DIY 1-part Soluble/Liquid Hydroponic Fertilizer

BillFarthing · Oct 20, 2020

I always try to do things as simply (and cheap!) as possible. Here is a 4-3-5 one-part fertilizer recipe suitable for hydroponics, soil or soilless. It is a clone of Fox Farm Grow Big Hydro, Skunkwerks RX or Cogos Original complete. You can get the ingredients at Custom Hydro Nutrients. Here is the recipe:

Potassium Nitrate KNO3 285 grams
Calcium Nitrate (Tetrahydrate) Ca(NO3)2.4H2O 285 g
Magnesium Nitrate (Hexahydrate) Mg(NO3)2.6H2O 187 g
Ammonium Monobasic Phosphate (NH4)H2PO4 75 g
Pekacid 27 g
Chelated Micros 18 g

N (NO3-) 123.804
K 149.665
P 36.01
Mg 23.416
Ca 63.883
S 0.01
Fe 2.092
Zn 0.16
B 0.519
Cu 0.04
Mo 0.024
Na 0
Si 0
Cl 0
Mn 0.798
N (NH4+) 12.066

Use ~1 tsp./gallon as a raw salt. If you want to make a stock solution, add 1.5L DI/RO/distilled water to a clean and food safe jug. Add the salts. Top up to 3L. Use 9-12ml/gallon.

It is a 10:1 NO3-:NH4+ nitrogen ratio, so the pH should be very stable. The cal-mag ratio is perfect, but low. Add a high quality cal-mag supplement like Growmore Flowering Cal-Mag if you run into issues. The sulfur is low to get it into one bottle as a 1-part fertilizer, so if you have any other issues or have hard tap water, use a high quality fulvic acid like Mr. Fulvic.

It works well. Give it a try!

Aqua Man · Oct 20, 2020

I love those ratios. Stellar work bro

For hydro to get rid of the ammonia what ya think about dropping the AMP,, lower the potassium nitrate and pick them up with MPK and bumping the cal nitrate up and and swapping or replacing part of the mag nitrate for mag sulfate to bump the sulfur up.

Only concern would be K to Ca ratio or you see anything else that may cause issues with that?.

MIMedGrower · Oct 20, 2020

Why leave the calcium just low out of range?

Aqua Man · Oct 20, 2020

MIMedGrower said:
Why leave the calcium just low out of range?

I like my Ca about half the value of my K which currently is about 200ppm so about 100ppm Ca but that at full strength. Mg about 50ppm.

I mean this looks like a solid ratios for soil and even soiless. I just prefer as little ammonium as possible in hydro. But 12ppm is not out of bounds there yet either for me.

BillFarthing · Oct 20, 2020

Aqua Man said:
I love those ratios. Stellar work bro

For hydro to get rid of the ammonia what ya think about dropping the AMP,, lower the potassium nitrate and pick them up with MPK and bumping the cal nitrate up and and swapping or replacing part of the mag nitrate for mag sulfate to bump the sulfur up.

Only concern would be K to Ca ratio or you see anything else that may cause issues with that?.

The NH4+to NO3- ratio keeps the pH rock solid. I have had zero issues with ammonium in the recipe in hydro.

If you add magnesium sulfate, you will get precipitation. It would work as a 2-part. That is the compromise I had to make to get it into one bottle.

Aqua Man · Oct 20, 2020

BillFarthing said:
The NH4+to NO3- ratio keeps the pH rock solid. I have had zero issues with ammonium in the recipe in hydro.

If you add magnesium sulfate, you will get precipitation. It would work as a 2-part. That is the compromise I had to make to get it into one bottle.

Oh shit thats right this is a 1 part concentrate. I always get stuck thinking direct addition cause that how i used to mix mine

BillFarthing · Oct 23, 2020

So I try to help all folks out large and small. I mixed up a bunch of this 1-part up for a new closet grower. His whole nutrient lineup ended up being:

3 L of this 1-part formula (9-12 ml/gal. veg-flower) $35
1 qt. Growmore Flowering Cal-Mag (4 ml/gal. transition) $25
100 g. MKP (1g/gal. week 4-6 flower) $5
8 oz. Mr. Fulvic drench and foliar (0.5 ml/gal. veg-harvest) $20
1 qt. insecticidal soap- Dr. Bronner's peppermint (3ml ml/qt/ veg- transition) $15

With a 4-lamp T5 fluorescent, timer and fan, he spent less than $250 on his entire grow.

