SWITCHING FROM CHEM TO ORGANIC HYDRO NUTES: THE ULTRA FAQ

[JessieDiamond]

After reading through a number of threads on different organic hydro lines, it seems that there are a number of basic issues that growers will encounter when switching from a primarily chemical nutrient hydro line to a primarily organic one.

I'm hoping we can create a thread that possibly ends up as a sticky, listing these issues . . . and some basic info for each of them. Here's something like what I was envisioning:

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SWITCHING FROM CHEM TO ORGANIC HYDRO: THE ULTRA FAQ

TDS/EC: Most organic hydro lines, even at full strength, will usually register far lower on your EC/TDS meter. This is because (short answer here). To address this, (short answer here).

STERILITY: Organic lines aren't sterile, like most chem hydro lines. So, you'll need to get educated about good/bad bacteria. Here is a link to help with this: (fill in link here). Or here are the basic things to know about using sterile vs. non-sterile solutions.
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If the thread bombs, so be it. :-) But I'm hoping it doesn't, particularly because of the increasing number of growers interested in switching.

TIA for any contributions!

~jessie

[hydroblaze]

i use botanicare pure blend pro GROW and botanicare pure blend pro BLOOM, so far the grow is working great. check it out

[AquaponicHerb]

its a good idea to sticky this. I am moving over back to organic again after trying chemicals on my last 2 grows. I will be using rabbits, worms, snails, and fish to grow my next harvest.

Right now my build is in progress and I have a 55 gallon rubbermaid container with tap water being aerated by 2 high powered venturi nozzles and 5 air pumps. The aeration is processing the water for impurities and after 4 days I added 2 cups of human urine, some worms, bacteria, and mud from a local swamp. The water is heated by 6500k flourescents which illuminate the water; the temps are in the high 70's. Once my bacteria starts to flourish and I can smell that nice indicative pond smell I will begin linking up plant containers and begin the organic process of growing.

Your answers can be found in the types of molecules that are available to the plants. Organic nutrients must be made inorganic before the plant can absorb them so there are varying levels of charged ions. This gets a bit complex and it would be hard to be as exacting in the amounts and proportions that the plant actually receives unless you have it in chemical form.