How to Adjust Hydroponic Nutrients for Beginners
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- Опубліковано 3 січ 2022
- What this video is: A basic crash course on how to mix and adjust hydroponic nutrients. This video is intended to help beginners understand that mixing and testing hydroponic nutrients can be easy.
I do a few simple experiments to see how much the pH and EC of nutrient solutions change after allowing them to settle for 30 minutes. Hopefully, this helps beginners understand how to make incremental adjustments to nutrient solutions.
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The verdict based on the experiments? Reservoirs under 5 gallons will have almost no significant change in nutrient strength or pH as the solution settles. Reservoirs under 10 gallons will experience minor changes in nutrient strength. Reservoirs that are 20 gallons or greater, may have significant changes to nutrient strength as the solution settles.
What this video is not: An in-depth look at meticulously calculating hydroponic nutrients on a commercial scale. - Навчання та стиль
Why did you abandon the channel? It looks great and it seems like people continue to watch and comment on your videos to this day! Very informative stuff, I’m subscribed
@@Gundumb_guy much appreciated! Life threw some curveballs, that put the project on pause. Maybe one of these days I can I’ll be able to start up again with a little twist.
When I mixed Ph up/down in directly after adjusting nutes, a white cloud would form in the solution, which i did not pay attention to. Later, I got calcium deficiencies because the Ph concentrate was taking the calcium out of suspension in the fertilizer and it became unavailable to the plant (hence the white cloud). Best practice imho is to A) Dilute the PH Up/Down before adding it to the solution or B) calculate how much Ph up/down you use and then add it before everything else (including silicon, cal mag). TPS (what i use for fertilizer) suggests buffering RO water with 15% tap water, but I've never tried that because im not trying to fix whats not broken. Just my 2 cents.
Excellent. I’d been searching for a simple explanation of adjusting EC and finally found it. Many thanks!
I’m glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
Can't thank you enough my man. New subscriber here.
Nice video been looking around to find out how to adjust properly and couldn’t find a video that explained it in detail until I found your channel. Can’t thank u enough.👍
I’m glad it was helpful! Best wishes!
I like your channel. You're learning just like me. Keep up the good work.
Thank you Thomas! Have a great day!
Many thanks for the explanation, for sure super useful, I was looking for it, also was very simple and easy to understand, Again thanks.
You’re welcome!
I used to use those cylinders for measurement but I switched to a jewlers gram scale and made my life so much easier. You can use the cylinder to discover how much nutrient of 10ml equals in grams. Typically 1 gram of water should equal 1 gram. Shot glasses are way easier to clean. Good video man.
That's a great idea!
This is a good video, i learned a lot.
Thanks for watching!
This is such an excellent video, thank you so much for the detailed explanation - beginner in hydroponics here.. trying to do cucumbers in a DWC using masterblend and my plants had so much trouble and leaves were turning yellow etc .. anyway ... seeing your video makes me realize I wasnt checking the nutrient measurements half hour later which might be why my plants were not doing well.
I hope it helps! Thanks for the kind words!
Grate way to explain!
Thank you!
I am trying to get my nute strength dialed in for various plants. The goal I believe is for your EC and PH to remain the same from one day to the next and for the plant to be taking up water.
What are acceptable raises and drops value wise for EC to say ok this amount is ok and I do not need to either dilute or add more nutrient solution?
Thank you in advance and very good video, it's appreciated!
thank you
I am just learning how to grow my veggies. I have a few countertop gardens which has me add nutrients every 2 weeks. And I have a bunch that have transferred into hydro buckets. My question is, when I add nutrients and water, do I add the full amount of nutrients? For example, by 5 gallon bucket needs a gallon of water and it’s been a few weeks since I’ve added anything. Do I add nutrients for 5 gallons or just calculate nutrients for the new 1 gallon of water Im adding in? Also I have cal mag and I’m growing tomatoes and peppers. I’ve read that tomatoes can be tasteless grown hydroponically. Should I do an extra nutrient of some kind? Thanks for your help!
what kind if nutrition is required by the plant at every stage, like may be during flowering stage, the plane will need more P or K than N.
Please let me know at what stage which nutrient is required more
Very good video
Thank you for watching!
I'm trying general hydroponics nutrients and everytime I mix it and add ph up to get it to the desired level after checking it again it keeps rising could it be my air stone causing this?
