Hydroponic farming is a booming industry, and it’s easy to see why when you consider the many benefits that come with this type of gardening.
One important aspect, in particular, is nutrients. It helps provide your plants everything they need for healthy development from seedlinghood up until harvest time. With the right nutrients, you can maximize their growth potential in hydroponic systems.
Therefore, to make sure your plants are getting all they need, let us guide you through the process of making hydroponic nutrients.
Maintaining proper nutrient levels in a solution can be critical for plant growth and yield. So, we will help explain how this works with our own recipe so that it will meet both optimum nutrition standards as well as fit within any gardening scheme or system.
Usually, hydroponic growers have the option of purchasing their nutrient solutions from a variety of sources. However, homemade hydroponics concoction is both affordable and doable with some know-how.
Why Should You Make Your Own Hydroponics Nutrients Recipe at Home?
It is true that many growers prefer buying premixed nutrients since they do not want the hassle of calculating ratios of the required nutrients.
That said, the benefits of making your own nutrient solution are many. Among them, one major advantage is being able to control every ingredient that goes into it. This means if you have an excess or shortage in any specific mineral, then there is no need for guessing when adding more.
Making your own hydroponic nutrients is both an interesting and rewarding process. Not only do you get to cut down on expenses, but it can be really fun too.
You might assume that expensive ingredients are needed for successful growth as time progresses without any changes or supplementing with other commercial products.
While this may sometimes be true in the beginning stages of plant development, homemade purees will always provide better results than bought ones. This is because there is no chaffing from unnecessary additives such as chemical fertilizers, which often have high prices.
If you are interested in growing plants for an extended period of time or on an industrial scale, purchasing commercial nutrients may not be the best option.
Preparing your formula can help more than just saving money – it is easier and environmentally friendly. That said, simply follow this guide if you want to make homemade hydroponics nutrients recipes.
Guidelines on How to Make Homemade Hydroponics Nutrients Solution Recipe
Hydroponic plants require a carefully balanced mix of nutrients and water to grow successfully. Before looking into the homemade hydroponic nutrient recipe, let us explore what exactly these important elements mean for your garden.
Essential Nutrient Elements Needed to Make Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
In order for hydroponic plants to grow in an adequate manner, they need a nutrient solution with the right balance of macronutrients and micronutrients.
Macronutrients
Macronutrients are the lifeblood of a plant. They provide everything it needs for healthy growth. These higher-concentrated elements include carbon, magnesium, oxygen, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur.
The perfect balance of nutrients is important for healthy plants. Sulfur and nitrogen provide protein as well as amino acids necessary to make new growth hormones that encourage plant development.
Potassium provides sugar in the form of glucose which stores energy from sunlight. This element also produces starch through magnesium’s help with the photosynthesis process. Additionally, the production of Chlorophyll is dependent on nitrogen and magnesium being present.
Furthermore, calcium also has an important role when it comes down to producing new cell walls or strengthening existing ones.
All in all, your hydroponic nutrient solution must contain all these essential elements or else, it will be rendered useless.
Micronutrients
There are many different nutrients needed by plants. In order for a plant to grow healthily, it requires the presence of micronutrients in small amounts. They include zinc, copper, chlorine, boron, iron, cobalt, molybdenum, and manganese.
Hence, you want to make sure your homemade hydroponics nutrients recipe has these micronutrient elements present.
Recipe for Homemade Hydroponics Nutrients Solution
All plants need macronutrients as well as micronutrients to flourish. However, they will differ depending on the type of plant that you are growing as well as its growth stage.
That said, there are three common stages:
- Vegetative stage, which provides energy for leaves/stalks;
- Flowering stage, when flowers form from seeds or leaf axils (this also helps with fruiting);
- Fruiting stage, where fruit develops after pollination by insects such animals like bees, birds etc.
Macronutrients Recipe Preparation Guidelines
The base of the fertilizer is what makes it work. It contains nutrient elements, namely calcium, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, among others. They can come in the form of salts mixed with water in order to produce a solution that gives nutrients where needed throughout plant growth.
This is how many salts you will need for your homemade hydroponics nutrients solution recipe:
- 4 tbsp of potassium nitrate
- 4.5 tbsp of calcium nitrate
- 4 tbsp of magnesium sulfate, magnesium carbonate, and calcium carbonate
In addition to these, you will require around 10 gallons of water.
It is important to use filtered or clean water when watering your plants. Put 2 tbsp of salt each in your 10 gallons of water. Then mix in 1 tablespoon at a time until it is fully dissolved before adding more to avoid clumping up on you and ruining the solution.
While mixing, the salts will break down all the nutrient elements in order to provide the plants with the nutrients they need for optimal growth.
Micronutrients Recipe Preparation Guidelines
To make your own micronutrient solution, put a quart of water in a different pot or container. Then, add 0.1 tbsp of manganese chloride and also 0.25 tbsp of boric acid.
Stir the mixture thoroughly after each ingredient has been added to ensure even distribution throughout the mixture. You will want this for optimal results. Once mixed, add half of cup of it to the macronutrient solution for further blending purposes.
Next, get another container and put in a quart of water, followed by 0.5 tbsp of chelated iron. After mixing thoroughly, add 3/5 cups of it into your previously made macronutrient solution.
Adjusting pH Level
If you want your plants to be happy and healthy, then it is important that their water has the right pH level. You can just guess what number might work best for them.
That said, it is best that you have a pH meter as well as a PMM at hand. You will need them in order to adjust the nutrient levels so you can have healthy plants in various stages of development.
More so, hydroponic plants have specific pH levels, i.e., ranging between 5.5 and 6.5, that must be maintained to keep them healthy and growing. This will ensure adequate nutrient uptake without any unnecessary harm done.
In case the range is off, you can adjust the pH levels by using the pH up or down accordingly.
The Bottom Line
All plants need the right mix of macronutrients and micronutrients in order to grow healthy and strong. By following the recipe guidelines for homemade hydroponics nutrients, you can create a specialized solution that will help your plants flourish at any stage of growth.
Remember to also adjust the pH levels as needed in order to ensure optimal nutrient uptake.
