Question For DIY Salt Guys - Micros?

[Terpz719]

Hey,

What are y'all doing for micros? Are you buying all the individual micros in chelated form or are you using something like Flora Micro?

Thanks!

 

[cottageman]

I’ve seen a lot of people use stuff like flora micro or jacks MOST since it’s probably very time consuming mixing all of the different micros lol

 

[Terpz719]

I’ve seen a lot of people use stuff like flora micro or jacks MOST since it’s probably very time consuming mixing all of the different micros lol

As I ease into salts I was thinking the same thing. I had seen MOST mentioned here and there, but didn't know it was a jacks product. Thanks for mentioning it!

 

[cemchris]

You can go either way depending on the size/bulk/and shipping cost on micros. 50 lb bags of micro will last you 3 life times most likely. You can also go premix micros if you like for example Peters S.T.E.M. Better to find them locally if mixing your own to not kill yourself on shipping and being able to buy smaller sizes. If not custom hydro nutes you can get 4lb lots I think.

 

[BillFarthing]

You can go either way depending on the size/bulk/and shipping cost on micros. 50 lb bags of micro will last you 3 life times most likely. You can also go premix micros if you like for example Peters S.T.E.M. Better to find them locally if mixing your own to not kill yourself on shipping and being able to buy smaller sizes. If not custom hydro nutes you can get 4lb lots I think.

I like Peter's STEM with a little fulvic acid or chelated micros from CHN. Both used at 0.1g/gal.

 

[Terpz719]

You can go either way depending on the size/bulk/and shipping cost on micros. 50 lb bags of micro will last you 3 life times most likely. You can also go premix micros if you like for example Peters S.T.E.M. Better to find them locally if mixing your own to not kill yourself on shipping and being able to buy smaller sizes. If not custom hydro nutes you can get 4lb lots I think.

Thanks so much buddy. I always look forward to your informed posts. I see that everything in STEM is sulfate based. I'm running coco/perlite DTW without microobes. I'm thinking the minerals will still be bioavailable without the microobes to break them down. Is that correct or should I go with chelates?

 

[Terpz719]

I like Peter's STEM with a little fulvic acid or chelated micros from CHN. Both used at 0.1g/gal.

Thanks so much for the info! I'm running coco/perlite DTW without microbes, does the fulvic help chelate the minerals? Would you still run fulvic with chelated minerals?

 

[cemchris]

Thanks so much buddy. I always look forward to your informed posts. I see that everything in STEM is sulfate based. I'm running coco/perlite DTW without microobes. I'm thinking the minerals will still be bioavailable without the microobes to break them down. Is that correct or should I go with chelates?

Powdered S.T.E.M. is GtG and available. If you were running soil or generally a PH higher then around 6.5 you would want to use the liquid version of S.T.E.M. since it uses the chelated forms and/or humic/fulvic. At least from what I understand. <--- @BillFarthing?

With that being said you need to make sure when mixing STEM and using something like Si you PH Down it first to an acceptable range.

 

[cemchris]

To get a little further into this most of this is a concern when you are making concentrate tanks for dosers or injection systems and then you usually split the Fe off into the nitrate tank and all the other micro's into the other tank. Since Fe chelates are usually only good in a range of about PH 3.5-6.5. Anything above 7 PH and you risk Fe precipitating out of the solution. That is when you would use specific chelated Fe sources example soil grows.

I had to check a book on that one. Nutrient Solution Management by Nic Combrink. Good read. Think some of it is online.

 

[BillFarthing]

To get a little further into this most of this is a concern when you are making concentrate tanks for dosers or injection systems and then you usually split the Fe off into the nitrate tank and all the other micro's into the other tank. Since Fe chelates are usually only good in a range of about PH 3.5-6.5. Anything above 7 PH and you risk Fe precipitating out of the solution. That is when you would use specific chelated Fe sources example soil grows.

I had to check a book on that one. Nutrient Solution Management by Nic Combrink. Good read. Think some of it is online.

That depends on what form of Fe you are using and if you are using chelators like fulvic acid and complexors like citric acid. There's iron EDTA, EDDHA and up to 6 different types of chelated iron in fulvic acid.

 

[Terpz719]

Powdered S.T.E.M. is GtG and available. If you were running soil or generally a PH higher then around 6.5 you would want to use the liquid version of S.T.E.M. since it uses the chelated forms and/or humic/fulvic. At least from what I understand. <--- @BillFarthing?

With that being said you need to make sure when mixing STEM and using something like Si you PH Down it first to an acceptable range.

Awesome thanks! Sounds good since I run pH 5.8 - 6.0. I had been using Armor Si ( K sulfate) as pH up and to get a little Si, but recently read that it takes at least weeks to be broken down by microbes to be bioavailable, so I'm dropping the Si.

 

[Terpz719]

To get a little further into this most of this is a concern when you are making concentrate tanks for dosers or injection systems and then you usually split the Fe off into the nitrate tank and all the other micro's into the other tank. Since Fe chelates are usually only good in a range of about PH 3.5-6.5. Anything above 7 PH and you risk Fe precipitating out of the solution. That is when you would use specific chelated Fe sources example soil grows.

I had to check a book on that one. Nutrient Solution Management by Nic Combrink. Good read. Think some of it is online.

Cool. I'm nowhere near using dosers etc. I'm mixing 12-20 gallons of nutes at a time, but good to know. And thanks for not only taking the time to research that, but for the book reference too.

 

[Terpz719]

That depends on what form of Fe you are using and if you are using chelators like fulvic acid and complexors like citric acid. There's iron EDTA, EDDHA and up to 6 different types of chelated iron in fulvic acid.

That's really interesting about the fulvic! In terms of Fe, from what I'm getting in these responses, I plan on going with the powered STEM. After going back and reading some of your other posts, I see you like Mr. Fulvic and pyroligneous acid (wood vinegar, liquid smoke). The liquid smoke thing is fascinating. Would you run those in coco or is that more of a soil thing? Thanks again for your input.

 

[BillFarthing]

Fulvic is broken down organic matter. So is pyroligneous, just cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. They both work in hydro, coco and soil. They provide different organic acids beneficial to plants.

 

[Terpz719]

Fulvic is broken down organic matter. So is pyroligneous, just cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. They both work in hydro, coco and soil. They provide different organic acids beneficial to plants.

Cool! Guess the grow is going to start smelling like BBQ, lol

 

[BillFarthing]

Cool! Guess the grow is going to start smelling like BBQ, lol

Some of the organic acids systemically throw the plant in SAR and resist bugs. The smell can't hurt to repel them either!