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nutrients Which nutrients / fertilizer / compost do you use?

It's a bit hard to format this. many people are using 3+ products.
 
here's a summary of popular stuff so far:
 
Compost / Natural  supplements:
13 fish emulsion
11 compost

5 bat guano
5 worm castings

3 bone meal
 


nutrients:
7 fox farm / happy frog
5 CalMag
5 epsom salt
4 chili focus
4 espoma tone
4 Dynagro Foliage pro
4 General hydroponics flora
4 miracle gro plant food
3 Masterblend
2 maxigro
2 nectar of the gods
2 osmocote
2 DIY mix
 
  People complain about price. But I get a lot of my high priced nutrients for free. So I don't put much thought into cost. And I mean you have to feed peppers so little, a bottle of liquid will last me 2 years or more. So if your paying for it what's maybe 100.00 or so of nutes every couple years?
 
SvtCobra said:
  People complain about price. But I get a lot of my high priced nutrients for free. So I don't put much thought into cost. And I mean you have to feed peppers so little, a bottle of liquid will last me 2 years or more. So if your paying for it what's maybe 100.00 or so of nutes every couple years?
Click to expand...
 
$116 combined cost worth of masterblend, calcium nitrate, and magnesium sulfate will make 9,449 gallons of nutrient solution... so... masterblend wins  :)
 
     Anyone look at the results yet? My favorite answers so far are "dirt" and "your mother's love nectar". Also, thanks for putting this together, OK. It's neat to see everybody's tricks of the trade.  :cheers:
 
I have to say that I have pulled back a lot since my son was born (little time for growing) and I decided to try using the cheapest AND easiest way I could think of, considering plenty of past experience (hydro, organic, bottle nutes, etc)
 
I ended up just using the GH FloraNova series, but I just use the two bottles, grow and bloom. I also add cal/mag. So I have a total of three bottles. They don't cost that much (not even close to Advanced Nutrients, for example) and they are PH balanced, so I don't need to worry about that at all (or sink more money in balancing agents - also, I hate ph down, that stuff encourages algae like a mofo).
 
So far, my plants are extremely healthy and happy. Been doing this for almost two years now. NO complaints at all.
 
Here is a pic of my Trinidad Moruga Scorpion using ONLY FloraNova Grow and Cal/mag
 
The little pot with the seedling was actually germinated on the same date as the big one (believe it or not), but the little one was raised at work by a coworker under shitty T12 lights in the ceiling. The big one was under T5's about 1 foot away.
IMG_20160329_230716_414_zpsb58pt8nn.jpg

 
The little one is currently brought BACK to my house and under PICU (Plant Intensive Care Unit) - try'n to help my coworker out.
.
 
SvtCobra said:
People complain about price. But I get a lot of my high priced nutrients for free. So I don't put much thought into cost. And I mean you have to feed peppers so little, a bottle of liquid will last me 2 years or more. So if your paying for it what's maybe 100.00 or so of nutes every couple years?
Click to expand...
how in the hell does a bottle of liquid ferts last you 2 years? are you only growing just a few plants?

hell i consider my self a VERY small grower. the last few years i only had 16 plants max. still i was tearing through that GH 3 part stuff in less than a month. 20 bucks or so a month.

2 years ago i shelled out for a big order of MKP and calcium nitrate. all in including wacky shit like potassium sillicate and plant hormones i have around 200 bucks worth of fertilizer salts.

were talking 20lbs of calcium nitrate, 10 lbs MKP and idk how many lbs of potassium nitrate. i might be low actually. ill have to check.

most expensive single purchase was a 5lb container of peters S.T.E.M. for like 40 bucks? it was not a good deal to be honest, but i could only get it from this one place back then. that or like 200 bucks for a 50lb bag special ordered from this seed n feed place down town.

that container of stem will probably out live me... the MKP and calcium nitrate will easily last past this decade.

why did i buy so much at a time? because shipping was done via those post office flat rate boxes? i figured i might as well fill that hooker up.
 
mrgrowguy said:
OH YEAH, best advice for saving money... is to spend more money. LOL
 
Buy big quantities and save.
 
Example: random choice of bottle nute - liquid kelp - http://www.amazon.com/Grow-More-6041-Seaweed-1-Gallon/dp/B000NCUUXM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1459466989&sr=8-5&keywords=liquid+kelp
 
<$23 for a gal, but >$11 for a quart
 
.
Click to expand...
that was years ago fwiw. you can get calcium nitrate on amazon now lol. buy a lb or two it makes no difference, just when you are buying a sizable fraction of a bag you stand to save alot more.
 
ColdSmoke said:
Non organic - Masterblend

Organic - general hydroponics
Click to expand...
 
I thought that sounded interesting so I went to their website and checked the FloraSeries MSDS labels...
Phosphoric acid, ammonium salt
Ammonium nitrate
Nitric acid, ammonium calcium salt...
 
Do they have a different line that is organic?  Maybe I went to the wrong product...
 
UPDATE!
I found their "BioThrive" lineup which I think you might have been talking about:
BioThrive GROW: some "organic" stuff + ferric sulfate, magnesium sulfate, potassium sulfate, sodium molybdate
BioThrive BLOOM: some "organic" stuff + ferric sulfate, magnesium sulfate, potassium borate, potassium sulfate
 
 
So still derived from chemical compounds... just like masterblend...
 
