khazoth
07-19-2009, 03:18 AM
Hello everyone, I am new to growing, and I have decided to take a soil-and-hydroponics-side-by-side approach to it. I have posted about my hydroponic set up in the hydro forum, but I have a question about soil nutrients here.
I have obtained the entire fox-farms nutrient family, including the water-soluble nutrient trio (Open Sesame, Beastie Bloomz, Cha Ching) and will be following the fox farms schedule on several of my plants with relatively few tweaks.
However, I have a desire to experiment with many different options and compare them side by side in one grow with several plants. A local orchid greenhouse uses a specialized 13-3-15 N-P-K fertilizer with additional 8% calcium and 2% magnesium. The fertilizer also contains small amounts of many micronutrients [ iron(Fe) manganese(Mn) zinc(Zn) copper(Cu) boron(B) molybdenum(Mo) ].
Obviously this fertilizer is relatively orchid specific.
I am no professional, but I believe that I am correct in thinking that phosphate is necessary for good 'fruits'.
I may be mistaken, but by researching the fox-farms nutrients and several other solutions, I have come to the conclusion that potash is helpful in encouraging flowering (multiple bud sites, quickness, etc...)
So I mixed some things and came out with a fully water soluble nutrient package with the following statistics:
nitrogen 11.55%
phospate 25.275%
potash 21.425%
calcium(Ca) 4.8%
magnesium(Ma) 1.56%
iron(Fe) 0.1462%
manganese(Mn) .0728%
zinc(Zn) .0464%
copper(Cu) .0464%
boron(B) .0188%
molybdenum(Mo) .0108%
It seems to be pH neutral, and so I was wondering if this would be a good choice to use for flowering on a few of my plants, if not just to see how it turns out.
So any input would be appreciated, as I stated, I am no professional, I am nothing more than a newbie. Any advice will further my cause greatly...
I have obtained the entire fox-farms nutrient family, including the water-soluble nutrient trio (Open Sesame, Beastie Bloomz, Cha Ching) and will be following the fox farms schedule on several of my plants with relatively few tweaks.
However, I have a desire to experiment with many different options and compare them side by side in one grow with several plants. A local orchid greenhouse uses a specialized 13-3-15 N-P-K fertilizer with additional 8% calcium and 2% magnesium. The fertilizer also contains small amounts of many micronutrients [ iron(Fe) manganese(Mn) zinc(Zn) copper(Cu) boron(B) molybdenum(Mo) ].
Obviously this fertilizer is relatively orchid specific.
I am no professional, but I believe that I am correct in thinking that phosphate is necessary for good 'fruits'.
I may be mistaken, but by researching the fox-farms nutrients and several other solutions, I have come to the conclusion that potash is helpful in encouraging flowering (multiple bud sites, quickness, etc...)
So I mixed some things and came out with a fully water soluble nutrient package with the following statistics:
nitrogen 11.55%
phospate 25.275%
potash 21.425%
calcium(Ca) 4.8%
magnesium(Ma) 1.56%
iron(Fe) 0.1462%
manganese(Mn) .0728%
zinc(Zn) .0464%
copper(Cu) .0464%
boron(B) .0188%
molybdenum(Mo) .0108%
It seems to be pH neutral, and so I was wondering if this would be a good choice to use for flowering on a few of my plants, if not just to see how it turns out.
So any input would be appreciated, as I stated, I am no professional, I am nothing more than a newbie. Any advice will further my cause greatly...