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How much nutrients needed per plant


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  #1  
Old 06-05-2011, 11:04 AM
mindoverflow mindoverflow is offline
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Default How much nutrients needed per plant

Hi,

I would like to know approximately how much nutrients are consumed per plant per day. Or should I say a 1 liter of nutrients diluted in enough water feeding a 100 plants, how many days would it hold before requiring extra nutrients?

I would appreciate to get any example plants (lettuce, tomato ..) on any hydroponic system. I'm planing to start a hydroponic greenhouse, but I can't get the nutrients from here then I should bring it from abroad (have to pay border taxes) then I will have to buy enough at once, I would also like to get an idea about the total cost.

Thanks.

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Old 06-06-2011, 04:29 PM
mindoverflow mindoverflow is offline
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I see none was interested to reply, then I'll ask it differently.

Would you please tell us
  • What and how many plants are you growing?
  • In the average, what's the quantity of nutrient your plantation is consuming?

Thank you.
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  #3  
Old 06-06-2011, 07:05 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Hello mindoverflow,
Well I meant to reply to your question before, but got sidetracked. That's sounds like quite a complicated question, especial due to all the unknown variables. But it's not as simple as pouring more nutrients in any given amount of water, or at a specific time. Also the system design and amount of plants your growing play a big part in efficiency for any commercial operation. If you haven't grown plants hydroponically, I suggest starting a small scale setup to work out the bugs first, before jumping directly into a large scale setup. I know it's tempting to just go full scale, but you will simply save yourself lots of time, money, and frustration by testing out the system/s on a small scale first.

Nutrient testing and monitoring, plant tissue analysis, water quality testing, custom nutrient for your specific plants and water quality, climate control, pest and disease issues, water temp control, weather to use beneficial microbes or UV light treatment to control pathogens and root diseases in the nutrient solution. These are just some of the issues you will want to work out before going full scale on a commercial operation.
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Old 06-06-2011, 09:55 PM
mindoverflow mindoverflow is offline
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thanks gpsfrontier,

that's what i'm aiming to do, i'm planing to start a 4-10 meters square probably on 2 setups growing basil, lettuce and tomato.

would a 1 liter of nutrient be enough to run the crop for about 3-4 months?

I thought about trying aquaponics due to the lack of nutrients, but i think that keeping aquaponic balance in a small scale system would be difficult.

cheers
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  #5  
Old 06-07-2011, 12:03 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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The first question I have is what do you mean by 1 liter of nutrient? For each plant like lettuce you will want about 1/2 gallon of nutrient solution per plant. For medium sized plants like basil (depending on how big you want them to get) you will want about 1 gallon minimum of nutrient solution per plant. And for large plants like tomato you will want a minimum of 2.5 gallons of nutrient solution per plant. Personal I would grow each one of those types of plants in their own system. So basically I have no idea how many of each type of plant you are talking about growing, and I have no idea how many gallons of nutrient solution you will need. If you are referring to one liter of nutrient concentrate, all manufactures are different, and I have no way of knowing how many gallons of nutrient solution the 1 liter will make. But I can tell you if your planning to have it shipped to you, you will most likely get more for your money if you get dry nutrients, rather than a liquid.

Also going back to the system design, I have no idea what type of system/s your planing to use (Drip, NFT, Water Culture, Aeroponic, Flood and drain, wick), or if you plan to combine system types. I don't know if you plan to do regular nutrient changes, or if you are planning to monitor nutrient concentration in order try to stretch out nutrient changes. I also don't know what you plan to do in case of pathogens or a fungus get into your reservoir, or even if your plants get a root disease. Are you going to clean and sanitize the system/s and mix fresh nutrients. Bottom line, there are just too many variables that I don't know to say one liter, or even ten liters will be enough in your situation.

I can tell you that the General Hydroponics Flora series nutrients (gro, micro, and bloom) make about 390 gallons of nutrient solution when you buy it in the 1 gallon concentrates. I also know the verti-gro nutrients (dry mix) makes 5000 gallons of nutrient solution when you buy the 25 lb quantities, and cost about the same as the GH flora series nutrients. With the virti-gro nuts I can have two 50 gallon reservoir, do a full nutrient change on both reservoirs every week, and they (the 25 lb quantities) would last me about a year (50 weeks). Or one 50 gallon reservoir changing every week would last me about 2 years (100 weeks, with the 25 lb quantities of the verti-gro nutrients).
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  #6  
Old 08-01-2011, 04:16 PM
mindoverflow mindoverflow is offline
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Hi,

Thanks you, sorry for replying so late, I lost the link to that page.

Yes, I think dry nutrients would be easier to get, but some people complains about them.

Anyway, thank you, I'll see what I'll do.
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