nutrients Should I water peppers with hydro solution or just water?

[wiicek]

I wanna educate myself about growing chilies in the ground and watering them with hydro solution from hydrophonics europe.

It's masterblend 4-18-38 with calcium nitrate and magnesium sulphite in ratio 1:1:0.5 (I have 1.5l bottles at home so I've reduced the official formula to this: for 1,5 liter of water 1g of masterblend, 1g of Ca(NO3)2 and half g of MgSO4).

For now I have them in some growing mix and most of them are in it for longer than 2 months.

The question is, how should I water chillies? I heard that it's good to water every other time with solution and every other with just plain water.

I water them only with solution and they grow just fine and I don't really wanna slow them if it doesn't make sense... Or am I slowing them now?

I have Chillichump's ground mix in making for spring's reposting. It is dirt, vermiculite, perlite, vermicompost, fish, blood and bone meal and even some mycelium. If I remember everything correctly from the top of my head. Second question is, should I then stop watering them with hydro solution for some time? I probably should, cause it will be rich in nitrogen and other stuff...

Just wanna know what is your experience in that topic. Hydro is known for making plants explode but if yes, why should anybody use different fertilizers instead of it?

 

[spicy.curry]

Hydroponic fertilizer is more commonly used with pots or other containers, rather than for plants grown in the ground.

I have had excellent success with growing in 100% perlite (Bato buckets, recirculating). I have also had good results with coco/perlite mixes.

Any reason for not wanting to pot your plants? With hydroponics, you can grow massive plants with relatively small containers.

 

[wiicek]

I'm so sorry for the confusion, I actually meant pots with the ground mix in it, english is not my first language and I didn't explain it like I should.

My initial plan was to make double containers with first one laying on something inside second one, so it was elevated and water would be always belove the bottom, so ground wouldn't get too wet and roots would grow wherever they'd want. Don't know how the ground mix changes the situation with watering with hydro solution, would it have too much nutrients, would it need different fertilizers, how should I water it etc.

It is ultimately the hydro after the roots go out of 18l pot...

 

[spicy.curry]

You can water the pots with the hydroponic solution with every watering, provided you use a mix which drains well, and you water heavily enough so that some excess drains out of the bottom, preventing nutrient build up.

Since you already have fertile soil, I would start with just plain water, and wait until your plants use up some nutrients before starting the hydroponic fertilizer. Once the plants slow down in growth or become lighter in color, then start fertilizing.

 

[wiicek]

I visited the thchydroponics.co.uk for more information and they say that using it with soil all the time is not ideal. I understand why it may be, even in hydro setup plants don't use all the solution... when you do kratky they do, but they don't have any other choice and containers are usually big enough so you don't refill them too much, and if you do, the solution is getting worse and worse in time, cause plants are using what they want and leaving the rest and in time with refils it's out of balance. And watering the soil with it makes the bad part stay all the time... Watering with plain water couple of times may really be the way to not let it build up.

I was kinda curious what do you guys do and if you experimented with mixing some setups. I guess I will have to check some different ways maybe, or will just trust my intuition and watch how it goes with my initial plan. Didn't wanna slow them down or worsen the yield. I do wanna see The Jungle on my balcony! And those harvests, can't wait!

 

[spicy.curry]

You aren’t preventing build up by watering with plain water, unless you are using excess water and allowing it to drain out of the bottom of the pot.

Plain water (unless it is reverse osmosis filtered, rain water, or distilled) can by itself cause build up of various minerals with time.

Use a potting mix with good aeration and drainage. Water with masterblend solution following the instructions on the bag. Build up is prevented by allowing some excess to drain out. The more hydroponic solution you water with and allow to drain, the less build up there is.

 

[wiicek]

Thank you, that's good to hear.

I will have perlite in my mix. I guess I will go with it, I'll wait for roots to go out of the first pot and then will start watering with solution. Or even earlier if I'll notice lack of nutrients in the soil. I don't think I will for long time tho, mix is nice and pots are big. ]

Thank you so much for answering! <3