Nutrients – When & Where to use them

Growing with nutrients is easy once you understand the in’s and out’s of everything involved. Plants need nutrients in order to grow healthily and thrive.

These nutrients are beneficial to plant growth in several ways, the 6 key nutrients are:

• Nitrogen – Helps to promote strong, green growth and aid in more chlorophyll production.
• Potassium – Improves the core strength of your plants during the early stages of growth and improves water absorption.
• Phosphorus – Helps with root and flower growth, so they withstand environmental stress.
• Sulfur – Protects your plants from diseases and improves seedling growth. Plus it helps to create more amino acids, enzymes and vitamins.
• Magnesium – Helps to give your plants that perfect luscious green colour.
• Calcium – Encourages stronger growth and development, helping plants to build up a better resistance to disease.

What Nutrients Should I Use & When Should I Use Them?

When growing plants traditionally, the plants absorb nutrients from the soil. However, with hydroponics, this works a little differently. Without soil, the plants need to get these nutrients elsewhere, nutrient delivery systems release a diluted liquid nutrient solution which travels into each plant pot.

Although using the wrong nutrient solution can be devastating. Therefore, it’s important that you use the correct nutrient solution at the correct stage of growth. You’ll need to keep these 3 things in mind, your growing media, the stage of growth and how much control you want.  There are many options when growing using a hydroponic system. The most effective nutrient feeds are 1 part, 2 part and 3 part feeds.

During the early stages of growth use a gentle nutrient solution on your cuttings and seedlings. This will help to reduce stress on young plants. Canna Start and Vitalink Plant Start are just some of the great products available on the market. They are specifically for use during this early stage of growth. Their nutritious formula will give your plants the best possible start and encourage far better root growth. 

Alternatively, for the flowering and vegetative stage, you’ll want to use a nutrient solution with additional nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Therefore, for those of you using coco growing mediums, you’ll be looking at an A & B formula. Whereas for soil and hydro growers, you’ll need a grow (vegetative) or bloom (flowering) formula. There’s plenty of products available for this stage of growth. Canna has a fantastic range, the Aqua Flores and Aqua Vega range are both leading plant feeds each tailored for flowering and vegetative stages of growth.

Once you’ve got the right nutrient solution, it is important that you keep it regulated. We suggest that you invest in pH & EC testing systems. Keeping your growing environment consistent will give you the best growth results.