One of the best ways to get really sweet and mature peppers through a hydroponic soil free gardening system is to make sure that the nutrient solution used is the best for peppers.
There are some great all purpose nutrient solutions that can be used for lots of crops. These will work well for peppers, since they are meant to help whatever crop they are placed on. However, there are some other nutrients that you can add or supplement these all-purpose nutrient solutions with to really make your peppers take off.
This article will list what these nutrients are, and what they do for your pepper plant. This will help you to know what to add to your all purpose nutrient hydroponic system.
- Nitrogen: This is something all plants need, but peppers and tomatoes are especially fond of this nutrient. Whatever all purpose nutrient solution you choose to use for your peppers, you will want to add a nutrient rich solution as well. Nitrogen helps your plants to leaf up well and aids in the photosynthesis process. This is necessary for the plant to grow and thrive. Peppers need it a lot because the more leaves your seeds produce, the more places for pepper flowers and fruits will occur. If you want a pepper plant to produce well and make your time and effort worth it, then you need to add nitrogen.
- Phosphorous: This also helps with the photosynthesis process. It also aids the root growth and strength. Phosphorous can help the plant’s blood like substance to flow better, which can aid the avoidance of certain problems like blight or wilted leaves. Phosphorous is not something that should be used too heavily, but adding it to your peppers will definitely make the plants pop and grow faster. Check your all purpose solution of nutrients to make sure that it doesn’t already have a high amount of phosphorous. There will be some, but if there is not a lot, then adding more will only help your pepper plants. The phosphorous is especially important in the beginning stages of the hydroponic plant growth as it helps the seeds to germinate and stay strong. If you want to stop adding phosphorous to the all purpose solution after the seedlings are doing well, that would probably be fine as the best use for the phosphorous will be in getting those seeds to take off.
- Potassium: This is just as good for plants as it is for humans. It helps the plant in so many ways it is hard to know where to start. Leaves, roots, cell structure, strength, and many more things are aided when potassium is added. This is a nutrient very prevalent in good soil, which means it should be present in the nutrient solution used in hydroponic gardening since these nutrients are meant to be for the plant what soil is in more traditional gardening settings. Potassium is easy to come by, and it would be hard to overdose a plant with it. Even if the all purpose hydroponic gardening nutrient solution you use has a good amount of potassium, and it probably will, there will be no harm in adding more.
- Ammonium Sulfate: This is a chemical that can help the plants to not surrender to the power of weeds and other things. This isn’t a huge need in hydroponics systems, but the strength added to the plants is never a bad thing. It can also help to blend the top three nutrients well. This is also something that can help the plant to produce more fruit than usual. A bumper crop of peppers is a feasible goal is ammonium sulfate is used.
- Calcium Nitrate: This is really helpful especially for things like peppers and tomatoes. They love the calcium for making their stems and leave impervious to harmful things. It also makes roots happy and strong, which can help the plant avoid being uprooted. Just like calcium makes our bones strong, it can help plant stems to be strong. If you think about what certain things do for your body, it will help you see what these nutrients do for plants as well.
- Magnesium: Magnesium can extend the life of your pepper plant. The longer it stays alive, the more peppers you will get, and the more bang for your buck and hour you will get. Magnesium is easy to find and add to any nutrient solution.
- Iron: Iron helps plants stay strong and aids in the nutrient delivery within the plant. Just like iron makes your blood work well, it can help the plant get the good stuff from your nutrient solution to wherever it needs to go within the plant. This is something that peppers do not need in huge amounts, but they do need some. We suggest seeing if the all purpose nutrient solution you are using has iron. If it does, then worry no more. If it does not, then you will want to add some whenever you get the chance.
- Zinc: This is another protective agent that may not be needed in a defensive way when used in hydroponic systems, but can definitely make your pepper plants stronger and more resilient. It is not very expensive to purchase zinc, and a little bit of zinc goes a long way. This makes it an ideal supplement to place in your nutrient solution.
Basically, you need to think of your plant like a body. Your body needs vitamins for it to stay strong and healthy. Your plants are the same way. Adding these nutrients to the water in your hydroponic system will work like vitamins for your plants and will make them happy and healthy.
A happy pepper plant produces a lot more peppers than a plant that is struggling to survive. If finding and adding all these nutrients gets confusing and overwhelming, then just know that the first three on this list are the most important, so as long as you provide your peppers with those, you should have some happy little plants.