nutrients Nutrient ratios and mixing and matching nutrients.

[SmurfKing]

I am sorry for being so negative about what you're trying to do.

I keep thinking about my local hydro store. They must have a couple of hundred, at least, different types of things you can use to fertilize plants that I can't see how anyone could figure out which one is the best for every situation. Take dolomite limestone for example. Without testing your soil how much do you use? To be effective it has to be mixed in specific ratios with magnesium and even those ratios depend upon the type of growing medium you're using. How specific are you going to get? How many different minerals do plants need? Micro and macro? Three primary are Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. secondary are calcium magnesium and sulpher. Then the micro minerals, boron, copper, iron, chloride, manganese molybdnum and zinc. How do you figure out the correct amounts of these? Each type of medium is going to provide some at least but without testing each one how do you decide the amount to add? If there were just a couple of standard growing mediums you might be able to come up with some numbers but people make their own all the time. How about growing in the ground? The variables there are going to be huge!

If I was doing something like this I think I would concentrate on figuring out what works the best in one specific growing medium. Even then you're going to get a myriad of different answers from people. What works for one grower might work for all but there will be people who swear what they do works better. You could come up with the ultimate mix of medium and ferts and show photos of huge plants covered in pods but that still isn't going to guarantee the next guy will have the same success. Most people will start tweaking things the moment they start.

Thanks for the apology but don't worry about it. Negative can only help us reach the positive. I see what you mean about all of this, I think everyone might have took it the wrong way, or I wrote it wrong LoL. But I really do see what you mean. The main thing I was wondering about is hydroponics and aeroponics because they are composed or every nutrient a plant needs. I wrote that earlier but might have not really said the thing about hydroponics and aeroponics. Sorry ya'll.

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]This is a good example I feel but by the end of this I want to have a chart we all agree on, then we can move on to one for soil also. If people actually have recipes or some nutrient no one is using, but might need to. Let us know please this post is looking for ya'll.[/background]

I am loving it all. I like to hear about soil also because I am gonna grow in my greenhouse this year, when it warms up. The weather is not really in a growers favor lately. When we talk about soil and soil-less mixes I think it is a hard subject because you can have the same bag of soil and it have different nutrient and ph quality all thru out it. That is why usually when I grow I try to use nothing at all just neoprene holding my plants or a net pot with nothing in it. Sometimes hydroton but I kind of hate those as well because they grow mold sometimes or get nutrient build up. See in this topic it is good to hear different stuff because like you said one thing might work for one person, and not the next. Then come to find out they have a different strain of pepper that is not as vigorous as another!? That is why as detailed as someone can get on what they do is better, but keeping it short is good too! Patrick you are a good example because you have played around with a bunch of stuff from the hydroponic store so you may know better than others what is good and not. So the main thing people can do here is the nutrient that you hear the most, that people did good with then you might wanna try it, maybe. I am not saying go buy everything you hear on here though. Like that PH perfect thing I would not recommend going and buying it. I just got a good deal on it and looked at videos that showed the ph going into a good range., but this nutrient line has like a million other additives that also go with it that I don't use and I just add a liquid seaweed nute in there and it did fine. But when you are dealing with hydroponics you will always have to adjust something eventually. But the label said they can't guarantee it will be a perfect ph if you don't use their line of products only and I like to mix and match.

Hope this helps out and I took pictures of all my nutes and will load them in.

 

[SmurfKing]

Yeah Jeff H, I know what you mean it is a migrane thinking about all the different types and possibilities of nutrients and combinations there are. I do have a question though. What are the 2 types of nutrient lines did you use?

Ok here is all the nutrients I use.

These are most of them I probably have more.

 

[Prehensile]

#22 that's just plain NUTS!!!!!! I suppose money spent on Hydro is better than money spent on Meth........

 

[patrick]

Thanks for letting me go on smurfking.

Looking at everything you use that's what I was talking about. When I first started man I was using just about everything I could buy. You look like you've spent a few bucks yourself. All of that stuff isn't necessary. I have little doubt you could stop using two or three or more of those and you wouldn't notice much of a difference in your plants. Putting together the perfect recipe for others is great but most people aren't going to a, spend the money, b, follow the recipe anyway. Most of the folks around here use a couple of basic ferts and an additive or two. Gal Mag seems to be a very popular one and Epsom salts another.

I wish you the best of luck I sincerely do. Take a look at the number of people who have contributed so far, you and one other and you've had over 270 visits. That should kind of tell you how folks feel about this. Here I am discouraging you again. Sorry. Hey who knows maybe you'll stumble upon the greatest concoction of ferts and additives that turn a seedling into a towering full plant full of pods overnight. Then we'll all wish we helped. Good luck dude.

