Growing plants indoors is a great option for anybody who either don’t have the space to do it outside or who live in too cold of a climate to garden outdoors all year a round. However, even indoors gardening, as easy as it is, sometimes presents some challenges. And one of these challenges is to give the plants the nutrients they need to grow big and to do it in relatively short time. So let me tell you about the best and most essential nutrients you should provide for plants that are growing indoors and under artificial lighting such as T5 grow lights.
I usually don’t talk about nutrients that much, because they are not always necessary. If fact plants are able to grow under artificial lights and do it very well without any nutrients, but there are times when nutrients can be a great way how you can up your plant growing game and grow not only bigger plants but also get bigger yields from them.
During the time your plants are still growing which is called the vegetative stage of plant growth, they (no matter what type of plants you are growing) require fertilizers that are high in nitrogen. 
Nitrogen is so important especially while plants are growing, because it is the nutrient that is a fundamental part of chlorophyll, meaning that if there is enough nitrogen in plants, they can perform photosynthesis at higher rates therefore also grow faster. But growing plans also need phosphorus and potassium because phosphorus similarly to nitrogen is greatly involved in photosynthesis as well as energy transformation and nutrient movement in plants but potassium will increase yield as well as the quality of the yield because it is important nutrient form multiple plant growth processes. So for vegetating plants buy a fertilizer or nutrient mix that is high in nitrogen and lower in phosphorus and potassium.
As for the blooming stages of plant growth, once the plants start flowering and actually maturing, they will need fertilizers that are lower in nitrogen, but higher in potassium and phosphorus, because the main purpose of nitrogen is to help with plant growth, but potassium and phosphorus are more universal nutrients that will be more useful in flowering stages of plant growth.
And then there are secondary plant nutrients that although aren’t as important, still would greatly help the plants grow and produce good yields. One of these nutrients is calcium because plants use calcium to neutralize different toxic materials and to bind together organic and non-organic particles so the plant receive the most out of the medium it is growing in. Then there also is magnesium that lets the plants actually process sunlight during photosynthesis, and also sulfur which is found in most proteins that are in plants. So if it is possible then buy a fertilizer that includes these nutrients too.
Just remember that no nutrients or fertilizers can be substitutes for light. If you are not giving your plants enough light then no additional plant vitamins will help with their growth. However, if you are giving the plants enough light, water, air and they still aren’t growing as well as they should be then additional nutrients is the way to go to get the plants back on track and back to growing quickly.
