well, to put it simply, i started with soil growing years ago, i decided to move to hydro/dwc about a year ago. i started with bottled nutrients (dutch master gold), ended up at maxigrow/maxibloom powder.. which worked ok but i felt things could be better. the only option i felt was to move to raw salt formulations and making my own nutrient formula. initially it was very challenging, but once you have the knowledge needed its simple and so much better. so i'll just dive right in, my intentions here are to share my formula..
here's the ideal PPM's of each element:
N 100 - 450
P 10 - 100
K 100 - 650
Mg 10 - 95
Ca 70 - 300
S 20 - 250
Fe 0.5 - 6
Mn 0.3 - 4
B 0.1 - 0.8
Zn 0.1 - 0.5
Cu 0.05 - 0.1
Mo 0.02 - 0.07
and ideal ratios as they relate to one another:
N: P 3 - 8
N:K 0.25 - 1.5
Ca:N 0.8 - 1.2
Mg:N 0.1 - 0.4
P:S 0.6 - 1
a good ratio would be running these PPM's give or take:
N-P-K-Ca-Mg-S
99-33-99-99-44-55
so a:
3-1-3-3-1.25-1.5 approximately. 3 times as much nitrogen as phosphorus, equal amounts of nitrogen and potassium. equal amounts of calicium and nitrogen. magnesium in the range of 10-40% of the amount of nitrogen. and phosphorus half to equal to the amount of sulfur.
keeping everything in the right balance means you can run a lower EC level and your nutrients will function better, and plants healthier. also calcium controls everything basically, so if you keep your calcium and magnesium ratio so you have half the amount of magnesium to calicum you can run even lower PPM's. the further the ratio widens, the higher ppm's need to be to achieve the same amount of uptake by the plant.. calcium drives the uptake.
and you dont have to change what you're feeding when you switch to flower. you run the balanced formula all through veg and flower. its true that the plant pulls more P and K and less N in flower, but that doesnt mean that you have to change what you're giving the plant. your feed is balanced, and it has all it needs. and most people are changing their reservoirs once a week anyway, it might make a difference if you're running a whole round without changing your reservoirs.. because as the plant pulls one element over the course of weeks its going to cause a misbalance. but changing res once a week especially you wont have any issues.
so... i used the saltmix3b excel spreadsheet to calculate my nutrient levels and how many grams were needed.. and ended up with a good recipe with minimal ingredients needed.
--- HERE IS THE OFFICIAL FORMULA MIXED INTO 1 LITER OF RO WATER----
application rate: [in veg: 6ml per gallon of A, B, C, D which should be 1.0ec] [in flower 6ml of A & D, 9ml of B & C which should be 1.3ec]
Part A (silica):
AgSil (16H Potassium silicate, 32% K2O 52.8% SiO2): 50.5g
Part B:
Calcium Nitrate (Yara Liva Greenhouse Grade): 352g
part C:
Magnesium Sulfate (magriculture MgSO4): 160g
Monopotassium Phosphate (Haifa Multi-MKP): 96g
Potassium Nitrate (Haifa Multi-K greenhouse grade): 64g
Part D (micros):
Peter's STEM: 17g
Soluble Fulvic Acid (powder): 64g
----------------------------------------
i havent gotten an actual analysis but i predict the n-p-k-ca-mg-s to be around these ppm's/ratios:
99-33-99-99-48-63
for me, right off the mix with no ph adjusting, the PH is right at 6.3.. so adjust accordingly, i use AN's ph down, and i only need about 2 drops per gallon to get me down to 5.8.
i also use microbial tea brewed with mycogrow soluble powder and 2 tsp of sucanat when i mix my res. i wouldnt recommend adding any organic material (such as the fulvic acid powder) to your reservoir without running microbial tea.
change your res once a week, and you can run with this formula all through veg and flower.
me personally, i like to use liquid karma and rhizotonic also, because these products work damn good. and they're cheap. i say they're cheap because you dont need to use them at full strength to get the effect, especially in dwc. liquid karma, i add 15ml per 5 gallons of water.. you can buy a gallon of liquid karma for $50 dollars, and using at that rate once a week, for me its lasts me near 1 year. you can buy a liter of rhizotonic for $50 dollars, and i use at a rate of 20ml per 5 gallons, (only in veg), it will last me for near 1 year. i also add a couple of teaspoons of sucanat for the final 3 weeks of flower to add some extra carbs.. DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT USING MICROBIAL TEA. you'll get slime.
here is my actual feed schedule:
------------------------------------------ [1.2ec]
5gallons of RO water in the reservoir in veg.
30ml of each part A B C D
1 gallon of microbial tea
15ml liquid karma
20ml rhizotonic
25 drops of AN's ph down
------------------------------------------[1.6ec]
10gallons of RO water in the reservoir for flower
60ml of each part A & D and 90ml of each part B & C
1 gallon of microbial tea
30ml liquid karma
1teaspoon sucanat (dont do this unless you run beneficial microbial tea as i do)
20 drops of AN's ph down
------------------------------------------[1.0ec]
3 weeks before harvest:
10gallons of RO water in the reservoir
30ml of each part A B C D
1 gallon of microbial tea
30ml liquid karma
2teaspoons sucanat (dont do this unless you run beneficial microbial tea as i do)
------------------------------------------[0.5ec]
2 weeks before harvest:
10gallons of RO water in the reservoir
15ml of each part A B C D
1 gallon of microbial tea
30ml liquid karma
2teaspoons sucanat (dont do this unless you run beneficial microbial tea as i do)
------------------------------------------[0.1ec]
1 week before harvest:
10gallons of RO water in the reservoir
1 gallon of microbial tea
15ml liquid karma
4teaspoons sucanat (dont do this unless you run beneficial microbial tea as i do)
-----------------------------------------------------
this gives a slow taper down of nutrient levels, resulting in an extremely smooth final product that is in the same ball park as organic soil grown buds.
