Healthy growing plants, just like humans, need a balanced diet of appropriate nutrients (food). However, plants can only access these nutrients when the nutrient solution is within a certain pH range.
From a water chemistry perspective, pH (potential Hydrogen) plays a pivotal role in making the nutrients in your solution soluble so that they can be accessed by your plants. That’s why if your growing solution becomes too acidic or too alkaline, the plants won’t be able to get access to the nutrients they need to grow. The temperature of your growing solution is equally important as having a solution that’s too hot or too cold can affect growth rate and structure.