Alright yall, I know I’m crazy but I’m going for a big daddy rdwc style grow. What do you think would be a solid set of nutes? Ph stability would be nice for considering options. American products are preferred. I’ve been looking at Emerald Harvest and Botanicare but would like some input from others.
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I have not seen any nutrients that will stay stable for too long. That is due to certain nutrients being taken up better than others and after a few days it is not the appropriate ratios anymore. This is why a lot of people see deficiencies and fight ph. If you change out your water often enough any line will do fine. Our line of nutrients are 100% soluble and are easily taken up by the plants. Are you going to be using RO?
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We are using RO water. I dont mind fight ph for a week I’m sure we will have to change water roughly every 10 days.
RO will help give you a fixed pH rate so you aren’t always having to adjust your doses. RO will also strip the mineral so the pH becomes very unstable, and really easy to move. Of course this is even if your source of water needs RO. A simple water analysis would answer that question.
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Ro is tricky with how unstable it makes the ph throughout 10 days. most of my RO guys change out at latest 7 days with great results. I just have them break down the nutrients in tap water so they break down properly and have much less issues with ph adjusting. Some, top off the water with more nutrients half way.
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I would put my line up against any other company for quality, stability and solubility. The majority of my customers run RO water and have zero issues with pH even if their reservoirs are lasting a couple of weeks between refills. More info here: https://hgvnutes.com
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We are currently running well water. Ph is 6 and ppm is 130. We need to get the water analyzed before I get to much further into the project. We dont have access to city water so we will either roll with well water or run it through an RO system.
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With the pH, and the TDS being as low as they are, you might not even need the RO. But you are right, you will only be guessing until its tested. If you don’t have a local lab to help, here is a test that we offer through NTL. Water Analysis Let me know if you have any questions about the report, I will be more than happy to get you pointed in the right direction.
FYI If you, or anyone else from the GNet family needs your source water tested, let me know before you purchase so I can get you the GNet discount. DM me here or you can email me at Dtraughber@uswatersystems.com
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Contact US | ICL Specialty Fertilizers You can get a comprehensive analysis done for $35 through ICL. Just call them and request some free test kits.
NTL is a great lab to use for drinking water analysis but not necessary for irrigation water. The cost difference is only worth it if you are concerned with drinking the water from your well.
I can look at your test results and let you know if you need to do anything to it before using on your plants. I also can blend custom nutrient formulations if necessary to work with your water in most cases rather than having to install an RO system.
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Its the only water on the property.
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ron that is a really good water analysis for the price. Couldn’t agree more with ron, you shouldn’t need much more than that. The only other contaminate I would request for is Silica. That is if you are going to end up using RO. Silica over 7 mg/L can foul out membranes pretty quick without a Permeate Flush upgrade added on it. Again though at 130 ppm TDS you most likely won’t even need RO which is a huge plus.
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I change out about 3600 gallons of tanks a week, and have used most of the major brands. You’ll spend a fortune on nutes unless you use JR Peters (Jack’s) powders. My yields have gone up and I save about 95% on my nute costs, which lowered my generation costs by $100 per pound. I spend about $100 per 10 light crop on ferts, and it used to be about $1200 on House and Gardens.
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Please tell me more about this Jack’s powders.
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Layman you are referring to Potassium Silicate. It sucks. It’s detrimental to a reservoir system. It is gosh darn awefull to work with and will ruin your solution and the plant will need to break the nutes all down again.
It’s a potassium product not real Si as I call it.
Use Si from Quartz Zeolite.
Water soluable Si that makes a huge difference!
PRESERVATION post harvest.
Send me a PM for details.
Do not use Potassium Silicate in your system!
Kyle M
For pH stability start with purified water 0-5ppm then charge it up to 80ppm with minerals. Don’t go over 100ppm starting water because it’s now hard and will make for excess pH buffers.
pH stability starts with you and before you add any nutrients.
Good luck with your RDWC. Big strong healthy plants wins!
For the medium, I don’t like anything porous like puffed glass or clay stones.
Porosity = pH instability
Porosity = trapped micro particulates can lead to rot.
Growstones are a pain in the butt to clean and keep clean while maintaining a living microbiome.
5.3-5.7pH entire time of solution.
66F-72F water temp.
7day water changes or less.
+- 1-2 day buffer. No longer
Chiller and heater on hand for DWC!
K
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FarmerK no, no potassium silicate in our system, I was referring to J.R. Peters (Jack’s Professional) line of nutrient powders. Email them what you use currently for nutes and water, and they’ll help you pick a set of much cheaper replacements.
I plugged their chart into a spreadsheet so I can scale up the tank size and and strength % adjuster, as you can’t use their nutes at label strength.
We’re at about 60% strength with reverse osmosis water. Look up Jack’s 3-2-1 and you’ll find lots of guys using their stuff. Many add fulvic acid and liquid silica to the recipe as well.
If your source water is over 50 PPM it WILL affect your nutrient combination and thus plant development to some degree. If that’s the case, you should be using RO for maximum control of your mix or your mix should be specifically designed for your water while being sure nothing nasty is in it, which may require RO anyway.
Labs matter as does which test you select. Whether you have city or well water, or nearby dairy or other farms as well as mining or industrial plants should determine which test you select. In any case, make sure it includes Boron which NTL does. With well water, you should test a couple times for the first two years if the level of your well changes as it will be different when it’s low depending on geology.
A few growers I’ve helped have even gone so far as to use DI resin after the RO to get the TDS to the absolute minimum as Glyphosate is reputed to be carcinogenic in small PPT (parts per trillion) concentrations. Now that’s pharmaceutical grade Boutique!
A pH doser is in every recycling nutrient delivery system I’ve been involved with that feeds from the same tank for a week without amendments and generally hits upwards of 2.5 lbs per light all day with DE bulbs. Not RDWC but same feeding principle and needs no chillers.
With these systems the main reason for changing the mix each week is for tuning the mix to the plant development cycle,.
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Another thing about DWC type systems with large plumbing and O-ring style plumbing connections is that the nutrients can accumulate in those connections and if not taken apart and cleaned properly, you may well find your crops falling over after about 18 months.