Thanks!
Thank you Jim!!!
Great video! Just one small correction. The unit of conductivity is Siemens (pronounced SEEM-ənz) after the German Ernst Werner von Siemens.
Ahh, good to know! Thanks for watching!
Hey 👋 brother 👌 Thanks for your time. It's a good experience learn this...
I have a question ⁉️ what is the scale for ec in plants from seed to adult tree? how much more or less would the parameters be in the different vegetative states?
I really appreciate your help ✌️ congratulations for your channel brother.
Thank you for the kind words my friend. The EC scale from seedling to adult depends on the plant, but seedlings normally get half strength or less. In general, once a plant is past the transplanting stage I give it full strength nutrients. I hope that helps.
Thanks again, and have a great day!
Thanks brother 😀👌
I'd recommend not using straight pH up or down from the bottle to adjust your pH of your nutrients. You can dilute your solution and it prevents items from precipitating out of the solution.
That's a good point! I don't ever think about it because the GH line is pretty diluted as is, but if someone is using a product like Cyco that could def cause an issue. Thanks!
Yes I agree with you about diluting the pH up or down in water first and then adding it to your nutrient solution, if adding it straight in it can cause all kind of problems like nutrient lock out etc and that’s why when you add it straight to the nutrients you see a cloud like substance appear, some brands worse than others. I just keep some pH up mixed with water in a glass bottle and then pour it from that whenever I adjust my nutrients.
Why are you mixing gallons with millimeters? Imperial and metric?
great video but I have a question. When I'm growing something in that solution, how often do I need to change out the solution with a new mixture of nutrients? Or do I just keep trying to maintain the existing nutrient solution values throughout the grow cycle? Thanks
It depends on a lot of factors (type of plant, cleanliness of system, accuracy of solution, etc). With lettuce I may completely change the solution about once a month, with multiple top offs in between. Just pay attention to your values, and keep in mind there are increasing levels of unavailable nutrient salts over time. High energy (light/nutrient needs) plants like tomatoes will need more frequent solution changes to manage nutrient availability.
Do you run the same EC values for hydroponics as you would for soil.
You can find all the EC values I use for hydroponics here: happyhydrofarm.com/ph-ec-hydroponic-vegetable/
Okay. So, my question is: how do I know how much of each nutrient needs to go into my solution to make up 600 milisiemens or whatever your target number is. EC doesn’t exactly tell you everything. For example, cucumbers and tomatoes like calcium. If I am using Masterblend, Calcium nitrate and epsom salt, how the hell do I figure out what ratio of each goes into my chosen amount of water?
We are on well water and having a difficult time balancing nutrients and over time calcium seems to be choking off the ability of plants to absorb water and nutrients. Any suggestions besides RO?
I was on well water with no RO for a couple years. In my case, I actually needed to add extra calcium/magnesium (CaliMagic) to the solution. Beyond that, I would let the freshly poured water sit for several hours before adding nutrients/buffers. Finally, I would completely change the solution every couple weeks. I hope some of that helps!!
I use a Berkey water filter system which works amazing!!! They are kinda expensive at around $350 but it’s definitely worth it! There are tons of UA-cam videos on how people make their own Berkey system and only buy the Berkey black filters which is a definite must have, the filters last for like 10 years no joke!!! So if I were you I would look into buying it making one.
I have a question about nutrients. If I have 10-10-10 and let's say a 12-18-25, and do an EC test with the result being at 1.2. Are the results the same, or is one stronger in reality? I am getting lost in the trees with all this stuff as I try to figure out what is destroying my plants after the cotyledon leaves drop.
They will all actually be the same "strength/EC", but will have different NPK profiles.
The 3 numbers represent N-P-K which is Nitrogen Phosphorus and potassium, the easy way to remember what the NPK does is roots shoots and fruits!!! So each number is for a different phase in the plants life/growth cycle.
When measuring the strength of any nutrient solution it doesn’t measure the NPK separately, it combines them all together as one number and gives you the strength of all combined. When growing things that fruit such as tomatoes 🍅 they generally need the higher numbers of NPK and the micronutrients such as calcium and magnesium because if they don’t get it then the tomatoes will show a brown nasty spot at the bottom of them and it’s called blossom end rot, then they have to be thrown away and you have to add cal/mag into your nutrients so it fixes the problem. They make nutrients so confusing with all the different numbers, in general just look for a balanced number of all 3 being around the same and you will be fine.
