Making your own low cost hydroponic nutrients from raw salts (A+B, DIY)
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- Опубликовано: 31 окт 2020
- This video shows you how to prepare your own low cost generic hydroponic nutrient A and B solutions. These solutions are prepared at a 1:250 concentration, meaning that 1 gallon of A plus 1 gallon of B will be enough to prepare 250 gallons of the final solution. The solutions should be used at 4mL of A plus 4mL of B for every liter of the final solution. This post contains the formulation information showed in the video (scienceinhydroponics.com/2020...)
(Please notice that the Amazon links below are affiliate referral links. This means that if you click on them I may receive a commission from purchases. There is no additional cost to you, but it helps me to keep posting content for free. The customhydronutrient links are not affiliated links.)
Class A Volumetric Flask (250mL)
amzn.to/3jME8WI
Beaker set
amzn.to/3lwdGkw
Recommended scale (+/-0.01, 500g max)
amzn.to/2GVBrTW
Customhydronutrients chelated micro mix
customhydronutrients.com/chela...
Calcium nitrate
customhydronutrients.com/yaral...
Ammonium Sulfate
customhydronutrients.com/apf-s...
Epsom Salt
customhydronutrients.com/magne...
Monopotassium phosphate
customhydronutrients.com/haifa...
Potassium sulfate
customhydronutrients.com/haifa...
"we do not weigh in a volumetric flask because we are not savages..." Best line I've heard this week! Cheers!
Just found your channel - such clear and concise educational material is a joy to behold, thank you.
Glad you enjoy it! Thanks for commenting!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience in order to help others Dr. Fernandez! Your method is clear, concise and thorough. My specialty is physics but I have a large space in my heart for chemistry!
Thanks a lot for commenting! I'm glad you found this helpful!
Great video, everything is clear. Thank you for your work, Dr. Fernandez.
Glad it was helpful!
This is awesome content!!! Thank you so much that you're doing this!!
Great advice, thanks for taking the time and sharing.
Glad it was helpful!
very well explained. Hope to see more videos on hydroponics.
Thank you!
Hey man, thanks a lot for your advice. Was looking for something more scientific regarding hydroponics @youtube for a longer time now, and I have the feeling your channel might fill that gap. :) Keep up the good work!
Thanks for commenting! Suggestions are also always welcome.
You are SUCH a godsend❤
Thank you Dr. Fernandez
You're welcome!
this is the secret of the expensive nutSol that most companies are selling in high price but actually very cheap and easy when you prepare it by yourself. thanks for this.
Keep bio and do it KNF Style.Iv gone back to dirt and organic feeds.If you want to save the pennies then KNF is where its at.Mostly its just the sugar you pay for.
Exactly, nutrient formulations can be low cost and easy to make!
I now understand why my Humboldt’s Secret Part A is clear and Part B is a brown color.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting!
Thanks for startthe channel keep it up
No problem 👍
thx colombian you are doing good
Sir nice explanation . Thanks
Thanks and welcome
Hope you will post a part 2 of this on how to calculate the ppm or ec of this solution like npk and micro nutrient .....
Btw I learned something from you ....
I will consider it. Thanks for commenting!
Informative
Wow this is really good stuff, I love it! I am really interested in making my own nutrients for growing cannabis as I spend a lot of money for quality products. I'm sure every company has their secret blend and I really appreciate all of this information. I know that this is really complicated and it takes years of education and experience to get to this point. I feel bad for asking but do you provide or are there any other sites that could provide an advanced ingredient list for the growth and flowering phase of cannabis? Or is this solution good enough? This is really awesome stuff, I'm going to do some more research and scour the net.
If you're interested in learning more about cannabis from an evidence based approach, please consider taking the USU course on cannabis (caas.usu.edu/labs/cpl/cannabis/online-course). I give a few lectures in this course where I discuss some custom and low cost formulations for this particular plant.
“..and we don’t weigh things in a volumetric flask because we’re not savages”
😂
Thank you for your content, Dr. Fernandez!
haha I'm so happy someone liked my joke :)
Also awaiting your new video on making large volume (500 liters) of stock solutions with more precision.
Thanks for commenting. I have already published a few videos out on how to accurately prepare large amounts of stock solution. Let me know if you can't find them and I'll link them here.
Hello Dr Fernandez, thank you for this video and all your website content is very usefull. Is there any problem adding sulphuric acid to the B solution, will it make unwanted reactions?
Thanks for your comment! Adding sulfuric acid to the B solution would be fine. However make sure you track how much you add and what concentration so that you know how much additional sulfur you're contributing to your solution.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thank you for your answer, the point is to lower ph and add sulfur to the mix, so i'll keep track.
