5 Non-Essential Elements That May Improve Plant Growth

In this blog we’re exploring a fascinating topic: non-essential elements in hydroponics. These are elements that plants do not need to survive, but which may offer significant benefits to growth, resilience, or nutrient uptake—if used properly.

Let’s take a look at five such elements, why they’re used, and which ones you should approach with caution.

🌿 1. Silicon – Strength and Stress Resistance

Recommended: ✅ Yes

Silicon is the most well-known and widely recommended non-essential element in hydroponics.

Benefits:

• Strengthens cell walls, similar to calcium
• Enhances resistance to pests, diseases, and abiotic stress like drought or intense light
• Forms phytoliths (tiny silica rocks) that deter chewing insects

While not essential, silicon is often added to feeds and routinely used in hydroponic nutrient programs.

⚠️ Note: Silicon can raise your pH—so monitor your solution and use pH down as needed, unless you’re using buffered systems like Liquid Gold or Liquid Iron, which help stabilize pH.

⚠️ 2. Selenium – Only for Animal Nutrition

Recommended: ❌ No (for plants)

While selenium plays a vital role in animal and human health (especially in pasture systems for cattle and sheep), it has no proven benefits for plant growth—and can be toxic at high levels.

Avoid adding selenium to hydroponic systems unless you’re managing pasture crops for livestock.

⚠️ 3. Cobalt – Not Worth the Risk

Recommended: ❌ No

Cobalt is sometimes mentioned for its role in urease enzymes involved in nitrogen metabolism, but the risk far outweighs the potential benefit:

• It is carcinogenic
• Found naturally in soil and water in trace amounts
• Often already present in sufficient levels

Best practice: Do not add cobalt to your hydroponic mix.

⚠️ 4. Vanadium – A Poor Iron Substitute

Recommended: ❌ No

Vanadium has occasionally shown yield improvements in low-nutrient or high-pH soils, but usually only as a weak substitute for iron.

Iron is involved in:

• Chlorophyll synthesis
• Enzymatic reactions
• Energy transfer

Instead of adding vanadium, you’re far better off adding chelated iron, which plants need in much larger quantities and handle efficiently.

⚠️ 5. Titanium – Limited Data, Limited Benefit

Recommended: ❌ No

Like vanadium, titanium has shown marginal benefits in specific stress trials—but again, mostly due to iron deficiency conditions.

There’s no substantial evidence that titanium is useful in standard or optimized hydroponic systems. Don’t waste your money or risk your crop health.

Final Verdict: Stick With Silicon

Among these five non-essential elements, silicon stands alone as the only one with consistent, research-backed benefits for hydroponic plants.

It’s safe, effective, and enhances plant resilience—especially against physical stressors and environmental extremes.

Elements You Don’t Need to Worry About

• Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen: Naturally absorbed from air and water
• Helium, fluorine, and other inert gases or halogens: No known benefit
• Heavy metals (e.g., lead, cadmium): Generally toxic and should be avoided entirely

Conclusion

If you’re considering additives outside the core list of essential nutrients, silicon is the only non-essential element worth adding to your hydroponic setup. Others, like selenium, cobalt, titanium, and vanadium, come with little benefit and high risk.

Keep your nutrient strategy clean, simple, and evidence-based. And as always, monitor pH, EC, and plant response regularly for optimal results.

Article by Dr Russell Sharp

If you would like to keep up to date with subjects just like this, you can listen to both our podcasts! Links can be found bellow:

Hydroponics Daily Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/207T7p7fw9sPjINfSjVXW2

Cereal Killers Podcast: https://t.co/eSEbBkTVHl