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The Need for Feed - Nutrient Strength Explained |
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| Having trouble working out how much to feed your plants? Not sure if you are feeding them correctly? Our basic guide to nutrient strength and identifying your plants' requirements is just what you need. |
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The Need for Feed - Nutrient strength explained
People often ask us about what nutrient strength they should be using, but unfortunately there are no hard and fast rules to follow. Variable factors from grow room to grow room will affect the strength that your individual crop will require. That said, there are ways and means of finding your optimum strength…
Simple guide for all hydroponics and hydroponic systems including coco based systems
The best way to start is to use the feed instructions given on the back of your specific nutrient as an initial guide. We recommend that you use:
- Quarter to half of the full strength indicated on the bottle on young plants.
- Half to three quarters of the full strength indicated on the bottle for bigger plants (60cm [one and a half feet] or more).
While doing this you can observe leaf size, colour, sheen and overall growth to let you know if you’re on the right track.
Read the signs
Your leaves should be of good size, nice colour, with a glossy/shiny disposition. There should be no curling or hooking at the tips or margins, and your plant should be growing daily.
- If your leaves are a dull dark green, your feed may be a little strong.
- If your leaves are hooking/curling down on the leaf tips, then the feed is too strong. Decrease feed strength slightly.
- If the leaves are straight, the plant is growing, but the leaves are a lime colour, then the feed is probably a bit weak. Increase feed strength slightly.
- If a big plant is in a grow tank under a 1000 Watt light then it would need more feed (about three quarter strength or more) than a medium size plant in a hydropot under a 250 Watt light (about half strength feed).
You're giving the plant a complete balanced nutrient package so don't assume leaf damage or colour loss is caused by a nutrient problem, 90% of the time it's an environmental factor - that or bugs!
Other things that may be responsible for leaf colour loss or damage are:
- Over warm nutrients
- Light too close
- Oscillating fans too close to plants causing wind burn showing as rust spots, colour loss and crisping of the leaf from the tip back
- Inadequate air exchange
- Heat problems
- BUGS!
Other Factors affecting feed strength
- Some varieties are heavy feeders and some varieties light feeders, and sometimes there's no way of knowing until you start to grow them. You need to be flexible in your feeding regime and respond to the plants needs.
- Plants won't eat as much in hydropots as in they would in active hydro-systems.
- A common problem in pots is that the nutrients might build up in the pot. Occasionally flush the pot through with a slightly weakened nutrient solution, applicable to the size and stage of growth.
- As a general rule of thumb, top up solutions between nutrient tank changes should be weaker than the main solution.
- Under very high light conditions or in hot weather plants will often eat and drink a lot more. Be aware of this and make sure you have enough nutrients and additives to increase your feeding level if needed.
- In active hydro-systems like NFT it's much harder to overfeed your plants thanks to the abundance of air and water around your plant’s root zone. This often makes growing in an active system a lot easier and more forgiving.
Nutrient strength in soil feeds
Most compost mixes like All-Mix have some available nutrient within the soil and no feed is required for the first 4 to 6 weeks of growth. Past that point, grow or bloom feeds need to be used. When using Light-Mix (a less nutrient rich version of All-Mix) compost feed needs to be used from week 1.
It's not easy to overfeed in soil and consequently many of the popular feeds available encourage you to feed at every watering. We on the other hand encourage you to feed at every other watering as even this is a lot.
If you are unsure whether you are feeding your plants correctly, look to see if there is feeding program available for the nutrients you are using from our handy downloads section. Alternatively you can call our technical line on 0845 345 5176 and ask one of our experts any questions you might have about nutrient strength.
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GroWell Hydroponics Ltd, Solihull, Birmingham, UK
Blooms Garden Centre, Kenilworth Road
Hampton-In-Arden, Solihull, B92 0LW
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1 Royal Parade, 247 Dawes Road
Fulham, London, SW6 7RE
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Unit 52 Enterprise Trading Estate,
Off Pedmore Road
Brierley Hill,
Dudley,
DY5 1TX |
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