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Hydroponics Nutrient and Feeding Tips

By Moses Wright

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Published: 24Apr2008
Word count: 513
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If you are a plant, you need a lot of nutrients. Feeding them will require having all of the basic elements needed for the biochemical process. You will need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium most of all. There are more than a dozen other elements that are required for top success. Magnesium, iron, calcium and others perform essential tasks to your plant's needs, especially in hydroponic plants.

Nitrogen is an important part of growing leaves. The air is about 79% nitrogen, but plants will still need a supplement of it to grow. The molecule of N2 in the air is not very stable and plants can't break apart the compound to find the single atom. Phosphorus is also very important for root growth. Potassium, on the other hand, helps to fight diseases since it is a big part of enzyme formation.

There are other elements that are very important to the life and health of your hydroponic plant. Calcium is necessary to help build the cell walls and also will help to deliver ions to various parts of the plant. Chlorine is a part of chlorophyll and is a very big part of photosynthesis. Iron, meanwhile, is a big factor of the hemoglobin molecule and is formed by plants and animals to help transport oxygen for cellular respiration.

You can find pre-made solutions that will give your plants the nutrients they need. Just like with anything, the right dosage is essential. You can find young plants that will need a specific dosage, while flowering plants will require a completely different amount.

Keeping the water and temperature can also be very important for your plants since this helps or hinders their feeding. You can find a range of solutions, but they should all be fed at room temperature level. The hydroponic plants themselves should also be in water that is room temperature for best results.

Dry plants need nutrients and nitrogen burning is possible. You can find the aeroponics, which is when one branch is grown in air and can suffer the problem of nitrogen burning.

Let water stand overnight so that you can get rid of any excess chlorine if you pull your water from the tap water. You should look for mineralized water since that is better than the distilled choice since you can find calcium and other useful nutrients for your plants.

Keep the pH in the soil as neutral as possible to see the best results with your plants. You can keep your plants neutral to keep the water alkaline. You can add a little bit of sulfuric acid to make sure that the water is very neutral for your plants. If you have very acidic water, you can make it more neutral pH with sodium hydroxide.

Of course, you can also find testing kits that will help you accurately measure the pH of the water for your hydroponic water. Your hydroponic plants will be more sensitive to nutrient levels and can't self-regulate themselves like soil-based plants so you will need to keep an eye on your plants.

Moses Wright loves to work in his garden. He started this site to help fellow gardening enthusiast with hydroponics tips. You can find more free hydroponic gardening and hydroponics pest and disease control resources on his site.

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