Nutrients and Boosters
We stock the UK's biggest range of the very best brands of hydroponic nutrients and boosters, including Canna, Shogun and House and Garden, there’s one to suit every style of growing and budget. Whether you're wanting to use mineral feeds such as Emerald Harvest, or harness the power of organic growing with organic hydroponic feeds such as BioBizz, we've got everything you need.
A Guide to Hydroponics Nutrients
We stock a huge range of brands of the best quality plant nutrient. Whichever one you have decided to use, we probably stock it! The Canna Aqua range is excellent for recirculating hydroponics. The Canna Hydro range is great for run to waste systems. Both are available in Grow and Bloom formulations
How to choose the right hydroponic nutrient for you
Before you start growing plants, you should decide if you are going to grow completely organically or whether you would prefer to use mineral nutrients. Growing organically offers very high quality crops. Hydroponics places the emphasis on the highest size yields. These days, with the advances in both types of nutrient, there is much less difference between the two than there used to be. Organic yields can be big, and hydroponics can produce very high quality crops. Decide on whether you want a simple and easy grow (organic), or one with more control over your nutrient solution during the grow and bloom stages.
Growing with a Organic Nutrient Solution
This used to mean growing in soil but these days it could be in coco coir too. Organic hydroponic nutrients work hand-in-hand with microbes in the substrate. They feed the beneficial microbes in the rootzone which then break down large organic molecules when you're growing plants. It is important to try to encourage the beneficial microbe population to thrive. This can be achieved by the following some easy guidelines:
- The chlorine or chloramine in tap water inhibits or even kills microbes - This used to mean using a Reverse Osmosis (RO) treatment unit to remove it, or allowing the water to sit for a day or so the chlorine could evaporate out of it. However, now there is Ecothrive Neutralise which instantly neutralises the chlorine and chloramine. Just add it to water before mixing your nutrient solution.
- Bolster the population with a high quality beneficial microbe additive once every week or 2. One of our favourites is Ecothrive Biosys.
- Use a quality organic feed such as Biobizz, Plant Magic Oldtimer, or the Canna Bio range.
- Use natural pest control methods - protective coatings like Biobizz Leaf-Coat or Cannacure which makes like very hard for insects.
Just remember that organic nutrient solution can be thick and if used in a hydroponics system will often block feed and drain lines - not recommended.
Growing Semi-Organically
There are some hydroponic nutrients that are semi-organic that can be used with clay pebbles in a hydroponics system. A good example of this is Emerald Harvest, offering a great middle ground - huge, high quality crops! Either that, or you could use Buddhas Tree Organicus alongside your mineral nutrient to add in some organic material. Either way, these solutions are not really compromises. They fully stand up as fantastic nutrients in any hydroponic system.
Growing Non-Organically
There's some superb nutrients around now such as the Canna range. Other good examples are Advanced Nutrients, House & Garden, and Shogun Fertilisers to name just a few. We don't stock poor quality nutrients, so whichever one you choose you'll be on to a winner. Remember to use a decent pH pen and nutrient strength meter to get the best results out of them. This is a fantastic way to grow in a hydroponic system for rapid plant growth during the grow and bloom stages.
What do plants need to thrive?
Plants need a mix of micronutrients and macronutrients to put on the most weight and increase your yields. Key minerals are calcium, potassium, magnesium and nitrogen, and these can be found in a variety of fertiliser types. Your plant accesses these in a number of different ways, depending on if you're growing in systems or other media such as soil or coco. Making sure your nutrients solutions are perfect is key to having a perfectly mixed solution for maximum growth, and if you don't get this bang on, your minerals won't be soluble / accessible to the plants, meaning it could miss out on valuable micronutrients / macronutrients, stunting development and leading to slower plant growth.
When you grow in a system, your plants get the nutrient solutions benefits straight to the root-zone, allowing those key minerals (calcium, potassium, magnesium and nitrogen etc) to be taken from the nutrient solutions, straight to your plants. If you're not growing using traditional means of hydroponics, your nutrients will be absorbed through the substrate your plants are growing in, ie, through the soil.
pH Perfect Nutrient
Having perfectly pH balanced nutrient solutions is also key to getting the most out of those nutrients and allows your plants to uptake it correctly (between 5.8 – 6.2 is key to up-taking the most micronutrients and macronutrients, allowing those key minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and nitrogen to fuel plants growth).
Macronutrients & Micronutrients in Nutrient Solution
Learn about the different key macronutrients and micronutrients below
If you want to learn about more macronutrients and micronutrients, click here.
How to Mix up Nutrient Solution
Mixing up your nutrients properly is key to successful plant development. This is due to the nutrients having to be in a soluble form which your plants can take in and use to fuel growth.
When mixing nutrients, you'll need a few items -
- Your nutrients
- Nutrient Feed Chart
- Something to mix your nutrients in (we recommend a 20L bucket)
- a pH meter
- a EC meter
- Syringes for accurate measurements
You can find out how to mix your base nutrients in our blog here.
Powdered VS Liquid Nutrients
When choosing whether you want to grow with powdered or liquid nutrients, you need to consider a few things. Firstly, how much control do you want? Some people grow in full hydroponic systems to get maximum control over their plants feed, others want an easier feed schedule with a lot less effort which still gets their plants good results.
We'd suggest growing with powdered nutrients if you want full control OR are growing large numbers of plants. Having powdered nutrients allows you to transport them easily, meaning you haven't got to carry large numbers of liquids to wherever you're growing. You will need to check your feed more regularly and it does require a little more effort when using powdered products, but you can reap the rewards when your plants are thriving.
We'd suggest you use liquid nutrients if you want to get up and running quickly and with little effort. Liquid nutrients have been a staple in the hydroponic industry for years and will let you grow plants easily if you're a beginner.
