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fertilizer How do you fertilize plants that are on drip irrigation?

You're right, I guess I assume everyone has meters to test nutes. I grow tomatoes in a dutch bucket system and it's second nature.
 
That feeder is made of hard plastic and should last years.
 
I also wanted to add it is safe to use 10 tbsp of the blue MG fertilizer to a refill bottle to use as a weekly feeding. It was used last year with great results. The recommended dose of the blue stuff is 1 tbsp to 1 gallon of water, using the injector makes is 10 tbsp to 40 gallons.
 
Rajun Gardener said:
I also wanted to add it is safe to use 10 tbsp of the blue MG fertilizer to a refill bottle to use as a weekly feeding. It was used last year with great results. The recommended dose of the blue stuff is 1 tbsp to 1 gallon of water, using the injector makes is 10 tbsp to 40 gallons.
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Can you throw me a link to that thing?

You gon learn today!
 
 I have the M/G feeder myself but the handheld one (takes the same bottles)
 
The factory mix comes out To Strong for me, I burnt some stuff.  Be carefull
 
I have drip irrigation in my entire garden, about 100 plants in total, half peppers.
 
Once a month or so I take Dr. Earth Tomato, Herb and Vegetable fertilizer along with Epsom Salts(in the pepper portion) and mix in to the top 2-3 or so inches of soil around all my plants.  I dont really use any kind of specific measurements, just kind of spread it out on the surface and then use a small hand held hard tine garden rake to mix it in.  Then I use my regular garden hose to thoroughly wet the soil.  I dont water for 3-4 days before hand so the top is dry.  Has worked REALLY well for me.  Last year I had reapers about 5' tall.  My tomato plants were over 8' tall and grew up and out of my shade cloth which is 6' from the top of the soil...it was quite ridiculous having to get a ladder out to pick tomato's.
 
With the drip emitters you will get a feel for how big of an area of soil that gets wet from absorbing the water.  For me its about a 6-8" diameter area around my plants, so I try to keep the dry ferts to about that size around my plants so when the drip is running, the ferts will also get wet.
 
Have friend who got grant for transitioning to organic.  She built a huge high tunnel with drip irrigation, plastic on floor.  Each year, she rolls up the plastic and tills aged organic material into the soil, then rolls it back down.  She says much less clogging of the drip tips than when she used chemicals in the water.
 
Rajun Gardener said:
Obviously you need to do tests to figure out your dosage but that injector fertilizes 40 gallons with the bottle that comes with it. I tested it against the blue MG stuff and it's different from the green stuff it comes with. If you use a weak solution you can feed at every watering. I'll use Masterblend, calnit and epsom this year and I'll have to test it.
 
I did some test on it last year and posted them somewhere. Here's the results of me testing the blue MG against the green MG solutions. This was to use the original bottle that came with it. It's probably Greek but ask if you have questions.
 
 
I set up the feeder like directions say and out the hose the PPM is 519
I then mixed a batch of the blue stuff, 1 tbsp-1 gallon of water and it tested 885, this is closer to what my hydroponic mix is but maybe it's too strong for the garden because we already have most of the requirements to grow compared to hydroponics soil-less mix.
I changed the solution in the bottle and ran that home mix, it was only 186. This should confirm that the fertilizer in the bottles are made from different stuff.
I mixed another 4.5 tbsp and then it tested 265
I added another 4.5 and it went up to 366
That's a total of 15 tbsp to get 366, I'm guessing another 6 tbsp and it would reach the same PPM as the bottle but about half as much as the recommended mix in the directions.
I used 1/2 lb of the 1.5lb box I bought for $5.00, that $1.66 for 40 gallons
 

You can use any water soluble fertilizer, just test the ppm and make adjustments. 
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I am finally ready to pull the trigger on this. I am growing in a 5 1 1 mix and definitely need to up my nutes. I also need it to be automated so I think this is the trick.

I have the water soluble mg fert and will start there I guess.

All that mixture stuff was really lost on me.

How is yours going?
 
mas_fuego said:
I am finally ready to pull the trigger on this. I am growing in a 5 1 1 mix and definitely need to up my nutes. I also need it to be automated so I think this is the trick.
 
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Al Tapla strikes again.  I just replied to another topic about the 5-1-1.  That's not a great mix, in my humble opinion, for outdoor container gardening.  You are going to struggle to keep up with the demands of that mix.  If it dries out, it's a bitch to get wetted again. (and it will dry out, without constant watering, which means constant feeding)  It's very needy!
 
solid7 said:
 
Al Tapla strikes again.  I just replied to another topic about the 5-1-1.  That's not a great mix, in my humble opinion, for outdoor container gardening.  You are going to struggle to keep up with the demands of that mix.  If it dries out, it's a bitch to get wetted again. (and it will dry out, without constant watering, which means constant feeding)  It's very needy!
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That's why I chose it for my automatic drip system.

If I can automate the nuts, stuff might thrive.
 
mas_fuego said:
That's why I chose it for my automatic drip system.

If I can automate the nuts, stuff might thrive.
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I think I understand what you want to do, but what I'm trying to say is, the amount of food that you need over the course of a season will go up relative to the amount of water you put through the container - without necessarily giving you a proportional return, in terms of growth.
.
You'll make it work, but you might be startled at how high maintenance it can be.
.
A lot of guys down here go with a 3-1-1 mix, and include a bit of compost.
 
solid7 said:
 
I think I understand what you want to do, but what I'm trying to say is, the amount of food that you need over the course of a season will go up relative to the amount of water you put through the container - without necessarily giving you a proportional return, in terms of growth.
.
You'll make it work, but you might be startled at how high maintenance it can be.
.
A lot of guys down here go with a 3-1-1 mix, and include a bit of compost.
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I am actually going 411 with pediodic compost topping.
 
Rajun Gardener said:
I made an adapter from pvc to screw into the injector then piped it into a 5 gallon bucket using off the shelf parts. I had to get someone with a lathe make that adapter to fit the buttress thread
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I am starting this project this weekend. This part is my only real challenge other than dosing.

I am thinking getting close and filling with epoxy or something.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 
Rajun Gardener said:
You can use the MG injector and add any ferts you like, just hook it up to any irrigation system you want to. I use drip tape and made a bigger reservoir to hold more nutes.
Here's the MG injector http://www.homedepot.com/p/Miracle-Gro-LiquaFeed-16-oz-Universal-Feeder-Starter-Kit-101910/205563774
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Boom!
 
bXolRiH.jpg

 
Thanks for the inspiration.
 
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