Hydroponic Nutrients

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Hydroponic nutrients are the secret to any successful growing adventure…

Hydroponics (from the Greek words hydro water and ponos labor) is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, or mineral wool.

It’s therefore important to have quality hydroponic nutrients so you will be successful in growing plants without soil. It’s not always advisable to use commercial garden fertilizers because they do not normally contain the 13 elements required for the plants to stay healthy. This is because the growing medium they’re designed for (soil) provides a large percentage of them.

Nutrient (or fertilizer) is food for plants. As with any living thing, plants need a certain dosage of food to have optimum growth. Among the primary nutrients for plants are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In addition to nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium, plants require a lesser amount of secondary nutrients and trace quantities of other elements. Examples of secondary nutrients are magnesium, calcium and sulfur. Trace elements are less quantities of boron, copper, molybdenum, zinc, iron, and manganese. To get you through all phases of growth, all-purpose hydroponic nutrients solution with secondary elements and trace elements (like the ones listed above) is needed.

But during various stages of plant life, you can alter the different nutrient levels needed at different times to optimize growth. During vegetative stage, the plants need loads of N (nitrogen). They also require a fair amount of P (phosphorus) and K (potassium), 20-10-10, or 30-15-15, or something similar, with trace elements should do it. More amounts of phosphorus and potassium are required during the flowering stage. They need some N (nitrogen) but not as much as they did during vegetative growth. They also need calcium.

Thinking that plants will grow faster by giving them extra nutrients is a bad move. Too much will destroy your plants. Giving them less the amount of nutrients, however, will only slow their growth, but it will not kill them. Therefore, follow the instructions written in your hydroponic nutrient package; when unsure, use less.

Whatever you do, be certain of two things…first, that you have a loads of fun growing hydroponically and second, that you consult a professional for all of your hydroponic nutrients requirements. Happy growing!

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