Commercial Hydro Nute Formulation

[Glass Man]

Here's a link to a university website which describes nutrient formulation for commercial hydro tomatoe production. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/CV216

It covers formulating nutrients two different ways, either by supplementing a "base" formula to tailor it for specific requirements or by mixing individual ingredients to produce a solution which is designed to provide exact proportions.

This is a very helpful report for anyone who has ever wanted to mix their own nutrient solutions from scratch. It is also very helpful for someone , like me, who just wanted an economical approach to hydrponics and have a firm understanding of what to add to the commonly available commercial hydro bases to meet cannabis' needs.

Btw, I use the 5-11-26 base listed in formula #3 in the report.
I increase the "P" with "Triple Super Phosphate", instead of Phosphoric acid (but I do have the acid too)
I add Epsom Salt.
If I want to increase the "N", I add Calcium Nitrate greenhouse grade- (an uncoated form)

This is a very ecomomical approach to hydroponics, but I firmly believe it supplies everything our plants need to grow & bud very healthily. If you are curious about the costs; the Base is $18 for 25 lbs (makes 30,000 gallons), The Triple Super Phosphate, Calcium Nitrate, & Epsom Salt were each between $13-$18 per 50 lbs.

These quantities would last most hobbiest many years, probably 10+. So, if you buy a bag of each it would be a grand total of $63 for the same high quality ingredients which professional greenhouses depend on to give them maximum yields and profits. Btw, in case you are wondering if my herb taste like chemicals the answer is "No". I harvested both my indoor hydro and my outdoor organic gardens at the same time last fall and nobody could taste a difference.

Sure, I still screw up in the growroom. I'd never claim to be the best or most knowledgable grower here. But I really think this is a good way to garden, and don't understand why others aren't trying it. I'd really like to hear some of you give it a try and lets see, as a group, if it is a good way. (It sure would make things easier when I've got questions!! lol )

I've got a few photos in my gallery. Most of them are the X13/Thai X City Lights, which were in soil. But the big bud with my hand beside it is in hydro. I'll be adding more hydro images soon.

Peace,
GM

[Glass Man]

Btw, I reccomend printing the report. Makes it much easier to read and study.

[hydrorascal]

Very nice report.... Ive grown a fair share of veggies in GH nutes and always had excellent results. At .002 cents a gallon... makes costs almost non existent... a 50 gallon res, my usual veg res size, with this mix has a .106 cost.

What are some of your positive and negative knowns from having used the dry mix??

In our 9-11 days.. have you had any issue with shipping on any of the elements ?

Have you done multiple harvests using an 'add-back' solution ? And during a plant growing sequence do you add back to the res ?

In reading the report it seems that they pre-mix a number of solutions. Have you found that to be necessary or can you pre-mix most ?

[Glass Man]

I'd thought GH (and the others) were more expensive than that, I thought they run around $30-$50 per gallon. Are you sure 50 gallons only cost you 10 cents? If so that's a deal. I thought, from what I'd read, you guys only get a couple of crops from a 1 gallon jug.

Positive & negative:
Positive is I live near the warehouse and can pay cash, without going into a hydro store. My plants trhive on it. And it's very economical. Powders are easier to clean up spills and more compact to store. Probably more positives if I think about it.
Negative is nobody else on the grow boards uses it, so I have nobody with experience to ask advice from concerning it. That's the only negative that's ever occured to me. Might realize something if someone pointed it out...

9/11 concerns mainly deal with explosive ingredients like Ammonium Nitrate. I'm pretty sure anyone can buy this and have it shipped without permits. The Phosphoric Acid probably requires an extra shipping fee for hazardous materials. I'd assume most growers would rather order the commercial base rather than the GH (or competitors) from a hydro store. LEO is well aware of what hydro stores are for... (I just meant this from a security standpoint)

Add-back: No I always drain and change the res between crops. Yes, I have added more Base, or Epsom Salt when the ppm's get low. I add a little Phosphoric acid when the pH is over 5.9, I like it to stay around 5.5-5.7

I'm not quite sure what you're asking in that last question about pre-mix.

The "Base" mix is a pre-mix. The one I use is the 5-11-26. I boost the "P" mainly. For vegging I'll boost the "N" some. I always add Epsom Salt to boost the Mg. Did that answer what you were asking?

Btw, I was just checking the GH prices from aquaticeco.com. They sell it powdered too, 16 lbs for $102 that is $7.50 per lb. The stuff I use is 72 cents per lb. From their NPK numbers it appears that most of them are low on "P" also. MaxiBloom is 5-7-18 & FloraMagic 8-5-18

Then looking at the liquid GH stuff it looks like the FloraBloom is 0-5-4 , so I assume you have to boost the "N" with something when using that?

[hydrorascal]

the dime for 50 gallons is the cost of the dry you presented....
~.16 a res gal for GH nutes... or $8.00 for my veggie 50 gallon res.

a usual 0-8-16 mix for 50 gals will use 400ml of Micro ..just under half a quart
and twice that for Bloom or just under a quart... being 946ml.

2 1/2 gallons are pretty economical. $60/70 each for Micro and Bloom the only ones I use.

So your base is the premix.... how much base do you use per res gallon ??

IF... extra N is needed during a bloom or fruiting cycle adding a higher % of Micro with the Bloom during an add back seems to work very nicely. Epsom salts are cheep enough I usually add 1/4tsp per res gal just to insure they dont need it... or lack for enough mg.

One of my concerns with dry mixes is simply getting all the parts mixed well enough to know the full mix is a true mix of the parts of all the elements...

[plantbuilder]

trebles are trouble.
peace.
pb

[Glass Man]

30,000 gallons divided by 1800 cents ($18) = 16.67 gallons per cent

so, 100 gallons divided by 16.67 = 6.0 cents

But the resevoir is also filled with some other, even cheaper, amendments to reach the final ppm's . So I can't really answer the exact numbers, as my records aren't that detailed.

I'm not sure how the dry mixes are mixed, but I'm pretty sure they would mix large batches throuroughly (sp) to ensure a homogenous end product.

As far as "how much do I use" goes, I add 1 cup of powder then measure the TDS, aiming for about 700 ppm, then add the Epsom Salt to about 1000 ppm, then begin adding Triple Super Phosphate (dissolved in hot water first) to keep sending the ppms up and the pH down. I don't want my ppms over 1350, or my pH under 5.4 . I've found that this seems like an easy way to mix (for me anyway), although probably not the most exact. I am only on my third crop with this system/resevoir size. I ran bubblers before and had the amounts figured out by weights per tub. The way I'm mixing my solution might be "wrong", and I'll be the first to admit that I should get out the pencil and paper to figure out my exact formulation a bit better. But, as I said the plants are looking great, so I have been lazy to do better. Next time I fill the res I'll take better notes and weigh out the exact additions to the res. Then I will have some precise NPK numbers to share and to study.
I've just been of the mindset the "pot like phosphorous" , which admittingly is a sloppy additude.:)


Hey Plantbuilder,
What does that mean? "trebles"?

[hydrorascal]

Star trek

[Glass Man]

I should have known that. I guess I've been watching too much Star Gate and neglecting my Star Trek.....bad GM!