Tips for maintaining your Nutrient solution
When growing over the summer/winter, it's so important you keep your hydroponic nutrients at optimal levels, regardless of the temperature outside. The way that nutrients work is giving minerals (calcium, potassium, magnesium and nitrogen etc) directly to the roots of your plant, allowing them to thrive).
If there's complications in your hydroponic system caused by the heat/cold, it can lock out nutrients and cause an array of other problems.
Summer Growing
Summer has one main issue when growing in a hydroponic system, pythium (or root rot). Pythium is a genus of parasitic oomycetes and is a fungi which is mainly caused by the hot weather. Pythium WILL kill your crop quickly, especially when you're growing in a hydroponic setup.
We recommend using a chiller and silver bullet to keep your system clean and free from pathogens over the summer. We'd also recommend for those wanting to grow year round to grow using non-organic mineral feeds due to you needing to use Silver Bullet in your system to keep disease away.
Winter Growing
In the winter, it's a lot easier to pull down a good harvest, but, you still have one thing it's worth keeping an eye on, and again, it's to do with the cold!
The cold stunts the growth of your plants, leading to them slowing down and yielding less.
Vitalink Heat is a fantastic product which when used allows your plants to produce vital growth-hormones which hardy them from the cold; if you want healthy plants during the winter, use Vitalink Heat!
Silicon
Giving your plants a good silicon is key to growing big yielding crops when conditions aren't in your favour. It creates stronger stems and creates plants that are more resilient to pests and diseases, allowing your plants to pile on additional weight with that extra growth.
What are our favourite nutrient ranges?
Canna
The range of Canna hydroponic nutrients and boosters has always been one of the most popular ones around; they make great products and we are proud to stock their whole range. They're affordable and really easy to use, regardless of how many plants. Canna Boost is to go to product in the range for pushing yields and weight up.
House & Garden
A favourite among the growing community, House & Garden are known for high-quality and insane yielding products. Our favourite House & Garden product...? Roots Excelurator!
BioBizz
If you're growing organically, BioBizz is the perfect hydroponic nutrient for you. Originating from Spain, BioBizz gives you excellent results, yields and flavours. We recommend you use it in soil for maximum results. Bio-Heaven is our go-to component in the BioBizz range!
British Organic Bio (BOB)
The newest boy on the block, British Organic Bio (or BOB for short) delivers you UK made organic nutrients that push your organic grows to the next level. British Organic Bio's Boost product contains triacontanyl, a potent ingredient used to trigger your plants to produce a rapid growth spurt.
Shogun
Made in the UK, Shogun Nutrients are known for their striking branding and high quality, yet affordable products. Want our favourite? Sumo Active Boost!
How can you increase weight, flavour and yield?
Once you've chosen your nutrient range, you can add additional additives in to help increase your plant yield and quality.
Increasing Colours
If you want to increase the natural colours within your plants, use Purpinator! It helps to also increase your plants flavours too, a double whammy!
Increasing Plant Weight
If you want to increase your yield, you want to pick a booster which contains triacontanol, a naturally occurring growth stimulant found on plants. Shogun Sumo Active Boost is perfect for the job, providing your plants with an increase in yields and flower weight.
Need help choosing? Check out our beginners guide.
Complete Grow Kits
Whatever your budget, plant type or indoor growing style, we've got a kit that can cover it.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD GROW TENT KIT?
If you're looking for a flowering set-up, good quality grow kits always feature these key items of equipment:
- High-grade grow tents (like those found in the BudBox tent ranges). Good grow tents will provide the areas needed to control your indoor environment and keep light locked firmly inside, where it's needed most. With reflective sidewalls, they will maximise the effectiveness of your grow lights.
- Grow lights (HPS, LED, CDM, etc.) - grow light intensity will play a key role in determining the size of your crop. Greater levels of light (at the right spectrum) make for faster photosynthesis rates, keeping things growing sweetly.
- Extraction system - this includes a duct fan, carbon filter and ducting. It will play a key role in controlling temperatures, removing excess moisture and destroying unwanted odours.
Combine these items and you've got the foundations of a great tent kit.
NEED A HAND GETTING SET UP?
Our expert team can talk you through the process: we'll talk you through everything involved in setting up your grow tent kit, including hanging your lights and extraction system and setting up your hydroponics system.
COMPLETE INDOOR GROW KITS FOR EVERY BUDGET
We've got offerings at every price range - something to suit every budget. To start out for a low cost, go for an old-school HPS set-up. If you want the best performance, why not check out one of the latest LED grow kits? They offer better spectrums, greater intensity and lower heat levels.
QUALITY COMPONENTS
We only ever source the best quality equipment available - products that deliver the performance you're looking for, like BudBox Lite and Pro tents, a choice of Rhino filter or CarboAir filter, RVK, mixed flow and EC fans, and a range of professional lighting. You'll also find options with hydroponic grow systems, like the Origin System - tried and tested units that have been customer favourites for years.
Many of our kits are supplied with media and nutrients. If you want to add in extra nutrients, we recommend opting for starter packs, which contain everything needed to keep you growing through the full cycle. Just be sure to choose nutrients that complement your chosen substrate and system.
WHICH GROW TENT KITS ARE RIGHT FOR YOU?
We suggest measuring your area and then choosing a grow kit that makes maximum use of the space. Need a hand? Give us a call!
You can find the perfect options for a variety of different growing stages, whether it's propagation, veg growth, mother plants or flowering.
GET THE BEST PRICES AND SAVE BIG £££S ON GROW TENT KITS
By buying your grow tent, extraction system and grow light all in one kit, you make life easy and save yourself money on the products you love.