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hydroponic Hydroponic nutrients - what works well and what's not worth the price

LeeRoy

LeeRoy

I've been growing peppers (and other vegetables) hydroponically for a while (although I'm not a professional and don't claim to be an expert).

I've tried using a couple of the more expensive nutrient solutions one finds in hydroponic shops (i.e. Fox Farm, GH multi-part) as well as some dirt cheap no-name dry powder formula. I can't really tell a whole lot of difference - or at least to the extent that a difference in quality exists, it's nowhere near the difference in price.

For the past couple of years I've just started using the dirt cheap stuff in a non-recirculating system. No need for PH or TDS meters. The dirt cheap stuff is just under $100 including shipping for 1500 gallons worth. I don't think I could come close to this price with a name brand nutrient, and it works quite well.

Any thoughts on this? Others with similar/different experience?
 
i jsut use GH flora nova and have had no issues my hydro shops gives me a little discount and the 30 dollar bottle last me forver as i keep my ppm around 500 and now i dont do res changes as the plants are drinking plenty of water/nutes to just need to add fresh water or nute solution every 2-3 days. i have only use the flora nova series so no experience with anything else but it works for me as i spend 30 bucks for MONTHS as it is super concentrated
 
for 20 or 30 bucks you can get a digital scale, and mix your own.

as far as premade nutes go, i tried something called maxi grow and floramato, both of which were great, but far more costly than just buying calcium nitrate MKP etc.

might also want to look at the hydrogardens premixed nutes, i think they include everything but calcium nitrate or something.
 
I don't see a drip to wast system worth anything more than cheap GH.

If you were growing a more complex plant in something like a aeroponic system then things change. Nutrients like Holland House and Garden or Advance Nutrients Connoisseur line should be considered. Pharmaceutical grade fertilizers carry an impressive price tag.

Its worth mentioning a good book, Gardening Indoors with soil and Hydroponics by George F. Van Patten

This reference guide will help you understand the N-P-K scale along Macronutrients (both mobile and immobile) Chelates and Micronutrients. There is also a small section on compost teas ( these can be very cost effective ).

And most important, Enjoy your grow regardless of your choice of fertilizer or cost.
 
i think you are kidding yourself if you think the fertilizer manufacturers are using anything close to "pharmaceutical grade" what ever that is supposed to be. i think "technical" grade is more likely.

i ran a high pressure aero setup with home made nutes, and couldn't find anything different from what i came to expect with the gh three bottle stuff.
 
Queequeg152, please let me explain in more detail.

The following is a quote from Maximum Yield Mag, (The 420 community has something's to offer).


I ask this question because in the latest edition of Maximum Yield it was brought to my attention that most companies nutrients are technical grade and are only 90%-95% pure.
I am simply currious, under which catigory of chemical grades are Technaflora plant products Nutrients?


Here is a quote from the article:

"The four types of chemical grades we need to look at in hydroponics are Fertilizer or Industrial Grade, Technical Grade, British Pharmaceutical Grade and Laboratory Reagent Grade.

Fertilizer or Industrial grade is the lowest (worst). This grade is typically less than 90% pure and contains the largest amount of impurities.

Technical grade is better. It is typically around 90% to 95% pure, but it can still contain quite a lot of impurities, including detrimental elements.

British Pharmaceutical grade is the most preferable grade of material. It is approximately 99% pure, and it is tested to be free of any heavy metals and perchlorates. The standards for this grade are more stringent because these products are typically used in the manufacturing of foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals (which explains why the common slang name for British Pharmaceutical Grade is Food Grade).

Laboratory Reagent Grade is above 99.5% purity, but sometimes it does not undergo specific heavy metal and perchlorate testing.

Many manufacturers make their nutrient concentrates from fertilizer and technical grades because they are significantly cheaper (around one-quarter the price)."

Again, regardless of choice or cost the most important thing is to enjoy your grow.
 
ive never heard of any fertilizer being less than 90% pure? where did they get that? the largest by weight component i use is yara calcinit, which also happens to be the cheepest. and its supposedly less than .1% impurities.
 
when i first started my dwc, i used granular, water soluble, tomato fertilizer. 15-15-30. my plants grew really nicely but failed to flower or set fruit. so, i broke down and bough GH Flora and Bloom and my plant more than skyrocketed, they became monsters on the recommended dose. then, they flowered incredibly and set fruit.

so now my mix is GH flora & bloom as stated by the manufacturer but i also add a scoop of the tomato fertilizer for the micro nutrients. Originally i skipped on the GH Micro as it is about $7 more per bottle but after not being able to find calcium nitrate anywhere, i may have to look at it and see if i get more improvements.

good luck.
 
Yara is a proven worldwide company with cost effective results and I cannot and will not discredit them.

For me the bigger question is how is your macronutrients derived? Which has a direct correlation to the final products cost.


The EPA is currently reviewing,

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 261, 266, 268 and 271

[FRL–7248–3]

RIN 2050–AE69

Zinc Fertilizers Made From Recycled Hazardous Secondary Materials.


That's not something I want in my food!

The point here is use what ever works for you and what your budget allows. But keep in mind they are not created equal. In this case how they achieved the N-P-K is as important as what the numbers are.
 
Has anyone done a straight comparison of different brands of nutrients? To me this would be the single best test. There are so many variables that potentially come into play it seems to me that an empirical test is the only real way to demonstrate any real difference.

As big as the industry has gotten, there must be someone who's done this sort of comparison, right?
 
You don't have to worry about impurities in nitrates. They're produced synthetically, so they're very pure. Phosphates - now that's a different story. Phosphates are mined, and all the sources are contaminated with cadmium, uranium and other heavy metals you don't want in your nutrient solution. There's only one deposit worldwide (Kola-island in Russia), where cadmium-Levels are under the maximum level for fertilizers.
So when you're mixing your own fertilizer, you can buy the cheapest nitrates you get, but you shouldn't be cheap when buying phosphates.

BTW: There's a very good open source program for calculating your own fertilizer-formula. It's called "Hydrobuddy" and you can get it here: http://scienceinhydroponics.com/ - It comes with a database of fertilizer-formulations btw, including some for chilies.
 
I use GH Maxibloom. No grow, just bloom. It is relatively cheap and at a tsp. per gallon goes quite a long way. Plants do not grow stupid fast like with other grow products but once that first split occurs they cannot stop flowering.
 
This is the stuff I've been using:

http://www.graceshydro.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=2658

I can't find the direct link to the manufacturer, which is actually a hydroponics store in Arizona (or New Mexico, or somewhere in the southwest, I think). Anyway, buying it direct costs about $100 including shipping, and makes 2500 gallons at 1tsp/gallon.

I've used Maxibloom and FloraMato and found both to be good, but the above is still cheaper than these, and seems similar in effectiveness.

I've got a dozen or so seedlings (all same strain) I'm going to be putting in a hydro system in a few days. It would be easy to do an actual head to head test where I randomly assigned say three seedlings to one of four groups, and used a different nutrient solution for each group. Everything else would be exactly the same. So, if I did this, what off-the-shelf nutrients would be representative of different price points?

My goal would be to determine if there is a relationship (and if there is, how much of one) between nutrient prices and productivity. So I'd use the above cheap stuff (it's the cheapest I can find, and I think would be similar in price to creating my own solution from nutrient salts) to represent the lowest end of the price spectrum. I'd use the three-part GH FloraMicro/Florabloom/Floragrow for one of the other groups.

That leaves two additional nutrient solutions. What would be considered representative of a super high-end nutrient?
 
Well, don't know if you can get it in the U.S., but here in europe, "Hakaphos soft special" is the fertilizer of choice for most Chili-Growers. - It's dirt cheap and it's actually intended for use in recirculating hydroponic systems (meaning: the ammonium to nitrate ratio is optimized, so that pH-swings won't occur). It works very well in soil, so i guess it'll work even better in hydroponic systems. Only con: There's no Calcium in it, so you'd have to add some calcium nitrate (into the nutrient solution or applied directly to the leaves). But since you can get the aforementioned yara calcinit easily in the U.S. (you can't over here, couse our nanny state considers us all bomb making terrorists) that shouldn't constitute a problem.
 
I have used a lot of diiferent nutes. Different brands work better depending on what type of system and medium you are using.

My choices would be:
DWC: use Dutch Master gold base with their zone for roots.
Coco: I would use House & Gardens Coco's
Soiless pet mixes (sunshine #4, etc): Advanced nutrients are the best

Never go with Fox Farm liquid nutes (there soils are good) and I would only use the GH flora series if money is a factor. The flora series is very salty, if you use it look at the build up left behind in your res. GH Nova series is much better.
 
LeeRoy said:
Has anyone done a straight comparison of different brands of nutrients? To me this would be the single best test. There are so many variables that potentially come into play it seems to me that an empirical test is the only real way to demonstrate any real difference.

As big as the industry has gotten, there must be someone who's done this sort of comparison, right?
Click to expand...
I used GH Flora Series for a long time and switched to Botanicare on advise of the hydro shop guy. Used Botanicare for a month on a couple plants and GH on the rest to use up what I had of the GH.
I'm seeing absolutely no difference at all and the Botanicare is a little harder for me to keep track of what I'm using and mix amounts so I'll be going back to the GH for all my plants now.
 
Mad Scientist said:
Well, don't know if you can get it in the U.S., but here in europe, "Hakaphos soft special" is the fertilizer of choice for most Chili-Growers. - It's dirt cheap and it's actually intended for use in recirculating hydroponic systems (meaning: the ammonium to nitrate ratio is optimized, so that pH-swings won't occur). It works very well in soil, so i guess it'll work even better in hydroponic systems. Only con: There's no Calcium in it, so you'd have to add some calcium nitrate (into the nutrient solution or applied directly to the leaves). But since you can get the aforementioned yara calcinit easily in the U.S. (you can't over here, couse our nanny state considers us all bomb making terrorists) that shouldn't constitute a problem.
Click to expand...


SouthernAg sells a similar product called 10-30-20 START, ROOT AND BLOOM WATER SOLUBLE FERTILIZER

CONTAINS: 10% Nitrogen, 30% Phosphorus (P205), 20% Potassium (K20) plus Chelated Minor Elements.
BTW Chelated Minor Elements are usually Iron and Manganese

Martin
 
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