Hydroponic Nutrient Solution -Technical Discussion and Application

It's time for our nutrient stock tanks to be filled. We show you how it's done and Nate from CropKing helps out. He gives a great explanation on why nutrients are mixed in separate tanks and why water analysis is so important for a successful hydroponic system. We are doing an experiment with some new micro-nutrients and will do a follow up to this video with new water analysis from our system and see if we have everything needed in our solution to grow perfect happy and nutritious plants.
Please comment if you see something we can improve. We love to hear your feedback. We are amazed at the great suggestions you all have. Keep them coming!
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[@baitcarp]

this has been one of the most inspiring and informative channels for hydroponics, for me at least. almost finished with my lil 8'x16' greenhouse for a very small scale amateur version of what you all are doing. thanks for the info and always looking forward to more

[@HomegrownPassion]

So nice of you

[@rawbsworld6604]

🤔 ham, what’s an amateur? 🤷‍♂️ the guy that has a 1000 acres a tractor and plows it and grows corn or beans etc a pro or is he also an amateur cuz he got a vegetable garden behind his house? Is there such a thing as a pro gardener ? aside from someone getting a master gardener certificate 😂 but then doesn’t that just make em an amateur agriculturalist? 😳😂🤣 … hahahaha just having fun ham … Be it water or dirt it just boils down to scale imho … it’s all the same knowledge for success …. I consider it backyard/ home gardening …. I’m setting up NFT system in 2x4 shelve unit , summer time RDWS IN A 6x8 greenhouse… am I an armature or hobbyest 🤔 Farm? 🤣😂 ….. before it was a farm was it Bradwood gardens 😜? ? Ham good and enjoy your greenhouse venture this summer ! 👌✌️

[@FensterfarmGreenhouse]

I usually start adding micro in about 25 gallons of water or 1/2 the barrel. CaNO3 will dissolve in far less. I agree with most of his advice though. I was thinking about adding air to the brine tanks. “ one of these days “ lol Great stuff Katy! Chuck

[@HomegrownPassion]

Yes, more water makes sense. Let's talk air stones sometime!!

[@CajonLiving]

I love the new micro-nutrients idea. This would defiantly help me over design my system after I retire. Many years ago, I put a Venturi pump in a tank to put powered ferrous chloride in solution and oxidized it to Ferric chloride for a wastewater plant. The way it worked was the venturi pump intake that normally would pick up water to lift it say out of a deep well, I had attached a pipe a pipe to it so it would be higher than the tank, this causes it to suck air and aerate the tank. A pump sucked the solution out of the tank and returned right back to the tank through the Venturi pump which agitated the tank. I'm sure this could be done just as easy but putting a small tube in the suction end of a pump hooked to a tank as a recirculating pump. I'm sure I confused a lot of people, here is where a picture word be worth a thousand words.

[@HomegrownPassion]

Thats a great idea, I have seen many venturi systems used in aquaponics. Great idea ! Thank you

[@sailme2day]

Thank you for growers everywhere. Water is life :) we can not manage , what is not measured :)

[@HomegrownPassion]

So nice of you

[@johnman559]

This was very generous to upload this Katie thanks. It's good unique information.

[@HomegrownPassion]

Glad it was helpful!

[@cyclicvibrations4420]

keep up the good work!

[@HomegrownPassion]

Thanks, will do!

[@sailme2day]

EXCELLANT !!!!! VIDEO :) oh goodness , something for everyone , to learn from .

[@HomegrownPassion]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@littleglasshouse5797]

another informative video. thanks

[@HomegrownPassion]

Our pleasure!

[@tombryant4518]

Mixing stick? Use a paint mixer, or a drywall mud mixer and a cordless drill. You’ll have it mixed WAY faster and much more thoroughly.

[@HomegrownPassion]

Thanks for the tips!

