You may have heard about hydroponic gardening as being a more technical and futuristic way to produce fresh fruits,vegetables, and other crop plants. This growing method differs starkly in many ways from more traditional field planting methods which have plants grown directly into an organic medium. The most obvious difference is that these plants are grown without the use of soil and compost, which seems counterintuitive at first.
You might be surprised to hear that it is absolutely possible to grow plants without any soil at all, but this is a fact that many gardeners have understood for a long time. Most people who like plants have propagated them from cuttings at some point, and propagation can often be done by taking young growth and allowing it to root directly in water.
Propagating in water can work really well for some plant species, but for others it is unsuitable as they need a drier environment to take root in. Germinating without soil works in a similar way - seeds need to be kept warm and moist while they emerge, and a grow tent kit is a great place to start this process as you can control the temperature, humidity and light levels very easily.
You might be wondering, if you can propagate many plants in water, why can you not simply grow your plants in a vase or pot of water for their entire life cycle? The answer to this lies in understanding what exactly it is that plants need to thrive. Firstly, all plants need an adequate supply of water in order to grow. This is provided in abundance when plants are propagated directly into water, but it’s not the only thing they need. Light is also vital to plants, though some species need a lot and others get by with being in the shade. Plants also need the right amount of heat, and for cropping plants this usually means they need temperatures which are quite warm.
All of these things are provided when allowing a plant to take root in water, but there is one key element missing which means that your water grown plants are unlikely to grow strong and reach their full size - nutrients. Plants also need nutrients, and that’s why they are so integral for your hydroponics system, whatever species you are growing.
Hydroponically grown plants do best when they have the right nutrients in the right proportions at the right time. This encourages strong growth and allows the plants to reach their fully mature size without the need for organic substrates at all, making hydroponics one of the most hygienic and pest free ways to raise plants.
Getting the right balance of nutrients can seem more complicated than getting your system set up in the first place, but once you have nailed the basics you will find that it’s actually quite straightforward and easy to manage and maintain your plants’ growing environment. Hydroponic nutrients differ from those designed to be used on soil grown plants because water has no nutrients in it for the plants, while soil does. As such, hydroponically grown plants will need a stronger solution with different nutrient percentages to an off the shelf formula for field grown plants.
Hydroponic nutrient formulas contain all the advanced nutrients your plants could ever need, completely replacing the need for the trace nutrients found in soil. It is easier to think of nutrients in terms of macros and micros. The three main nutrients that plants need are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, often referred to on the bottle as NPK, and accompanied by details on the proportion each one takes within the formula as a ratio, such as 2:4:3. Each plant species will have different nutrient requirements and this will also change over the course of its life.
Plants use a combination of light, warmth, water and nutrients to produce new tissues and getting the balance spot on will increase your yields greatly. Choose the right pre-mixed nutrient solution for your chosen crop, and do regular water tests to ensure nothing is building up within the system as this can lead to damaged plant tissues, hindering growth or even killing the plant outright.