As far as why your cotyledon leaves are dropping…. That is 100% normal and natural, as long as the “true” leaves and plant is growing then there is no worries at all because those leaves did exactly what they were meant to do which is provide enough nutrients for the seed to germinate and sprout, then once the first “true leaves” appear on any plant then it’s time to give them nutrients. If you want a better answer you would need to explain exactly what is going on because it could be a number of different things…. A few things off the top of my head would be too strong or weak of a nutrient solution, not enough or too much light, not enough or too much water etc etc
But doesn’t dumping out most of the solution completely throw off the NER of the solution? Surely use a bigger bucket, make a solution for the amount of water you need if it’s too high just add water?
Ive been using advanced nutrients powder sensi grow and bloom. Using liquid ph indicator test. Last batch, the test said ph was too high. This time, mixing at same ratios, it says ph is too low.
I need to stop messing around with liquid ph tests and find a ph wand.
Check out the Apera PC60
@@HydroHowTo 👀 🫡 🖖
02:27 I don't get it. You had 2 different values for ec you measured 1570 in one and the other was 3.32 or so. What am I missing here are they both ec values?
Also am confused after googling max ec for autoflowers and it say no higher than 1.8
I think the 1570 you saw at that time stamp was just the meter readjusting as I pulled it out of the solution.
@@HydroHowTono you wrote it on the paper
It say EC: 1570, 1578 in in the 2gal
And EC: 3.32, 3.22 in the 5 gal
Oh I misunderstood the question. The EC of 1570 is denoted in microsiemens and the EC of 3.32 is denoted in milisiemens. If you want to denote the 1570 as milisiemens it would be 1.57 mS. Thanks for pointing that out!
This is a beginner's guide. Some people just like to over complicate simple things.
Thanks! That’s what I was aiming for. I don’t see any point in overcomplicating things early on. All that does is turn people away from hydroponics. I’m all about getting people to dive in and learn things for themselves as they go. Thanks again!
@@HydroHowTo I have been using DWC for the last 6-7 years never had many problems and never did much research . Until about 12 months ago. Apparently I have been doing EVERYTHING wrong. And so I tried to do it the "right way" and it hurt my yields. I just decided to do what works for me. I still enjoy watching what other people do because there's always something to learn. 🌱
@@0utere888 I love this! It’s so true. Thanks for sharing Manu! Here’s to doing things the wrong way!
Is your nutrients for soil? It looks way too thick for hydroponics. I'm asken.
Nope, but this line is a LOT thicker than multi part systems.
IDK if anyone else said this, but that is likely chlorine evaporating off.
No chlorine in that water.
Don’t worry reverse osmosis pretty much removes it.
PH and PPM only 😆
noo... ppm is a bad metric. Siemens are much better. :)
What else do you recommend for a beginner Michael?
😂 yep I first got the cheap $10 set of meters and learned the ppm numbers and it really messed me up for a long time and confused me once I bought the Apera 5 in 1 quality meter which converts the ppm to EC 😂 then I had to learn it all over again because it wasn’t making sense to me in my head 😂 so for ANYONE that’s a beginner I recommend just forgetting the ppm and learning EC only!!! Then it won’t get people so confused. EC is the universal number that everyone from all countries uses so that way when talking to people on Facebook hydroponic groups and videos on UA-cam we are all going off the same exact numbers for nutrients and there is no confusion at all.
others talk about it
You Show it!
cant educate better
Thank you for the kind words! Much appreciated!
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER USE PH up and down in the same batch!
Always start over!
Why is that?
I've heard the same from many growers, and the answer I get is the chemical reaction of mixing the two can be adverse to plants.
Out of curiosity, I've tried mixing and not mixing the ph up/down and there hasn't been any difference, but I still don't do it.
It could also depend on the chemical content of your local water.
I use a aquarium pump and aeration stone in the water for 24 hours min. to help dissipate chemicals prior to adding nutes and checking ph.
@@okcsoda_joe6714 It depends on which kind of nutrients you are using. For example when using MasterBlend 3 part powdered blend you shouldn’t ever add undiluted pH up or down straight to the nutrients because it can cause things like nutrient lock out or cause chemical reactions etc
What kind of nutrients are you using on the experiments that you did?