Hydroponics and Vertical Farming: The Technical Guide to Understand, Grow, and Innovate

50. How to set up A/B tests in hydroponics to get clean data

Written by Tomato+ Team | Feb 10, 2026 3:48:25 PM

 

After analyzing systems, nutrients, light, automation and artificial intelligence, we come to the most advanced point in professional indoor growing: scientifically measuring what really works.
This is where A/B testing applied to hydroponics comes in.

Doing A/B testing means comparing two controlled variants of the same growing cycle, changing only one variable at a time, to see which choice generates better results in terms of yield, quality or stability.

What is an A/B test in hydroponics

An A/B test involves:

  • Group A: "standard" growth cycle
  • Group B: identical cycle, with only one variation (light, EC, temperature, photoperiod, nutrients...)

Everything else must remain absolutely the same:

  • same variety
  • same substrate
  • same planting
  • same environment
  • same time period

Only then are the data collected clean, comparable and reliable.

Which variables to test (one at a time)

The most useful A/B tests in hydroponics involve:

  • Light spectrum (e.g., variation in an LED channel)
  • Photoperiod (e.g., 16h vs. 18h)
  • EC target
  • Macro/micro nutrient ratio
  • Water temperature
  • Seeding density
  • Cycle duration

Testing multiple variables together renders the data inert and unusable.

How to design a proper test

A good A/B test must:

  1. Have a clear objective (yield, speed, quality, stability)
  2. Last a full cycle
  3. Be repeatable
  4. Generate measurable metrics, not feelings

The most commonly used metrics are:

  • grams produced
  • days to harvest
  • uniformity of plants
  • energy consumption
  • waste or stress

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Changing several parameters at once
  • Doing tests that are too short
  • Trusting the eye instead of the numbers
  • Not documenting every variation

Poorly done A/B testing is worse than no testing: it leads to bad decisions.

From testing to continuous optimization

The true value of A/B tests emerges when:

  • they are accumulated over time
  • they become historical data
  • they feed predictive models
  • they enable automatic optimizations

This is where hydroponics evolves from "cultivation" to a data-driven engineered system.

Conclusion

With this article we close our journey:
From the basics of hydroponics to advanced experimental testing, via vertical farming, automation and AI.

If you have followed this series, you are now no longer simply farming:
you're designing controlled, measurable, and scalable production systems.

👉 Thank you for following along so far.
If you would like to learn more, discover Tomato+ solutions, or understand how to apply these concepts in a practical way, please visit our website or contact us directly.
The future of indoor growing is built with data, method and vision.

Tomato+ Team