Nutrients & Additives*
Hydroponic Nutrients vs. Additives: Navigating Your Plant's Nutrition
Whether you're setting up a new hydroponic garden or tuning your current system, understanding the difference between hydroponic nutrients and additives is crucial for ensuring your plants thrive. Each type of "food" or supplement you provide can significantly impact your plants' health, growth rate, and yield. Here’s a straightforward guide to help you make informed decisions about which products will best meet your garden's needs.
Understanding Base Nutrients and Additives
1. Base Nutrients: The Foundation of Plant Nutrition
Base nutrients are the core of your plant's diet. They provide essential minerals and vitamins that are crucial throughout the life of your plants. Typically, these nutrients are divided into two main categories:
- Vegetative Formulas: These nutrients promote leaf and stem growth during the vegetative stage.
- Bloom Formulas: Used during the flowering stage, they support the development and maturation of fruits and flowers.
Base nutrients are vital whether you’re growing in soil, coco coir, or using hydroponic methods. They are specially formulated to support your plants from seedling to harvest, adapting to each phase of growth.
2. Additives: Enhancing Growth and Quality
Additives or supplements are used in conjunction with base nutrients to target specific growth factors or correct deficiencies. These can include:
- Flower Boosters: Enhance bloom size and quality.
- Mycorrhizae and Beneficial Bacteria: Improve root health and nutrient uptake.
- Enzymes and Vitamins: Aid in plant metabolism and stress reduction.
- Root Stimulants: Encourage robust root growth.
- Sweeteners and Sugars: Improve taste and aroma of the final product.
- Flushes and Leaches: Remove excess salts and chemicals before harvest.
Additives are not typically essential for basic plant survival but are used to maximize the health and output of your garden.
Matching Nutrients with Growing Media
The effectiveness of nutrients can depend greatly on the growing medium you use. Nutrients formulated for hydroponics are designed to be completely soluble, providing immediate nutrition to plants in water-based systems. In contrast, nutrients for soil-based media often release more slowly and may be part of a more complex soil ecosystem.
Organic vs. Synthetic Nutrients
- Organic Nutrients: Best suited for soil and coco-based media, organic nutrients are often more complex and can provide a slower, more natural nutrient release. However, they may clog systems if used in hydroponics due to larger particulate sizes.
- Synthetic Nutrients: Common in hydroponic systems, synthetic nutrients provide quick, controlled nutrient release and are clean enough not to disrupt water systems.
The Importance of pH Levels
Regardless of the nutrients or additives you choose, maintaining the correct pH level in your growing medium is crucial. Nutrient availability is heavily dependent on pH, which should ideally range from 5.5 to 6.5 in hydroponic systems and 6.2 to 7.2 in soil. Adjusting pH with solutions like pH Up and pH Down can help optimize nutrient uptake.
Balancing Your Plant's Diet
Choosing the right combination of hydroponic nutrients and additives can feel like fine-tuning a complex recipe. By understanding the roles and appropriate uses of base nutrients and additives, you can create a balanced diet that promotes vigorous growth and bountiful yields. Remember, the key to successful cultivation is not just feeding your plants but feeding them well.
For any grower looking to optimize their plant's health and productivity, a well-informed approach to nutrition can make all the difference. As you gain experience, you'll find that mastering the balance of nutrients and additives will become an invaluable skill in your gardening repertoire.
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Vendor:Roots Organics
Roots Organics Terp Tea Bloom 3lb
TERP TEA BLOOMNPK / 3 - 7 - 4DERIVED FROM:Feather Meal, Dolomite, Soybean Meal, Langbeinite, Kieserite, Crab Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Bat Guano, Kelp MealRoots Organics Terp Tea Bloom delivers critical nutrition for heavy-feeding, high-yield plants. Recommended for both large and small-scale gardens, this...- $20.00
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect® Grow, Micro, Bloom
Our Ph.D. plant scientists designed pH Perfect® Grow, Micro, Bloom with simplicity in mind. This three-part, next-generation base solution keeps the pH levels of a high-value crop in the ideal range, while delivering a wide range of bioavailable nutrients to produce bountiful harvests. Optimal ratios...- From $36.75
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Vendor:FoxFarm
Big Bloom Liquid Concentrate 1 pt
Big Bloom® Liquid Plant Food is a carefully selected blend of fertilizers formulated to support multiple blooms and seed formations. This liquid plant food supplies nutrients that your plants can access immediately. Big Bloom® contains bat guano and earthworm castings. Bat guano has been used for...- $12.99
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
Advanced Nutrients Rhino Skin
Safeguard your grow with Rhino Skin®, a potassium silicate biostimulant that strengthens your high-value plants. We carefully selected the most soluble forms and bioavailable forms of this naturally thick and solid element for your high-value crops. The result is a next-generation silicate that increases...- From $24.90
