What are Hydroponic Nutrients?

By Belinda Darling

While you and I might crave a fresh salad or lightly grilled fillet, plants crave other foods. Plants grown under hydroponic conditions require exactly the same plant food as any other plants. The hydroponic method of growing plants without soil means that hydroponic nutrients have to be supplied the plant, usually dissolved in aerated water.

There are many nutrients that plants require. These include mineral salts including nitrates, sulphates, phosphates, phosphorous, potassium, iron, calcium and magnesium, garnished with traces of manganese, copper, boron and zinc with a touch of molybdenum. Add to this a generous amount of clean water and fresh air rich in carbon dioxide absorbed through the leaves, then you happy and satisfied plants.

Hydroponics is a magnificent way to feed plants because the grower has complete control of the hydroponic nutrients and the process of feeding the plants. In addition, specialist companies that supply hydroponics supplies have poured much time, effort and money into researching the finer points of feeding plants by the hydroponic method. This makes it much easier for all growers, whether small-scale hobbyists or large commercial grower to keep total control over the nutrition of the plants in their care. If you use the best hydroponics supplies available, you will be sure that you are giving your plants a balanced mix of all the essential salts they require. The difference between growing plants hydroponically and growing them in conventional soil is that with hydroponics you can be one hundred percent certain that the salts are balanced and in a form that the plants can use directly.

What parts of the plant need which hydroponic nutrients?
Both the roots and leaves of plants need sustenance. The roots seek water, mineral salts and oxygen, while the leaves seek carbon dioxide and oxygen. Plants contain a large amount of water. If two kilograms of typical green plant material is dried out, it weighs only about 150 grams. If this is burned, it is reduced to just 12 grams of ash, or a mere 0.5% of the original weight. These 12 grams represent the mineral salts in the plant.

The proportions in which plants require the various mineral salts are not uniform. Some are needed in relatively large quantities while others are needed in minute quantities. If any of these salts is in short supply, then plant growth, flowering and fruiting will be affected, even if there is an adequate supply of all the other mineral salts.  That is why it is important to buy hydroponics supplies from the best source possible.

The significance of dissolved hydroponic salts

Many people are unaware that all the required salts enter the plant via the roots. Similarly, most people don’t know that plants cannot directly use organic matter for growth until it has undergone decomposition by micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi to release the available organic salts. In soil or growing, this process can be hindered or prevented by a multitude of factors including the rate of decomposition the types of micro-organisms present in the soil. Feeding hydroponic nutrients to plants sidesteps the problem because the correct balance of salts is supplied directly to the roots of the plants.

Nutrifield understand the importance of servicing your needs while offering premium hydroponics supplies and hydroponic nutrients that deliver optimum results.

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