Hey .... Please make video about how to make masterblend 4 18 38 npk ratio from different available fertilizers or salts .. thanks
Thanks. I already made a video on the 5-12-26, the 4-18-38 is I believe too similar to justify making another video.
Thanks for the videos Dr. Fernandez. Question which solution is this titled in hydro buddy? I think I read a comment it was in there.
Thanks for commenting. I don't believe it's included as a preset in the program, you'll have to enter the values manually. It's a good idea to have it there, so I will add it in the next update though!
@@ScienceinHydroponics Oh fantastic, as well would be a good tutorial for those to go to hydrobudy watch the video at the same time and see the inputs you made in proportion to video. Would be a great ahahh for the data viewed on hydrobudy.
Great video. Why there are no new content? I can be wrong but you show at 3:46 box labeled "calcium nitrate" (generaly sold as Ca(NO3)2x4H2O) and the label says that box contains 19% calcium BUT actually calcium nitrate contains ~24,4% of Ca. So it must be 5Ca(NO3)2xNH4NO3x10H2O what is commonly named "calcium ammonium nitrate" and only this contains 18,5% (19%) of Ca. Your links in description goes to Yaraliva company and I bet they produce it for agriculture purpose so I'm pretty sure it is calcium ammonium nitrate. Additionaly on the label is information about 15.5% of N (15,5-0-0) and calcium nitrate containt 17% of N, but only calcium ammonium nitrate contains 15,5% of N.
is this formula suitable for leafy vegetables like lettuce? thank you very much for sharing this knowledge. I'll be sharing this video to our FB group in the Philippines.
Thanks for your comment! This formulation will successfully grow most plants, although it is not optimal for any of them. Pretty much as generic as I could make it. Also stay tuned for a video coming up tomorrow, showing how to prepare a nutrient solution with all raw salts (no micro blend needed).
@@ScienceinHydroponics facebook.com/groups/4512555235422471/permalink/4709013212443338?comment_id=4709717289039597¬if_id=1627347015380589¬if_t=group_comment&ref=notif
this is my post in our FB group...hydroponic growers are liking your videos...thanks...thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks a lot for sharing!
Thank you for the content Dr. Fernandez. Now m the question : After preparing the stock solution should we store it in refrigerator or just dark space is fine? If refrigeration how much degree is required? Thank you
The solutions do not need refrigeration if preservatives are added. You can use sodium benzoate on the B solution to prevent the solution from spoiling.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Ok, got it
There are few Nutrients line in the market who offers 1 part nutrient concentrate e.g Floranova from GH and Dyna-gro .. which contains calcium nitrate, phosphates and sulfates.. My question is... why do they doesn't precipitate at that concentration.
Thanks for writing! They do precipitate. The trick in these cases is to stabilize the precipitates to form an emulsion so that they don't "fall out". You end up with something like milk (a stable emulsion) and usually add a lot of dye to make it dark and give the feeling that it is all "in solution". Making one parts like this is a matter of having the proper processing conditions and additives, but has been part of the fertilizer industry for the past 15 years.
Excellent video. How would you tweek the formula to make 100gallons of hydroponic solution
Thanks for commenting! You would need to multiply the weight by 1514.
Making a RUclips channel was a great idea!, your blog entries are getting quite extensive and in depth, video would be a better format for a lot of topics.
Thanks for your comment!
From your blog "we should avoid putting calcium and sulfate ions together as well as calcium and phosphate species and iron and phosphate species." How you add iron to part A? Does it react?
You can add Fe to part A if you have a chelated iron source or a non-sulfate soluble source (like Fe nitrate or Fe chloride). If you use Fe sulfate, you cannot add it to part A.
Hello Dr. Fernandez! I am building a hydroponic system with an electric water pump to keep the water flowing. I am totally new to hydroponics and I was wondering if I should just add your final solution to the tanks purely, or if adding extra water would ruin it? Thank you!
Thanks for writing! The solutions are concentrated, so they need to be diluted at the rates indicated to feed them to plants. Do let me know if you have any further questions about this.
@@ScienceinHydroponics I got it. Thank you!
On mixing the final ready solution does the order of A and B matter? I understand by the video and comments that I would mix 4ml of A into 992ml of water and then add 4ml of B to the resulting 996ml solution. Would the end result be appreciably different if the B was added first followed by the A?
Also, I assume we would use distilled water for the final solution or could tap water be used? Is it just consistency one way or the other?
