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Easiest Hydroponics Feeding Plan
from: Jason WillkommThere are many things that can complicate feeding your
plants hydroponically. It can be hard enough trying to feed the
right strength and right ratios of N-P-K, let alone trying to
figure out trace nutrients and secondary nutrients. Once you get
past these basics, you must consider plant vitamins, hormones,
and keeping everything at the right Ph. If you are just
starting out and you only have 20 bucks in your pocket and a
teaspoon, this is written for you. I recommend you eventually
get a ph meter and a TDS (or EC) meter if you are serious.
The first ten days your plants have roots, feed them 400 ppm
Maxsea 3-20-20. This is about 1 level teaspoon/gallon
of tap water. Add to this 1/4 teaspoon epsom salts for magnesium.
After that, feed them 600 ppm Maxsea 16-16-16. This is
about 1 rounded teaspoon. To each gallon add 1/4 teaspoon
epsom salts.
When you are finished with vegatative growth and begin
flowering, feed your garden a rounded 1/2 tsp Maxsea 16-16-16
plus a rounded 1/2 tsp Maxsea 3-20-20 in each gallon of
water. Be especially sure to add 1/4 tsp epsom salts to each
gallon through the flowering stage. I used to switch to straight
Maxsea 3-20-20 at this point, but most plants look a little
nitrogen deficient by the end. Feed your garden in this way for
two weeks, while the plants transition from vegatative growth to
flowering.
After the transitioning period, feed your garden 800 ppm
Maxsea 3-20-20 until you near the end of flowering. This is
about 2 level teaspoons per gallon. Make sure to add 1/4
tsp epsom salts to each gallon. The very last 10 to 14 days
before you harvest, you will want to feed your garden only plain
water. Flushing you garden will remove excess nutrient salts
from the plant tissue and will improve the aroma and flavor of
your garden produce.
Seaweed additives are a popular choice when it comes to trace
nutrients and plant hormones. Since Maxsea
fertalizers are seaweed based fertalizers, these benefits are
built in and no additional supplements are required for
these two things.
When you mix up Maxsea in a nutrient solution, it is a
nearly perfect Ph. What's more, the Ph is stable
in solution for many days. This is great for the beginning
hydroponics gardener. This means you can get away without
the initial cost of an expensive Ph meter in the
beginning.
By carefully measuring the fertalizer when you mix up the
nutrient solution, you can get away without the initial
cost of an expensive TDS meter or EC meter as well. The
best advice here would be to always top off your nutrient
reservoir with 1/2 strength solution whenever it is a little
low. Every two weeks, start over with fresh water and nutrients
to avoid a nutrient imbalance in your solution.
The completeness of Maxsea offers you a very simple feeding
plan. Between the two formulas (16-16-16 and 3-20-20) it is
easy to provide a good balance of N-P-K for any stage of
growth. Even so, if you carefully read the fertalizer
ingredients, you will find Maxsea is missing one thing...
magnesium. By adding 1/4 teaspoon epsom salts/gallon, you
inexpensively avoid having any problems with a magnesium
deficiency.
Finally, Maxsea costs considerably less than high
quality professional hydroponics fertalizers, and will give you
excellent results just the same. This is especially true
when you begin buying the different hydroponic fertalizer parts,
and the separate plant hormone additives, and the Ph meter and
TDS meter to properly maintain the solutions. So, for a simpler
way that also saves you money, keep this page mind.
For more information on maintaining your nutrient
solution check out...
http://www.jasons-indoor-guide-to-organic-and-hydroponics-gardeni
ng.com/how-to-grow-hydro.html
To learn more about the different hydroponics systems go
to...
http://www.jasons-indoor-guide-to-organic-and-hydroponics-gardeni
ng.com/hydroponics-growing-systems.html
About the author:
Hi, my name is Jason. I have ten years experience growing
indoors under lights. No less than two of those years I was
using hydroponics methods. It is my goal to improve every
organic and hydroponic gardeners results through accurate, easy
to understand information.
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