 

[SmurfKing]

Thanks for letting me go on smurfking.Looking at everything you use that's what I was talking about. When I first started man I was using just about everything I could buy. You look like you've spent a few bucks yourself. All of that stuff isn't necessary. I have little doubt you could stop using two or three or more of those and you wouldn't notice much of a difference in your plants. Putting together the perfect recipe for others is great but most people aren't going to a, spend the money, b, follow the recipe anyway. Most of the folks around here use a couple of basic ferts and an additive or two. Gal Mag seems to be a very popular one and Epsom salts another.I wish you the best of luck I sincerely do. Take a look at the number of people who have contributed so far, you and one other and you've had over 270 visits. That should kind of tell you how folks feel about this. Here I am discouraging you again. Sorry. Hey who knows maybe you'll stumble upon the greatest concoction of ferts and additives that turn a seedling into a towering full plant full of pods overnight. Then we'll all wish we helped. Good luck dude.

No like I told you before LoL . I used to grow many other plants so that is stuff I have left over. LoL I would never had bought all those just to tweak stuff that is insane. All I have really needed to use is just one of the nute line and the liquid seaweed and that is about it. Then every other week use epson salt.But anyone who has grown hydroponics for long enough would know it is always smart to have more then one type of nute on hand. SO if you see a deficiency then you can use one of them to tweak your nutes. Like liquid seaweed has micro nutes and amino acids and many other things that is beneficial for good organisms. I have clones in soil. That is why I have different organic stuff for the soil with beneficial microbial stuff. SO then I just basically water my plants only and they eat up the organics and I dont have to deal with nutes so much for my little plants. I used to grow stevia for my grandma's diabetes also many other medicinals that you would probably have no clue what they are. So that is when I got most of the nutes. But when money is not such a big issue or you really could careless about it to much when it comes to what is best for your plants. Then you might get what I am talking about. I never went to a hydroponic store not knowing what I want and just buying any old thing lol. I get what I need so everything I had I needed it at some point. The technaflora worked the best in my opinion but I hate nutrient lines that have a million things you have to mix. SO I strayed away from that, but still use it at the same time, with other nutes sometimes because I am skilled enough to know what I am doing.To me it seems like patrick, if you are trying to be negative about this post it is because you did go thru most items at you local hydro store instead of just doing the research before you set in there. A hydro shop is like a used car store the want you to make a purchase and leave quick with the item, the one I went to even gave me some Bhut Jolokia's and offered to start a seed trade when they seen the list of peppers I was growing. But I will show you one of my systems I am using this is my cheap one. It is a 3 in. high tote that holds no more then 4 liters of water but my root system is so large 2 liters will over flow it and my plants are 4 foot tall if not 5 well one. the rest are 3 and a half. I have not taken care of them lately though so they don't look super great at the moment I had to take the light out and slow down on nute so they dont grow into the light. I had to keep bending them down and tying them to the side. Then I will show you weeks earlier when they were in bloom.

I actually just added the reservoir for it a month and a half ago so I wouldn't have to take care of it. Then stopped checking the ph. But this system is a fail because it is soil and hydroponic. They are also over or a year old. So I think they wanna overwinter? That is all I was explaining it isn't about a big serious system the cheaper the better for everyone. But I will also show you my aeroponic system.When they were small.

Them flowering

Then this is my aeroponic system.

 

[patrick]

I hate to say this but I'm probably familiar with more meds than you would think. I have a few physical issues. No worries.

I did in fact do my research prior to going to the hydro store, a man would go nuts if he didn't trying to pick and choose. I would read about some new fert or nutrient or mineral that people would start using and swear by it so off I would go to the hydro store to find it. Not always about the money, I got two of the guys working at the hydro shop into tarantulas which has led to a significant discount on things I purchase. Amazing what a free spider or scorpion can get ya.

Your plants look good but the roots seem a little naked. Maybe some mycorrhizae and food for it is in order? Here's a couple of mine.

Although these are in Pro Mix the roots poking out of the holes are in kind of a hydro set up. They don't have any contact with the medium instead sit in the excess water. If I let them get dry for too long they start to yellow and loose the fuzziness. Pretty cool what well fed mycorrhizae can do isn't it?

 

[SmurfKing]

Yeah I use that also that is what one of the containers I showed ya'll is. But the roots you seen is when I 1st put them in the system from the little hydroponics. The roots were insane before I abandon them LoL. I put them in the green house then found some leeches out the and didn't go back! 8(


Some of my hydro cloning system.

This is my soil roots On plants I have now that are about 7in. tall.

Then this is what I am talking about mixing nutes not the greatest example.

This was that one year old plant before this month which I just got a bunch of pepers off of.

But that is indoors just off florescence just imagine if I had them outside. That is all I am saying that is why it pays to have a couple different nutes and know how to mix them right. Those are some kempsey Red peppers. Not super hot but a good mixer for seasonings.

