they don't just end up in a useless heap at the bottom. So growers can run strings across the box in a vertical pattern, with each string placed horizontally, so that plants can climb in much the same way that they would above ground.

One of the big differences with hydroponic grow boxes is that the stringing has to be done with specific attention to the grow box parameters and how they are used. In soil-based gardens, there's a lot more space for growers to play around with. In grow boxes, spaces is at a premium, so stringing may have to be done a bit differently.

Low string training can be a very effective way to help plants to conquer certain challenges and obstacles that are put in their way. It's strange to think about how these plants don't have their own natural systems for growing directionally, but regardless, with a little help, these plants can thrive in a hydroponic environment. Other tools involve small ladders or internal trellises that may be built into a grow box and may even come factory-direct for plants. Try these sorts of tools to get healthy beans, peas and other vining plants into your hydroponic projects.

For more on hydroponics, check out all the modern gear and equipment that manufacturers and retailers offer to help individual growers nurture plants from germination to harvest.