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FLORAMATO DRY question


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  #1  
Old 03-23-2010, 12:12 AM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Default FLORAMATO DRY question

what does it cost to use this product over buying it in liquid. now i use the 3 part but i'm in bloom for ever on every thing so it looks like this would be a better choice. I cant find the ratio to mix it so i can calculate its cost difference.

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Old 03-23-2010, 02:30 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Quote:
I cant find the ratio to mix it so i can calculate its cost difference.
I would e-mail General Hydroponics tech support directly, they should be able to tell you the mixing amounts. I have never used it myself but they always get back to me quickly. tech@genhydro.com
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Old 03-23-2010, 09:44 PM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Default gps thanks

Andy got right back to me at that link.

All mixing ratios can be found on the label. Normal application is 1tsp/gal. FloraMato Dry in 1.5 lb buckets retails for $15.34 so it will be considerably cheaper than the 3 part.


looks like 16lbs is about 115$ so i'm going to give this a try and see if i can cut down on my food bill.

Any one adding b1 vitamins to there GH or is that already there. I have great growth and every thing is happy just wondering what every one else is up to.
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Old 03-24-2010, 04:58 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Cool, Andy is pretty good about getting back to you, though he dosen't usually work on weekends, and if you e-mail late Friday or Saturday, it sometimes takes a while for them to get through all the e-mails left on the weekend. I have Neil's direct work e-mail, but don't want to give it out without permission.

Anyway, I have thought about using the FloraMato Dry also. I'd be interested in knowing how much it cuts down your food bill, and how well it works when you try it. I to am trying to cut operational costs, and looking at other alternatives. If memory serves me correctly I was trying to figure out the same thing, I just couldn't figure out how many tsp were in 1.5 pounds, thus how many gallons it will make. The retailer I was talking to couldn't help me with that either. To be honest I never thought about e-mailing GH the question, I guess just because they are not the retailer.

I am very happy with General Hydroponics products, but I think the liquid cost so much because it is a liquid, adding to shipping. Not just to the consumer, but the retailer needs to pay shipping to them also, they just tack that onto the retail price. You just wind up paying to ship the water all over the place.

P.S. If I remember correctly B1 is used to promote healthy roots, especially in transplants. You can always e-mail GH about that also.
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 03-24-2010 at 05:13 AM.
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Old 03-25-2010, 03:17 AM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Default powder food

so there set up for one tablespoon per gallon and if your using a drain to waist system i can see why the info is not out there. I think i'm going to mix it up more like the bottle stuff and add it with my nutrient pump just as i do now but with the simplicty of one nutrient.

To keep it simple i am going to toss a small pond pump in 5 gallon bucket and just leave it on to circualte and blend the powder inot the liquid state and them pump it from there to top off my tanks according to the PPM meter.

I really wish i could afford a grwo tronix ppm meter so i could have it dosing for me. my system is right in at 250 to 300 ppm so i think i can keep it close by dosing about that much every day and correcting once a week. i think i can dial this in pretty close.

looking at the GH label its 6 tsp per gallon to be in the bloom or ripening which is what the floramato is suppose to be at. !tsp per gallon of the powder is all that is required for teh same thing.

There are three teaspoons (tsp.) in a tablespoon.

There are two tablespoons (tbs.) in an ounce.

3tsp x 2 = 1oz or 6 tsp

32 oz in a quart x 4 = 128oz or 1 gallon

6tsp x 128oz = 768 tsp

per gal about $35 dollars buying by the gallon
--------------------------------------------------------------


Convert 49 tsp to 1 oz. i found this for granulated sugar which should be close in weight?

49tsp x 16oz in 1 lb = 784

12,544 tsp for a 16 lb container at $118
------------------------------------------------------------------
1lb of powder seems to be about the same as 1 gallon of liquid

depending on how you buy the powder it is $7 to 10 per lb

so its about 3/5 times less than the cost of liquid

Last edited by watercatwn6535nd; 03-25-2010 at 03:45 AM. Reason: math sucks
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Old 03-25-2010, 04:11 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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I use flora series nutrient, and I mix it at 10mL per gallon of each.

5 mL per tsp
15 mL per tbs
1 cup (8oz) is 237mL
16 cups in a gallon = 3792mL per gallon
3792 divided by 10 (mL per gallon) = 379.2
Or simply 380 gallons of nutrient solution I get from buying the one gallon containers of the liquid.

tsb is a volume measurement, and 1.5 pounds is a weight, so there is no way to do a comparison without knowing the density. That's probably the reason the retailer wasn't able to help me figure it out. Assuming it has the same density (weight) as sugar and the conversion is correct, those figures might indeed be correct. But How do you get 2304 gallons of nutrient solution out of 3792 mL of concentrate? That is less than 2 mL per gallon in the nutrient selution. Are you using the FLORANOVA series? If so it's about 3 times as expensive as the flora series, at about $85 x3= $255. it males more but it is not under $100 for all 3 anywhere I know of.
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Old 03-25-2010, 10:27 AM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Default GH

