Solve your problems
- Low yields
- Nutrient deficiencies
- High nutrient costs
- Inconsistent results
Services
- Hourly consultation
- Nutrient solution design
- Growing setup optimization
- Custom crop monitoring automation
My Blog
Through my blog – a top 50 hydroponics blog according to feedspot – I share my insights, research and experience in hydroponic culture. I strive to make this blog a reliable source of high quality, practical information for both commercial hydroponic growers and hobbyists alike. These are some of the blog’s most popular posts:
Welcome to my site!
My name is Dr. Daniel Fernandez, and I have been a consultant in the hydroponic industry since 2009. I specialize in nutrient formulations, crop management, and automation, providing tailored solutions to optimize growers’ results. I hold a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, as well as a master’s and Ph.D. in nanoscience and nanotechnology. With over 15 years of experience in nutrient solution chemistry and crop management, I am dedicated to helping you elevate your crop production to the next level.
Our services
I provide different types of services to suite your particular needs.
I understand that not everyone needs the same type of assistance and I have therefore designed three specific type of services depending on your needs .
- An hourly consultation service where you can ask any questions and get answers to help you solve problems (250 USD/hour).
- A service for the formulation of a specific hydroponic nutrient recipe for your particular needs coupled with guidance in preparing this formulation.
- An on-going consultation service where you will have me available to answer questions and help guide you through your nutrient needs as your crop or hydroponic project progresses.
Hydrobuddy - Open source software for Nutrient Formulations
This site hosts HydroBuddy – a software I programmed – which is the most popularly used open source calculator for the formulation of hydroponic nutrient solutions and fertilizers. This software has been helping hobby and commercial growers prepare their own fertilizer formulations from 2011 with more than 10 thousands downloads in its lifetime. There are also many peer reviewed academic publications that have used hydrobuddy. