OK....
So all of my years of pepper growing has been in the soil!........ only recently decided to learn about hydro systems....
first order of business is try out a water culture type setup with lettuce or something easy to grow.... then i'ma move on up to probably an ebb & flow where i will put my some of my peppers......... don't think i have the skills to do a NFT as yet........
a WC system is simple enough for a noob to have a go at it......... tank, aquarium air pump, some thing to float..... thats about it.....
now the problem:..........
Nutrients are readily available for most hydro systems in solutions you just buy of the shelf.......
i have scoured almost half of the country in agri shops this morning and no one stocks a full nutrient solution............ however, they said lots of pple in trinidad do hydro but they buy the stock chemicals in the solid form and mix accordingly..... having a small chemical background i decided to try the hillbilly approach.......... mix your own, here's what i got:
A foliar water soluble fert. (miracle gro):
* Total N (Ammoniacal Nitrogen & Urea Nitrogen) - 15%
* Total Phosphate - 30%
* Potash - 15%
* Boron - 0.02%
* Copper (water soluble) - 0.07%
* Iron (Chelated) - 0.15%
* Manganese (Chelated) - 0.05%
* Molybdenum - 0.0005%
* Zinc (Water Soluble) - 0.06%
---> all of that is in one pack
Looking at the nitrogen compounds - it is not in the nitrate form which is almost essential for hydro...
also looking at the secondary macro-nutrients i have calcium, magnesium and sulfur missing so i bought:
* Calcium Nitrate
* Magnesium Sulfate
The only two micro-nutrients that i seem to be missing is Sodium and chloride ----- hey that's what u got pot-salt for right??? lol.....
What a predicament ...... how much of what do i combine with who and in what volume of water? am i missing anything? or is this a lost cause?
As for pH - got that under control............ I have an electronic pH meter and some food grade citric acid...... also got me some very dilute NaOH....
As for TDS (EC meter at my disposal) ............. i work in a desalination plant............. got me RO permeate
So all of my years of pepper growing has been in the soil!........ only recently decided to learn about hydro systems....
first order of business is try out a water culture type setup with lettuce or something easy to grow.... then i'ma move on up to probably an ebb & flow where i will put my some of my peppers......... don't think i have the skills to do a NFT as yet........
a WC system is simple enough for a noob to have a go at it......... tank, aquarium air pump, some thing to float..... thats about it.....
now the problem:..........
Nutrients are readily available for most hydro systems in solutions you just buy of the shelf.......
i have scoured almost half of the country in agri shops this morning and no one stocks a full nutrient solution............ however, they said lots of pple in trinidad do hydro but they buy the stock chemicals in the solid form and mix accordingly..... having a small chemical background i decided to try the hillbilly approach.......... mix your own, here's what i got:
A foliar water soluble fert. (miracle gro):
* Total N (Ammoniacal Nitrogen & Urea Nitrogen) - 15%
* Total Phosphate - 30%
* Potash - 15%
* Boron - 0.02%
* Copper (water soluble) - 0.07%
* Iron (Chelated) - 0.15%
* Manganese (Chelated) - 0.05%
* Molybdenum - 0.0005%
* Zinc (Water Soluble) - 0.06%
---> all of that is in one pack
Looking at the nitrogen compounds - it is not in the nitrate form which is almost essential for hydro...
also looking at the secondary macro-nutrients i have calcium, magnesium and sulfur missing so i bought:
* Calcium Nitrate
* Magnesium Sulfate
The only two micro-nutrients that i seem to be missing is Sodium and chloride ----- hey that's what u got pot-salt for right??? lol.....
What a predicament ...... how much of what do i combine with who and in what volume of water? am i missing anything? or is this a lost cause?
As for pH - got that under control............ I have an electronic pH meter and some food grade citric acid...... also got me some very dilute NaOH....
As for TDS (EC meter at my disposal) ............. i work in a desalination plant............. got me RO permeate
