Hi, I tried sprouting some seeds in rock wool cubes under fluorescent lights. They didn't do so well, so I think I need some advice or links about nutrients. I now know that fish emulsion fertiliser doesn't work so good, so what's the magic formula for indoor hydroponics? M.
magic forumula for indoor hydro... first you should understand that there is no special nutrients that will grow better than the next one. you just need to understand how each piece of the nutrient puzzle fits. I say a 3-1-1 ratio for veg and a 2-3-2 for flowering. of course the nutrients you pick must have all of the other micro nutes like magnesium . Conclusion: from miracle grow, to advanced nutrients. its pretty much all the same. Some people claim its really a difference but there isn't. the only difference is that mg lasts much longer ( as its more potent). Before you get started with hydro, I highly recommend buying a ppm meter. if you have money for a ph meter, get that too but definitely get a ppm meter.
Hi findme, Thanks for the advice about hydro nutrients. Okay, so hydro nutrients are nothing more than NPK fertiliser mixtures. Should I also be worried about adding trace elements to the mix? I've heard of potted plants growing in deficient soils really taking off with the addition of trace elements. Hmm...whats a ppm meter? M.
Don't keep the rockwool to wet. It's very easy to drown the tap root in rockwool if it's to wet. There is gonna be enough nutrients in your tap or bottled water to support the seedling. To much nutrients will cause more problems than to little. Just make sure tap root has plenty of air or it will drown real fast. The roots like a damp environment as opposed to a soaked environment. For rockwool I soak them overnight in ph adjusted water. before planting I shake out the excess water. I want the rockwool pretty damp but not soaked. So shake out about half of the rockwools weight in water before putting seed in. Check the rockwool regularly and if you feel that it is getting to dry then add a few drops of water with an eye dropper so you don't overdo it. After the seed sprouts I continue using bottled water until it starts to show some fan leaves. Then I will bump the bottled water up to about 90 - 100ppm using either base nutrients or rooting stimulator. Lower nutrient levels will encourage those roots to start growing as they seek out more nutrients. Let the plant find the nutrients in the rockwool. The whole trick with rockwool is to keep them damp and not wet. If you find it difficult to do that then you should soak your rockwool and weigh it. You want to remove about half of it's weight when totally saturated. Don't squeeze the water out of the rockwool, shake out the water. Make sure to keep your ph around 6.0ish and you should be fine. You could put a dome or something to trap in the humidity so the rockwool and leaves don't dry out. Once you remove the dome or w/e your rockwool will dry out faster so be careful of that. Any chemical nutrient will do fine for you. If your growing organic kelp works really well for young plants. Biobizz makes a root stimulant that is made from kelp meal and I used to use that on seedlings but I found that it really didn't help anything as the plants start fine with plain old bottled water.
wait for it to have 2 or 3 sets of leaves before feeding it Only thing i would use during seedling times is hygrozyme other than that use 1/2 what they recommend on the bottle.