I'm not sure about any of the math i was just trying to put some numbers down so the smart people could start trying to figure it out. Did ou see that i went back and changed the post with new numbers i ddint ook real close heer but my first numbers where way off for sure. when i get home from work i'll crunch through them again if some one has'nt figured it out. I started thinking the poweder calculation may not be so much about weight but size since the tsp measurment is size not weight so the sugar is probably not even close. one thing is for sure i should have some this weekend and i can weight it and then will know. Odd how Gh doesnt have this in a feed chart.
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Old 03-25-2010, 03:25 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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I did that post before you edited your post. I did see changes, but it was late last night (early am) and it was hard for my head to figure it all out. I know how many gallons of nutrient solution I can make from the flora series, using "mL" as the measurement. But "mL" is a size (volume) measurement, not a weight. You can have 10mL of two different liquids like water and honey, but they will have 2 different weights for the same volume because of density. You can have the same difference in density in solid materials too, even more of a difference.

Yes, tsp is size measurement but the Floramato is sold by weight, not size. I don't know of any way to accurately calculate the conversions without knowing the density, witch would then give me a weight. Then I could figure out how many tsp were in the 1.5 pounds or any other size it was sold in. That was where I ran into a brick wall, short of buying some and measuring it myself. Ya, I am surprised GH does not have that info, I would think it would make a good selling point. But if GH doesn't have it, nobody else well either.

The only way I can see to figure it out would be to measure how many tsp's were in one cup of the Floramato, then measure how many cups were in one pound. Then I should easily be able to figure out how many gallons a pound makes. But I didn't buy any of it.
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Old 04-24-2010, 09:02 PM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Default flora mato

well its been a few weeks since i posted last. I am still trying to get some flora mato. no one seems to have it i re ordered today from a new supplier for 16lbs and may see it weds? will see.

I took out 9 tomatoes plants today and am going to add flowers for bouquets. we have decided were going to do random bouquets of kindness in our small town and anonymously leave flowers on porches. as soon as i pull some more fruit off the other plants i'll start flowers in there places. should be fun for a season or so i think.

GPS did you ever figure out the cost diffeence between the two products.
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Old 04-25-2010, 02:38 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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That's a pretty cool idea, and nice thing to do for people, especially anonymously. I was wondering how things were working out for you with regards to the nutrients, but never got around to asking. I'm OK nutrient wise right now, I don't expect to need any for a couple of months, now that I am down to 1 running system. It is getting hot again and don't want to start one that does not have a in ground (geothermal) reservoir, I only have one of these right now (my tomato's). So I have not been looking into more nutrients at this time.

I thought of doing the calculations using Miracle Grow to measure with. Not that it would be accurate, but it may be close in weight. But I don't have anything other than a analog bathroom scale to measure 1 pound of it with, and that would just leave too much room for error on both fronts to make it worthwhile. I would need to get 400 gallons (400 TBS) for $80 to break even. For me, there is shipping costs to consider also, there is nowhere to get hydroponic nutrients here in town.
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Old 05-26-2010, 01:25 AM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Default finally got some floramato

I don't have any real numbers yet but I thought i would post that i finally was able to get a order of food. if you buy it buy it by the 50lb container or bigger to get the best deal. i just weigh a 1/2 cup of the powder and it is 150 grams. i just added 1 cup to my approx 50 gallon system. Which i just thoroughly flushed and cleaned. not really but i did wash it out a couple times with a flush and fill and then let one bucket run over for at least a day dumping my floramato out put in yesterday on accident.

So i know it it took to get my system to 1500 ppm with the 3 part HG so now I'll take it to that ppm with floramato and see if i can come up with a decent set of numbers to calculate cost differences.

i also blended it in warm and cold water and it dissolves into both. the warm water was almost instant and the cold water it kinda clumped up like powder laundry soap does. the tank with a small mixing or blending pump in it dissolved it in about 20 or 30 minutes.

but the fact it dissolved is a nice bonus i hate to think if you keep dumping it in a tank that tank would be building a mound of nute that was not mixing up.

my plan is still to mix it all up in a thick syrup if it wont hurt it? how will i know? good question. then i have a small pump ( windshield washer pump) that fits in a bucket like a hydra farm grommet. then in 1/4 inch line it will pump it to my nute tank where it can be run through the drip feed pump and evenly dispersed from there.

I don't have the PPM meter from growtronix yet. so my plan is to test the ppm uptake from the plants daily and then tell the software to run that washer fluid pump for how ever many seconds it takes to pump in the needed life source.

In the black 5 gallon bucket i plan to use for my floramato holder in liquid from i have purchased a tiny pond pump that said 15 GPH i think. i will leave this on in there 24/7 to keep it all properly mixed.

I am going with they sell it it with water added so I'm just adding the water myself and then dispensing? seems to be logical i think. i may send off a email to the GH gods and have them tell me what they would do.

my only need would be that it be thin enough mixture my washer pump has ni issue delivering the same gross load each time. then i will re adjust once a week tell i tweak it right in. of course its never going to be perfect tell i have GT PPM to do the heavy lifting but its 550$ or and I'm not ready for it yet.
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Old 05-21-2011, 10:27 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Did anyone come to a conclusion?

