That is where we can help you, guide you on what are the requirements for you to grow a healthy plant. Plants are like humans too, that needs to be nurtured with the right environment, the right climate and a lot more to be healthy. So let's start to enumerate the factors that you need to consider to grow your plants healthy.
1. Soil Moisture
Water plays a significant role in the life of plants. Water is for plant's nutrient absorption and transportation, it also important in the process of plant's food making process or photosynthesis. Don't think that watering plants is enough, we should be fully aware of the correct amount of water to put into the plants too. Both under watering and over watering the plants is not good for different type of plants have different preferences when it comes to the amount of moisture they intake. Therefore you need to monitor the plant's moisture. If you already know the current situation of the plant you'll know when it's time to water the plant or when to stop.
2. Soil pH
Soil pH needs to be measured too for us to know how acid or alkaline the soil is. A pH of 7.0 is considered neutral. When the value is below 7.0 it is acid and when the reading is above 7.0 the soil is alkaline. Soil pH has a profound effect on how plants can easily take up nutrients from the soil. The “ideal” soil pH is almost neutral, and neutral soils are considered to fall within a range of 6.5 to slightly alkaline pH of 7.5. It has been confirmed that most plant nutrients are optimally available to plants within this 6.5 to 7.5 pH range, plus this range of pH is generally very compatible to plant root growth.
There are a lot of available methods you can use to determine your soil pH; there are garden centers that would likely to test the soil for you or you can buy an inexpensive pH test kit/meters at most hardware stores or online store. You may just check what works for you.
3.Soil Temperature
Soil Temperature is the measurement of the warmth of the soil. Determining the soil temperature is beneficial in order for you to know the right timing of sowing seeds, transplanting and composting. Every type of crops has a preferred soil temperature, planting early without waiting for the soil to get warm might lead to seed rot or plants will grow poorly. If you are planning to grow a certain type of plant, research thoroughly on what range of temperature would they likely to thrive. And more importantly measure the temperature of the soil with the available methods at your disposal.
4. Light Intensity
Need I say more? Light is equally important as the other factors above. Just like water, light plays an important role on photosynthesis. In the process of photosynthesis light energy is being combined with CO2 and water to make sugar and O2.
In order to maximize the benefit of light to your plant, consider the quantity and consistency of light. Are you giving the plant the right exposure to the light? Too much light can cause the leaves to dry but lack of light can cause the plant not to grow to their full potential. For that reason it is a must to managed light properly and you can only do that by measuring the light intensity precisely.
For accurate measurement of moisture, soil pH, temperature and light intensity you need to have a reliable instrument. Check this incredible device for accurate results!
Having those 4 factors in mind I think your garden can blossom into a beautiful one. Can you think about other factors that need to be considered when growing a plant? We would like to hear it from you.
