Quote:
Originally Posted by n1zjd
I would have to disagree with your assumption. As you already know the plant uses different nutrients in different amounts. I would not recommend running your nutrient solution for ANY more than 1 month. Now you can continue to use the same nutrient solution for a LONG time provided you know what the plants are using in the proper ratios and can add them back as needed. Just topping off the rez with plain water will cause several problems. First of all your TDS will continue to drop as you as add plain water. Now your using GH nutes which is great because they have pH buffers built in that do great provided your mixing your nutes in the proper ratios, there lies your second problem. As the plants deplete the nutrient solution of a specific nute it will throw off the ratio of nutes in the solution and therefore throw the pH off. If your serious about growing and plan to keep the strawberries going for a long time then with the proper research on the nutrient uptake of the strawberries combined with an TDS meter, I recommend a Hanna meter, then you can create a formula specific to strawberries that would allow you to add back the nutrients that the plants are using in the right amounts and maintain proper TDS and pH. There is alot to it and thats why most people change out the res every 2 weeks however its not a requirement. I'm no expert but have been growing hydro for 4 years and would be glad to help you as best I can. I understand the reason for wanting to use the same solution for a greater length of time because a 50 gal res is a pain to change out every 2 weeks. Good luck |
Yes, I have learned a lot more since I first posted this thread a few months ago. I diddn't really mean that I wanted to use the same nutrients for 3 months but I was just using the math as an example. I understand that just about everyone recommends changing the nutrients every 1-2 weeks. I am sure this is because the plants drink up the nutrients and throwing off the balance of the individual elements in the solution. I mostly mean that with such a large amount of nutrient solution in relation to the number of plants that the balance is not thrown off as fast as it would be with less solution. I am mostly going by the look of the nutrient solution (clear verses cloudy), how the plants look (nice green color and still growing verses the growing slowing down and/or color loss). Also by how often I need to adjust the pH level to decide when to change the solution. I still don't have the funds for a TDS/PPM meter. I am basically changing the nutrients about 3-4 weeks.
I have taken care of some problems with the design of the system and now it functions using 32 gallons of nutrient solution instead the 55 gallons it took before. For me it is not really about the hassle in changing them but the amount of nutrient concentration used to make that many gallons of solution. At $25 a bottle and all 3 needed in combination to create the proper solution it is quite expensive to change them. At 10mil pre gallon, that is just over 2 cups each of all 3 (Gro, Micro and Bloom) to make the 55 gallons. That comes out to amount $10 every time I change the nutrients. By making the changes to the design of the system and cutting the amount of solution required to 32 gallons I have cut this cost just about in half. But because there is less solution it should go out of balance faster. How much faster I don't know because I don't have a TDS/PPM meter so I can't compare the readings.
It is my understanding that topping off with water is important because If I didn't the solution would become concentrated as the water evaporates. As the plants use up the nutrients, adding a diluted solution back instead of just water might be desirable. A TDS/PPM meter would help with telling how much. Although they cant tell me witch elements of the solution are being depleted faster and I am not a chemist and don't have access to those elements. So changing the nutrients as a whole is needed to insure they are back in the proper proportions. The basic idea in my original question simply is, by using a larger nutrient reservoir wouldn't that mean that the solution would go out of balance slower because of the extra volume of nutrient solution for the same amount of plants? I have been interested in Hydroponics for over 10 years but only growing hydroponics for a few months.