For someone just starting out in hydroponics, whether they are an experienced soil gardener or are new to plants altogether, it can be a bit daunting. However, just about anyone can grow beautiful, healthy plants using hydroponic methods. We are here to help you get started and to guide you through every step along the way. This is the first of a series of blogs, focusing on helping beginners get started. Keep checking back for the latest installments and leave a comment if there is a topic you’d like to see us cover.

Know your pH

pH is very important to healthy growth of any kind: all living things require a more-or-less balanced pH, including any hydroponic plants that you grow. Hydroponics depends heavily on good water quality. So, a good place to start is checking the pH of your water and knowing what the ideal pH levels are for good plant growth.

 What is pH? pH is a calculation of the free ions in the water. It’s measured on a scale from 1- 14, with 7 being neutral. The low end is acidic (a lemon is a 2) and the high end is alkaline, or basic (lye has a pH of 14). Pure water has a pH of 7 but most tap waters have many components added to them that can alter pH (possibly chlorine, water softeners, fluoride, etc).

When the pH is not at the proper level, a plant will lose its ability to absorb some of the essential nutrients required for healthy growth. Lower absorption can lead to all sorts of problems like increased disease susceptibility, stunted growth rates and reduced fruit production. Hydroponic nutrients contain all elements needed by plants. Under normal circumstances, all elements should be available and nutrient deficiencies will not occur. A pH imbalance can cause nutrient deficiencies by creating mineral interactions. The ideal PH level varies from plant to plant but, generally speaking, most plants prefer a slightly acidic growing environment, with a pH between 5.5-6.5. The ideal pH for Hydroponics is 5.8, while the ideal pH for Soil is more basic at 6.3. The chart to the left shows how nutrients are absorbed at varying pH levels.

When first starting out, it’s a good idea to measure the pH of your water every day, until you get a feel for your system. Measure your water and then add your nutrients. Within an hour, check the pH and adjust accordingly. Repeat this process until pH stabilizes. The easiest, most inexpensive way to test the pH of your water is with pH test indicators, which makes it very simple to measure. If you find that the pH of your water does need adjusting, you can do so easily with pH UP™ and pH DOWN™, which are two GH products especially designed to serve this very purpose!  When using an organic product (like GO) we recommend adjusting your water’ pH before adding the organic nutrients and then letting the pH adjust itself. Organic compounds will cause the pH to fluctuate regularly and there is no need to manually adjust as you will be driving yourself crazy and the plants will be doing just fine. For more information on pH, please click here.