[@tombryant4518]

@@HomegrownPassion No worries! Thank you for continuing to grow food in this crazy world. I’m still trying to understand how you afford to run that joint when my power bill is $400.00 CDN a month for my measly house and a few HLG lights.

[@simonac688.]

thank you this was realy interesting 👍

[@HomegrownPassion]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@simonac688.]

@@HomegrownPassion im planing a hydroponic set up realy realy small for my personal needs and found your Gem of a channel...it made my day thank you so much 💜

[@simonac688.]

@@HomegrownPassion indeed and will be looking forward watching new episodes 👍

[@graddy2009]

Been working with cropking for over 20 years. Tomato farmer Graddy here to say hello. Keep up the great work! Great to see Nato! I measure all my micronutrient my self with a digital scale that can measure down to the .01 or hundredth of a gram. Seems to work just fine. For your wet wall where to you buy new pads? Hog slat has great deals on pallets of them. Also do you get both sides dipped? I sure like them both dipped. You and use a pressure washer on them that way to clean out the riffles. Ever have a downy mildew problem? If so what do you do? Also I add micro to a hot 5 gallon bucket of water then add it in. That way it dissolves in front of my eyes.

[@HomegrownPassion]

Thanks for the suggestions. We have never had downy mildew, just powdery mildew in the late summer- fall

[@Emeraldwitch30]

Wonderful and informative video. I have it saved for when I get a bigger system. But one great bit of info made me feel better about one of the things I do with my kratky buckets-once my plants get bigger I change the water out about every 2 weeks to 20 days. I had not found a lot of information on when to change water out. I found that instead of just adding more nutrients every 2 weeks I would dump the small amount left into my gardens or into my big house plants. Then I added fresh nutrient solution. I wasn't sure if it was needed but since the water isn't aerated or moving I worried it would go stagnant. I would make up the required amount in a new clean bucket (usually about 2 1/2 gallon in my 3 1/2 gallon buckets) and just switch the plant/top onto the clean bucket with the fresh nutrients. Then I clean that bucket and start over for the next bucket. I only had about 20 buckets last summer out in my greenhouse. I'm thinking about making a few Dutch buckets(I think you call them bato buckets) your cucumber and tomatoes look a bit more luscious than mine even tho my cucumber were outstanding compared to the ones in soil. But I'm putting together a Gilligan's island vibe NFT set up for this coming summer and learning the different blends and how to mix them is becoming very important and that will be different than what I'm currently doing. On the mixing tho in your big barrels. I have a giant food wisk I bought years ago and I rarely use it. Its industrial for restaurants if you had one and bolt it to your pvc stir stick, it might help incorporate your dry nutrients into the water. Also I bought for my fish tanks a flexible air tube for aeration-they have little suction cups and could be formed into a nice circle at the bottom of the barrel. It would work nicely and are not too expensive and seem to last quite awhile. But I do know the deeper the water the stronger the air pump. I had to buy a nice big commercial type for my pond (300 gallon). But it wasn't too horrible price wise and its going on 10 years and going strong. Thank you for such an informative video and I can't wait to see how the micro nutrients do instead of liquids.

[@HomegrownPassion]

Thanks so much for your informative comment. Sounds like you have a great idea for the spring and have this worked out pretty well. !!

[@Emeraldwitch30]

@@HomegrownPassion I have to say you and your family show the good and the bad and its really encouraging to us little at home hydroponics growers. All the information you share really helps me with some of my weird questions. And even when I've asked you about things your answers are always informative and nice. Have a good day. Hope the snow we got here last night in michigan isn't heading your way 🥰

[@rawbsworld6604]

👍 … interesting 🤔 😁

[@calvinjohnson9117]

What is your watering schedule? Also do you water at night? Thanks for all the great videos I have learned a lot.

[@HomegrownPassion]

on the bato buckets we only water during the day. the nft system is going 24-7

[@qmoonwalker3847]

Interesting to see how the micronutrients do.....maybe MONSTER LETTUCE??!!

