Ok to water with stagnant old nute mix?

Peace111

Member
I only have the measuring tools to make a gallon sized mixture of nutes at a time, and I only have a couple week old plants, so I only use around 1/20 of the mixture per watering. I'll use it a second time 3 days later, but by that time the mixture smells a little bit and has developed particles in it. Is it ok to feed it to my plants even though it has been sitting stagnant for half a week to a week in ~75F temps? Are there risks involved with doing this, especially for longer periods of time?

Here is the nute mix:

-Dynagro protekt 16ppm
-Dynagro foliage 35ppm
-rapidstart ¼ teaspoon
-GH calmag 1/8 tea
-Age Old Kelp 1/8 tea
-Earth Juice Molasses ¼ tea

Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Cheers
 

polo the don

Well-Known Member
If I were you, instead if using bad nute water I would go to walgreens and get me a dosing syringe like the kind you use to give medicine to small children. They measure in milliliters. Shouldn't cost more than $2. My wife is a pediatrician so I have acsess to all that type of stuff. The one I've been using lately is 5 ml total divided into 1.25, 2.5, 3.75, and 5 ml graduations. Works fine and if you have to buy it you will find it is much cheaper than messing up your lady's with old stuff.

Goos luck, great grows.

Polo.
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
I would say no, if it's stagnant water and has a foul odor don't use it. If you keep the water aerated with an air pump or even just vigorous shaking every few hours, it shouldn't start to stink and it should keep longer. But yeah, if it smells funky chuck it
 

Peace111

Member
First off thank you all very much for your input. I am still a newb who is learning his way. :weed:

If I were you, instead if using bad nute water I would go to walgreens and get me a dosing syringe like the kind you use to give medicine to small children. They measure in milliliters. Shouldn't cost more than $2. My wife is a pediatrician so I have acsess to all that type of stuff. The one I've been using lately is 5 ml total divided into 1.25, 2.5, 3.75, and 5 ml graduations. Works fine and if you have to buy it you will find it is much cheaper than messing up your lady's with old stuff.

Goos luck, great grows.

Polo.
Awesome suggestion, I am going to look into that. I don't need to make a gallon batch during seedling phase, so it would save me from wasting nutes if I could make a smaller batch each watering.


I would say no, if it's stagnant water and has a foul odor don't use it. If you keep the water aerated with an air pump or even just vigorous shaking every few hours, it shouldn't start to stink and it should keep longer. But yeah, if it smells funky chuck it
Yeah I was a little concerned, so I am just going to make a fresh batch every time I water now. Not sure if I should invest in an airstone or not though as I hand water.
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Also as a side note, I just realized, you said you're using Dynagro Protekt, which I think could be the particles you are seeing, the silica in protekt can bind to other compounds in the mix and expand like silica gel, I had that happen to me once when I mixed stuff in the wrong order (I put all the stuff in at once without pre-mixing the protekt into the water before adding the rest).
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
Also as a side note, I just realized, you said you're using Dynagro Protekt, which I think could be the particles you are seeing, the silica in protekt can bind to other compounds in the mix and expand like silica gel, I had that happen to me once when I mixed stuff in the wrong order (I put all the stuff in at once without pre-mixing the protekt into the water before adding the rest).
I too suspect that as the culprit!

Silica supplements are best mixed by adding the Si first. (To 50% of total water needed)
Add 50% (of the remaining needed) more water. Then the NPK nutrient.
Add 50% more water. Then ANY Ca/Mg supplement !
Top off with the rest of the required water and shake it up.

So, bottom line. Si first,,,Ca/Mg last!

Use ALL the mix! Never let a mix with Si sit !!!! Si reacts with Ca/Mg and solidifies by bonding with those Ca/Mg molecules.

If you want to see what I mean......Take a cup of water and add say 2.5ml of Si and then 2.5ml of Ca/Mg and you will see the "flakes" form instantly and float about the water. The water now has no "effective" to be used Si or Ca/Mg available.
 
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