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Essential Nutrients for Your Indoor Fruit, Vegetable and Cannabis Plant
Fruits, vegetables, and cannabis do not grow by themselves. Well, they can but do you have years to wait for them to do so?
Yes, I don’t think so. With climate change factored in, I don’t know anyone who would take that great risk on plants you invested so much.
Using nutrients, fertilizers and other farm products can help you grow these produces faster and healthier. The good thing is that there are various products in the market specially made for nurturing cannabis, fruits, and vegetables in your backyard or farm. Your only problem now is – what is the best nutrient/s out there for your crops?
Also, another question is how do you apply and feed these nutrients to your plant. Nutrients cannot be simply fed to your plant. There is a proper way to apply these nutrients so that your plant can take advantage of these nutrients.
This article will discuss nutrients needed by fruit, vegetable and cannabis plants to survive. We will focus on what kind of essential nutrients needed by fruits, vegetables, and cannabis. This piece will also highlight the advantages and limitations associated with these nutrients plus things you should know when using these nutrients.
My top 4 recommended Nutrients
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 | General Hydroponics Floragro OUR #1 CHOICE | ||
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PRODUCT |
|---|
General Hydroponics Floragro OUR #1 CHOICE |
FoxFarm FF79100 Big Bloom TOP-RATED |
Advanced Nutrients Hobbyist Grower Bundle GREAT VALUE |
Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect Nutrients |
How to Choose the Best Nutrients
The world has too many elements for you to easily decide which one suits your crop best. The best thing you can do now is to determine what you will be planting, the type of soil you have, and your end goal. Those factors will determine what kind and how much nutrients you need to feed your plant.
Each type of plant needs its own set of nutrients. But most of them need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to ensure that they live healthier and are capable of producing crops.
Sure, there are other nutrients available in the market. Each of these nutrients offers something that it alone can provide to your plant. So, to take advantage of what the nutrient has to offer, ensure that it is applied to the right plant.
Next, soil significantly contributes to how your crop will produce. There are different types of soil. Each of them offering something others don’t have and are ideal for planting certain types of plants.
Knowing and understanding its pH level, its moisture, and its composition can help you easily take care of your plant. Nutrients are also plenty in soil. This is the reason for you to know the soil you will be using as it really does impact the growth of your plant and its ability to produce fruits and vegetables. One way to understand whats happening with the pH in your soil is to use a good pH meter as well as a quality TDS Meter
.
Lastly, your end goal impacts what you’ll invest in both your crops and nutrients. Well, every farmer and backyard garden owner want to harvest bounties of crops after a few months. So, it is a must to really spend money on nutrients that are essential in growing a healthy plant.
Essential Nutrients for Your Backyard/Farm Produce
First-time cannabis, fruit and/or vegetable plant growers should not feel overwhelmed by the process. There are various ways of growing these plants. Whatever process you opt to raise each of them, it will surely need some nutrients to stay healthy until it reaches the right time for harvesting.
If you are planting cannabis, fruit and/or vegetable plant, the following are some nutrients we recommend:
Sulfur
No contribution is small enough to make your cannabis plant healthy. Sulfur is one of those nutrients that you might think as one of the smallest contributors in maintaining your cannabis plant’s health. However, lack of this essential nutrient can mean death to your plant.
This plant nutrient is responsible for many processes in a cannabis, fruit and vegetable plant. It plays an important role in protein production; the growth of your cannabis plant’s roots and the amount of chlorophyll during the vegetative growth stage.
Also, it was found to be effective in combating environmental stress. Capaldi and colleagues said sulfur is also found in compounds essential in fighting biotic and abiotic stress. Examples of these compounds include hydrogen sulfide, glutathione, S-rich proteins, and various secondary metabolites.
The lack of sulfur in a cannabis plant can result in the following:
Magnesium
Remember when grandma or grandpa comes over and brings with them a lot of sweets? That’s exactly what magnesium does.
They are essential in producing glucose, a simple sugar, from photosynthesis. The glucose produced with the help of magnesium is then metabolized to promote growth for your plant. It is also instrumental in the conversion of sunlight into energy needed by your cannabis plant.
Magnesium is also important in regulating oxidative stress in plants. Trankner and colleagues said the deficiency of magnesium opens greater risk for developing oxidative stress in plants. They disclosed that water-use efficiency is instrumental in picking up magnesium, which is a vital element in photosynthesis and biomass formation.
