Tower Garden Nutrients in Summer: How Much Should You Add?

Why Reduce Tower Garden Nutrients in Hot Weather?

Think back to science class for a minute. When it's hot, water evaporates more quickly. Your plants are also transpiring—essentially releasing water through their leaves—which increases their demand for water.

But when water leaves the reservoir through evaporation, the dissolved minerals don't simply evaporate with it.

If you repeatedly replace that lost water with a full-strength nutrient solution during very hot weather, you can end up with a more concentrated nutrient solution than your plants need.

Too much Mineral Blend can make it more difficult for plants to take up the water they need, adding even more stress when they're already dealing with high temperatures.

Half Strength or Nutrients Every Other Refill?

You may hear the advice to add nutrients only every other time you top off your Tower Garden. That can work, but there's one problem: you probably don't add the same amount of water every time.

For example, you might add 5 gallons today, 12 gallons several days from now and another 5 gallons the next time.

If you're adding nutrients every other refill, those uneven amounts make it harder to know how much Mineral Blend you've actually added in relation to the amount of water going into the reservoir.

Do You Need to Measure Nutrients in the Reservoir?

For most home Tower Garden growers, you don't need to make nutrient management complicated.

Tower Garden is designed to make growing approachable, even if you've never grown hydroponically before.

A simple routine is usually enough:

• Adjust your Mineral Blend strength for hot weather.
• Add the appropriate amount of both Mineral Blend A and B.
• Keep an eye on your plants as temperatures change.
• Empty and refresh the reservoir approximately every 30–60 days.
• Keep your Tower Garden pH within the recommended range of 5.5–6.5.

A Simple Tower Garden Summer Nutrient Routine

You don't need to overthink summer nutrients. When you need to add water, note the amount of water you're adding and use the nutrient strength appropriate for your current temperatures.

If Temperatures Are Below About 85°F

Use the standard dose of 20 mL of Mineral Blend A and 20 mL of Mineral Blend B per gallon of water added.

If Temperatures Are Consistently 85°F or Higher

Reduce to half strength: 10 mL of Mineral Blend A and 10 mL of Mineral Blend B per gallon of water added.

If Temperatures Are Over 95°F

Reduce further to quarter strength: 5 mL of Mineral Blend A and 5 mL of Mineral Blend B per gallon of water added.

Continue adjusting as conditions change. Summer nutrient reduction doesn't mean you need to keep using reduced nutrients when cooler weather returns.

Don't Let More Nutrients Become More Stress

When we first started growing with Tower Garden, Jason and I weren't expert growers either—we were former skydiving instructors learning as we went!

One of the biggest lessons we've learned is that more isn't always better. During summer, your Tower Garden can go through a lot more water, but continually replacing that water with full-strength nutrients can create problems rather than solve them.

Reduce the nutrient strength as temperatures climb, keep your reservoir topped up, and let your plants tell you how they're handling the heat.