New to hydroponics

10 years ago

So I've been doing lots of research about hydroponics, and related topics and I'm really wanting to get started. However I've been trying to figure out what's the best way to go about nutrient solution. Since I'm new to this I'm going to start with leafy greens and herbs only to start with as I ease my way into it. I understand the concepts of needing different nutrients at different stages of the plants life, but with leafy greens from what I understand you just want vegetative growth. I've been going back and forth looking at different nutrients and styles.

After everything I've decided to start with liquid nutrients since I'm just starting, and I was thinking of going with the Flora Series. However I wasn't sure if leafy greens require the Flora bloom later in its life or if that would just make it bolt faster which I don't want. So would Flora Veg or Floranova Veg be the best in my situation?

I've read a lot about additives and making hydroponic plants a lot closer to soil grown quality, as in the higher brix scores. I saw that a lot of hydroponics used to have terrible taste/ brix scores because they were lacking a lot of things in the soil. It seems now that by adding in certain things we can simulate soil a lot better producing better quality crops.

I thought it'd be best to add some silica, CalMag, seaweed extract, fulvic acid, and amino acids. Unfortunately I'm unsure of how much of these things to add along with my main nutrients and I'm curious as to how people decide how much of these additives to add. I understand with CalMag it depends on the main nutrient solution as well as the makeup of the water used, but what about the rest?

I'm really just looking for some feedback from experienced hydroponic growers. If possible I'd like to hear about their attempts with different solutions, if they prefer making their own from scratch, and why. How many people have attempted growing with these additives, it sounds like amino acids are very important to getting a great brix score. Thanks in advance for your time and advice everyone.

Best Regards,

Ochretis

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Comment (1)

smalone421
10 years ago
I'm relatively new to hydroponics also so take my advice with a grain of salt As I'm sure many will disagree with me or may have other advice. Do research on hydroponic lettuce and read all you can especially scientific articles and state extension research. I have tried the liquid stuff when I first began and had bad results. Now I use dry formulation specifically for strawberries. Its a lot more economical and I have more control on the composition of the nutes, I have seen dry formulations for lettuce and leafy stuff also. I also tweek the formulation to what I need and to get it into the ultimate ppms of each component for the growing stage. This is a little time consuming but it is not difficult but you need to know how to calculate out ppm of a solution. I use a spreadsheet. But I wouldn't worry about doing this at first. There is a lot of things that you will learn in the process of failing. At least I did. In all honesty I never killed more plants that when I started hydroponics. Or things are growing great and you get a bacterial infection out of nowhere and lose a whole batch in a few weeks. Not to say that you will but learn from it and keep at it. I would just stick to what the manufacture says and you should be fine as far as nutrients. Right now I wouldn't worry to much about supplements. I have been experimenting with amino acids and silica and these are a little pricey and I am still not convinced if it is worth the cost. I have a thread on here which I plan on updating in a few days with preliminary results. The most important thing is to have a good nutrient solution for what you are growing. Supplements are not a miracle cure or anything, but things to help in certain aspects. However; Lettuce and strawberries are 2 totally different crops and results may differ with these supplements so I would read as much as I could about what you are growing. My best advice right now is to keep it as simple as you can and learn. As you learn more give something a try and see what happens. Worst case is you'll have some dead lettuce. It sucks but not the end of the world. But if you do go by what the manufacture suggests. Good luck and have fun
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