Making a hydroponic nutrient formula correctly can be a complicated task. Much like using the correct amount of fertilizer into the soil in standard gardening. If you don’t use a sufficient amount of fertilizer then you will get weak plants that look malnutritioned; however if you use too much then you can risk fatally sabotaging your plants.
Combining fertilizers in the right ratio is vital to discovering the right hydroponic nutrient formula. Another confusing aspect of the whole thing is how to mix in the fertilizers that come with your hydroponics kit.
The Right Concentration
To ensure that your plants grow and remain healty, it is very important to combine the fertilizers that you have in the right concentration. The fertilizers sold for use in a hydroponic system are concentrated, you will need to dilute and mix them correctly.
Begining with a concentration of 150 to 600 parts per million is a good idea. Normally though this concentration can be made much more specific, for most plants you can use a hydroponic nutrient formula of about 300 to 400 parts per million.
Growing Stages
There are various stages of development and growth for plants, it is logical that plants need different nutrients in different stages. There are different nutrients available that are specifically targetted toward the different stages of the plants life cycle.
‘Grow’ formulae are typically targetted toward plants in the vegetative phase of growth in the plant’s life cycle. These are commonly also known as ‘Growth’ formula, which you might have come across in garden centers. But once the plants you have begin to flower you must switch the kind of hydroponic nutrient formula that you use. You should look for formulae targetted with ‘Flower’ or ‘Bloom’.
The strenth or concentration, of the hydroponic nutrient formula, you use will depend on the plant’s health and stage of growth. Common sense may suggest that you should use a stronger formula for a weaker plant and vice versa, but this is actually not the right thing to do. You should be using a weaker hydroponic nutrient formula for a weaker plant, such as one in weaker light conditions. Conversely you can use a strong formula for a plant in very healthy conditions.
If you decide on changing the strength of formula to use, you should make small changes and gradually tweak it towards the strength you want. As an analogy, a rapid change in strength is like suddenly moving your plant from a greenhouse to outdoors, the plant will suffer and likey die. You should also make sure the plants are in a well ventilated area with lots of light for healthy growth.
