N1ghtL1ght
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Hello, I'm currently working on nutritient recipe-formulaes by using whatever salts I got here, though some additives are organic. The majority of it is mineralic, to be able to use a "base" recipe, that can be stored in a barrel, with some of the organic ammends just added right before fertigation.
This is a work in progress, I hope to get feedback from experienced users. Or whoever has an idea for optimization or critic ("doesn't work this way").
The first is based on RO thus can be copied one to one.
Now the others are adaptations using tapwater as well as it turned out difficult to just alter a single element without touching another.
Since I have good tapwater some adaptations include tap.
The formulations are done in a way to stop with an ingredient if a critical level of a specific element was reached. Manganese for example. Another intentions was to emphasize certain ratios - N:Ca, N:K, Ca:Mg, Fe:B:Mn, and an ability to reduce N at some point without Ca, and to give a bloom booster involving P, K, Ca & Mg.
One main objective was to reach all variations of the main formulae just by doing (preferably) a single step, being that for example, to add another fertilizer and then delute further down.
So far I didn't look at total EC at all as that can be easily altered by just diluting the solution with RO.
Here are the formulaes listing the target ppms, I didn't include Cl, Mo, Ni, Na and Co for the sake of ease but some micronute salt pack states it's there. Everything is elemental/pure ppms, conversion done.
"BASE" formulae: (in mg/l)
N-NO3: 123
N-NH4: 28,5
N-urea: 8
N-total: 159,5
P: 96
K: 151
Ca: 145
Mg: 54,5
S: 102
Fe: 3,6
Mn: 1
B: 1,1
Zn: 0,7
Cu: 0,37
--> N, K & Ca are at one level.
The amount of urea/ammon to nitrate should cause a mild acidification, which wouldn't matter much IMO with proper drain to waste.
For veg, S & P are unnecessarily high, but still very within tolerable levels. Some growers like to dosage P high already in veg to load the leaves with it so the plant can later feed on it and you're not chasing deficiencies in the more important bloom phase.
The micros are too high for early veg. But I have to rely on 2 organics (BB ActiVera for Fe, BB Topmax for humics and Sedumin Bor Vital for B) as all the salts had terrible ratios. So these are slow release and esp. Fe can be tuned down manually easily.
This comes closest to what I believe could work throughout the grow, just by altering the EC.
Hmm, well I'm gonna write the recipe now down as well, so as to have a clean full write-up.
The above is constructed from:
Calcium nitrate (Norwegian salpeter): 0,5g/l (= +72 NO3, +5,5 NH4, +94 Ca)
Ammonsulfate: 0,11g/l (+23 NH4, +26.5 S)
Epsomsalt: 0,4g/l (+39.5 Mg, +53 S)
Mono-Potassiumphosphate: 0,33g/l (+76 K, +96 P)
Potassiumsulfate: 0,16g/l (+75 K, +32 S)
Canna Calmag: 1g/l (+51 NO3, +8 Urea, +49 Ca, +14 Mg)
Excello Basis: 0,01g/l (+2 Ca, +1 Mg, +0.018 Fe, +0.016 Mn, +0.04 B, +0.26 Cu, +0.3 Zn)
Canna Traces Mix: 0,1g/l (+0.06 Fe, +0.6 Mn, +0.3 B, +0.05 Cu, +0.3 Zn)
Sedumin Bor Vital: 1g at 40l substrate [*] (+0.5 B)
Biobizz ActiVera: 1ml/l (+3.5 Fe, +0.3 Mn, +0.2 B, +0.07 Zn, +0.03 Cu)
Biobizz TopMax: 1ml/l (+0.1 Fe, +0.1 B, +0.03 Zn)
[*] reammend another +1g if long veg or long flower strain
Some of these substances cannot be mixed together into the same barrel, or are prone of organic degradation, so once I set for a recipe gonna have to try these out in a smaller scale to see if, and whenm precipitation occurs. Any help regarding this would be greatly welcomed. I'm tinkering with the idea to use citrate as a chelating agent to help mix more salts into one barrel, but have no clue how to pull this stunt....
Next is an adaptation to my locale tapwater, which has per liter:
NO3: +4.5
Ca: +55
Mg: +9
S: +37
K: +1
Cl: +9
Na: +6
EC = 360uS, pH 7.9
So it would give a plus to Ca & S when used in echange for tap and that could be fitting during the middle of the bloom-phase (during which plant roots also acidify more than usual, so the extra alkalinity would be welcome, as well as this is the time to fertilize higher and to start dropping Si a bit, so it makes sense from some points of view)
Formulae "TAP INSTEAD OF RO":
N-NO3: 127,5
N-NH4: 28,5
N-urea: 8
N-total: 164
P: 96
K: 152
Ca: 210
Mg: 63,5
S: 139
Fe: 3,6
Mn: 1
B: 1,1
Zn: 0,7
Cu: 0,37
Cl: 9
Na: 6
For a bloom-application that would need some PK gradually added to, and perhaps, diluted down a bit as Ca is very high now. The weak point here seems to be Mg lagging behind a bit. It could work is the plant has been loaden with Mg in veg already.