Then you can super charge certain stages of their life cycle, like my node spacing between each leaf is barely any at all sometimes and I can keep it like that thru out the whole plant if I grew one type. Which I don't so they start competing then I lose noding space on them. But the more nodes means more flowering sites and branching. That is why I was gonna let people know what they can do with their nutes a little bite to just tweak them . And help them out. Maybe could have even helped you out, still can. Also I can probably use some help from you too. That is why we are all here... To help and learn. Like where you think node spacing doesn't matter someone else will tell you it is a important role in how much you produce, it may even double your crop, to triple. But I keep plants around a long time for breeding mostly just need the pollin and clones. You should never get rid of the original genetics when breeding. Most people do and go from new seeds from that plant but those genetics differ from the original. I will show you all the seed crosses I have later, but have a appointment to get to. Hope you are doing alright with those issue you had but if at all possible I would try to just grow your own meds then taking them from doctors.. That is just my opinion.

 

[Pepper-Guru]

I like the intentions behind this thread, however, as stated before peppers don't have different growth phases. They "veg and bloom" simultaneously. A nice even NPK ratio is best. You can even lower your P values compared to N and K. Otherwise you're giving the medium more than the plant will ever use. Honestly, I'm not a "fert buyer" so I can't suggest any to mix with each other. I would enjoy seeing growers begin mixing their own "fertilizers" with different ingredients and posting recipes! Always love to source local stuff as well. Cool idea on the thread, just be wary of over complicating the issue of "feeding your plants" and instead, feed the soil!

 

[millworkman]

I like the intentions behind this thread, however, as stated before peppers don't have different growth phases. They "veg and bloom" simultaneously. A nice even NPK ratio is best. You can even lower your P values compared to N and K. Otherwise you're giving the medium more than the plant will ever use. Honestly, I'm not a "fert buyer" so I can't suggest any to mix with each other. I would enjoy seeing growers begin mixing their own "fertilizers" with different ingredients and posting recipes! Always love to source local stuff as well. Cool idea on the thread, just be wary of over complicating the issue of "feeding your plants" and instead, feed the soil!

This man speaks the truth and has the massive plants to prove it. Especially follow the advice in bold.

 

[SmurfKing]

I like the intentions behind this thread, however, as stated before peppers don't have different growth phases. They "veg and bloom" simultaneously. A nice even NPK ratio is best. You can even lower your P values compared to N and K. Otherwise you're giving the medium more than the plant will ever use. Honestly, I'm not a "fert buyer" so I can't suggest any to mix with each other. I would enjoy seeing growers begin mixing their own "fertilizers" with different ingredients and posting recipes! Always love to source local stuff as well. Cool idea on the thread, just be wary of over complicating the issue of "feeding your plants" and instead, feed the soil!

Yeah well put! I really didn't wanna get into mixing nutrients all that much because I rarely do it just try new thing every once in a while to see if it works better. If it doesn't I go back to the regular thing I was doing. Yes that was the main idea of this whole thing trying to find a good nutrient or group that people use, then you just look at the ingredients and you can basically make your own. Or put together others that will do the same thing because when you see those nutrient lines that have a million different parts, like ultra bloom that is really not needed you might have been able to just use double the bloom and came out with the same results is all I am getting at. So if people do list stuff like Pepper-Guru said we may be able to figure out a nutrient mixture that will be cheap for all of us, this will help everyone as a community, and then we wouldn't have to make trip to the store. To look like a kid in a candy shop.
Anyway later on I have a bunch of seeds and crosses and if people are doing good with their nutes or whatever I would be willing to let some of ya'll try them also. Before they end up going bad because I don't have enough space and it is not warming up fast enough here. Then also I was gonna try to teach people about micropropagation and how easy it can be. I have just never done it with peppers so nute ratios are important.

Millworkman thanks I appreciate what you tried to do with this earlier, and still. Pepper-Guru do you make your own nutrient mixtures? Also do you grow in hydroponics, soil or both?

 

[Pepper-Guru]

I've grown in just about every type of medium. Check out the city for my hydro stuff. I used to be into hydro pretty hardcore as an indoor grower, but then found out there was a big bright star in the sky that's free and better than any light we can plug up inside! LOL Now I wouldn't touch a bottle of "nutes" either. There are far too many things found in nature for me to do so! Keep up the direction here though! You're on a good path!

 

[pepperhog]

intrusting thread i grow in soil and usually use chicken manure dont know the npk on that) and other organick stuff like pine shavings and eggshells add minerals also, alaska fish emolsion wich is a 511 or 411 ratio gives em a good boost everyonce in a wille but for the most part if the soil is fed with organic mater that breaks down, it makes me look like a master especialy by early fall there is a pepper jugle 5ft tall in my back yard, i did notice that chinsens like a little more ferts than annums youd have to have a difrent formula for each species or even variety for optimum groth,i heard alot of nitrogen gives pods a ruff taste, you hydro guys can chime in on that,,i think minerals are often overlooked, also i like all the new benificial fungus and bacteria the help soil, hydro is cool but im still playing in dirt, there is a hole lot that goes in to hydro stuff so what you are talkin about heore is important like guru mentioned you are on a good path, if i was in to hydro, i would try to fine tuune for heat and flavor cuz
changes are much faster in that system then in soil and you might stumble on a good recipy or ratio of nutes and minerals