All too often people have a problem in the garden and make the trip to the local hydro store (or website) asking “What bottle will fix my problem?”. In a society where there is a pill to “cure” anything and everything I understand the mode of thinking, but let’s get back to the basics. Feed a child the best nutrition but raise them in a home without boundaries, and see what kind of adult you get. And no matter how many steaks you feed it, that lion will never stay in your backyard. So, no matter what fertilizers/supplements you give to your plants they are not going to do well in the wrong environment. Banana Trees don’t grow in the Arctic.
When you see problems arising, the first thing to check is your environment. Temperature, humidity, light schedule, watering schedule, pH levels, air circulation. These are all things controlled by Mother Nature in her garden, so you must do the same in yours. Temp and humidity fluctuates with season, and each plants has it’s season. Find out yours, and get the temp and humidity as close as you can. Sunlight hours also change with season, get your plants on the right schedule. Stop watering so much! The most common problem is over watering. If there is water available to the plant, it does not need more! Make sure plants have a chance to use up the water available to them, this will stimulate roots to stretch and search for water giving you more growth. Plants absorb nutrients at different rates when pH changes, to optimize your nutrient uptake always make sure your pH is at an acceptable level. Last but not least, fresh CO2 is constantly available to plants in nature so make sure you have good air circulation….they need to breathe!
The #1 most common thing that people try to fix with a bottle is “yellowing”. Most people will see some yellowing and come right in saying they need a nitrogen boost, or need to correct a calcium/magnesium deficiency. But now we have our new mode of thinking! Before running to the store, first ask yourself all the environmental questions. How is my temp and humidity? Has my light schedule been interrupted? Have I been watering too much? Are my pH levels out of range? What some don’t know, is that watering too much can also cause yellowing. Answering this question first saves you the money on a bottle that still wouldn’t have solved the problem! If your environment is dialed in and you are still having the problems, then we can talk about products that can help.
This also applies to supplements and boosters. All too often I hear people say that they didn’t notice any difference from a product. Remember, environment first and then the juice. Any and all additives will be most noticed and will work the best when the environment is dialed in. Two things to take from this. One, you can’t discredit ANY product until your environment is on point. Two, save your money for supplements and additives until your environment is on point.
Ok, so from now on we are thinking of environment first so that our plants can then utilize all the goodness that we are feeding them. Good. Always remember how much environment can affect the functionality of a plant. Heat causes transpiration and more water use, high humidity can cause stomata to stay closed and not transpire at all, low humidity causes more water use, light schedules tell the plant what time of year it is, roots with too much water available to them will not reach for it, roots breath oxygen and foliage CO2 so make sure they can breathe, and the list goes on. When your plant can function properly, it can then utilize nutrients to expand growth to its full potential. In the end, the garden with great environment and cheap/minimal nutrients will ALWAYS do better than the garden with great nutrients and a cheap/minimal environment.