Thanks for commenting. You should ideally mix B first, then A. This is because B sets the pH of the formulation for the most part. However, it really does not make that much of a difference, especially if you're using distilled/RO or very soft water to prepare the formulations. Just make sure each one is fully mixed before you add the other. You can use tap water, provided it is soft (EC < 0.1mS/cm), but if your tap water is hard then you will need a formulation that accounts for this hardness.
I am quite puzzled, shouldn't the solute be dissolved in the solvent? Doesn't that mush of different salts with very little sprayed water react negatively? Furthermore, in this regard, does that procedure respect the maximum solubility of each salt? I usually prepare 3/4 of the final volume with osmotic water, then I dissolve the salts one after the other according to an exothermic --> endothermic order, at the end I add water up to the desired volume. Even the 250 concentration factor seems to me excessively high, within a few days the fertilizer will produce floccules or precipitates.
Thanks for your comment! Adding the salts all together and then dissolving them doesn't cause any problems for the end product, the salts are all chemically compatible, even when they are all put together like this in little water. It makes them however more difficult to dissolve, so generally some heating is required to get them all into solution. This is certainly not a problem for a small scale preparation like this. You are right in that adding the salts and dissolving them in order makes things easier, especially if you consider the heat of dissolution of the salts, as you have said you do. The procedure you describe is normally the way I usually prepare and advice preparing larger amounts of concentrated solutions, but it is not necessary for a scale of this magnitude. About the concentration factor, 1 to 250 is well within the solubility of these salts, these concentrated solutions were prepared more than 1 month ago - editing took a while since we're new to making videos - the concentrates are both perfectly stable, with no floccules or precipitates formed. Bear in mind many commercial fertilizer manufacturers prepare their products at 1 to 400 concentrations. You have some very valid points though, thanks a lot for contributing and watching our channel :)
1:100 is the usual concentration., 10ml of stock solution contains 1g of chemical. There is an awful lot of sulphates being used in the formulation, if you have potassium nitrate and magnesium nitrate available these will add much more flexibility.
Pls tell how to use it how much quantity in different growing stage of plant
Thanks for your comment! This is not so easy to tell, it depends on the plant and the environmental conditions you are under, so it is difficult to give any sort of generic answer. If you are interested in getting a more custom solution for your particular circumstances I would suggest booking an hour of consulting through my website (scienceinhydroponics.com/book-now) so that I can help you out in a personalized manner.
i found suspension on my mix the following morning. or is it a precipitation reaction? but when i shake it the suspension mixed again with the solution.
There can be some precipitation from impurities in the salts used, depending on your salt sources some insoluble impurities might form, these however do not affect the accuracy of the preparation by a large extent. If you lower the pH with 2mL/L of 85% phosphoric acid the solubility of these impurities will increase so your solution will remain clear. This does not appreciably increase the P contribution in the final solution.
is this nutrient intended for specific type of plant or for general use in hydroponics?
It's intended for general use, but it has a slight twist towards flowering plants. It should successfully grow most plants with adequate adjusting of strength relative to plant size, although it is going to produce worse results than a properly formulated fertilizer regime for a particular plant type.
In this formulation, can I use Potassium Chloride (0-0-60) instead of Potassium Sulfate (0-0-50)? Thanks!
No, if you use potassium chloride you would have too much chloride in solution.
Can i make a PK booster by doing 2:1 ratio of Potassium Sulphate and Mono Potassium Phosphate something like 24g Potassium Sulphate : 12g MKP / 250ml water? Would that be comparable to PK13/14
Thanks for commenting. You can use HydroBuddy to do these calculations and figure out what the concentrations will end up being in % w/v terms.
can I use calcium sulfate in hydroponics? Since calcium nitrate has nitrogen in it... i'd like an option for calcium that doesnt have N in it...
Thanks for commenting. You cannot use it in concentrated solutions because of its limited solubility. You can however add it directly to final solutions to contribute Ca and S.
When I make the working nutrient solution by adding stock solution A and B, the pH of the nutrient solution goes more acidic (3.5 pH) as against the needed pH of 5.8. What would be the reasons behind this scenario?
Thanks for commenting. Usually it is because you used acidic inputs (monopotassium phosphate or monoammonium phosphate) in significant amounts and the input water is very soft (meaning its pH is close to 7 or even already slightly acidic). This is not a problem, you should just adjust in the end using a suitable base. Potassium silicate is often an ideal candidate in cases like this.
Can this formula be used to grow Lettuce? or other leafy greens? thx
Yes, it certainly can be used for that.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Amazing, thank you for confirming, I just ordered everything to get started and looking forward to see the result with this nutrient formula,
I am also wanting to grow Onion and cherry tomatoes, do you have a formula for those? I went thru your website blog but didn't find much on those veggies. maybe I didn't look at the right place, thank you
Hi Dr. Fernandez, thanks for this video. In my area, I can only find general purpose chelated micronutrients in liquid form. How do I input in hydrobuddy if in liquid? I'm confused.
