How To Fertilize Houseplants Grown Semi Hydroponically. Why Plants Grow Slowly In Semi Hydro?!

If your semi hydroponic plants grown in LECA are slow to grow or seem to have yellowing leaves checkout this video. As a soils scientist, I have an obsession with delivering nutrients to plants in the most effective possible manner. With semi hydroponic house plants this can be difficult to do and does require some care and attention. This gardening in Canada video is going to look at how to fertilize semi hydroponic houseplants. If you are growing your houseplants in a semi hydroponic system this video is for you.

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Ashley is a soil scientist who has had a passion for plants since she was a small child. In the long summers as a child, she would garden alongside her grandmother and it was then that she realized her love for greenery. With years of great studying, Ashley had begun her post-secondary education at the University of Saskatchewan.
At first, her second love, animals, was the career path she chose but while doing her undergrad she realized that her education would take her elsewhere. And with that, four years later she graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a bachelor’s degree in science and a major in Soil Science. 
Some of Ashley’s interests are YouTube, in which she posts informative videos about plants and gardening. The focus of Ashley’s YouTube channel is to bring science to gardening in a way that is informative but also helpful to others learning to garden. She also talks about the importance of having your own garden and the joys of gardening indoors. Ashley continues to study plants in her free time and hopes to expand her YouTube channel as well as her reach to up and coming gardeners.

This description or comments section may contain contain link to affiliate websites. I receive a commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such link. This includes the gardening in Canada website. You should assume all links both on the gardening in canada YouTube, Blog, and all other social medias are affiliate and I will receive compensation. 
#gardeningincanada #canadiangardener #soilscience

[GardeningInCanada]

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[mydogsnameisbob]

I'm not seeing this in the comments that I'm seeing. The reason that the PH was SO LOW, was because she's not rinsing the syringe so there's still a lot of strong residue in the sample she's testing. I'm sure Ashley knows this and it just got lost in the process of making a video. I would keep a container of tap water nearby to flush out whatever is in the syringe if you're only using one. I now just use separate graduated droppers for each nutrient/solution I'm adding and then I have one that I take samples with so the cross contamination is minimal.

Food for thought if you're running into wild PH swings while testing and adjusting.

[kuppelhagen]

So happy you're realizing that! You're videos are fantastic, been learning so much, and have also referred to you on many a occasion

[kyleburns]

After searching so much to why my plants were so stunted yours was the first to actually help me understand, and I shall definitely be binge watching your videos. Your energy is amazing and can’t to learn more 💞

[jacquelinedaniels]

Why is it so enthralling to watch you test water?!

[teac]

Helpful tip: dump the water from the pot completely every few weeks. The nitrate solution will drift upwards in pH as the plant uptakes. Some formulas will have some ammoniacal nitrogen and buffers to balance it, but keep a weary eye on it. Test pH for nerd points, but the its still good practice to dump to avoid imbalances.

[jennyklenner]

Ashely, I know this is late but... you helped me so much with my harvest of tomatoes this past Fall. I thought all was lost as not one tomato ripened on the vine but I followed your instructions of getting those large green ones off the vine before the colder weather could damage them. I put them in cardboard boxes between layers of newspaper and about 98% of them ripened beautifully. I was able to core them, slit them on the bottoms, freeze them and then process them in my canner when I had enough. Maybe had 60 pounds saved this way. What seemed like an epic fail turned out to be a bountiful harvest because of your advice. Thank you so much!!! Keep up the good work!

[chaoticlizord]

Ashley please make us a semi hydro workbook like your other booklets! I have your indoor and outdoor booklets and love them!

[chunkybuttization]

The reason why I love the nerdy science of semi hydro is because it cuts through the crap and removes all the guesswork. Science and facts don’t have any ulterior motives. No massive subscriber count, no affiliate links, no bias. My plants are happy and thriving. It helps me to easily identify problems when they rarely happen. The only thing I’m unsure of is organic vs inorganic fertilizer. I stick with inorganic so I don’t have to maintain bacteria colonies.