I could now take the calciumnitrate completely out of the formulae to arrive at:
N-NO3: 55
N-NH4: 20
N-urea: 8
N-total: 83
P: 96
K: 152
Ca: 119
Mg: 63,5
S: 139
Fe: 3,6
Mn: 1
B: 1,1
Zn: 0,7
Cu: 0,37
Cl: 9
Na: 6
which would have Ca:Mg at 2:1 ratio and very little N, kinda like a FINISHER-formulae. Further diluting that may still give the plant a good availability of P, K, Mg, and S due to ion rivalry.
Turning that into a HIGH BLOOM-formulae would see the reintroduction of a bit of Calciumnitrate (0.17g/l) and higher MPK (0,5g/l):
N-NO3: 79
N-NH4: 22
N-urea: 8
N-total: 108
P: 145
K: 189
Ca: 151
Mg: 63,5
S: 139
Fe: 3,6
Mn: 1
B: 1,1
Zn: 0,7
Cu: 0,37
Cl: 9
Na: 6
That may cause lockout as the P & K are notoriously high and may be just for some specific hungry genetics, like Critical+ and such.
Lastly I'd want to have a HIGH-NITROGEN-VEG formulae, where I would use an urea-loaden garden fertilizer 12-4-6:
Gardol Grünpflanzendünger: (1g per l)
N-NO3: 15
N-urea: 98
N-total: 113
P: 18,5
K: 50
Fe: 0,4
Mn: 0,1
B: 0,1
Zn: 0,02
Cu: 0,02
and mix 1ml/l of that to the formulae "TAP INSTEAD OF RO", but afterwards dilute the whole by 30% RO to arrive at these values:
N-NO3: 99
N-NH4: 17
N-urea: 74
N-total: 191
P: 80
K: 141
Ca: 149
Mg: 45
S: 97
Fe: 2,8
Mn: 0,77
B: 0,84
Zn: 0,644
Cu: 0,434
Cl: 6
Na: 4
Thoughts?
This is a work in progress, I hope to get feedback from experienced users. Or whoever has an idea for optimization or critic ("doesn't work this way").
The first is based on RO thus can be copied one to one.
Now the others are adaptations using tapwater as well as it turned out difficult to just alter a single element without touching another.
Since I have good tapwater some adaptations include tap.
The formulations are done in a way to stop with an ingredient if a critical level of a specific element was reached. Manganese for example. Another intentions was to emphasize certain ratios - N:Ca, N:K, Ca:Mg, Fe:B:Mn, and an ability to reduce N at some point without Ca, and to give a bloom booster involving P, K, Ca & Mg.
One main objective was to reach all variations of the main formulae just by doing (preferably) a single step, being that for example, to add another fertilizer and then delute further down.
So far I didn't look at total EC at all as that can be easily altered by just diluting the solution with RO.
Here are the formulaes listing the target ppms, I didn't include Cl, Mo, Ni, Na and Co for the sake of ease but some micronute salt pack states it's there. Everything is elemental/pure ppms, conversion done.
"BASE" formulae: (in mg/l)
N-NO3: 123
N-NH4: 28,5
N-urea: 8
N-total: 159,5
P: 96
K: 151
Ca: 145
Mg: 54,5
S: 102
Fe: 3,6
Mn: 1
B: 1,1
Zn: 0,7
Cu: 0,37
--> N, K & Ca are at one level.
The amount of urea/ammon to nitrate should cause a mild acidification, which wouldn't matter much IMO with proper drain to waste.
For veg, S & P are unnecessarily high, but still very within tolerable levels. Some growers like to dosage P high already in veg to load the leaves with it so the plant can later feed on it and you're not chasing deficiencies in the more important bloom phase.
The micros are too high for early veg. But I have to rely on 2 organics (BB ActiVera for Fe, BB Topmax for humics and Sedumin Bor Vital for B) as all the salts had terrible ratios. So these are slow release and esp. Fe can be tuned down manually easily.
This comes closest to what I believe could work throughout the grow, just by altering the EC.
Hmm, well I'm gonna write the recipe now down as well, so as to have a clean full write-up.