Thanks for commenting! You probably cannot do this with a liquid chelated micronutrient mix in liquid form. You will need to buy separate micro nutrients and prepare the concentrated solutions by adding your micros one by one.
Alternatively, you can also prepare the A+B ommiting the micronutrients from the B and just use 3 solutions, adding your concentrated chelated micronutrients in liquid form, plus the A and B solutions prepared here.
I have a quation , how do I know this pant need this amount , for example strawberry net NPK 50-25-150 how can we convert ?
I'm sorry, I do not understand your question. Please try explaining it a different way.
What is the equivalent NPK values for this 250ml solution? Thanks!
Thanks for commenting. You can find the NPK on the website link in the description (it is going through some maintenance so please try in a couple of days if you get an error).
Hi Dr Fernadez, WHEN I USE THIS SUBSTANCES IN YOUR HYDROBUDDY 1.98 IT SAYS Ammonium sulfate is not used within the final result. please remove it to get better solution . also gross errors on Mn are too high ,please try a difrent substance combination.gross errors on Zn,Cu, are too high, . then finaly it says calculation carried out succefully why this error
Thanks for writing. It is very hard to know what your problem might be, given the information you provide is limited. If you would like my help to solve your issue, please feel free to book an hour of consulting through my website.
My tap water is 20-30ppm after RO its 0ppm. Can i use the ro water for this?
Yes, you can.
It's a very nice video sir. But in how much tempareture solution B have to be heated ?
Thanks for writing. When heating these solutions, you want to keep them below 80C.
can I use potassium nitrate instead of ammonium sulphate ?
Not in this particular formulation
16:55 How did you heat it up? Did you just put it on the stove or in the microwave?
I put the beaker in a pot with boiling water, that way it heats up gradually and does not overheat. Also, make sure you never heat up the volumetric flasks, as they lose calibration.
I wish the heating of the solution had been on-screen! I'm totally noob in all of this. After some reading I assume you used a hot plate? Do you have an affiliate link to a hot plate? If you had a single page on your site with affiliate links, like a "shopping list" kind of thing spanning multiple projects, I'd click the heck out of it.
Thanks! Good idea! I will work on the affiliate link page. About the heating, in this case I heated the beaker over a heating pad directly over a gas stove top. The pads are like these www.rapidonline.com/heat-resistant-asbestos-free-bunsen-burner-mats-81315. You can put these pads directly over a fire, then put the beaker on top and heat it that way.
@@ScienceinHydroponics is the idea to prevent the flame of the gas burner from touching the beaker directly, to prevent uneven heating of the solution? That the heat rises on the side of the pads? I'm thinking about pulling out my backpacking camping stove as an alternative.
Your comment saved me time and perhaps from destroying my microwave oven. Thanks! :)
Hello,
In my country its not easy to find Calcium Nitrate due to it's explosive properties. Can we use any alternative which is equally effective?
Sadly there is no replacement for calcium nitrate in hydroponic solutions.
@@ScienceinHydroponics I think you are confusing Calcium Nitrate with Ammonium Nitrate.
He asked about Calcium nitrate, which is what I replied about. Could you please clarify where the confusion is?
Can I substitute "Ammonium sulfate" with "Magnesium sulfate" I ask because theres another better video where you show how to make nutrient solution with micro nutrients and it does not call for "Ammonium sulfate". I'm planning to upgrade later on and follow your 2nd video but it seems "Ammonium sulfate" will be collecting dusts and have no use for the 2nd video recipe. Also is it possible I can use multivitamins tablets for the plants instead of the chelated nutrient mix?
Thanks for commenting.
You cannot substitute "Ammonium sulfate" for "Magnesium sulfate", the ammonium sulfate is there to provide ammonium, which the magnesium sulfate does not provide.
Also, you cannot use multivitamin tables for plants instead of chelated nutrient mixes. Multivitamins do not contain micronutrients in the appropriate ratios or forms for plants.
Multivitamins are designed to provide the metal ratios as required by humans and are also designed to be available under acidic pH conditions (like the human stomach) they shouldn't be used in hydroponic solutions.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thank You for your reading reply.
@Daniel, when ever i try to make my own nutrient mix the stock solution gets some white fuzzy thing inside it after few days. It's not precipitation for sure but some kind of mold formation inside. I have read your blog regarding sodium benzoate. I tried adding it but still i can see that white fuzzy thing inside my stock solution. Please help me. Or can i freeze my stock solution? Will that help?
