Hydroponic Nutrients: Fertilizer for Your Hydroponic Garden

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The plant absorbs what it needs through the small hairs on the ends of its roots. This selectivity makes it impossible to overfeed your plants in hydroponics. Don't forget, though, that if you mix too high a concentration of nutrient in the water you are using, the plant will be unable to absorb sufficient water. Salts need to dilute themselves, and if the concentration is too high, the plant will start giving off water instead of ingesting it. As a result, the plant dehydrates itself. Here is a workable nutrient recipe, based on 120 gallons.

Hydroponic Nutrient Formula

•10 ounces sodium nitrate
•10 ounces calcium nitrate
•10 ounces potassium sulphate
•15 ounces superphosphate
•5 ounces magnesium sulphate

In a separate container, combine the trace elements below and mix well; then use a mortar and pestle to grind them to a very fine powder:

•1 ounce iron sulphate
•1 teaspoon manganese sulphate
•1 teaspoon boric acid powder
•1/2 teaspoon zinc sulphate
•1/2 teaspoon copper sulphate

Once mixed, add this powder to the formula and combine. Use 1/2 teaspoon per 100 gallons of water, or dissolve teaspoon in one quart of water and use one liquid ounce to 3 gallons of nutrient solution. Leftover mix should be thrown away since it is no good after the first day.

Hydroponic Fertilizer Formula Adjustments

There will be plenty of times when adjustments are necessary. Formula adjustments are probably the trickiest part of hydroponics, and caution should be used at all times or you could destroy your entire crop in a matter of days.

If you are using a well-balanced commercial nutrient and a correction is necessary because of a deficiency that you can't identify, a foliar spray may be the answer. You can easily make the spray from a highly diluted mix of nutrient and water. The easiest method would be to make up one quart of nutrient solution at regular strength and then dilute it with water to a 1:7 or even a 1:10 ratio.

Using a mister, spray the diluted solution on the leaves of the affected plants once a day for several days in a row. The leaves will absorb it quickly, so that any spreading of the symptoms will be reduced greatly in a short period of time. A foliar spray will probably solve many of your trace-element-deficiency problems.

A large-scale commercial grower will analyze the leaf tissue of his or her plants every few days and make adjustments as necessary. Because this requires a great deal of knowledge, time, and money for equipment and supplies, it is impractical for the modest home grower. In fact, it needn't be all that important in a home system where you are experimenting with hydroponics, raising relatively small crops, and changing your nutrient solution every three to four weeks. If you spend 10 to 15 minutes a day with your system, you will find that in a few months you will be able to read the signals given by your plants and be ready to make necessary changes to the nutrient. Like anything else that's worthwhile, tuning in to your plants takes some time, but the rewards are great.

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