Six Easy Ways To Improve Plant Nutrient Uptake

TIP 1) Nutrient Reservoirs—The Larger, The Better If you’re recirculating your hydroponic nutrients—and we sincerely hope that you are—then you’ll be aware that factors such as pH, TDS, temperature, and plant waste levels are all subject to change. The best and simplest way to mitigate any potential adverse effects is to mix up your nutrient solution in the largest, practical res available. 50 gallons is usually enough for most hobby-sized grows, but there’s no harm in going for a 100-gallon beast or even more!

Guy adds: The dilution rates of our super-concentrated Pure Essentials Black Label VEG A & B and BUD A & B give you outstanding value for money—so don’t be afraid to go LARGE! You’ll save even money with our larger sized bottles too. Why not order securely from our online store? 

TIP 2) Know Your Water!
Did you know that quality water is the most important additive you can put into your garden? The majority of indoor gardeners use their municipal water source (i.e. tap water) which can vary considerably in quality. Heavy metals, chlorine, chloramines, calcium and magnesium (often in forms that plants can’t uptake) all contribute negatively to your grow. Test the TDS of your source water. If it reads over 300 PPMs you should invest in a reverse osmosis purification system. These days they are inexpensive and easy to fit yourself. Reverse osmosis gives you the purest water imaginable! What’s more, it lowers the “nutrient ceiling” meaning you can safely feed your plants more nutrients with less risk of toxicity problems.Guy adds: I hear this all the time—growers wishing they’d invested in an reverse osmosis (RO) purification system earlier! RO really is worth the investment and allows you to fully realize the awesome power of Pure Essentials Black Label. After all—we took a lot of effort to keep things pure, so don’t fall at the last hurdle amigos!

TIP 3) Stay Chilled! 66 °F – that’s the magic number. Pumping nutrient solution along warm pipes sat underneath grow lights, then through growing media and root zones, and finally back into your reservoir can cause your solution to warm up into the 70s—causing dissolved oxygen levels to plummet. You may as well send a written invitation to the dreaded Miss Pythium to come and play havoc with your roots! Check your nutrient temperature regularly (certainly at the start and end of each light cycle) to monitor its temperature. Buy a nutrient thermometer from your grow store.

Guy adds: If your source water is chilly, use a nutrient thermometer to bring it up to that magic 66 °F. If—and this is more likely—your nutrients are too warm, invest in a chiller for a few hundred bucks. They really are a cheap insurance policy for your crop and an absolute must for media-less systems like DWC or NFT.

TIP 4) The Great pH Debate!
Some growers go as low as 5.2. Others 5.5. Others 6.0 to 6.5. So what’s it going to be? Well, firstly, let’s get one thing clear. You absolutely NEED to keep on top of your pH levels. So investing in a quality digital pH meter, calibration fluid, probe storage solution, and pH adjuster fluid is a must. But you know all this already! What you might not know is that we created Pure Essentials Black Label to be super pH-buffered. That means, as your plants feed off the pure, raw, mineral elements—your nutrient solution sort of auto-corrects, bringing itself back to optimum pH levels. This is a hallmark of a quality hydroponic nutrient and it’s what sets commercial blends apart from an amateur garage mix-up and other lesser brands.

Guy adds: I recommend the range 5.8 to 6.2. But hey—it’s pH stability that really sets Pure Essentials Black Label apart from the pack. We use multiple forms of nitrogen, phosphorus and chelated iron (plus more than a few other tricks!) to give you a nutrient that’s easy to adjust and maintain. The result? Your plants have 24/7 access to all the nutritional elements they need to fully express their genetic potential! You’ll see the difference in lush, vigorous growth in the veg stage and phat, bountiful blooms in the flowering cycle. For the optimal result, try Pure Essentials Black Label growing media too. We have two coco coir / perlite mixes “Perfect Blend” and “Essential Mix” and the ever-popular, double-washed, super sterile horticultural clay pebbles! What a supreme combo!

 

Once a week? Once every two weeks? Actually, there’s no hard and fast rule when it comes to frequency of changing your nutrient reservoir (i.e. draining it off completely
 rather than just topping up, and starting with a fresh mix). However, you can use some common sense. The three main factors to consider are the number of plants that feed from the reservoir, their stage of development, and the size of the reservoir. Clearly, small plants have small nutritional demands—so many growers find that one large batch of Pure Essentials Black Label VEG A & B is sufficient for a one or two week grow cycle. As your plants mature, however, you will definitely see a benefit in regular reservoir dump-outs, especially if you are using Pure Essentials Black Label ZYM and Bud Enhance to super-drive the budding process.
Bonus Tip! Keep track of the amount of water you’ve used to top up your reservoir since the last change. Say you have a 200 gallon reservoir and you top up with 50 gallons of fresh water over seven days. After four weeks you will have added 200 gallons—equivalent to the reservoir’s capacity. This is a signal that it’s definitely the time to change-out and mix up a fresh batch of Pure Essentials Black Label.Guy adds: Don’t even think about mixing up that first batch of nutes without reaching for Pure Essentials Black Label Root Enhance! I love to use this amazing product throughout the whole plant life-cycle but it really does some uber-special work if you deploy it right from the get go. Don’t worry, you can thank me later.

TIP 6) Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!
Nothing keeps a nutrient solution happier than movement and oxygen. Use an air-stone connected to an air-pump at the bottom of your reservoir and bubble constantly, 24/7.
The increased dissolved-oxygen levels will help to turbocharge metabolic rates in your plants’ root zones—super-driving the nutrient assimilation process even more and helping to ward off those nasty pathogens that can decimate a crop in days.