But this is disturbing because it is labeled as VEGAN.  And its plant food...  isnt that like plant cannibalism?
 
the organic label just means its not like... chemically reacted with anything to arrive at the end product.
you can still get somewhat pure salts from purely physical means such as fractional crystallization etc.

you can get magnesium sulfate out of a mine and simply recrystalize... potassium sulfate aka potash or muriate of potash is just some bone meal cooked with sulfuric acid and neutralized and sold.

its all just a bullshit game... i saw "organic" spriomesifen... which is made in a f**kING BIOREACTOR...

"organic" fruits are made with "organic" shit, which is made from "organic" cows eating "organic" feed grain produced by INORGANIC NITROGEN.

news flash. like 90% of all organic nitrogen comes from non organic nitrogen via the haber method.
 
queequeg152 said:
how in the hell does a bottle of liquid ferts last you 2 years? are you only growing just a few plants?

hell i consider my self a VERY small grower. the last few years i only had 16 plants max. still i was tearing through that GH 3 part stuff in less than a month. 20 bucks or so a month.

2 years ago i shelled out for a big order of MKP and calcium nitrate. all in including wacky shit like potassium sillicate and plant hormones i have around 200 bucks worth of fertilizer salts.

were talking 20lbs of calcium nitrate, 10 lbs MKP and idk how many lbs of potassium nitrate. i might be low actually. ill have to check.

most expensive single purchase was a 5lb container of peters S.T.E.M. for like 40 bucks? it was not a good deal to be honest, but i could only get it from this one place back then. that or like 200 bucks for a 50lb bag special ordered from this seed n feed place down town.

that container of stem will probably out live me... the MKP and calcium nitrate will easily last past this decade.

why did i buy so much at a time? because shipping was done via those post office flat rate boxes? i figured i might as well fill that hooker up.
Click to expand...
Because I use the entire line instead of only part of the line. I mean 2 quarts is 1,800ML. Your only adding 5ml per gallon per feeding. That equals 360 feedings. If your only feeding every other week or less for only a few months of the year. Then do the math. You seem to be feeding your plants wayyyy to much if your going through nutes that fast. I have 25 plants. Peppers do not feed that much. Its not weed.
 
pepper_rancher said:
 
I thought that sounded interesting so I went to their website and checked the FloraSeries MSDS labels...
Phosphoric acid, ammonium salt
Ammonium nitrate
Nitric acid, ammonium calcium salt...
 
Do they have a different line that is organic?  Maybe I went to the wrong product...
 
UPDATE!
I found their "BioThrive" lineup which I think you might have been talking about:
BioThrive GROW: some "organic" stuff + ferric sulfate, magnesium sulfate, potassium sulfate, sodium molybdate
BioThrive BLOOM: some "organic" stuff + ferric sulfate, magnesium sulfate, potassium borate, potassium sulfate
 
 
So still derived from chemical compounds... just like masterblend...
 
But this is disturbing because it is labeled as VEGAN.  And its plant food...  isnt that like plant cannibalism?
Click to expand...
 
I was referring to this line-up. I haven't really used it is a few years, but had good success when I did. Clearly not organic http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-Organics-Go-Box/dp/B004PS4B08
 
Indoors, pre-transplant to outdoors: fish emulsion, Alaska Morbloom (to add P-K to fish fert), kelp extract, maybe cal-mag
 
Outdoors: animal/poultry manures, cal-mag, alfalfa meal, bone meal
 
I like to keep it simple, just coco and water the plants with Ghe flora micro/mato mixture in the summer. Currently using Nutriforte Strawberry and tomato fertilizer part 1+Nitrogen and calsium fertilizer part 2, because the stuff works and it is cheap.
 
SvtCobra said:
Because I use the entire line instead of only part of the line. I mean 2 quarts is 1,800ML. Your only adding 5ml per gallon per feeding. That equals 360 feedings. If your only feeding every other week or less for only a few months of the year. Then do the math. You seem to be feeding your plants wayyyy to much if your going through nutes that fast. I have 25 plants. Peppers do not feed that much. Its not weed.
Click to expand...
i was doing something like 7 14 4 ml per gallon of the three bottles. in a 30 gallon res that empties every 1-2 weeks it adds up fast. ontop of that i was using that GH phosphoric acid... whole other ball of expensive wax there.

im not feeding my plants to much. infact id conjecure you and most others are feeding yours far too little. pepper plants are bred for commercial cultivation believe it or not. they are not sensitive exotic species hailing from some misty rain forest.

i mostly follow greenhouse journals, not handed down knowledge from forums. i grow with a soilless medium with a fertigation rig that pumps out to conventional drip emitters or sprayers. its about as simple as hydroponics can get.
 
queequeg152 said:
i was doing something like 7 14 4 ml per gallon of the three bottles. in a 30 gallon res that empties every 1-2 weeks it adds up fast. ontop of that i was using that GH phosphoric acid... whole other ball of expensive wax there.

im not feeding my plants to much. infact id conjecure you and most others are feeding yours far too little. pepper plants are bred for commercial cultivation believe it or not. they are not sensitive exotic species hailing from some misty rain forest.

i mostly follow greenhouse journals, not handed down knowledge from forums. i grow with a soilless medium with a fertigation rig that pumps out to conventional drip emitters or sprayers. its about as simple as hydroponics can get.
Click to expand...
  Well that would be why. Soil retains and provides far more nutrients than Hydro. I am feeding my plants a solution that is almost 1,000ppm. I do not see that as underfeeding. Especially when I am growing in well amended super soil.
 
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