Myths and Facts About Using PK Formulas in Hydroponics Gardening

There’s a lot of misinformation about potassium and phosphorus in bloom booster fertilizers and how to get bigger yields from your hydroponics gardening.

Maybe without even knowing it, you’ve experienced the results of using the wrong ratios and types of hydroponics nutrients during bloom phase. It’s not pretty. You can see damaged plants. Small flowers. Or even dead plants.

But if you get most of the regular bloom-boosting formulas at your local hydroponics store, you’re also going to cause nothing but problems, and experience a lot of confusion about what’s going on with phosphorus and potassium (abbreviated as PK) during bloom phase.

One myth is that all PK formulas are the same. But most hydroponics manufacturers make general hydroponics formulas that are not specifically researched for the plants you grow. These formulas are designed for corn, peas, sunflowers and such like when grown in outdoor field crop settings using soil.

They don’t have the correct types of nutrients your plants need. Nor do they have the correct ratios of those nutrients.

During bloom phase, your plants need more potassium and phosphorus than usual, and less nitrogen. That’s because floral metabolism and tissue-structure rely on potassium (primary) and phosphorus (secondary) far more than they rely on nitrogen.
So you want to give your blooming plants way more potassium than phosphorus, in a ratio of two to one. You’ll notice that most PK (phosphorus-potassium) bloom boosters have virtually equal amounts of phosphorus and potassium.

Studies on the kinds of plants you grow in all types of hydroponics gardens show that 9-18 PK ratio and types of phosphorus and potassium produces maximum flower size and quality.

If you use this 9-18 formula, you’re almost certain to get bigger yields from your hydroponics gardening.