Hydroponics Top Tips

Tip 1 - Lamps
Lamps can greatly lose lumen output over the course of 9 months to a year. In fact, they usually depreciate in lumen output by 30% over this time frame. This means that you will get 30% less yield from your plants but it is costing you the same amount of electric to run them. It is therefore a false economy to run old lamps.

Tip 2 - Seedlings
When using rockwool to raise or start seedlings; make a stock solution using your grow nutrient or similar to a TDS/CF reading of 10-12 then pH adjust that stock solution down to 5.5 pH. Decant this solution into a bottle so you can feed this to the rockwool as and when needed. Shake bottle well before sprinkling. Do not over soak or let rockwool sit in a puddle of nutrient.

Tip 3 - Grow Medium
Don't know what medium to use? Then feel free to call us (no obligation) to talk to one of our specially trained staff to explain the different applications for the different grow media. 01483 596484.

Tip 4 - Don't over do it
Less is best; the name of the game in hydroponics is to never over do it. i.e. under feed them, under light them (within reason), under do it and you'll get a result, over do it and problems will happen.

Tip 5 - The night cycle
During the night cycle, make sure the plants are kept in complete darkness especially during the fruiting and flowering stage. Any light can slow or even put a stop on this process. So go in there at night and make sure no light is visible - even LEDs can upset this process.

Tip 6 - Light movers
When employing a light mover it is strongly recommended that you use either 1000W or 600W lights. A 400W or 250W will under light the environment when the light is tracking back and forth over a distance of 6 feet. We recommend a 1000W when using a light mover.

Tip 7 - Noise
The LTI/RVK extraction motors are completely silent however the airflow is not. If noise is a problem then stick one carbon filter on one end of the extractor and a silencer on the other end and hey presto one noiseless extraction unit which is also odour free.

Tip 8 - Water temperature
With water heaters they are only to be used in environments that are very cold. You are not meant to heat the water, just remove the chill from it. i.e. the water would still seem colder than it would hotter. Feeding your plants warm water is more detrimental than feeding them cold water.

Tip 9- Digital meters
Calibrate your digital pH and cf meters regularly. Using buffer 4 and buffer 7 for your pH meters and conductivity standard for your cf meter. Without regular calibrating, these meters could be o ut of skew, and a wrong reading can make a lot of difference.

Tip 10 - Seedlings
Do not plant young plants into systems unless they are showing good root development. If no roots are showing wait till there is before transplanting to your system. If you plant too soon, the rootball becomes saturated and this prohibits the plant's growth.

Tip 11 - Warning - pH up & pH down
Never ever mix pH up and pH down together directly in a concentrate. This stuff is very dangerous and needs to be handled with care. Use one pipette for each job and colour code the pipette to the bottle.

Tip 12 - Lighting
Typically the more light you give the plant , the better the yield will be. Double the lux, double the yield.

Approximate coverage with:

400W is 1m2: 5-10 plants
600W is 1.5m2: 7-14 plants
1000W is 2m2: 15-20 plants