Atm i'm using the FloraSeries and have thought about switching to the dry.
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Old 05-23-2011, 02:35 PM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Its all i use any more and its a super great deal in the 50lb container and a 11 lb will last a very long time. looks like i have only gone through 20lbs since that post. I figure i have saved a few hundred dollars using my flushing system and dry food. I can see why commercial growers would never buy liquid food for there systems.
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Old 05-23-2011, 04:38 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Could you help a noob, what do you mean using your "flushing system"?

At every nute change i run nothing but clean water through the system for no less then 15min's. Clean my tub out again and then add fresh water,nutes and then check EC,PH and adjust till i'm happy.

Def. sounds like i will be switching out my nutes. Do you use just Floramato, or do you mix it with the Maxi stuff to?

Where are you all buying a 50lb thing of it at?

Last edited by T'Mater; 05-23-2011 at 07:38 PM.
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Old 05-23-2011, 07:42 PM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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I don't flush my systems at all I just have a pump that drains out about 1/100 of the systems full volume. so in a 50 gallon system I drain about a 1/2 gallon every day that is replaced with fresh water. I have a auto fill on the system so its automatic. I'm pretty good about checking my ppm and recording it in my log book. as you start a new grow in doors you 'll see the ppm every few days increase in consumption. once you flower your plants you'll see a increase as they set blooms or fruit. Since indoor grows turn annuals into perennials you should see after your first fruiting or flowering a consistent ppm usage by the plants. for instance when my room is going full speed i use 250 ppm every day of nutrients. so i have a bucket i mix up that has a auto fill for fresh water and i pour in my dry floramato and it also has a very small pond pump in it that runs all the time for blending the nutes.
I then have a timer that uses a small pump ( car windshield washer) that turns it on and adds the mixture to the system at what ever interval i choose (every 24 hours is what i do). I just happen to have growtronix system so my timers and relays are easy to set up and change but a cheap Christmas light timer with seconds will work fine.
If you look at my videos on youtube you can see when i built it last year for this one part food.

Lots of ways to do it but my plants are always in terrific condition and i see total flushing as just tossing money down the drain. in a commercial environment i see they don't flush the whole system either they analyses and add just whats needed.

Also in my system since i don't ever need to clean it and i have p[plants now that are several years old in a continues fruit cycle i simply trim there roots like you trim there leaves to control the roots from plugging the system as they like to do.
I have a cantaloupe that will send a root down 10 or 15 feet of hydro farm hose following the current i imagine since it always try's to get to the nute pump tank and it could go in different directions on its way there? just a fyi weird fact
So i just lift the plants up every two weeks and cut the root off about 4 inches or so from the bottom of the bucket straight across like a buzz cut.
Also every once in a while if the roots systems look a little dingy or off white more than normal i add some peroxide but i have no method to this magic its just some thing i have always done and i like the idea it some back to oxygen and water in the system and is non toxic.
As you build your system i recommend you use timers and relays to automate everything. you will be more constant and your crops will grow better as you will now be able to tweak adjustments and see differences. Now that plant food is being commercialized like fast food products be sure to stay as close to the actual nutes as possible the plants need and stay away from the marketing nonsense of growing bigger buds. if that stuff really did a better job commercial growers would be using it. My pineapples and my tomatoes and peppers black berry's cucumbers Lilly dahlias etc etc all grow just perfectly in the same solution.
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Old 05-23-2011, 07:48 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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As of right now my light's are set up on one timer and my feeding pump has it's own timer. I just manually go in and adjust the heater when it's needed.
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Old 05-23-2011, 07:50 PM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Where are you growing where you need a heater? the lights don't put out enough heat.
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Old 05-23-2011, 07:56 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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I live in Nixa,Mo. I have my mini greenhouse set up in my garage. And no, when it's winter/early spring/mid to late fall i have to use radiant heater to keep my temps up to 70-75 if not it will get cold.

I have it set up in the garage cause we get nasty storms. If you haven't heard about the Tornado that crushed Joplin,Mo i'm about 60mile's due NE from them. So the little greenhouse i have won't with stand some of our storms. Once i am confident i know what i'm doing i do plan on getting a more commercial type greenhouse and going wild.

I have picture's of my set up under the other forum cause i am having problems getting my plant's to produce.
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Old 05-23-2011, 08:04 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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O, i dont have a good light setup yet, i'm just using fluorescent bulbs. Not much heat at all. I'm sure if i had real light's i'd prolly be piping the heat into my house when it's cold. LOL
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Old 05-23-2011, 08:05 PM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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glad to hear you didnt get hit. when you build your green house build a geodesic dome. go to desert domes .com for directions it cheaper and easier. plus it has no flat sides so pressure does not build up on it and they say the work best in hurricanes and tornadoes. plus they just look cool. in Colorado they build a 30 ft diameter dome and put in 1000 gallon of water in the north corner and they maintain in winter growing temps. its very cool. i didn't build a Geo dome for my green house but i am using the water part and growing fish in that tank. also a diy water solar panel is cheap and easy to get how water in that tank. you tube has great vidoes of them.

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