WHAT IS NUTRIENT LOOK OUT AND WHY DOES IT HAPPEN? FOR HYDROPONIC GROWERS There are a variety of terms used in the gardening world that beginners might have heard before but don’t fully understand. A couple of these include ‘nutrient deficiency’ and ‘nutrient lockout’. When you have nutrient lockout you will notice that plant growth is stunted and deficiencies will start to show in the color of the plants’ leaves. What is Nutrient Lockout? Nutrient lockout is when the plants that you are growing are unable to absorb the nutrients they need from the growing medium you have provided. This can be caused by a chemical imbalance which has taken place within a nutrient solution, and the growing medium, and can stop the nutrients from being absorbed by the roots of the plant. Many times it is hard to identify and can be mistaken for simple nutrient deficiency at first. Why does Nutrient Lockout Happen? Nutrient lockout can happen for many reasons. Some common reasons are: •pH Level Imbalance •Precipitation or Excess of Specific Nutrients •Salt Build-Up Different nutrients are best available at certain pH levels. If your pH level in your system is not monitored, a drop or increase could cause nutrients to become unavailable to plants resulting in deficiencies. In hydroponics, a pH of 5.8 is considered the sweet spot for nutrient uptake. Another problem can occur when precipitation of nutrients has made them unavailable to plants as they are no longer suspended in your solution for plant uptake but instead have fallen out the solution and may result in residue at the bottom of your system. This could lead to other addditional lockout problems with excess nutrients causing problems with uptake of proper nutrients required for your plants. Excess nutrients can also be a result of plants using only the nutrients they need, leaving those nutrients they don’t behind. Even adding nutrients to your solution regularly will not necessarily fix the imbalance as the risidual nutrients have not been flushed from the system. How do I Fix Nutrient Lockout? The best defense against nutrient lockout is to routinely monitor your nutrient solution, especially when topping off your reservoir, and flushing your system every couple weeks. If the problem has already occurred, there are a couple steps you can take to fix the problem: 1. Flush Your System Completely Dump all solution from your reservoir and system and clean completely. Using RO water to do this will ensure a cleaner system. But don’t stop there! Be sure to flush your medium too to leach the salts and other nutrient build-up. 2. Replace Solution with Fresh Nutrients Don’t reuse any of the old solution. If your bottled nutrients have been sitting around for a while (most of us don’t have this problem), toss them and get some fresh nutrients. Mix according to the instructions provided. Remember, you can tweak your solution once you’ve got your system back up and running properly. 3. Monitor your Plants Carefully Test your solution regularly to help ensure your growing system stays in balance. EC and PPM meters can be used to help ensure a balanced nutrient solution. Don’t forget to test your pH regularly too as many nutrients can become unavailable at different pH levels. Unfortunately, some of your plants may not recover. The best thing you can do is test regularly and flush your system often to prevent build up of excess nutrients and salts. If you are unsure about whether you have nutrient lockout, ask someone who knows about hydroponics. Visit your local grow shop for advice or check out the many forums and groups online with knowledgeable growers that are happy to help.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 01:36:03 +0000