If you're just wanting to give it a try, just buy a pint each of general hydroponics (GH) flora series nutrients (grow, micro, bloom) and grow a few plants to decide. If you decide to stick with it, you'll probably want to buy something more cost effective. But for sampling, the upfront cost of those is a lot less than buying commercial fertilizers in bulk.

Flowering plants can be grown without the Grow because the Micro has nitrogen. I haven't tried it yet, but I would think that lettuce could be grown with just Grow(2-1-6) and Micro(5-0-1).

Rio Grande

Each plant Species has a Different Nutrient Requirement. Tomatoes and Cucumber family Plants Like Mellon's etc require a lot of Nutrients. Lettuce and Greens don't need any where as much Fertilizer. What might starve one Plant will burn an other.

I strongly suggest you stay away from Special Hydroponic products because as a General Rule you pay more for the Ink on the package than the produce inside. Two Parts Triple 20 (Miracle Gro) and One part Episode Salts is a commonly used and relatively cheap nutrient that works across a wide range of Plants. How much you apply depends on the Plant.

In the Mean time surf Land Grant Universities' websites for Good information. BTW U Tube is a wealth of Knowledge if you filter put the Crap.

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Thanks for the replies. Ricone I have soluble triple 20 and Epsom salts are cheap. That is what I am looking for I don't like to buy marketing. Just looking for the product. I just want to give this a shot with a few plants alongside our beds and row crops.

I may be mistaken but I believe MG 20-20-20 or triple 20 as Ricone calls it has too much ammonium nitrate for hydroponics. Not sure as I have grown a few herbs with it but for whatever reason (that alludes my mind ATM), It is not generally recommended for hydro. What I've read on UFL's website they used a 5-11-26 fertilizer, not 20-20-20, but maybe recent research has changed that mindset. It would be interesting to see some data addressing the the fertilizer used.

The attached link calls for 20-20-20 and Epsom salts. Think I am going to try this in a doc this weekend with some left over plants we have.

Here is a link that might be useful: U of Fl info

I've read that article before. They don't actually call for 20-20-20. They really use it as an acceptable example. As I've said many times before, I've grown some leafy herbs with MG 20-20-20 and epsom salts. Sure it works, it is just not well balanced and, even as that article suggests, needs tweeking to grow tomatoes or peppers. For introduction to hyrdo, it is a great inexpensive way to get your feet wet.
If you grow a lot and don't like polluting the ground with excess nutrient, then it is probably not the best solution. Due to the unbalanced nature of the mix, your "spent" nutrients will still have a lot of excess nutrient in them. Remember plants only grow as well as the least available nutrient.
Don't get me wrong. All spent nutrients have some excess fertilizer in them. The idea is to minimize that waste.

This post was edited by grizzman on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 10:17

The main difference between hydro and soil fertilizers is the nitrogen source. Ideally, only calcium and potassium nitrate are used in hydro, where soil fertilizer often uses urea and ammonium based nitrogen. The urea requires a soil orgainsm that does not exist in a hydro system to convert to a usable product. The ammonium nitrogen can cause root damage if too much is used. It seems to work OK with up to 15% of the nitrogen source. Ammonia nitrogen can be used in moderate amounts to bring a high PH down.