This is likely a fungus. Make sure that the pH of the stock is low enough, as benzoate is not an effective preservative if the pH of the stock is >4.5. You can also try increasing the amount to see if the mold growth stops. Using other preservatives, like potassium sorbate, might also help.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thank you so much. If not can i freeze and use it?
I have chelated micronutrients mixture of 250 grams with proportion of Zn 5%, Fe 4%, Mn 2.5%, Cu 0.8%, B 1.5%, Mo 0.1%, MgO 2%, S 2.8%.
Should I use same amount of 2.2 gram of micronutrients as you mentioned in this video?
Thanks for writing. You should run the calculations to see if you get the same ppm that I share.
@@ScienceinHydroponics Thanks for the reply. Link which you have shared for a chelated micro mix is showing error 404.
@@milanmonpara5968 I was going to comment just that, thanks! Hopefully Dr. Fernandez will update them soon, as I wish to get everything out of this video and make the most of our very short summer in Canada.
can i use potassium sulphate which is not monobasic?
The formulation requires both potassium sulfate and monopotassium phosphate. The potassium sulfate should be CAS 7778-80-5.
@@ScienceinHydroponics thanks.
Can ab solutions ph will stable if the ppm is correct?
I sadly do not understand your question. The pH of the concentrated solutions is stable, the pH stability of the final solutions depends on a lot of additional factors.
Im confused. You mention that 4ml of A+B is needed per 1 liter of water for READY TO FEED nutrients. Is the volume of the 8ml of both A+B not considered? So you wouldnt add the 4ml of A+B to 992ml of water?
It is 4mL of A + 4mL of B per liter of solution (which includes the A+B). This means that A+B+water = solution volume. For one liter you would add 4mL of A, 4mL of B and 992 mL of water.
@@ScienceinHydroponics okay. That's actually exactly what I thought. Was just making sure I didn't get it wrong. Thanks foe the clarification.
Its ok to grow strawberry
It is indeed, ok to grow strawberries.
After adding solution and A and B to make a final solution, if that solution is left for several days, will there be precipitate? Will nutrients fall out of the final solution the longer it stands?
The final solution should be stable for weeks. However it is plant food, so it will grow algae if light and air can reach it. If you want to store it make sure you do so in an air-tight opaque container.
D'ont we have to add any of N_P_K in the solution for leafy plants in hydroponics?
Thanks for commenting. I don't know what you mean by "add NPK". The solutions contain all the chemicals necessary for healthy plant growth.
Is this good for lettuce?
It will grow lettuce. But it is not optimal for it.
@@ScienceinHydroponics will you please make a hydroponics nutrient solution for lettuce. Many hydroponics lettuce growers would glad to learn the formula from you
Thanks for your reply! Sadly it is not so easy because a proper formula for lettuce needs to account for the amount of light, humidity, temperature, etc. It's not the same to create a lettuce formulation for someone in Australia during the summer, than to create one for someone in Canada during the winter, growing under supplemental light.
What NPK is in formula.
Solution A has an NPK of 1.57-0-0, Solution B has an NPK of 0-2.83-0.91
Link to Calcium nitrate is dead.
Thanks for pointing this out.
Sir,
I wanted to know..
What is the NPKretio of this final solution?
🙏🙏🙏
Solution A has an NPK of 1.57-0-0, Solution B has an NPK of 0-2.83-0.91. In my opinion you should focus on the ppm targets of the final solution, not on the NPK of the concentrated solution.
Thank you Sir 🙏🙏🙏🙏 Sir
could i replace calcium nitrate as a calcium Sulfate for calcium content... & another part increase the Ammonium sulfate for increase Nitrogen.... is it possible??
Sir
actually I want to make a single solution...... 🙏🙏🙏🙏
@@travelgotaindia4664 You cannot do this, Calcium Sulfate is incompatible with concentrated solutions and ammonium sulfate provides ammonium type nitrogen which quickly becomes toxic to plants if you increase it in a hydroponic setup.
Thank you Sir... 🙏🙏
@@ScienceinHydroponics seems it take about 90 ml to bring the final ec to 1
Pleast diy clone cal mag plus 😍
Thanks for your suggestion!
when making the B solution, why did you still transfer the undissolved contaminates left in the bottom of the beaker? surely 90% was impurities, and the quantities you are dealing with seems counterproductive.
I would rather have a solution missing .01% of the good stuff, if I can exclude 40% of the crap. Can you dissolve PS and leave the crap at the bottom
Thanks for writing. I would agree, however it is better to purify the potassium sulfate for best results. I have a video on the recrystallization of K sulfate to remove all these impurities as well.