Hello,
Check this article out! It was posted in another forum but I think it is worth sharing...I have converted my GH 3 part mix to the formula discussed and I have had NO PROBLEMS! This could save a lot of money!
Science not hearsay is driving this, or I would have never tried it. Those of you using the Flora Nova series will be really interested in this!
This was a thread on another forum, if you would like to read the entire thread I PM me.
A thread on nutrient recipes, and some reference links
Growing Greenhouse tomatoes
"The cation exchange capacity of the soil
When small quantities of inorganic salts, such as the soluble mineral
matter of soil and commercial fertilizers, are added to water they dissociate
into electrically charged units called ions. The positively charged ions
(cations) such as hydrogen (H+l, potassium (K+l, calcium (Ca2+l,
magnesium (Mg2+), ammonium (NH
, iron (Fez+), manganese (Mn2+1,
and zinc (Zn2+1 are absorbed mostly on the negatively charged surfaces of
the soil colloids (microscopic clay and humus particles) and exist only in
small quantities in the soil solution. Thus, the humus-clay colloids serve as
a storehouse for certain essential ions (cations). The negatively charged
ions (anions), such as nitrates (NO; 1, phosphates (HPO:?, sulfates WI-I,
and chlorides (Cl-), are found almost exclusively in the soil solution and can
therefore be leached away easily with overwatering. The roots and root
hairs are in intimate contact with the soil colloidal surfaces, which are
bathed in the soil solution, and therefore nutrient uptake can take place
either from the soil solution or directly from the colloidal surfaces (cation
exchange).
As plants absorb nutrients (ions) they exchange them for other ions.
For example, for the uptake of one potassium (K+) ion or one ammonium
(NH
ion, one hydrogen (H+) ion is released into the soil solution or
directly into the soil colloids by the process of cation exchange. Similarly,
for the uptake of one calcium (Ca2+) or one magnesium (Mg2+) ion, two
hydrogen (H+) ions are released by the root. Thus, as the plant absorbs
these essential cations, the soil solution and the colloidal particles contain
more and more hydrogen (H+) ions, which explains why the removal of
cations (ammonium (NH ‘;I nitrogen is a good example) by crops tends to
make soils acidic, i.e., having a low pH. Also, as the plant absorbs essential
anions such as nitrates (NO ;1 and phosphates (HP0 4 ), the soil solution is
enriched with more and more hydroxyl groups (OH-1 and bicarbonates
(HCO; 1, which explains why the removal ofanions (nitrate (NO; 1 nitrogen
is a good example1 by crops tends to make soils alkaline, i.e., having a high
PH. "
The above article seems to suggest that K and Mg are stored in medium, whereas N and P are not. Maybe this leads to nutrient mixes like Canna Coco that are very low in K, and Mg, maybe because they accumulate in medium? But Canna Coco, and also Pure Blend Pro, are also very low in P, which the above article says leaches out rapidly. so I dont understand why those nutes are so low in P... maybe it has to do with their being designed for tap water, expecting the addition of pH down (Phosphoric acid), which adds P?
I was also looking for info on which nutrients are mobile within the plant, versus which ones are only stored in the medium and uptaken as needed (non mobile nutrients). I did not find that info yet, but invite others to point it out if you read the Greenhouse Tomato article.
Now for some heavy math based discussion of some popular nutrients
the following specs are in N-P-K-Mg format
canna aqua a plus b vega 6-3-8-1
Canna aqua a plus b flores 4-4-11-1.2
Canna Coco a plus b flores 5-5-3-1
Flora Nova Bloom 4-8-7-2
Flora Nova Grow 7-4-10-1.5
Flora Micro 5-0-1
Flora Bloom 0-5-4-1.5
from the above data, using pH's spreadsheet,
with weights checked, the following dosages produced the net elemental values for the following GH, Canna, and PBP formulas.. I strongly encourage folks to input the net weight of their nutrient bottles when using pH's premix spreadsheet. Thick products like FloraNova, especially benefit from this data, because it raises the net NPKMG calculations significantly.
note the Canna Coco Bloom recipe profile, it is about a 33% dilution of the 8ml GH Micro, plus 16 ml per gallon of GH Bloom formula.. (but with more Nitrogen).. Maybe medium based nutes are intentionally weak, so they accumulate in the pot?
8ml GH Micro 16 ml GH Bloom, is my guru pH's baseline bloom formula (pH is a person) derived from the Mel Frank targets, which suggest a 100-100-200-60 goal for NPKMG values in bloom Both GH Flora series nutes and the Flora Nova series, achieve Mel Franks targets without additives. Here is a link to Mel's specs pH's "Lucas Formula" values for 8ml micro, 16ml bloom
n 130
p 106
k 183
Mg 73
8 Flora Nova grow. Flora Nova is the one bottle solution to nutrients, note this mix is almost identical to Canna Aqua Vega, and GrowGreen's Nute Recipe
n 217
p 54
k 257
Mg 46
8 fnBloom
n 124
p 108
k 180
Mg 62
GH's baseline Flora Series, the 3 bottles, green purple and red, (different from Flora Nova series) veg formula
GH 15grow, 10micro, 5bloom
211
46
263
40
and GH 3 part bloom formula
GH 5grow, 10micro, 15bloom
159
92
219
66
canna coco 5.7a plus 5.7b (this is their baseline 3ml per liter formula), the highest dosage they recommend is 14ml/gal of canna coco A plus 14 of B). This mix (5.7ml/gal) is less than 1/3 strength of GH Flora Nova Bloom @8ml per gallon on the P, K and Mg..
N 87
P 30
K 43
Mg 17
canna coco 8/a and 8/b
121
42
60
24
Here is canna coco's strongest bloom mix, before the pk14 boost. it resembles the GH FloraNovaGrow recipe in its Nitrogen level
canna coco 14/a and 14/b
212
74
106
42
Here we see Canna Coco hitting hard with P and K
canna coco 14/a and 14/b plus 6ml pk13-14
212
177
317
42
pk 13-14 alone
0
103
212
here is Canna Aqua Vega at mfg rec of 3ml per litre each of A and B (very similar to GH's veg mix)
208
45
230
35
and here is Canna Aqua Flores at 3ml/litre each of A and B (it does not resemble GH bloom recipes, but is slightly similar to 15ml PBPBloom plus 5ml Cal Mag)
138
60
316
42
Here is PureBlendPro Bloom @ 15ml/gal
129
45
214
26
and PBPBloom 15, plus 5 cal mag (GrowGreen's formula) it resembles the grow formula of FloraNova @8ml, as well as GH's 15Grow, 10Micro, 5 bloom formulations, the most copied recipe Ive found. It seems competition only copied GH's veg formula for the most part..
Note also that GrowGreen has contributed a total nutes per crop spec, of 15ml per 40 gallons, or 20 ounces of PBPBloom per 1k crop.. a very interesting spec, resulting in about 5000 total ppm of N per croplife..
161
45
214
45