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Vendor:Fox Farm
FoxFarm Soil Formula Nutrients Trio, 3 pints + All U Need Garden Supply Liquid Measuring Glass
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Vendor:Fox Farm
FoxFarm Grow Big® Liquid Concentrate
Product Details Get your garden going with Grow Big®, FoxFarm's liquid concentrate fertilizer for lush vegetative growth. Their special brew is designed to enhance plant size and structure, allowing for more abundant fruit, flower and bud development. It is formulated with a low pH...- From $0.00
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Vendor:Botanicare
Botanicare® Hydroguard™
Hydroguard® is a bacterial root inoculant designed to decompose organic matter and may convert it to nutrients that can be absorbed directly by plants' roots.- From $23.05
$41.00- From $23.05
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Vendor:General Hydroponics
General Hydroponics® FloraBloom® 0 - 5 - 4
GH Flora Bloom Stimulates flower and fruit development. Enhances flavor, aroma, and essential oils. Provides high phosphorous, potassium, magnesium and sulfur.- From $8.75
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Vendor:General Hydroponics
General Hydroponics Flora Series: FloraGro, FloraBloom, FloraMicro GH Trio Pack
Your favorite 3-part nutrient system you need to get started in one box. This box contains: 1 Pint FloraMicro®, FloraGro® and FloraBloom® General Hydroponics® FloraGro® 2 - 1 - 6 Stimulates structural and vegetative growth. Builds strong roots. Provides nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and secondary...- From $24.25
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
pH Perfect® Sensi Coco Bloom
Achieve optimal conditions for steady, vigorous growth with pH Perfect® Sensi Coco Grow. This two-part base nutrient eliminates mysterious micronutrient deficiencies by delivering multiple forms of chelated iron to your plants, making it the most coco-friendly solution on the market. Add bioavailable calcium and magnesium...- From $39.89
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
Advanced Nutrients Hammerhead
The Power of a 1:3 PK Ratio Unleashed! Go beyond the standard PK booster with Hammerhead, a tried-and-true bloom booster rigorously researched and tested on the type of plant you grow. With the ideal 1:3 PK ratio your crops crave, Hammerhead fuels floral production...- From $60.00
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
pH Perfect® Sensi Coco Grow
Achieve optimal conditions for steady, vigorous growth with pH Perfect® Sensi Coco Grow. This two-part base nutrient eliminates mysterious micronutrient deficiencies by delivering multiple forms of chelated iron to your plants, making it the most coco-friendly solution on the market. Add bioavailable calcium and magnesium...- From $39.89
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Vendor:Emerald Harvest
Emerald Harvest Grow 1 qt
Emerald Harvest GrowGrow, Micro, Bloom:USE GROW, MICRO, BLOOM PROFESSIONAL 3-PART NUTRIENT SERIES TO: Enjoy maximum flexibility in mixing ratios. Reach plants’ maximum genetic potential by tailoring feedings to the garden’s needs for professional results. Revitalize the feeding program for heavy rewards at harvest time....- $12.00
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
Root Mass Expanders Voodoo Juice® Plus
Boost Crop Value With Advanced Nutrients’ Voodoo Juice® Plus Tablets Get ready to raise your bud weight for a fraction of the price of using Voodoo Juice®, Piranha®, and Tarantula®. Voodoo Juice® Plus contains all 16 strains of beneficial bacteria and fungi you’ll find in...- From $38.00
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
Sensi Cal Mag Xtra®
Address nutrient deficiencies with the most advanced Cal-Mag system for bud. With a robust menu of calcium, magnesium, iron, and vitamins, Sensi Cal Mag Xtra® eliminates any guesswork in diagnosing shortages and returns your garden to a sea of lush, vibrant green. Chelated calcium and...- From $14.10
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
Advanced Nutrients Overdrive®
Turn your plants into champion producers with Overdrive®. With an NPK ratio of 1-5-4, this premium bud hardener invites your garden to maintain peak performance all the way to the finish line. Our team of scientists engineered Overdrive with ideal amounts of phosphorus and...- From $25.00
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
Advanced Nutrients CarboLoad® Liquid
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Vendor:Advanced Nutrients
Advanced Nutrients BUD IGNITOR
Bud Ignitor®: Unlock the Secret to Early and Abundant Flowering Experience the Thrill of a Bountiful Bloom Every grower knows the joy of watching their buds swell to full potency. But achieving that lush canopy of dense, resinous flowers can be challenging unless you...- From $49.99
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Vendor:All U Need Garden Supply
NUTES VEG BUILDER - 1 Gallon
Veg Builder is specially formulated for maintaining sturdy compact nodes and lush foliage during leaf production. Vegetive growth provides calcium and potassium for vigorous root growth. Use along side with a regimen that includes Veg Node Stretcher to fine tune your plants size and structure.- $34.00
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Vendor:Botanicare
Botanicare® Liquid Karma® 0.1 - 0.1 - 0.5
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