Efficient practices to perform hydroponic nutrient solution mixing / storage / dosage

Hi guys,

So I am on my 3rdish-5ish grow now (they all kind of merged together at this point lol).

I am wondering how to get more efficient in time savings with watering/mixing nutrient solutions. So far I am thinking about premixing concentration forms of the individual nutrients in water. Keep them separate and in dark place. Then when I want to feed/water I can squirt in a concentrated dose in large water revivor an then feed from there.

I know I will or am overlooking something, so input from wise ones on how one should or does it would be appreciated.

70%ish coco / 30%ish perlite
well water
Jack’s 3-2-1 @ 100% strength
pH nutrient solution 5.8-Ish

  • Dunk or water till coco is full saturated, then let dry until 10-30% of water weight is left in coco and I rewater.
3 Likes

I mix my nutrients concentrated. My end goal is 10 gallons, In a 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of water I put my silica. In another 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of water I put my A+B and enhancers. It’s easier to stir if it’s only 4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket. Then I pour both buckets and an additional 2 gallons of water into a 27 gallon tote. From there it goes through my homemade drip irrigation system/s. I have four totes for plants at different stages. The plants are on tall risers in 2 gallon plant bases. I typically go down and vacuum out the bases every morning. When I go out of town I dial back the pump timers to minimal runoff per day and have gone out of town for up to 10 days at a time without running the totes dry. I’m in coco as well and set the timers to feed at 6am, noon, and 6pm. I have small stirring pumps and air stones in the totes as well.

3 Likes

Also I’m not sure if concentrate solutions would grow sludge but i could add hydrogen peroxide to them.

2 Likes

@OldNailPounder what do you store your nutrient concentrate solution in? do you use anything like syringe to mix dosage? I got a magnetic stirrer and it is F-ING LIT BRO!!!

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH WATER RUN OFF? SORRY FOR SCREAMING!!! lol i didn’t see my caps were on lol

i have a 3x3’ flood tray and ran plumbing out the floor on second floor of my place. so its drain-ish / flood-ish to waste system

2 Likes

I just use a regular 20 ml oral syringe and go straight from the bottle to the 5 gallon bucket. I’m not really storing the nutrient “concentrate”, it goes right to the big totes, mixed, and is stored there.

3 Likes

i guess i am trying to make my own bottle of liquid Jacks 321. an have solution Jacks 1, Jacks 2 and Jacks 3 stored separate. then i would mix in a 40-60 gallon reservoir for auto-feeding

2 Likes

My plant bases will hold about 2 gallons before it gets to the bottom of the plants or runs over. I shop vac them out every morning or every other morning. When I go out of town, I dial the pump timers back so I only get about 2 cups per day. That will hold for up to 10 days. That’s the longest I’ve ever left them unattended.

4 Likes

I haven’t seen the need for 40-60 gallons. The most I have on 1 system is 4 plants. I have 1 system for 3 plants, 9 weeks into flower, another system for 2 plants, 2 weeks into flower. another system for 4 plants, 4 weeks into veg. and one more for 2 more plants in Flower. All are taking different nutrient regiments. After about a week to 10 days, the totes will start to smell “less than fresh”. So I don’t go beyond that.

3 Likes

Nothing wrong with doing this just make sure your math is mathing lol.

You may run into issues with saturation if you try to make concentration too strong.

3 Likes

ok yeah now i see why you got all the totes shooting off. that’s cool man. you use H2O2 at all?

2 Likes

No H202. just nutrient feed. I have a small pump that stirs for 1 minute every 2 hours, and 2 air stones in each tote.

3 Likes

like :thinking: you mean precipitation of nute salts? maybe you mean its too strong to dose it acuratly?

would you use distilled or RO for concentrate solutions ( IDL that word… lets coin this Duke’s Custom Nutrient Solution Line "D.C.N.S.L. " HAHA )?would you use Any H202 in my D.C.N.S.L. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

2 Likes

I think what you are wanting to do might work better with a 1 part nutrient like Mega crop. If you put Mega Crop in the search you will find more information on that if you’re interested.

4 Likes

I just meant there will be a limit to how much you can disolve into a gallon of water.
If ro system is working properly it should be good.

4 Likes

Ok you mean it might be difficult

Dissolving

nutrient salts to make my > D.C.N.S.L. concentrated enough? lol

so should i pre mix larger batches and store?

2 Likes

Found some resources on jacks site
1 gallon and then 100 gallon feeding schedule:

1gal 100gal

they also have some fertilizer calculators i dont know how to use yet lol

4 Likes

Start mixin


Need a pilit?

4 Likes