As hydroponic gardening becomes increasingly popular more and more ideas are coming to the forefront. With growing plants in water and a nutrient solution, you can save time, money and space and enjoy year round fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers. Although there are many commercially produced nutrient solutions available to nourish and grow your plants, it is possible to create your own homemade hydroponics nutrients solutions, even if you have no previous experience.

Creating your own nutrient mixtures can be nearly as enjoyable as growing the plants themselves. It is quite possible to produce various kinds of solutions. Doing some homework is essential to determine which nutrients you need and in which concentrations to best suit your plant’s needs.

The technique of growing in hydroponics has become very popular lately among indoor farmers. Hydroponics is nothing more than growing plants in water instead of soil. The water is pre-mixed with hydroponics nutrients that give the plants roots all the nourishment they need to grow big and strong as if they were in nature. Hydroponics nutrients are similar to the fertilizers that are found in nature coming from the earth. Plants grown hydroponically grow bigger and faster than plants in nature because hydroponics spoon feeds the plant everything it needs to grow at optimum speed.

When plants are growing in an hydroponics application such as a grow box for instance, plants will receive more light per hour than they would ever receive in nature. This is because you can keep a light in the hydroponic grow box system on longer than the sun would naturally shine in nature. The plants are being spoon-fed exactly the right amount of lighting in high doses.

In influencing the yield of your hydroponic garden, one of the biggest factors is how many nutrients your plant is receiving. It’s not as simple to increase the amount of nutrients your plants receives by merely increasing them in your nutrient solution, because nutrient uptake may hit a plateau if the conditions of your root zone are not optimized.

Quality plant enhancers usually have several elements that help improve uptake and therefore increase your yield. For instance, some plant enhancers might contain specially designed enzymes that will stimulate root growth, enabling your plant to soak up more moisture and nutrients. Some others might have beneficial fungi that can break down the nutrients in your solution so they are more useful to your plants

In order for plants to flourish, they must have certain minerals and fertilizers. In conventional gardening, these requirements are supplied by the soil along with manufactured synthetic nutrients or organic materials. The organic materials may be commercially supplied or natural substances such as manure or compost.

The basic minerals required are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur.  These materials are needed in large amounts.  Other mineral requirements in smaller amounts include iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum and chlorine.

It’s important to provide a complete and well balanced formulation of plant nutrients. Many inexpensive nutrient manufacturers do not blend nutrients in a ratio that is most beneficial to plants. As a consequence, you can unknowingly create a deficiency of one or more minerals which will limit growth.

Be aware that some manufacturers will use a cheaper form of a mineral that plants cannot absorb. So become acquainted with the manufacturer of the nutrients you use and don’t hesitate to buy quality. It will pay in the long run with bigger yields.

When setting up your hydroponic indoor garden and once you’ve decided on the growing medium you will use, you will need to decide how you will feed your plants.  In a passive technique, the water and nutrients wick up through the medium to deliver the nutrients to the roots.  In an active system, you will need a small pump to keep the water and nutrients circulating.

The nutrients vary but most people using hydroponics agree they should be in ionic or inorganic form.  Most of the nutrient products involve dihydrogen phosphate sulfate, nitrate, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Some people feel that hydroponics also calls for the addition of nickel, chlorine, boron, zinc, copper, manganese, and iron, among others. You should know, however, that the plants themselves will use one or more of these specific nutrients faster than others. The Ph may be changed by the plant making it more alkaline or acidic.

To help avoid the possibility of having the roots of your plants completely dry-out, try using a double-pot system. This consists of an inner net pot which holds the growing medium and an outer pot containing the nutrient solution.  Place some pebbles on the bottom of the outer pot and keep it filled with an inch or two of solution. The roots will absorb the liquid by ‘wicking’.

To avoid over filling the outer pot, it’s a good idea to drill some drain holes in it. If your plant roots are allowed to stand in stagnant water, they will rot.  It’s also not a good idea to grow especially root sensitive plants with the double pot method. Standing moisture can cause problems in some plants.

Feeding the root system with horticultural products that contain beneficial bacteria and fungi will help avoid root problems. These beneficial microbes will also improve growth rates and vibrancy.