One thing calcium nitrate reacts with air as it absorbs water.
I only have ordered from Peters labs...
Jacks Hydroponic
Calcium Nitrate
Citric Acid
Bloosom Booster
Hydro Herb
The blooming formula for violets.....its very high in P......
What are you wanting to order exactly?
i think someone was asking for this:
GUARANTEED ANALYSIS F1313 Total nitrogen (N) .......................................................... 5%
5.00% nitrate nitrogen Available phosphate (P2O5) ............................................. 12% Soluble potash (K2O) ...................................................... 26%
130 oz / 1000 gal
3705 g / 3785 l
3705000 mg / 3785 l = 979 ppm
N 979 X .05 = 48.95
P 979 X .12 = 117.48
K 979 X .26 = 254.54
N 49+ 101 = 150
P 118 X .436 = 51
K 254.54 X .83 = 211
Actual available PPM:
N 150
P 51
K 211
Or 3-1-4
calnit absorbs water...it dilutes it. hypothetically speaking if you want 100 g, you'll get 98 g calnit and 2 g water. ratios don't change. the nitrogen in greenhouse grade calnit is 6.5% ammonia? 10-15% is fine for hydro, and helps buffer pH.
however, Daniel F warned me that mixing powders directly WILL form insoluble salts. commercial nutes may be 'watered down', which costs nothing, but costs a lot to ship, but it keeps salts soluble and in the same ratios, fwiw.
you're actually running 15.3-12-26 (normalized to N, 3-2-5). 3-1-4 is mathematically impossible with jack's formula plus calnit - which is Ca(NO3)2 btw. also 1 g of epsom salts is 25 ppm. calcium and magnesium mix just fine.
capulator, using 2.8 g/usgal jack's, 1.2 g/usgal gg calnit, and 2.3 g/usgal epsom, i get 135-39-162-119-63 NPKCaMg (1.5-1-1.6, definitely closer to 2-1-2). botanicare calmag is calnit plus epsom and iron...which seems redundant (did you have a bottle laying around?) and not as flexible.
let me 'splain...no, there's too much. let me sum up :cool0041:
you're breaking significant digit rules. you can't go from zero significant digits (NPK) and work with 2 decimals. you also dropped the decimals before the end of the calculation. a couple of ppm probably won't do anything - you lost math cred. 5% can be rounded off from either 4.5% or 5.5% (as extremes). +/- 10% is unacceptable tolerance. i don't understand why you feel you have to recalculate jack's ppm anyway, since jr peter so graciously gave us the elemental ppm to begin with, and you didn't even get the same numbers (close but no gold star for you!) i do appreciate how you use all metric, and not mix metric with imperial.
second, NPK numbers are really N-P2O5-K2O. we take elements into consideration when we analyze ppm. we want N-P2O5-K2O to be 3-1-4...not actual NPK. it's also curious how you say 3-1-4 is ideal and in the same breath criticize fatman's 2.8-1-4.4 (really?!)
fatman's diy thread also layed out chelates. chelates are meant for farm soils with high pH - they're irrelevant in a pH controlled hydro setup. you could say that DPTA is a 'better' chelate than EDTA, but it's a moot point in hydro - they're both equally available in the proper pH range. chelates are tolerable with micros (insignificant quantities), but you don't want to chelate macros - with citric acid for example. chelates are NOT selective - they will chelate heavy metals just as easily as good micros.
2 ppm of arsenic is worryingly high. this would mean jack's is one of the MOST contaminated fertilizers on the market. look at canna - it's heavy metals are orders of magnitude lower! yes...controlling the salts you use DOES make a difference.
isn't anyone else concerned about 205 ppm sulfur? normally with 63 ppm Mg you'd find 84 ppm S or less.
i promote a 2-1-3, which my customers shy away from, and they ask me for a 2-5-6. i understand why growers would be doubtful and reluctant to change. if i had a small grow that i depended on for my smoke, i wouldn't want to gamble on a fertilizer that might hurt my yield, or make it taste funny. it's a small man that criticizes obviously great results. it takes balls to try something new - kudos snowblind and all the others!
fwiw, once you get your ratios correct, turn it into a 2 part liquid formula. it may not be as flexible as a 3 part, but more convenient - less chance to mess up. you do all the math and weight work up front, and free up more time the rest of the grow(s). and it's really just equal parts of A and B...so one number, really.
peace
A blue widow scrog run with jacks just about to start its 3rd week of flower....
Also, I'd still love to hear what folks are doing for seedlings utilizing a cheap alternative. Thanks!
Bro I hit my seedlings after one week with jacks at 1.7 EC. its been three or 4 weeks and no burn yet. First week they get only about .5 EC or so.