here's the ideal PPM's of each element:
N 100 - 450
P 10 - 100
K 100 - 650
Mg 10 - 95
Ca 70 - 300
S 20 - 250
Fe 0.5 - 6
Mn 0.3 - 4
B 0.1 - 0.8
Zn 0.1 - 0.5
Cu 0.05 - 0.1
Mo 0.02 - 0.07
and ideal ratios as they relate to one another:
N: P 3 - 8
N:K 0.25 - 1.5
Ca:N 0.8 - 1.2
Mg:N 0.1 - 0.4
P:S 0.6 - 1
a good ratio would be running these PPM's give or take:
N-P-K-Ca-Mg-S
99-33-99-99-44-55
so a:
3-1-3-3-1.25-1.5 approximately. 3 times as much nitrogen as phosphorus, equal amounts of nitrogen and potassium. equal amounts of calicium and nitrogen. magnesium in the range of 10-40% of the amount of nitrogen. and phosphorus half to equal to the amount of sulfur.
keeping everything in the right balance means you can run a lower EC level and your nutrients will function better, and plants healthier. also calcium controls everything basically, so if you keep your calcium and magnesium ratio so you have half the amount of magnesium to calicum you can run even lower PPM's. the further the ratio widens, the higher ppm's need to be to achieve the same amount of uptake by the plant.. calcium drives the uptake.
and you dont have to change what you're feeding when you switch to flower. you run the balanced formula all through veg and flower. its true that the plant pulls more P and K and less N in flower, but that doesnt mean that you have to change what you're giving the plant. your feed is balanced, and it has all it needs. and most people are changing their reservoirs once a week anyway, it might make a difference if you're running a whole round without changing your reservoirs.. because as the plant pulls one element over the course of weeks its going to cause a misbalance. but changing res once a week especially you wont have any issues.
so... i used the saltmix3b excel spreadsheet to calculate my nutrient levels and how many grams were needed.. and ended up with a good recipe with minimal ingredients needed.
--- HERE IS THE OFFICIAL FORMULA MIXED INTO 1 LITER OF RO WATER----
application rate: [in veg: 6ml per gallon of A, B, C, D which should be 1.0ec] [in flower 6ml of A & D, 9ml of B & C which should be 1.3ec]
Part A (silica):
AgSil (16H Potassium silicate, 32% K2O 52.8% SiO2): 50.5g
Part B:
Calcium Nitrate (Yara Liva Greenhouse Grade): 352g
part C:
Magnesium Sulfate (magriculture MgSO4): 160g
Monopotassium Phosphate (Haifa Multi-MKP): 96g
Potassium Nitrate (Haifa Multi-K greenhouse grade): 64g
Part D (micros):
Peter's STEM: 17g
Soluble Fulvic Acid (powder): 64g
----------------------------------------
i havent gotten an actual analysis but i predict the n-p-k-ca-mg-s to be around these ppm's/ratios:
99-33-99-99-48-63
for me, right off the mix with no ph adjusting, the PH is right at 6.3.. so adjust accordingly, i use AN's ph down, and i only need about 2 drops per gallon to get me down to 5.8.
i also use microbial tea brewed with mycogrow soluble powder and 2 tsp of sucanat when i mix my res. i wouldnt recommend adding any organic material (such as the fulvic acid powder) to your reservoir without running microbial tea.
change your res once a week, and you can run with this formula all through veg and flower.
me personally, i like to use liquid karma and rhizotonic also, because these products work damn good. and they're cheap. i say they're cheap because you dont need to use them at full strength to get the effect, especially in dwc. liquid karma, i add 15ml per 5 gallons of water.. you can buy a gallon of liquid karma for $50 dollars, and using at that rate once a week, for me its lasts me near 1 year. you can buy a liter of rhizotonic for $50 dollars, and i use at a rate of 20ml per 5 gallons, (only in veg), it will last me for near 1 year. i also add a couple of teaspoons of sucanat for the final 3 weeks of flower to add some extra carbs.. DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT USING MICROBIAL TEA. you'll get slime.
here is my actual feed schedule:
------------------------------------------ [1.2ec]
5gallons of RO water in the reservoir in veg.
30ml of each part A B C D
1 gallon of microbial tea
15ml liquid karma
20ml rhizotonic
25 drops of AN's ph down
------------------------------------------[1.6ec]
10gallons of RO water in the reservoir for flower
60ml of each part A & D and 90ml of each part B & C
1 gallon of microbial tea
30ml liquid karma
1teaspoon sucanat (dont do this unless you run beneficial microbial tea as i do)
20 drops of AN's ph down
------------------------------------------[1.0ec]
3 weeks before harvest:
10gallons of RO water in the reservoir
30ml of each part A B C D
1 gallon of microbial tea
30ml liquid karma
2teaspoons sucanat (dont do this unless you run beneficial microbial tea as i do)
------------------------------------------[0.5ec]
2 weeks before harvest:
10gallons of RO water in the reservoir
15ml of each part A B C D
1 gallon of microbial tea
30ml liquid karma
2teaspoons sucanat (dont do this unless you run beneficial microbial tea as i do)
------------------------------------------[0.1ec]
1 week before harvest:
10gallons of RO water in the reservoir
1 gallon of microbial tea
15ml liquid karma
4teaspoons sucanat (dont do this unless you run beneficial microbial tea as i do)
-----------------------------------------------------
this gives a slow taper down of nutrient levels, resulting in an extremely smooth final product that is in the same ball park as organic soil grown buds.