In the world of greens, arugula is one of the most grown as it has been heavily popularized since the late 80s.
As a result, most of you have probably tried (in most cases successfully) to grow arugula aeroponically.
Arugula which is also called rocket salad because of its rapid growth…. It is profitable for commercial farming applications due to its fast growth turnaround and generous crop yield and it is the perfect green for the family gardener as it guarantees lush green plants growing on your tower!
The seedlings are ready quite fast and the plant can be harvested in about three weeks. However, you can let it grow up to six weeks. Even the taste of oversized older aeroponic arugula leaves is acceptable which is not the case when grown in the soil.
It should be harvested before it flowers…. In fact, after blooming, the taste becomes overwhelmingly strong (please note some people let the arugula bloom on purpose to make arugula pesto).
We do advise you to try planting 3 to 4 different kinds of arugula during each season.
Depending on climate, some varieties will develop more foliage mass and fewer stems….
Furthermore, mainly during the hot season, the taste of a specific arugula variety may change drastically. In other terms, you might wish to use a different brand/variety of seeds according to each season.
Considering that arugula grows fast, it can be easily tested thus allowing to grow vibrant crop year-round.
Arugula can be either harvested by pulling the whole plant out of the tower along with its roots or simply cut at the base of its stems (in which case new leaves will grow back from the base within a few days).
We advise harvesting the plant by pulling it out of the tower along with its root system.“Second-generation” arugula grown aeroponically can give weird shaped leaves and taste really strong. Furthermore, second-generation arugula develops huge roots which use nutrients unnecessarily. In other words, although arugula will grow back several times due to the fact that it is a perennial plant, we prefer to only harvest it once and grow new plants from new seedlings each time.