The above is constructed from:
Calcium nitrate (Norwegian salpeter): 0,5g/l (= +72 NO3, +5,5 NH4, +94 Ca)
Ammonsulfate: 0,11g/l (+23 NH4, +26.5 S)
Epsomsalt: 0,4g/l (+39.5 Mg, +53 S)
Mono-Potassiumphosphate: 0,33g/l (+76 K, +96 P)
Potassiumsulfate: 0,16g/l (+75 K, +32 S)
Canna Calmag: 1g/l (+51 NO3, +8 Urea, +49 Ca, +14 Mg)
Excello Basis: 0,01g/l (+2 Ca, +1 Mg, +0.018 Fe, +0.016 Mn, +0.04 B, +0.26 Cu, +0.3 Zn)
Canna Traces Mix: 0,1g/l (+0.06 Fe, +0.6 Mn, +0.3 B, +0.05 Cu, +0.3 Zn)
Sedumin Bor Vital: 1g at 40l substrate [*] (+0.5 B)
Biobizz ActiVera: 1ml/l (+3.5 Fe, +0.3 Mn, +0.2 B, +0.07 Zn, +0.03 Cu)
Biobizz TopMax: 1ml/l (+0.1 Fe, +0.1 B, +0.03 Zn)
[*] reammend another +1g if long veg or long flower strain
Some of these substances cannot be mixed together into the same barrel, or are prone of organic degradation, so once I set for a recipe gonna have to try these out in a smaller scale to see if, and whenm precipitation occurs. Any help regarding this would be greatly welcomed. I'm tinkering with the idea to use citrate as a chelating agent to help mix more salts into one barrel, but have no clue how to pull this stunt....
Next is an adaptation to my locale tapwater, which has per liter:
NO3: +4.5
Ca: +55
Mg: +9
S: +37
K: +1
Cl: +9
Na: +6
EC = 360uS, pH 7.9
So it would give a plus to Ca & S when used in echange for tap and that could be fitting during the middle of the bloom-phase (during which plant roots also acidify more than usual, so the extra alkalinity would be welcome, as well as this is the time to fertilize higher and to start dropping Si a bit, so it makes sense from some points of view)
Formulae "TAP INSTEAD OF RO":
N-NO3: 127,5
N-NH4: 28,5
N-urea: 8
N-total: 164
P: 96
K: 152
Ca: 210
Mg: 63,5
S: 139
Fe: 3,6
Mn: 1
B: 1,1
Zn: 0,7
Cu: 0,37
Cl: 9
Na: 6
For a bloom-application that would need some PK gradually added to, and perhaps, diluted down a bit as Ca is very high now. The weak point here seems to be Mg lagging behind a bit. It could work is the plant has been loaden with Mg in veg already.
I could now take the calciumnitrate completely out of the formulae to arrive at:
N-NO3: 55
N-NH4: 20
N-urea: 8
N-total: 83
P: 96
K: 152
Ca: 119
Mg: 63,5
S: 139
Fe: 3,6
Mn: 1
B: 1,1
Zn: 0,7
Cu: 0,37
Cl: 9
Na: 6
which would have Ca:Mg at 2:1 ratio and very little N, kinda like a FINISHER-formulae. Further diluting that may still give the plant a good availability of P, K, Mg, and S due to ion rivalry.
Turning that into a HIGH BLOOM-formulae would see the reintroduction of a bit of Calciumnitrate (0.17g/l) and higher MPK (0,5g/l):
N-NO3: 79
N-NH4: 22
N-urea: 8
N-total: 108
P: 145
K: 189
Ca: 151
Mg: 63,5
S: 139
Fe: 3,6
Mn: 1
B: 1,1
Zn: 0,7
Cu: 0,37
Cl: 9
Na: 6
That may cause lockout as the P & K are notoriously high and may be just for some specific hungry genetics, like Critical+ and such.
Lastly I'd want to have a HIGH-NITROGEN-VEG formulae, where I would use an urea-loaden garden fertilizer 12-4-6:
Gardol Grünpflanzendünger: (1g per l)
N-NO3: 15
N-urea: 98
N-total: 113
P: 18,5
K: 50
Fe: 0,4
Mn: 0,1
B: 0,1
Zn: 0,02
Cu: 0,02
and mix 1ml/l of that to the formulae "TAP INSTEAD OF RO", but afterwards dilute the whole by 30% RO to arrive at these values:
N-NO3: 99
N-NH4: 17
N-urea: 74
N-total: 191
P: 80
K: 141
Ca: 149
Mg: 45
S: 97
Fe: 2,8
Mn: 0,77
B: 0,84
Zn: 0,644
Cu: 0,434
Cl: 6
Na: 4
Thoughts?