Can you believe that green vegetables are grown on ocean-going ships?

The crew has been sailing on the ocean for a long time and cannot enjoy the convenience of various facilities on land. For example, eating a meal of fresh vegetables is not difficult for people on land, but it is a luxury for seafarers. Under normal circumstances, seafarers?can only be fed after ships docking at large ports. After 2 weeks of sailing on an ocean ship, seafarers will slowly run out of green vegetables on their tables. However, due to factors such as the pandemic?in recent years, opportunities for ships to dock?for food supplies have become more uncertain, making it even more difficult to eat fresh vegetables. A healthy diet and balanced nutrition for crew members at sea is one of the biggest challenges in ensuring that crew members work efficiently. Excellent shipowners and ship management companies have equipped their ships with soilless vegetable water cultivation equipment to solve the problem of crew members having difficulty in eating vegetables.

Recently, the XXX wheel of a China Merchants ship relied on 3 hydroponic devices to turn each small seed into a beautiful "green vegetable field" on board.

Is it possible to grow vegetables on board? At the beginning, the crew members were?unknown

Ships are different from land, and more uncertain factors need to be considered in planting vegetables. Therefore, after considering various factors, XXX ship purchased 3 vegetable hydroponic equipment. Since the hydroponic facility uses nutrient solution as the fundamental condition for plant root growth, its nutritional level can be accurately controlled; the hydroponic equipment has the function of intelligently controlling the lighting area and time, the nutrient solution circulates and irrigates, and also has alarm display functions such as high temperature, overload, and low liquid level, so hydroponic vegetables are easier to control, making it easier to cultivate vegetables on ships.

With professional equipment, the doubts in everyone's mind were dispelled. In order to ensure the successful growth of the first batch of vegetables in the XXX round, under everyone's careful care, the seeds became shoots, the shoots became seedlings, the seedlings became leaves, and the leaves slowly grew larger until they became vegetables that could be eaten on the table.

The growth history of vegetables on board

There are four layers of hydroponic vegetable equipment on XXX ship, namely, nutrient solution tank, seedling layer, four planting layers and control panel.

The vegetable seeds that have been germinated are placed in cups on the seedling layer, and light needs to be supplemented every day to maintain good ventilation and a suitable temperature in the room.

When the seeds develop 4-5 leaves, the vegetable seedlings can be moved to the planting layer. It is also necessary to turn on the lighting of the planting layer to simulate “sunshine” to allow the vegetable seedlings to photosynthesize and breathe to the fullest.

After careful cultivation for 15-20 days, the vegetable?gathered a bumper harvest! A total of 2.55kg of greens, 2.7kg of cabbage, and 1.95kg of lettuce were harvested during this test phase. Growing our own vegetables not only became a nutritional supplement for the crew, but also a beautiful scenery on board!

Hydroponic vegetables make it a reality for crew members to eat fresh vegetables while on the ocean

Compared with?soil-grown?vegetables, marine hydroponic vegetables have obvious advantages. Hydroponic vegetables on ships are healthier and safer, have better quality and taste, grow quickly and yield higher, and are easier to manage. The crew nurtures vegetables carefully and comfortably, and they can enjoy vegetables?undoubtedly.

A small seed, after a total of 20 days of soaking in five stages of germination, sowing, raising seedlings, cultivating and harvesting, grew into a green, fresh vegetable, which made the crew very excited. At the same time, it also promoted the crew's mental health. The small room with hydroponic vegetables became the most popular “place to check in” for the crew after work and after a meal. Watching the vegetables grow, the crew's hearts were also full of sense of accomplishment.

At present, hydroponic vegetable cultivation has been widely promoted in the oil tankers, bulk carriers, and container fleets of China Merchants Shipping, and has become an important supply channel for marine vegetables. Although hydroponic vegetables on ships still have some disadvantages due to natural irresistible factors, we believe that as long as the crew takes good care of them, their hard work will surely reap the rewards.