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How Often Should Nutrients be Added to Hydroponics?
How Often Should Nutrients be Added to Hydroponics?. Hydroponics is soil-less gardening. Obviously, in place of healthy, fertilized dirt, some other form of nutrient must be introduced in order for the plants to grow. Since the Greek word “hydro” means water, it would be an exceedingly good guess to say that nutrients and water are...
Hydroponics is soil-less gardening. Obviously, in place of healthy, fertilized dirt, some other form of nutrient must be introduced in order for the plants to grow. Since the Greek word "hydro" means water, it would be an exceedingly good guess to say that nutrients and water are mixed in a solution and fed to the plants via a variety of systems, usually based around a reservoir containing a pump.
The Solution
In hydroponics, the nutrient solution is commonly referred to as "nutrients." Their purpose is to provide the materials of life to your plants. In normal soil-based gardening you pour simple tap water over the plants. The root system extracts what it needs to grow strong and healthy from the dirt. When you garden hydroponically, you create the life-giving material either yourself or purchase it commercially.
Water First
The first thing to know about how often to add nutrients to the solution is to realize that each day will see the loss of a small amount of water from the reservoir due to plant intake and evaporation. That’s OK. It doesn’t mean you should fill it up with nutrient-rich liquid each time. Do that and, chances are, the pH level in your water will go crazy and the plants will get sick. On these daily fills, use only fresh water to top it off. Don’t worry about the nutrient solution becoming diluted. Sometimes the solution will actually become more concentrated as the level lowers and you add fresh water daily. The main thing to watch is the pH level. Keep it within norms, as close to neutral as possible, and your plants should flourish.
Then nutrients
As you might guess, at some point you will need to add nutrients into the solution. Where is that point? It is easily calculated. To figure out when is the right time to add more solution, keep track of how much fresh water you add to the reservoir daily. When that amount equals half the capacity of the tank, it’s time to put more nutrients into the solution. Here’s an easy example. You have a 30-gallon reservoir. Over the course of 20 days you add 15 gallons of fresh water to it to top off the liquid level. That’s half the amount your reservoir will hold, so it’s time to clean it out and add a fresh batch. There’s no need to make it any more complicated than that.
