Growing Vegetables with Bloom formula only?

11 years ago

According to a reference article on hydroponics nutrients from rgjhydroponics, the NPK values preferred by different vegetables are:
Lettuce 8-15-36
Peppers or Herbs 11-11-40
Tomatoes 4-18-38
Cucumbers 8-16-36
Strawberries 10-8-22

They were speaking of using these values for the whole grow, vegetative and blooming starting with weak to stronger PPM during the grow.

I am going to be using General Hydroponics MaxiGro and MaxiBloom Series with added CalMag. The NPKs are:
MaxiGro 10-15-14
MaxiBloom 5-15-14

Like many of the brands, General Hydroponics Maxi Series does the progressive change from all MaxiGro to all MaxiBloom.

What bothers me is the disparity of the NPK values between the General Hydroponics Maxi series compared to the apparent textbook values required for different vegetables.

It would appear to me, that a large number of the vegetables on the list are closer to the MaxiBloom NPK values and quite different from the MaxiGro NPK values.

Taking a cue from our "one toke over the line" growers and picked up by many legal vegetable hydro growers, why not just use the MaxiBloom for the entire grow and just adjust the PPM as needed? After all, it approaches the Lucas Formula which is applauded by millions in their clouds of smoke.

In other words, has anyone just used a "bloom" formula for the entire grow of vegetables? Or does anyone see why this shouldn't be done?

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hydroveggiegrow

11 years ago

Pfft. Lucas formula. If I remember correctly it's almost exactly like Maxibloom yet some dude coins the term "Lucas formula" and it's all the rage. But I digress.

But to answer your question of whether a bloom mix can be used throughout a grow...sure. There are numerous other factors that will determine how the plants do that are are way more important than your base ratios such as concentration, res changes, lighting, heat/humidity, etc.

Plants will uptake some nutrients constantly whether they need them or not and store them while others will get taken up only when needed...and some like calcium that will only get taken up with transpiration. The important thing is that it's all there and available and not an excess or deficiency of anything and a bloom mix, like you're referencing, should work fine. This is the reason someone can use 10-5-14 or 8-2-8 or X-X-X, given the same conditions, and they can all grow just fine. For the home hydroponic person this is fine but when you get into commercial production it's way more complicated all the way down to controlling phosphorous levels the tomatoes. When that type thing is done then your ratios and specific uptake matter more.

But keep in mind depending on what type of plant you're growing everything, regardless or grow or bloom mix, can get out of whack if your using just a base mix. For a lot of plants many mixes will be low on calcium and magnesium especially if you're using RO water. And some types of tomatoes will require more cal than others or they'll get BER. My peppers like more K in the mix. My peas like low concentrations of overall salts. Slightly too high and they stop uptake. And so on and so on. Basically what I am trying to say, hopefully I'm making sense, is your base mix is just a starting point for most plants. Tweaks need to be made. Looking at that tomato ratio at the beginning of your post - if i tried to use that little N with mine, they'd be yellow (assuming the correct concentration).

Anyway, your base ratios are only a small part of the puzzle and frankly, IMHO, of lesser importance than many other factors for growing plants optimally.

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Comments (6)

delaware
Original Author
11 years ago
Fabulous answer! Thank you so much.
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wertach zone 7-B SC
10 years ago
After reading this I am wondering about the stuff I bought from my local Hydroponics store. It is 7-4-10 (Floranova by General Hydroponics). I told her I needed it for Red Robin tomatoes in my Aerogarden Pro and she recommended it, but she is a flower person. Her boss wasn't there, he is the veggie person.

It is really nasty looking stuff, thick and black! :) I have to premix it in water before adding it.

The 4 week old plants look fine, about 8" tall, I'm just wondering if I should get something else? Will they set blooms and fruit with this?

I'm kinda new at this, I bought it last spring and only grew the herbs that came with it. They did very well on the nutrients that came with it, but I've used it all and I don't remember the ratio of it.
delaware
Original Author
10 years ago
Oh my, I haven't seen ugly black stuff like that. Go on the General Hydroponics site and see exactly what they say about it. They have a lot of info. I don't know enough about it to suggest using it or not. Sorry. Let us know what you find out.
maxjohnson
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
@wertach Not sure how much bloom you're going to get with a 7-4-10, that seems too high in nitrogen if the plant is in adult stage and too low in phosphorous. I grew tomatoes with a 10-8-22 before. Great amount of dark green leaves and barely any fruits. I still think it's good for the early stage of the plant, but afterward I would switch to something like "Tomatoes 4-18-38".
wertach zone 7-B SC
10 years ago
Yes , max johnson, I believe you are right! I have had that problem before, many years ago, I had too much N one year while growing in our "dirt" garden. My dear departed Dad was fertilizing his grass with something like a 30-0-0 fertilizer and put the leftovers on our joint garden. We lived next door to each other. The beans and greens loved it though!

I will either order some online or call before I go back to the store to be sure the veggie man is there. It is 20 miles away.

Delaware, I looked at the General Hydroponics site, it said it was good for tomatoes. I also found out that my version of "shaking vigorously" wasn't vigorous enough! After shaking for about 10 minutes it isn't so thick and nasty! I'm used to thick stuff being at the bottom not the top??? But I'm a new-by on this stuff! :)

It also said that it is good to use in potting and gardening soil, so at least it won't go to waste!

They are growing like crazy, about 1" a day. I only have 1 notch left on the Aerogarden after raising it again today. RR's are supposed to top out at 12" but they may outgrow it if they keep this up, 12" is the limit on the Aerogarden extension. If they do I will take off the light and put up some clip lights. I already have the parts to do that.

I have 2 in MG potting soil, under lights and they aren't growing as fast, but I re-potted them deeper in the soil last week to bigger containers. I'm sure that set them back a little. They look great and are darker green than the aero.