A hydroponic garden may be more difficult to run than a soil-based garden, but the gardener can often fix problems with their plants before it’s too late. If you’re worried about the health of your hydroponic garden, keep your cool and analyze the problem before throwing all your work away. These potential things that are ruining your hydroponic plants can happen to a gardener of any skill level, and they’re nothing to feel bad about.
Not Paying Attention to Specific Plants’ Needs
Every plant in any type of garden has a personality. Since your plants aren’t relying on the nutrients in soil, on the season, or on a balance of rain, you need to listen to them. Each plant will have a preferred pH level, amount of light, and nutrient mix. If you use the same growing conditions for each type of crop in your system, you may find dead or dying plants rather quickly.
Make sure you have separate areas for each hydroponic crop. Carefully watch how your plants—there are often indicators of nutrient deficiency, sun scorching, or pH imbalance.
Pests, Mold, Mildew, and Disease
A hydroponic garden is prime real estate for pests, mold, mildew, and disease if you don’t take the proper precautions. Even the tiniest gnat deserves your attention in a hydroponic system—if it breeds, the gnats can feed on your plants and clog up your garden. Mold and mildew love wet, humid locations, and they’ll rapidly feast on your plants and the roots if given the chance.
Watch out for the signs of plant diseases and pests when you start growing with hydroponics. You may need to introduce some pest control or clip off unhealthy parts of a few plants.
Not Sanitizing After Being Outside
If you have both a hydroponic garden and an outdoor garden, be extremely careful when you move between the two. You’ll want to completely sanitize yourself after you come inside—don’t ever go directly to your hydroponic garden from your outdoor garden. Using the same tools and wearing the same clothes as you do outside could be at the top of your list of things that are ruining your hydroponic plants. You might bring in devastating pests and diseases that could ravage your entire garden. Treat a hydroponic garden like a sterile lab—these plants can’t fight off the same diseases and pests that those in an outdoor garden can.
