I've been hydro gardening for 5 or 6 years now and have never used liquid nutrients. The best dry stuff I've heard of is sold at the link below. His customers swear by it. While your there, join the forum, lotsa knowledge there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arts place

the dry stuff doesnt disolve all the way. thats why it is hard, and i tried everything, boiling it, mortar and pestal to crush it up, it never fully disolved. its probably ok for a home system, but if you are really trying ot get your nutes to match the #'s n the fertz box you wont get it with dry nutes. like if the box is 12-4-7 your solution may end up at 6-4-2 just a thought. ~Ryan
i am stickign with liquid for now. ~Ryan

The only difference between dry and liquid nutrients is the price.
There is a source of excellent dry fertilizers near you in Yuma.

http://www.4prosol.com/hydroponic.html

right on. thanks for the link to the yuma retailer.

The n5-11-26 that Art sells at www.alabamahydroponics.com is an excellent all-purpose hydro nutrient which is used by many commercial growers.

Art's 5-11-26 seems to come in an awful small amount (I don't need a ton. I figure 25 lb. would be just about right). What other suppliers of 5-11-26 are out there?

Thanks everyone, after exhausting my options looking for a 5-11-26 nutrient, I found an 8-16-38 hydroponic dry fertilizer made locally here in Phoenix, american agritech's hydro-pro series. You're always better off buying locally, you'll pay as much for shipping as you pay for nutrients.

I think the bloom additive is in the wrong place in the mixing instructions (they have it listed under the vegetative formula).

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydro Pro Series

Jdog006

They saw you coming.

I only pay 16 bucks for a 25 pound bag of hydro fertilizer.

tell me where I can find a 25 lb bag for 16 bucks.

Right here. Just remember that you have to ad calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate to you final solution.

For an 18 gallon mix, I use 75 grams fertilizer, to that I ad 25 grams magnesium sulfate and in a separate bucket I dissolve 45 grams of calcium nitrate and ad it to the fertilizer solution while my tank is filling.

DO NOT BUY THEIR HYDROPONIC FERTILIZERS, THEY SUCK cuz the calcium will not disolve properly with the other stuff and leaves a deposit on the bottom of your tank. You will still have to ad calcium after mixing.

There are two (2) types of calcium nitrate. One is in a red bag and is coated. DO NOT BUY THIS ONE! The other is in a green bag and is uncoated. This one will disolve readily in cold water and works great.

A side effect of Growmores' fertilizers is that they are buffered. I usually have no problem with Ph. It falls exactly on 6.0 when I make the 18 gallon mix.

any problems, email me at tailwheel@asia.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Growmore ferts

Or, you can buy 3-part liquid nutrients and get rid of the nasty mixing and inconsistent reaults of dry nuitrients.

You don't even have to buy anything to add........ :^)

thanks tailwheel. I've seen that site before. Since they don't post prices or chemical content of fertilizers on their website, I went right on to someone else. I'll give them a call and see what they have to offer. Thanks again.

Just a possibility, but they may have a distributor near you if there's a farm supply or golf course supply in your city. Might save you some freight.

Thank you very much Tailwheel. I was able to find a golf course/nursery supplier here in phoenix that would sell to individuals and WOW what a savings.

before -> after

$100 25lb fertilizer -> $26 25lb fertilizer
$60 25lb calcium nitrate -> $11 50lb calcium nitrate (2x the amount)
$60 25lb potassium sulfate -> $14 50lb potassium sulfate (2x the amount)

$220 -> $51 (twice as much Calcium Nitrate & Potassium Sulfate)

That $51 bought me nutrients for my home system for a long long time.

Ryan, I am using dry nutrients already with VERY good success. I've never had any problems at all with them not disolving. Now I am able to buy them A LOT cheaper.

Thanks again Tailwheel. You've been a tremendous help. Anyone looking for a more economical fertilizer should look for a golf course/nursery supplier in their area. Look carefully at the Nitrogen makeup and you should be able to find something very suitable for hydroponics.

De Nada. Glad I could help. But tell me, what do you use the potassium sulfate for?

The link below shows my first pipe garden ala Ron Hancock at hydroponicsonline and the dutch pot system I now use after a few years experience.

Here is a link that might be useful: My gardens

This has been an interesting thread to read. I have been toying with the idea of a hyrdoponic lettuce garden. I also live in the Phoenix area and would like something I could grow during the intense summer heat.