[@HomegrownPassion]

We will do a follow up and show you what we yield. Big is better!

[@derekgore1268]

I'm amazed that professionals still mix up nutrient tanks with a piece of PVC pipe. We all know that time is money, so use a stiff short haired broom (one for each tank) to get the job done 5 times faster. Also, there are a lot of complex reactions between the different nutrients, so fill your tanks just below their maximum levels with warm water before adding in the nutrients. You want to dilute the nutrients as quickly as possible in your stock tanks to minimise these nutrient interactions.

[@HomegrownPassion]

As much as I appreciate your comment...short haired brooms??? In the video we said the water is warm...maybe even hot. The nutrient solution dissolves just fine. We have never had a problem with it not dissolving. The PVC pipe works fine to agitate the solution enough to determine if there is any mix not dissolved. We may look into some air stones this year but to be honest it has been fine for 7 years and I think we are going to keep it going the way we are doing it.

[@derekgore1268]

@@HomegrownPassion Fully understand. We try to keep the nutrient solution barely just warm to prevent interaction between the different salts.

[@TheAdhdGardener]

I have so many questions! There are so many nutrient brands n mixes for hydroponics, trying to find a good one. Was actually going to order buckets from cropking for this spring! I was using Masterblend from the kratky method but I wanna go bigger with my NFT system and start my Dutch buckets for tomatoes. Wanted to see about other mixes and preparation.

[@HomegrownPassion]

Keep watching! We have tons of videos planned for the future that should give you some ideas. If you have questions, we will do our best to answer them. Thank you for supporting our channel!!

[@dasta4754]

Highly informative😍😍 I wonder if it will be fine if the micromix contains Iron (Fe)? I am not able to find micronutrient mixes that do not contain iron. Shall I go ahead with it? I hope this won't be a problem for solution B😕 Thanks in advance for your kind guidance!

[@HomegrownPassion]

You need iron and i would say go for it but it depends how much is in your source water. Have you had it tested to see what you have

[@guruscux3053]

excellent video will follow this, shame we dont have a company like Crop King in NZ , very hard to get info and products unless full on commercial

[@HomegrownPassion]

Let us know if we can help in anyway. Thank you for supporting us!!

[@gardnep]

You have Bunnings in NZ who sell Manutech hydroponic nutrient. Diamond T is another brand and calcium nitrate is generally a pretty common fertiliser.

[@guruscux3053]

@@gardnep thanks for the reply , can sort Nutrients - cant get the gear thats the hard part..

[@briansaunders7064]

I'd think using something like a kayak paddle would be a million times more effective than using a pipe as a stir stick when mixing nutrients

[@HomegrownPassion]

Great point! I'll look into a better stir stick.

[@briansaunders7064]

@Homegrown Passion just saw this. He's using a paint mixer attached to an electric drill! Another cool idea to consider! kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6Kng2qra8aBos0

[@gardnep]

I realise the calcium nitrate may interact with other chemicals but they are both run through the same pipes to the nft or growth medium, particularly if you are recycling water and nutrients. Probably doesn’t matter if you can afford to dump nutrients with a once through system.

[@HomegrownPassion]

So, you only have problems when they are so concentrated like in the dosing tanks. Since the pump Is set to 1-100 as the solution is mixed into the recirculated nutrient water running through the greenhouse you don't have to worry about the nutrients falling out of solution.

[@larrymarcum1673]

What is the cost for water testing and who do you use?

[@HomegrownPassion]

about 60 bucks i think and we use Clemson university

[@thestrawberrypatch5644]

I would use an air stone just so I don't need to stir at all.

[@HomegrownPassion]

I agree... air stone would great. Going to look into them.

[@thestrawberrypatch5644]

@@HomegrownPassion make sure you get a pump with enough pressure

[@edward8563]

Put air stone in it

[@HomegrownPassion]

that would work

[@bobbykelly4910]

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