Whether you are using hydroponics to grow fruits, vegetables or herbs the chances are you took up this method because of the bigger yields it can give you, as well as the convenience it offers. These are just some of the fantastic benefits you are likely to be enjoying from your hydroponic setup, and it’s likely that you’ve had some successes to be proud of. 

With all that being said, there comes a time in every indoor gardener’s journey that they start to wonder if their efforts could be even more rewarding, and whether they are truly getting the most out of every crop. While harvesting your first crop is extremely satisfying and an important milestone, there are still many things to learn about achieving those monster yields you dream of. 

If you are ready to take your plants to the next level and are looking for some relatively quick and easy ways of doing so then read on. We’ve put together a list of all our best advice for getting your plants to perform even better than ever before. 

Optimise your lighting

As indoor gardeners, we all know just how vital a good lighting rig is to our plants. Without enough light, our often expensive plants will suffer and eventually die because they cannot replicate enough energy if light levels are too low. You will know this and will already be supplying decent lighting to your plants, but did you know that you can go even further into this to optimise your lights? 

Plants need different colour lights depending on factors such as the time of day and season of the year. If you can do some research into this and learn the nitty gritty details of your plants’ preferences then you can game the system and fool your plants into growing faster, maturing more quickly, and providing even more huge buds and flowers, or fruit and vegetables. 

Give your plants an optimised diet

Feeding your plants to a proper schedule is a must if you want to get the most out of your investment and encourage your plants to produce bigger yields. Most beginners will buy off the shelf nutrients to feed their plants and for the most part this is absolutely fine. If you really want to push it, you should have a go at mixing your own hydroponic nutrients to create bespoke blends. Many experienced indoor gardeners will have their own top secret nutrient blends that they swear by. Feel free to experiment, but don’t stray too far from normal parameters and don’t try to change too many things at once so you can better control the results produced. 

Get handy with your clippers

Learning how to do a basic prune on your plants can help to dramatically improve the quality of your plants. Sharp, clean horticultural scissors or secateurs should be used to remove only the weakest foliage and any woodier branches that are touching. Once your plants are maturing, you can also use clippers to remove some of the bulk of the foliage to allow light into the interior of the plant. 

By thinning out particularly thick foliage you can allow the fruits and vegetables you’re growing to get more air and more light, and can give your flowers and buds more space to develop. The trick is to remove only as much as you need to, but it can be tempting to remove too much. If you take off too much you can remove the plant’s ability to produce enough energy for growth and it may weaken. Take it slow and remove foliage bit by bit until you have done just enough.

Learn from other peoples’ experiences

One of the best tips we can give you when it comes to producing bigger and better yields is to take a cue from the professionals. There are many different sources of information you can draw on and people with lots of experience are full of wisdom and are often happy to help. YouTube is a valuable resource that is free to use, but you can also find some great tips in magazines, podcasts, blogs and even your local retailer can offer you lots of useful advice.

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