Using Proper Nutrients in Your Hydoponic Garden
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Hydroponics can be defined as a method for growing plants in water rather than soil. The idea behind this is for various media, which carry all of the nutrients in natural soil, to support plant growth. Therefore, it’s these nutrients which are the most vital component in the hydroponics process. When growing plants in soil, the soil contains a whole lot of essential nutrients, which is the reason why fertilizers usually do not contain all the thirteen nutrients. Therefore, using a specifically formulated fertilizer made for hydroponic systems is required to benefit hydroponic plants.
Different plants need different proportions of nutrients for different times. Your better hydroponic nutrients are packaged in solutions labeled as ‘grow’ or ‘bloom’, that way even a novice grower can find these solutions without too much of a problem. As the growing cycle of your plants evolves make sure the nutrients evolve along with it. An additional reason for changing the solution is because a depletion of elements is subject during the growth stage of your plant. At certain times, important elements get depleted faster. Ideally you should change the solution every two weeks. One must note that the proportion of nutrient solution and water must remain stable. Damage to the roots could occur if the evaporation of water causes on increase in the fertilizer level.
Usually the hydroponic nutrient solutions that are available are sold as a concentrate. Please follow the instructions to get the best results. Some plants will require a higher dosage than other plants. This dosage is indicated by species on the package. If you are unsure of the dosage consult your local nursery. For instance a weaker solution should be put for plants in poor growing conditions like overheated gardens, low lighting or just crowded plants. A weaker solution can aid even delicate newly planted cuttings. Use a regular solution on your normally growing healthy plants. You may be able to use a stronger solution if your garden has all of the requirements for high growth. For example, do you have good air flow and good lighting such as natural sunlight or grow lights like LED grow lights? What about the production and circulation of carbon dioxide? But it’s advised to increase concentration of fertilizer slowly in order to keep the plant from getting burned up.
Though the concentrate to water ratio is in the range of 150 – 600 parts per million, the level for most of the plants is 300 – 400 ppm. Remember that this is not to be mixed with any part of a nutrient solution but with water.
Now that you are aware of the need for different nutrients, you need to know which ones to use. It is important that you know what nutrient you need. Your first consideration should be your growing medium–whether it be stone wool, sand, coco, etc. For instance, if coco is the medium you are using, go in for specific nutrients like canna coco nutrients. While in the crop stage, a vegetative nutrient formula, such as Super Veg A or Super Veg B, is much better suited to for the vegetative stage of the plant.
The medium will determine the type of nutrient requirement. Basically the organic or best hydroponic nutrients are made up of different combinations of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Leaf vegetative growth depends on nitrogen Potassium will aid in the processing of cell production and phosphorus is the agent responsible for developing roots and flowering.
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