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Hydroponics: What’s the Big Deal?
Hydroponics is a method to grow plants without soil. There are numerous hydroponic growing styles, but the basic hydroponics technique for growing weed consists of providing nutrients through hydroponic solutions that are delivered directly to the root zone.
Hydroponic systems are able to provide all the necessary nutrients directly to the roots instead of having them spread throughout the potting mix where they may easily wash out of reach of your baby plants’ tiny root systems. Root zones in hydroponic growing are constantly bathed with oxygenated water containing dissolved minerals, which makes hydroponically grown marijuana plants have much more robust root systems compared to soil-grown cannabis plants.
Marijuana Plants Develop Well In Hydroponics
Hydroponics has allowed growers to grow marijuana plants as small as one inch tall and as large as eight feet in less than a five-month growing season. That’s right, hydroponics can make your hydroponic cannabis grow up to 200% larger than weed grown without hydroponic means in that given time span.
As amazing as hydroponics is for limiting the size of hydroponically grown marijuana plants it does not limit the quality or quantity of buds that are produced by hydroponics marijuana. In fact, hydroponics makes it easier for you to achieve higher potency levels because plant yields are increased with hydroponics systems due to more available nutrients producing faster growth rates and less energy needed for each plant.
One of the biggest problems with hydroponically grown weed is managing their pH levels or temperature. This is made easy with some specially made hydroponics systems. Hydroponically grown weed requires just under 5 litres of water for each week and we recommend using hydroponics nutrients to avoid killing your hydroponics marijuana plants by mismanaging their nutrient absorption ratio.
Another problem that you may face when it comes to growing hydroponically is the accumulation of minerals in your hydroponics solution as these accumulate over time which can cause problems such as; “lockout”, which means that certain components cannot be absorbed by the roots and become unavailable for nutrition, and salinity (too much salt), which inhibits root growth and stunts the plants development.
Because hydrophilic nutrients dissolve easily in water they are available to hydroponics plants with no adjustment needed.
This is one of the reasons hydroponic marijuana growers prefer hydrophilic nutrients because their growing cannabis plants can absorb them immediately, while hydrophobic nutrients are not soluble in water and need to be converted into a hydrophilic state before they can be absorbed.
So, hydrophobic nutrients require addition of solvents such as coconut oil or pure ethanol alcohol to make them compatible with hydroponics growing solutions. Although these additives may successfully complete the changes needed for hydroncics absorption, it will take longer for your hydroponics weed plants to absorb these components making the application unnecessary when using hydrophilic nutrients since they are already soluble in plain water.
How Hydroponics for Weed Works
hydrogen ions are not released through the roots in hydroponics systems. Water is the only source of elements for hydroponic marijuana plants. When nutrients are added to hydroponics system water it creates a solution that can easily flow throughout your hydroponic system quickly and evenly. As far as plant care goes, hydroponics doesn’t require users to man the station all the time, it can be automatic with some systems. Thats right, there are hydroponics growing systems that can be completely automated. Hydroponics is a hands-off growing method, which means the person who maintains hydroponic weed grow systems doesn’t have to monitor their hydroponic system as much, or at all. Hydrophilic plants are plants that absorb water, hydrophobic plants are plants that repel water.
Using hydrophilic nutrients in hydroponics for marijuana eliminates the need to use a separate liquid solution when adding essential elements for hydroponically grown weed. Hydrophilic nutrients interact with water and release hydrogen ions which are ideal to be used in hydroponics for hydrophilic plants.