I already have a design in mind, but is there a simpler nutrient solution for a beginner?

tailwheel,

I add a little potassium sulfate to the solution and cut back a little on Calcium Nitrate for the bloom cycle. I've had good results with hydroponic dry fertilizers used this way.

Scott,

Yes, you can get fertilizers that are easier to use (it's not rocket science to use cheaper dry nutrients though). Look in the phone book under "hydroponic supplies". I don't want to give any company names in case it would be a violation of the rules. You'll get tired of paying the outrageous costs from hydroponic stores. When you do, contact me and I'll give you the golf course supplier for some cheap fertilizers.

Attention Scott,

Here's a picture of my attempts to grow lettuce. I did'nt use any nutrients, just plain tap water. This is a kiddie wading pool with a piece of foam floating in it. There are 16 holes that take 12 oz. solo cups filled with perlite. I just scatter the seeds on top of the perlite and spritz them daily for a week or so. The capilary action of the water takes over, and viola!! lettuce starts growing. I also grew mesclun, chinese celery and arugula this way.

I was looking at some of the water soluble profesional series manufactured by scotts. looks like the pete lite series along with some added water soluble calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate should make a fine nutrient mix it is available in a few differant macro combinations and contains the popular micros already. Anyone used these products? I still am searching for suplies we have nothing local. Nobody here uses or sells calcium nitrate. epsoms and saltpeter are only sold in small expensive qtys.some of the micros i can't find locally. On a seperate issue i wonder how much calcium my well water contains we have about 20 grains hardness.PH is 7.1 to 7.2 both soil and well water.

Hi Markapp,

were you able to mix your own solution using Peters? I think it's a very good idea for me too, since where I live water contains already a good deal of Calcium and Magnesium.

Silvio

No I have not found any supply in my state for the scotts product. All i can get here is overpriced peters 20-20-20 or miracle grow at over a dollar a lb and it has high urea and poor micro blend desighned to use on soil. look for non urea sources of N for hydro.

Art's 5-11-26 dry three-part works well for me.

1. Shipping cost is expensive where I'm at so shipping dry is preferred. Why pay for shipping water.
2. I only keep a maximum of six buckets "online" at a time. So the amount Art sells is just right.
3. I'm happy with the results. Just needs a little chelated iron besides the 5-11-26, CN, and MS.
4. It's relatively cheap.

I am from an area where there are no hydroponic supply stores and I want to first try out growing plants hydroponically with the possibility of eventually going to a commercial scale.(lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc.)Some contributors suggested buying fertilizers from golf/nursery/lawn supply stores, along with calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate. My question is....what about the micronutrients. Don't you have to add those also to get a complete nutrient solution? Iron, Manganese, Boron,Molybnium, Copper, Zinc, etc?

Well tailwheel I like your lettuce set up.You do put some holes in the bottoms of the solo cups? I have 6'X6' tables made fromlumber up on legs lined with blacl plastic. I also use styrofoam sheets. I use a EC of about 1 to 1.5 lettuce really grows. I use a nutrient solution called Hydro-Growe It is a two part mix. I put the part A in a small bucket of water and stir good and then pour into my 50 gal drum I use for mixing. I then do the same with Part B the calcium. I then use a small pump to mix the solution in the drums then when I need it I pump it over to the nutrient tank. I try to use all rain water.
Here is where I get the Hydro-Grow www.cropking.com or www.carefreegarden.com

Here are some nutrient sources:

Technigro 15-0-15, with nitrates of ammonium, calcium, magnesium and potassium, plus micronutrients.

Plant-Prod 14-0-14 ... same ingredients in different proportions.

Peters 15-0-15 ... mostly calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate. Micronutrients also, but no magnesium.

Peters 15-5-15 Cal-Mag uses same ingredients as Technigro and Plant-Prod above, and adds urea phosphate.

Peters 13-2-13 and 15-2-20 have same ingredients as 15-5-15.

-Tony

Hi,
I like this tread very much. I gain a lot of knowledge from reading everybody's comments and advise. Thank you all.

I am interested using Dry Nutrients too. I was buying this from Hydroponics store, but since it is very expensive I would like to buy individual part and mix them myself.
I want to get 25lb of Nutrients, could you please let me know for this 25lb how much of each nutrient do I need? and were I can get them individually.

checkout www.hydro-gardens.com I heard about them on here they should be able to hook you up.

i live in thepan-handle of fl. Can anyone tell me of a near-by source for dry mix nutrients. My present sources are sky hi in pricing. I would like to contdinue hydro as a hobby but nutrient cost is just to much thanks gene