Unexpected results from diy nutes, does anybody else use diy nutes and what was your results.

rshackleferd said:

PS..I believe it is safer to have enough than not have enough especially when you know the toxicity levels of each micronute. I have seen more often than not deficiencies with commercial brands that i have used in the past, most of it from lack of iron and calcium. Fatmans recipe eliminates all the guess work and worry from those deficiencies, no need to buy supplements.

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No need to buy supplements? We make our own mixes from scratch! We already have all the "supplements" (ingredients). If there's not enough iron, I have a tub of aquairon, remember? lol. If notice signs of iron deficiency, I make a new iteration of my formula with slightly more iron.


Part of maximizing the availability of all essential elements is not using more than you need of any particular element since many tend to antagonize, or worse, precipitate out. Lowering zinc and iron will make other elements more available. I don't even have zinc in my formula believe it or not... I cut up a US penny after 1983 and put a little piece into each DWC tank, and that's worked fine for me. Eventually I will buy zinc sulfate... but I need so little... Maybe I'll just dissolve a few US pennies in sulfuric acid to get a few grams of zinc sulfate.

I do agree with you when you say that most mixes are on the low side on iron. I used to use 10ppm iron and higher, but 5ppm is still very high and I've never noticed any signs of iron deficiency with 5ppm. (hoagland can be between 1-5ppm iron)

rshackleferd said:

Aqualron or just about any dtpa chelated iron product varies + or - by only 1%, So plugging in those numbers on hydrobuddy or even using fatmans recipe will give you accurate results. Toxic levels of iron according to texas a&m university start with most plants at 178ppm so you have a large leeway before running into problems. I had a hard time finding a product of dtpa chelated iron that contained less than 10%, However im not saying its not out there. Whoever is interested in making your own nutes and are concerned with the iron content just make sure the label states 10 or 11%.

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I added a substance in hydrobuddy for "10% iron DTPA" that's 10% iron.

churchhaze said:

Maybe I'll just dissolve a few US pennies in sulfuric acid to get a few grams of zinc sulfate.

I've never noticed any signs of iron deficiency with 5ppm. (hoagland can be between 1-5ppm iron)

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Better to invest in some Zn EDTA if you can find it, the same goes for Cu and Mn. Fe isnt the only element that reacts with negatively charged ions. I use chelated Zn,Cu and Mn, same brand as my DTPA. For these once in a lifetime purchases, its worth paying a little extra for quality gear
http://uk.solufeed.com/products/chelates?c=Single+metal

Using more than 2ppm of Fe is just a waste, i rarely go above 1ppm. Make up a nute without the Fe, add 1ppm using a seperate Fe stock and wait for an early sign of Fe def to show up. If it does, add another 0.5ppm. If it doesn`t, you`ve just saved yourself 80% on Fe costs.
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