nutrient solution strength
“
THERE ARE hundreds of different fertilizer brands on the market , and whichever one you decide to use , make sure it provides balanced levels of macro- and micronutrients necessary for the crop you are growing .”
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
Several environmental variables will impact how fast water and mineral nutrients are taken up by a plant , including but not limited to light intensity , temperature , and relative humidity . As light intensity (µ mol / m 2 / s ) is increased , the rate of growth also increases and results in a greater demand for nutrients . However , increased light intensity also increases the rate of transpiration , which will cause you to irrigate your crop more frequently . If you are feeding a high rate of fertilizer at each irrigation , this can cause soluble salts to build up in the root zone , resulting in increased osmotic pressure that will make it difficult to for your plants to uptake water and nutrients . Any time you have increased osmotic pressure in the root zone , your growth rate will decrease and yield will be sacrificed . Increasing the air temperature or reducing the relative humidity in your controlled environment will also increase transpiration rates , which will influence your irrigation frequency . The bottom line is this : anytime you are changing environmental variables , it is extremely important to monitor the EC of your root zone to ensure you do not run into issues . There are hundreds of different fertilizer brands on the market , and whichever one you decide to use , make sure it provides balanced levels of macro- and micronutrients necessary for the crop you are growing . EC and TDS meters are great tools used to check the strength of your nutrient solution , however , if you want to know the composition of specific nutrient salts that are contributing to your solution or media , you will need to have a chemical lab analysis done . Different fertilizer salts contribute to the overall EC differently , and certain nutrient components like urea will not contribute to the overall EC until its converted into nitrate ( NO 3 ).
Plant nutrition is just one important variable to consider when making adjustments to optimize your controlled environment . To learn more about optimizing environmental conditions , download the Fluence Bioengineering High PPFD Cultivation Guide at fluence . science .
66 feature