A plant lacking in magnesium usually displays as:
Calcium
Calcium is not only found in toothpaste and your bones. Plants also need this nutrient to keep them healthy and grow. This nutrient is equally as important to plants as it is to humans.
The nutrient is responsible for keeping together the plant’s cell wall structure. A cannabis plant without calcium can end in the following ways:
Calcium is also important in fighting cadmium stress in plants. Huang and colleagues disclosed that calcium can mediate physiological and metabolic changes in plants. By applying calcium, cadmium stress is prevented or treated and allows growth inhibition, metal regulation and improvement of photosynthesis.
Potassium
Potassium is one hard-working fellow like you. Just like you, it juggles several jobs to keep the family, I mean your cannabis plant, afloat. The element is an important nutrient as its main role is to help regulate the plant’s systems to promote healthy growth.
The role it plays in osmoregulation is perhaps its most important and biggest contribution to the life of your cannabis plant. This process is the passive regulation of water and salt concentrations in your plant. In this process, potassium is in charge of the opening and the closing of the stomata. It is this job that allows the plant to exchange carbon dioxide, water, and oxygen.
This nutrient is also responsible for ATP production. ATP is the component of the plant that works to store energy coming from photosynthesis. Glucose, the product from that process, is the energy that powers the plant through its different stages in its lifespan.
A cannabis plant deprived of this essential nutrient will appear:
Additionally, Amtmann and colleagues discovered that the use of potassium fertilizers decreased the incidence of diseases in most cases. It was also found that application of the nutrient is great for getting rid, or preventing the occurrence of fungi development.
Phosphorus
Nutrients act like vitamins for plants. They need these nutrients to survive. Phosphorus is among those in the most essential nutrients needed by cannabis and other plants to survive.
It is too essential that without it, your cannabis plant would not be able to properly breakdown and absorb nutrients you are giving it and those it is getting from its surroundings. A cannabis plant and other plants without enough amount of phosphorus will appear with underdeveloped roots, incapable of making a flower, and will display some purple hue in the veins of its leaves.
The need to feed your plant phosphorus becomes more important with the addition of climate change. Yuan and Chen disclosed that nitrogen and phosphorus were significantly affected by global warming. The study showed that the imbalance with the nitrogen-phosphorus balance showed the need for planters to be extra careful in using phosphorus.
Nitrogen
If we strive because of oxygen, plants live due to nitrogen. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient as it allows them to grow during the different stages of its life. This nutrient is also a significant part of the plant’s ability to turn sunlight into energy. It acts as part of chlorophyll and the lack of it would mean that a plant cannot grow or survive its various stages.
The element is also part of the amino acids that is important for the cannabis’ production of protein. Cannabis without enough protein in its system will grow weak and frail which could eventually die. It is also necessary for the production of nucleic acid, an important ingredient in DNA and RNA, which plays a significant role in plant reproduction.
Soil and Nutrients Plants Can Take From It
Soil might look gross for you, but it is literally like chocolate for plants. There are different kinds of soil. Each of them offers something unique that could make or break a certain plant. In planting fruits, vegetables or cannabis, it is important to know which kind of soil they best thrive in.
Perfect soil is also what keeps them alive when they are almost out of energy to thrive. It is their main source of nutrients when they are left to grow on their own.
The following are some of the nutrients pulled by plants from the soil.
Nitrogen
As previously mentioned, nitrogen makes or breaks your crop. Its existence and amount in your plant is a great indicator if it can make it through.
The soil is one good source of nitrogen. Nasholm and colleagues revealed boreal forest soils are those that contain the most concentration of nitrogen. Nitrogen in this soil is in the form of humic material but contain high concentrations of soluble proteins.
Compost and manure are some excellent sources of this essential element. The soil is rich in nitrogen due to several factors including the fact that it where leaves and crops drop and decay. It is also where animals drop their manure.
Fun fact – herbivores are the best provider of nitrogen in soil.
Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur
These elements work together to ensure your plant’s healthy growth. First, calcium’s significant role is to maintain balance in the soil, reduce salinity and improve water penetration. It is also responsible for removing carbohydrate and neutralizing cell acids.
Next, magnesium is important as calcium in keeping your plants healthy. Together with calcium, they appear as cations in soil. Experts also recommend checking and ensuring calcium-magnesium balance in the soil to allow your plants’ optimum growth.
Lastly, sulfur is mostly concentrated in the topsoil or plow layer. This nutrient works as a component of proteins and peptides, a catalyst in the production of chlorophyll and an agent in nodule formulation in legumes. The nutrient is not easily absorbed by plants so there is a need to convert it to SO4 sulfate form to benefit your crop.
