How to grow plants in water is easy when you gather all your needed tools and supplies. You also need healthy seedlings that are suitable for growing in water, as not every plant can grow in water.
Plants that grow in water or hydroponic plants are healthier and stronger if you can grow them in the right conditions. For a complete guide to growing your hydroponic plants, read this article.
Contents
How To Grow Plants in Water Successfully?
To grow plants in water successfully, select suitable plants that can grow in water and then germinate their seeds. Transplant the seedlings into the water vase or hydroponic system. Make sure to check and fix the errors, maintain the growing medium, harvest the plant, and repeat the process.
You must remember that growing hydroponic plants are the constant availability of nutrients for the roots, growing the plants in a controlled environment, growing any type of plant in any place at any time of the year, and having faster-growing and healthier plants.
On the other hand, one must also be very careful, because the plants are that growing unsuitable plants in hydroponic systems can lead to the loss of the plant; hydroponic systems are expensive to set up, hydroponic plants need more attention, and making a mistake can lead to the loss of your plants.
– Select the Right Plants To Grow
Only some plants are suitable to grow in water; before growing plants in water, check that they are suitable. Also, go for your favorite plants, and some of the best plants to grow in water indoors are the spider plant, fiddle leaf fig, or Chinese evergreen. You may also opt to go for others like the English ivy, Money plant or the lucky bamboo.
The plants are often popular ones that people grow indoors, like the wandering jew, the beautiful Monstera deliciosa, Chlorophytum comosum, or the Epipremnum aureum. You can also grow a lot of vegetables indoors. However, if you are mostly interested in the root products of a plant, that plant is not suitable to grow in water.
Knowing this, you must also aim to get abstain from the plants that would not have a successful growing ability in this type of medium. Some examples of plants not suitable to grow in water are sweet potato vines, yams, onions, garlic, gingers, and other plants with root products. Growing the roots of these plants in a consistently wet substrate can lead to stunted growth or give you damaged roots.
– Germinate the Seeds of Your Selected Plants
There are two ways to germinate the seeds of your plants; using soil or a soilless medium. When growing plants to transfer them into a water vase or hydroponic system, most gardening enthusiasts would usually opt for the soilless method so that the plants will not grow in the soil during any part of their life cycle.
If you choose the method that requires the use of soil, then you have to make use of the conventional process of sowing the seeds, covering them with a thin layer of soil, and consistently watering them to germinate your plants. However, if you select the soilless method, you can germinate your seeds by covering them in wet paper or using other methods.
In addition to this, if you have stalks or stem cuttings instead of seeds, you can also start them in water. In this case, keep them in a glass jar with water inside so that you would create the right medium for the plant.
– Nurture the Seedlings
You don’t just transfer your seedlings into a water vase after they germinate. The seedlings need a lengthy root system as well as two or more pairs of true leaves. Transferring them too quickly to their permanent vase or container can shock them and affect their growth. Wait for a few weeks.
If you start the seeds without soil, they might die off if you do not give them nutrients. To help the growing seedlings, grow them using coco coir or any loose product as substrate and then regularly water and fertilize them, and so they can stay on this soilless substrate for a few weeks and would be growing and not withering.
– Prepare a Vase or Hydroponic System
While your seedlings are growing, start setting up your vase or hydroponic system. For simple indoor flowers, you can simply add rocks to a transparent vase to show the beauty of your plants in water. However, a more complicated method of growing indoor plants in water is to set up a hydroponic system.
Growing plants in water is called “hydroponics,” and in a hydroponic system, the successful way to proceed is simply a system to help you easily grow your plants in a nutrient-rich solution. You can get this system from a nearby gardening store or even order it online. Just ensure you set it up properly before your plants mature enough for transplanting.
– Transfer Your Seedlings Into the System
As a tip, consider starting with just a few sample plants. If you make mistakes and lose the plants, you can learn from your mistakes quickly and help your other plants grow well in water. Starting your ‘planting in water’ journey with a lot of your favorite plants is quite risky.
Transfer the plants to the vase or hydroponic system when they are ready for transplanting; knowing this, try to ensure that the vase has sufficient water to cover the roots of your plants. To keep your plants firm in the vase, add more rocks gently to support the roots, and for this, you must be careful when moving your plants to a hydroponic system. Now, you must also ensure that the plants have access to the nutrient-rich solution to grow properly.
– Check for and Fix Errors
No matter how many batches of plants you have grown using hydroponics, you may still make a few mistakes. Some examples of popular errors to watch out for are not planting the crops deep enough to have access to water, using too much nutrient solution in the water, and not checking water qualities such as pH.
Now is the time to check for these errors and fix them; if you see any faulty issues happening, and this will help the process to get back on track. If you wait too long before detecting errors, you might lose your plants.