[bennybaer]

:) thank you for this video. And so much yes to nerding out here :D I subscribed to your channel because it helps me understand and apply concepts rather than following instructions and not knowing what I am actually doing. So, thank you for all the additional detail. Loving it.

[Enn-]

You're awesome Ashley! Perfect vid!

[wendyrutan]

Love the science! Keep it going, please. Learned so much from you.

[mounag]

Very interesting video. I use general hydroponic and I am to lazy to calculate anything. I dont test ph and dont test how much fertilizer I put in the water. So far I'be been lucky, lol

[sterlgirlceline]

I am a new houseplant enthusiast and I am nervous about fertilizing and damaging my plants. After I repot a plant with Miracle Grow soil that states it already contains plant “food, ” for 30 days up to 6 months, when should I begin fertilizing? I deeply appreciate you and your wonderful channel! It has helped me tremendously; thank you 💛

[jo-hlyw]

I've noticed people seem to like using liquid PH indicators, it's a little hard to find where I live but we have access to very inexpensive PH paper, will that be ok?

My personal preference would be a digital meter because I cannot handle the whole -is that maybe a tinge away from 7? 6.5? 5.9999?!- It drives me a LITTLE insane. But the frequent calibration process of PH meters is just way too troublesome and tedious.

From what I've gathered from friends with fish tanks, apparently all PH meters, cheap expensive good or bad require super frequent calibration. I would love to to hear a soil scientist's opinion on this <3! I really don't mind spending on a good meter that doesn't require that insane amount of calibration all the time. Does that exist? Is it a unicorn?!
Thank you!

[charlesdeuter]

Great video! I have tons of Hoya in Semi-hydro and I think this kind of content is really interesting. Currently playing around with the MSU 'k-lite' orchid fertilizer as I've heard it's closer to what epiphytes would get in their natural habitat!

[acutelyalex]

I haven't started my channel yet, but everything I've read about youtube is you gotta find your niche. You've definitely found yours - and you should lean into it! Not only do you have all of us nerdy people out here but sometimes if someone has a specific question about a thing they might find your video on it.

In my local facebook group, I definitely refer to your videos when someone is spreading info that isn't entirely accurate, at least according to what I've learned from you (especially re: algae being good and not needing to get rid of it except for aesthetic purposes).

Question: I already have the same ph testing solution you use in this video, but my favourite local plant shop only has the ph testing kit for soil. Was just curious if that's the same thing and if you can use that kit for water as well as soil. The brand is Luster Leaf rapitest soil ph soil tester. Follow up: I assume it's not that important to test soil for indoor houseplants because I never see anyone talk about it. The soils I use are promix (cactus or regular potting) and add amendments to it, or I also buy aroid mixes one without soil and one with 20% soil from someone in my local plant group.

thank you for your videos, keep up the great work!

[renatosantana]

Great video! I have heard that seaweed extract is also good in semi hydro because its bio available and has a lot of nutrients. I use it with my homemade lechuza pon without any reservoir. I use 2 ml for each little of water. I would like to know your opinion about it.

[joeytse]

Is dumping the nutritious/fertilizer water down the drain bad for the environment?

[wmf]

I had a chuckle when I saw that Synergy Kombucha bottle. I use that exact same bottle for my plant watering. I buy about three or four per month at BJ's wholesale Club and find them the right size for me. I keep one mixed up for water with chlorine removed, one fixed up for fertilizing semi-hydro, one for plants in soil or soilless mix, and one with a very small amount of SeaMax that I use for fertilizing carnivorous plants.

I've downloaded your recipe file but haven't printed it yet. Is The recipe for a full label dose or a half dose of the fertilizer products? I generally fertilize more often with a half dose. Also, you may have mentioned in other videos but I'm new to your channel - what do you think of using vitamins (primarily b1) and silica boost products in the fertilizer water?