BillFarthing · Jun 14, 2021

I copied the Flairform 1-part recipe. Other than calcium being a bit too low for my tastes, it looks fairly decent. That's the trade off for a 1-part versus a 2-part.

It is used at 10ml/L, 38 ml/gal. The NO3-:NH4+ is suitable for a wider range of water containing carbonates. This recipe is for a 1L concentrate.

Veg:

Flower:

The chelated micros are PlantProd chelated micros. They are used at 3 grams of Chelated Micronutrient Mix per 100 litres (0.113g/gallon)

drereg35 · Jul 28, 2021

BillFarthing said:
I copied the Flairform 1-part recipe. Other than calcium being a bit too low for my tastes, it looks fairly decent. That's the trade off for a 1-part versus a 2-part.

It is used at 10ml/L, 38 ml/gal. The NO3-:NH4+ is suitable for a wider range of water containing carbonates. This recipe is for a 1L concentrate.

Veg:

View attachment 1135410

Flower:

View attachment 1135411

The chelated micros are PlantProd chelated micros. They are used at 3 grams of Chelated Micronutrient Mix per 100 litres (0.113g/gallon)

Hi bro!, how are you?,
which are you using? , any recomendation for coco?....

I am currently using your recipe

I'm running 4-1-5.5 this round thanks to Manic Botanix (Grant Low). Monster yeilds and cutting back Potassium after week 6 gives a boost in potency with most strains.

1.0 EC in veg. 1.2 EC in flower.

Part A:
Calcium Nitrate (Yara Liva Greenhouse Grade): 299g
Magnesium Nitrate (Haifa Multi-K greenhouse grade): 8g

part B:
Magnesium Sulfate (magriculture MgSO4): 191g
Potassium Sulfate: 90g
Monopotassium Phosphate (Haifa Multi-MKP): 23g
Chelated Micros: 15.3g

drereg35 · Sep 20, 2021

Sorry bro, but, can you help me?, how i find my npk (example: 4 - 1 -5) ratio in my hidrobuddy?,

BillFarthing · Sep 21, 2021

drereg35 said:
Sorry bro, but, can you help me?, how i find my npk (example: 4 - 1 -5) ratio in my hidrobuddy?,

https://scienceinhydroponics.com/2010/09/imitating-commercial-nutrients-a-tutorial-using-hydrobuddy-my-free-hydroponic-nutrient-calculator.html

Frostfire · Nov 23, 2021

BillFarthing said:
I always try to do things as simply (and cheap!) as possible. Here is a 4-3-5 one-part fertilizer recipe suitable for hydroponics, soil or soilless. It is a clone of Fox Farm Grow Big Hydro, Skunkwerks RX or Cogos Original complete. You can get the ingredients at Custom Hydro Nutrients. Here is the recipe:

Potassium Nitrate KNO3 285 grams
Calcium Nitrate (Tetrahydrate) Ca(NO3)2.4H2O 285 g
Magnesium Nitrate (Hexahydrate) Mg(NO3)2.6H2O 187 g
Ammonium Monobasic Phosphate (NH4)H2PO4 75 g
Pekacid 27 g
Chelated Micros 18 g

N (NO3-) 123.804
K 149.665
P 36.01
Mg 23.416
Ca 63.883
S 0.01
Fe 2.092
Zn 0.16
B 0.519
Cu 0.04
Mo 0.024
Na 0
Si 0
Cl 0
Mn 0.798
N (NH4+) 12.066

Use ~1 tsp./gallon as a raw salt. If you want to make a stock solution, add 1.5L DI/RO/distilled water to a clean and food safe jug. Add the salts. Top up to 3L. Use 9-12ml/gallon.

It is a 10:1 NO3-:NH4+ nitrogen ratio, so the pH should be very stable. The cal-mag ratio is perfect, but low. Add a high quality cal-mag supplement like Growmore Flowering Cal-Mag if you run into issues. The sulfur is low to get it into one bottle as a 1-part fertilizer, so if you have any other issues or have hard tap water, use a high quality fulvic acid like Mr. Fulvic.

It works well. Give it a try!

Thanks for doing your part to put a dent in their profits!!

DIY 1-part Soluble/Liquid Hydroponic Fertilizer

DIY 1-part Soluble/Liquid Hydroponic Fertilizer

BillFarthing

Aqua Man

MIMedGrower

Aqua Man

BillFarthing

Aqua Man

BillFarthing

BillFarthing

drereg35

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