Hydroponics - Getting The Most Out Of Nutrients
by John Yazo
There is a large variety of nutrient brands on the market for hydroponic gardening. A question that is always asked is, which one is best. Growing healthy, and productive plants is more involved than just choosing a good brand of nutrient. If you feel that you are unhappy with the nutrients you are using, there are a few things that you should consider before changing to another brand.
First is the volume of your nutrient reservoir. This needs to be determined by how many gallons each specific plant needs in the system, larger plants require more nutrient solution and water than smaller plants. Your plants should be your guide for how much nutrient solution is needed. A tomato plant is a common plant grown with hydroponics, a minimum of 2.5 gallons of nutrient solution per plant in the system is required to have a healthy and productive crop. Smaller plants like lettuce need a minimum of 1/2 gallon of nutrient solution per plant.
This is a very important factor to being successful, larger volumes of nutrient solutions will have a smaller fluctuation in their nutrient concentration as plants uptake them. Basically it helps in keeping the nutrient solution evenly balanced as they are depleted by plants. Another factor is transpiration, plants will use more water in warm weather than cold. When more water is used by plant uptake, the concentration of nutrients rise, they can soar to toxic levels of concentration, and even by topping off with fresh water in smaller reservoirs a lot of fluctuation can occur with the nutrient concentrations that will not do your plants any good.
When it comes to the recommended dosage of a brand, there are a lot of variables that can affect it. These dosages that they recommend are good to start, but there will be adjustments that need to be made, some trial and error is needed to adjust as needed. Plant size, growth phase, type of media all affect nutrient concentration, and also growing plants under favorable conditions.
When mixing the nutrient solution, add all the water to your reservoir first, and remember that there is a reason that two and three part nutrients are separated. Premixing them into a concentrated form in small amounts of water will allow some of the elements to bond, and a white precipitate, calcium sulphate, may even be visible forming in the solution. Mixing mixing each concentrated part of the nutrient separately into a larger volume of water will keep the diluted so they wont bond together. If they do bond, they will be in a form that is unusable to your plants.
Keeping the nutrients mixed at all times in the system is very important, adding an air blubber to the reservoir will keep water moving. This will keep the mineral elements of the solution from settling and concentrating at the bottom of the reservoir. Water movement will also prevent created pockets of high and low ph levels where mineral elements would be out of their ph range and not beneficial to plants. Plant uptake of nutrients can only be achieved in the proper ph range, checking the ph levels often is very important. Immediately after mixing your nutrient solution, the ph needs to be checked, adjusted as needed, and rechecked until it is in the proper range. A ph level that is out of range will deprive plants of the nutrients they need to thrive.
Nutrient solution are only as good as the conditions they are used under. Monitoring is a very important part of hydroponics to be successful.
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