plant from affecting all the others. It also reduces the likelihood
of disease in any single plant through the use of fresh water,
which minimizes undesirable living organisms that could overwhelm a plant’s natural defenses.
The reliability of nutrient benefits to your crop is another issue
where a drain-to-waste system can help. In recirculation systems,
the nutrients that are returned to the water-nutrient reservoir
have actually been chemically modified through the action of
the growing medium and biological activity there. Precipitates
will form from the nutrients and these can drop out of solution and become unavailable to the plant, meaning that your
plant might not receive proper nutrition. Periodically flushing
out your growing medium—that is, flushing and draining of
your water-nutrient solution—can help. This resets your system
reduce or eliminate a buildup of any particular nutrients, allowing you to maintain the right nutrient balance for your crop
throughout the growing cycle. If you have a recirculating system
and want to perform a flush, this can be accomplished by redirecting the outflow to the “drain-to-waste” position. If you do
not have such a valve, you can simply redirect the hosing away
from the solution tank and to a waste drain. v