Bro I hit my seedlings after one week with jacks at 1.7 EC. its been three or 4 weeks and no burn yet. First week they get only about .5 EC or so.
Hot damn that's quick to put them on that EC. And they're not getting stunted by that? That's real interesting.
I have some quetions:
1) where do you get 15.3-12-26?
2) Why do you think ratios are based on Molecule percentage, not based on ELEMENTAL ppm? p2o5 and K2O are not elements..but you kind of indicate they are in your sentence...
3) Where did you pull your sulfur number of 205?
4) How did you get your analysis? Mine is very different for 2.8/1.2... Using the cannastats calculator I get:
N: 86
P: 39
K: 160
Mg: 47
S: 64
Ca: 57
and then I woudl be adding cal mag 7 ml/ gal to bring N to 125, Mg to 70, and Ca to 119 to get a close to 3-1-4 ratio... You cant get Ca higher without making N a lot higher using Jr peters CaNO3, so I am not sure why you think it is redundant of me to use a different Ca source with Less N to hit my numbers. Cal mag is 2% N and 6% Ca, and Jr peters is 15.5% N and 18%Ca... and with the Mg in CalMag, you dont add epsom. IN essense I coudl leave out the jr peters and replace with 15 ml/gal of Cal mag to get a better ratio, giving me a 2 part. That would cost more though and negates the topic of this thread.
5) Where did you get your arsenic number? I looked at
The hydro wasnt listed, but only one product they carry listed had arsenic, and at 20ppm, and that was the jacks classic classicote, which I imagien is a slow release fertilizer...
6) Arent you being a little harsh on desert squirrel there?
You certainly have a lot of opinions that you laid out, can you please back them up with references other than "Daniel F"? Thank you. I woudl like to know where you are getting all of your info, and how you came up with your numbers.
By the way, before people get all freaked out about 20ppm of arsenic, remember that when you have a bowl of mashed potatoes, you're EATING more arsenic than that, let alone having it in nutes that only the roots are bathing in.
Hot damn that's quick to put them on that EC. And they're not getting stunted by that? That's real interesting.
Here:
my cross: KK x WW and swerves: "Original SD". Started feeding them 1.7 EC when they were about 6" tall and had like 2 leaf sets if that. They havent complained yet, and they are about a month old now.
Heres a bud I grew using only Jacks...
Its OG Raskals Straw Mix Alien pheno......we called it the "Tarantula"....
I had six colas on this one plant. This cola was the biggest. The yield was high....and I dont know what im doing.
I have some quetions:
1) where do you get 15.3-12-26?
2) Why do you think ratios are based on Molecule percentage, not based on ELEMENTAL ppm? p2o5 and K2O are not elements..but you kind of indicate they are in your sentence...
3) Where did you pull your sulfur number of 205?
4) How did you get your analysis? Mine is very different for 2.8/1.2... Using the cannastats calculator I get:
N: 86
P: 39
K: 160
Mg: 47
S: 64
Ca: 57
and then I woudl be adding cal mag 7 ml/ gal to bring N to 125, Mg to 70, and Ca to 119 to get a close to 3-1-4 ratio... You cant get Ca higher without making N a lot higher using Jr peters CaNO3, so I am not sure why you think it is redundant of me to use a different Ca source with Less N to hit my numbers. Cal mag is 2% N and 6% Ca, and Jr peters is 15.5% N and 18%Ca... and with the Mg in CalMag, you dont add epsom. IN essense I coudl leave out the jr peters and replace with 15 ml/gal of Cal mag to get a better ratio, giving me a 2 part. That would cost more though and negates the topic of this thread.
5) Where did you get your arsenic number? I looked at
The hydro wasnt listed, but only one product they carry listed had arsenic, and at 20ppm, and that was the jacks classic classicote, which I imagien is a slow release fertilizer...
6) Arent you being a little harsh on desert squirrel there?
You certainly have a lot of opinions that you laid out, can you please back them up with references other than "Daniel F"? Thank you. I woudl like to know where you are getting all of your info, and how you came up with your numbers.
Got an email back today, nothing specific to the 5-12-26 and heavy metals, just somewhat of a vague response(imo).
This is what I found out:
We have very little in all of our formulas. In most cases there is less than 5ppm of each of the heavy metals…most being around 2 ppm or below. By that I mean the following metals:
Lead <5ppm
Arsenic < 1ppm
Cadmium < 2ppm
Mercury < 1ppm
Nickel , 5 ppm
Each formula does vary though. I hope this helps
Krystal Snyder-Laboratory Administrative Assistant
J.R.Peters, Inc -6656 Grant Way Allentown PA
(610)-395-7104 ext 46