Hydroponic Nutrient Kits

What comes in a nutrient kit

A nutrient kit is the base feed and the additives that brand designed to sit next to it, sold together. Most of the packs on this page pair a two- or three-part base — grow, micro and bloom — with the extras that same chart calls for: a bloom enhancer, a root stimulant, and sometimes a finishing product. What makes the kit useful is the sizing. The additives are meant to last the same run as the base, so you are not emptying one bottle mid-cycle and reaching for a substitute that was never written for that mix.

How to choose a nutrient kit

1. Start with your medium. Coco, hydroponic and soil kits are mixed for different jobs. Coco wants more calcium and magnesium; soil kits assume the medium already holds some nutrition. House & Garden splits its starter kits by medium — Soil, Coco, Hydro and Aqua — so you can pick the one that matches yours.
2. Stay inside one brand system. The kit works because the base and the additives were written to be mixed together. Taking half of one brand's schedule and half of another's is where most feed problems begin.
3. Two-part or three-part. Two-part bases (A and B) are the simpler path and harder to get wrong. Three-part sets such as Green Planet's GP3 split grow, micro and bloom, so you can lean the ratio toward vegetative growth or flower.
4. Check whether pH is handled for you. Advanced Nutrients names its pH Perfect kits for holding pH in range without constant adjusting — handy if you would rather not test and correct at every reservoir change.
5. Buy the size that matches one run. A 500mL or 1L kit will take a brand through a cycle in a small tent. Move up to 4L, 5L or 20L once that schedule suits you and you are running back to back.

Prefer to mix your own schedule?

Choose a base from hydroponic nutrients, coco nutrients or soil nutrients, then add the additives that match your stage — Cal-Mag and silica are the two most growers reach for first.