Phosphorus and Potassium
Healthy cells allow plants to produce crops and grow healthy. If you are a first-time cannabis, fruit or vegetable planter, you need to know that plants usually get enough phosphorus and potassium from the soil.
Phosphorus coming from soil significantly helps plants. It is an important nutrient in vegetable and fruit plants as it helps in flower blossoming and the appearance of fruits, respectively. Deficiency in the phosphorus level can lead to delayed flower growth and fruit-bearing.
Potassium, on the other hand, is responsible for keeping cells and cell fluid in motion. It is found in higher quantity in moist type of soil. This nutrient can also easily move freely between your plant and the soil; making the exchange smoother.
Micronutrients
Aside from those mentioned above, the soil is rich in all kinds of nutrients. Some are beneficial while others can deter your plant’s growth.
The following are some of the other essential nutrients found in soil:
These nutrients should be at the right balance with macronutrients. A balance between the two can ensure you will be getting great yields from your cannabis, fruit and vegetable plants.
How to Apply These Nutrients?
Knowledge is power if you can apply it. A corkscrew without a bottle of wine is useless, right?
Now that you know which nutrients should be available for your plants. The next time is to know and understand the proper method in the application of these nutrients.
Nutrients offer a lot to the potential of your plant to bear fruits and vegetables. Or have a healthy leaf for cannabis plants.
First thing first – you should know everything about your plant and soil before applying these nutrients. It is recommended that you check several factors that might affect the effectiveness of the elements you will be giving your plant.
Be sure to check for these things:
Plants go through three stages in their lifespan. A different set of nutrients are needed by plants in each of these stages. So, it is a must to know which nutrient should be given more or less at a given stage of a plant’s life.
At the seeding phase, plants normally rely on nutrients it absorbs from the soil. Those nutrients are enough to sustain its growth so no further nutrients should be added. Giving them nutrients at this stage can cause overfeeding.
The vegetative stage is the second phase of the plant life. High nitrogen and potassium levels, as well as phosphorus, are essential at this stage. These nutrients are needed to ensure that no discoloration appears neither weak spots in the plant.
Seed provider Royal Queen Seeds gave a great reminder on mixing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium during this stage. It recommended that an ideal mixture is that phosphorus around half of the nitrogen to be given while potassium can be between one-third to a half of the level of nitrogen prepared for the plant.
In the flowering stage, a different mixture of potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus are needed. There are different nutrients available in the market made especially for this stage. Normally, the level of balance between the three nutrients is at 5-18-5 for nitrogen, phosphorus, and nitrogen, respectively. Since the proportion is already determined by your nutrient provider, your only task at this stage is to determine the correct amount for your plant.
Conclusion
Nutrients help your plants be healthy and productive. If human have vitamins and minerals, plants need nutrients to keep their processes working smoothly. Remember that a healthy plant can give you crops in the amount you have never imagined.
With the abundance of nutrients in the market, selecting the right one can be a task. Good thing is that there are various farmers and experts willing to share their experience and expertise to make it easier for you to choose.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the triumvirate of plant nutrients. Without these elements, plants will definitely be weak and die in a few days.
Nitrogen is the most important nutrient for plants. It is the nutrient that makes a plant stay healthy and capable of producing fruits or vegetables through its various stages of life. This nutrient is responsible for converting sunlight into energy needed by plants. Nitrogen is also essential in the production of protein and DNA and RNA.
The second most essential nutrient is potassium. This nutrient also plays an important role in a plant’s growth and even, several at that. The nutrient is responsible for various processes that contribute to plant growth and health including osmoregulation and ATP production, as well as water and salt regulation.
Phosphorus is the third most important nutrient. It is the nutrient responsible for breaking down minerals and other factors needed by plants. It also works in helping the plant properly absorb nutrients you applied to the plant.
There are other nutrients out there that plants need. But those three are what makes or break how a plant grows. Zinc, copper, and manganese are some other nutrients that bring other benefits to the health and growth of your crop.
Plants really do survive on their own. But with the unpredictable weather that comes with climate change, do you really want to take that chance?
The task of selecting and applying nutrients to your plant might be a hassle. But if you want to harvest nice crops and see healthy plants in the long run, it is time for you to start learning and then apply all that knowledge to realize a healthy growing fruit, vegetable and/or cannabis plant.
There are a ton of quality nutrients online today. Our experts have tested all of them and have narrowed them down into this one article for you. 10 Best Cannabis Nutrients
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