Hydroponic Additives & Supplements by Category
Hydroponic Additives & Supplements FAQ's
A base nutrient is complete — it carries nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and the trace elements at a balanced ratio and will finish a crop on its own. An additive is deliberately incomplete and does one job: extra calcium and magnesium, silicon, a potassium and phosphorus lift, root stimulation, or beneficial microbes. Additives run alongside a base feed, never instead of one.
No, a good two- or three-part feed will finish a crop by itself. Additives are for specific gaps rather than general insurance. The common ones worth adding are a cal-mag if you grow in coco or on rainwater, a silica in hot rooms under strong lights, and a root stimulant at transplant. Everything else is optional and should be judged one at a time.
Start with three: a cal-mag supplement, a silica, and a root stimulant for transplants and cuttings. Those cover the deficiencies and the setbacks most new growers actually hit. Leave bloom boosters, carbohydrates and terpene products until the base feed is dialled in, because they only add value once nothing else is holding the plant back.
Usually yes, but add them one at a time. Pour each concentrate into the water and stir it through before the next one goes in, rather than combining concentrates in a jug — undiluted silicate and undiluted calcium products in particular can react with each other. Check EC after each addition and set pH last, once everything is in the tank.
Yes, most of them do both. Anything mineral raises EC, so an additive stack can push your solution well past the strength the base feed alone would give. Silica products in particular tend to lift pH. Mix everything in first, then read EC, then adjust pH — adjusting before the last additive goes in means doing it twice.
Additives, though they behave more like essentials than boosters. Both supply elements a base feed either leaves out or supplies too little of for some growing situations, so plenty of growers run them at every feed rather than at one stage. Grow Kings keeps them on their own pages, Cal-Mag Supplements and Silica Supplements, because buyers search for them by name.