– Maintain a Stable Growing Condition for Your Plants
As a substrate, soil helps keep the roots of plants safe from the fluctuation of factors such as temperature, pH, and even the availability of nutrients. However, plants growing in water face fluctuating temperatures and other factors, as water is a good conductor. To help your plants, ensure the room stays cool and cool quickly.
You can do this by growing your plants, especially the hydroponic ones, in a greenhouse. Also, shield the vase, with water inside, or the hydroponic nutrient-rich solution from direct sunlight, as the roots of plants do not need sunlight.
– Harvest Your Plants
It does not matter if you are growing your plants for aesthetics or fruits and other products; harvest them when they are mature enough, and if you feel like they have grown well. You have done a great job in caring for your plants, so you deserve the reward given to you by your plants.
If you are growing annuals or plants that will not produce fruits after their first batch of fruits, remove the plants from the system. However, if you are growing flowers, you can keep them, as they will produce more flowers for you.
– Repeat the Process
You already have a vase or hydroponic system, and it is already set. You need some seedlings or cuttings to transfer into the vase. Also, clean the vase or system so that you do not expose your next batch of plants to microbes from the previous batch.
When everything is set and your plants mature enough, transplant the seedlings and repeat the process. If you are growing your plants in a controlled environment, you can grow them year-round.
How to Care for Plants That Are Growing in Water?
To care for plants that are growing in water, ensure that you regularly add water and nutrients as needed, consider some factors to grow your plants, such as temperature and humidity, and then regularly check and manage the water pH and other factors.
– Add More Water and Nutrients as Needed
Just like every other plant, hydroponic plants need water and nutrients. While water and nutrients are in the system already, they can get depleted quickly, as your plants will collect some while others will get lost through evaporation. In this case, regularly fill the system with water.
When adding more nutrients, follow a strict ratio; this is the direction given in the fertilizer instructions. If you are mixing one-part nutrient with nine-part water, stick to that ratio. Changing the nutrient concentration can harm your plants, as it might be shocking to them.
Moreover, the best fertilizer for plants growing in water is a hydroponic fertilizer or one with water-soluble nutrients because of the growing medium in which you have placed it. It does not matter if you are using organic or inorganic nutrients; just make sure that the nutrients are water-soluble so that the roots of your plants can absorb them.
– Grow Your Plants in the Right Environment
By “the right environment,” we mean a place that meets the needs of your plants. Plants have growth requirements and can only grow successfully when you grow them in the right environment. Some factors to consider when choosing a place for your plants are having the right temperature around the plant, applicable humidity, the perfect amount of light exposure, and maintaining proper acidity of the water.
If you are growing warmth-loving plants, grow them in a warm room. Likewise, if plants need low humidity, grow them in dry rooms. Only set up your hydroponic system in a suitable room to support your plants’ growth.
– Maintain Suitable PH and Other Factors
Water pH, electrical conductivity, which is short for EC, total dissolved solids or TDS, and other factors are worth considering, as they can affect your plants’ general health and growth. These factors fluctuate quickly in water according to the time of the day and how often your plants collect nutrients; therefore, check and maintain them often.
Only grow your plants in a system with suitable pH in the nutrient reservoir. Remember that the pH needs of plants differ according to the type of plant, so ensure that every plant growing in the same vase or system has similar pH needs. Adjust the pH of the nutrient-rich solution to match the needs of your plants.
– Block the Nutrient Reservoir From Light
When you are growing some crops in water, you can prevent algae growth by blocking light from reaching the nutrient-rich solution or the roots of your plants. Aside from causing temperature fluctuation, sunlight reaching the roots also attracts pests to your system.
You can use an opaque vase to protect your plants from algae if you are growing them in a vase. For those growing in hydroponics, try painting the nutrient reservoir or covering it with any opaque material. So long as light cannot reach the roots, your plants will be safe from algae and some microbes.
– Prune the Plants as Needed
Just as in the case of every plant that grows indoors, regularly prune your plants when you see the need. If you see dying leaves, brown leaves, or weak stems, prune them off. You can also prune some fruit-bearing plants to increase their yield and make their fruits more nutritious.
Conclusion
Growing plants in water and rocks will be super easy for you now, before you get started, remember these points from the article:
- Before starting any plant in water, check to ensure it is suitable so that it does not die while growing it.
- Remember to add more water and nutrients for your plants, as they can quickly get depleted.
- Before starting a new batch of plants in your working hydroponic system, tidy the system.
- Ensure that your indoor water plants get enough light, as plants cannot grow well without light.
- Indoor plants that grow in water without soil need constant nutrients dissolved in the water.
Your plants will grow just fine so long as you stick to the tips in the article, and make sure to remember to take the plant care tips seriously.
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