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nutrients what nutes should I use?

Some great people with wonderful advice are going to share what works for them.  Often when people talk nutrients, they are talking about chemicals.  Not trashing on the chemical route, but much prefer the organic route.  You are indoors but you say you are using soil not hydro, so I am betting you feel a bit the same.  I use compost tea on indoor plants and am moving towards fish water. Not true aquaponics mind you.  Thinking about going that route, but not there yet.

My opinion is that Mother Nature knows best.  Not trashing chemical nutrients.  I use them for seed production.  But I dont care what seeds taste like.  Give my wife a tomato grown in hydroponics with nothing but chemical nutrients, she will take a bite and throw it back in your face.  Hell, my interest in aquaponics is mainly cause when I brought up hydroponics she about hit me with a fry pan.

BTW: If you can not make your own compost tea, check out local hydro shops.  Oddly, many seem to be selling it by the gallon.
 
See I don't understand why people even grow fruits/veggies with chemicals... I garden so that I can have some good tasting healthy food in my belly. If I wanted to fill up my system with chemicals I'd just save some money and time and buy them from walmart... What is the point of growing your own food if you're using the same chemicals those big corporations use?
 
I use chemical for a number of reasons. My grow season is extremely short - about 90 days. It's cool compared to the majority of US and downright cold compared to where jolokias and scorpions are grown. I can't simply go over to walmart and pick up Reapers, Jolokias, Bonnets, Douglah, or anything beside jalapeños, sorranos, or habs either. I've tried soil. I've tried overwintering scorpions for a number of years. It just never worked well and my plants never produced anything larger than nickel sized pods.

I don't have anything against natural or organic however people want to define it. It's just not for me and my situation.

Neil
 
11830807_1639736056283247_1224277604_n.jpg

almost 4 months old indoor grow
 
I dont have anything against you "orgainc types" (hehe) except the bashing of the use of "chemical" nutrients without really having any basis.  Its a modern day witch hunt.
Even the founder of Organic Gardening is on record saying that a plant cannot tell the difference between a synthetically derived chemical element and an organically derived chemical element.  It is about the philosophy of the gardening, not the actual chemicals.
What?  My worm sh*t has chemical elements such as nitrogen (chemical symbol N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)?  These are chemical elements?  Oh crap, my plant is looking dry and wilty, I better but some chemical compound on it containing two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen; sometimes called H2O for short it has been responsible for thousands of deaths although most of it is from trying to breath it too much.
 
If I fed my wife tomatoes grown solely on *incomplete* synthetic nutrients, im sure she would be mad at me too, but there is more to it than NPK: You also need calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S),  boron (B), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), chloride (Cl), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), zinc (Zn), vanadium (V).  All of this is found in your "healthy" well fed garden soil, all you are doing is feeding your plants what they get naturally, except you control the exact proportions that they are taking in.  Imagine an Olympic athlete compared to some guy just trying to eat healthy; the athlete has his own nutritionist and he will be at peak efficiency as far as his caloric intake is concerned.
 
There are no additional nutrients that plants use to be taken out of soil that can not be provided "chemically" in a nutrient solution.  Therefore, properly grown hydroponic tomatoes will taste identical to properly grown "organic" tomatoes.
 
Twisterdude, look at some of the threads on masterblend, here is one example:
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/55684-diy-hydro-growbox-ghost-pepper-update-july-12/?hl=%2Bupdate+%2Bgrowbox
 
Or go the natural way and start a worm bin :)  I use both methods, as there is room for both in my life and I enjoy both.
 
pepper_rancher said:
I dont have anything against you "orgainc types" 
Click to expand...
 
Its not about what the plant can differentiate, its what the the soil can.  
 
 
I grow in RCW beds without any added nutrients but when I do use them in non RCW beds I use a synthetic hydro nutrient, Maxibloom.  Works great.
 
I'm all for organic.  My outdoor grow is one is my best seasons and I'm using a combination of Chicken poop mixed with composted dirt from the local garbage dump, as my main fertilizer source.  I do think the odor might be kind of hard to deal with indoors though.  Keeping on the organic path, (In conjunction with some non-organic stuff) I'm using Worm Power on one of my outdoor plants and the plant is loving it!  I'll have to test a complete grow exclusively with it next season.
 
This is the stuff:
 
http://www.gardeners.com/buy/worm-power-fertilizer/8586903RS.html
 
 
Regarding chemical fertilizers, I am finally qualified to give an opinion, as this is the first season where I haven't over-fertilized anything!  I have a few plants thriving with full doses of MaxiBloom (http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-MaxiBloom-Gardening-2-2-Pound/dp/B00NXVZQUW) The stuff is 5-15-4.  I've used it full strenght on plants around the same size as your 4 month plant and It hasn't burned the leaves or caused other problems.  Don't use it all the time - Maybe every 4th or 5th watering is OK.  I'm growing some monster Yellow 7 pots exclusively with Maxibloom.
 
Be wary of anything with more nitrogen.  You will get huge, pretty leaves, but not a lot of fruit, or stunted fruit.
 
I just started with plagron grow potting mix, I'm wondering if I should even bother getting furts as I have a bag of pure potassium sulfate

Was thinking I might get the biobizz try pack but dunno if I'll need it...

Thoughts
 
N8thaniel said:
I just started with plagron grow potting mix, I'm wondering if I should even bother getting furts as I have a bag of pure potassium sulfate

Was thinking I might get the biobizz try pack but dunno if I'll need it...

Thoughts
Click to expand...
 
That Plagron mix looks really good. Make sure to post later regarding that. Hell, the BioBizz looks interesting too. Let us know how that works out please.
 
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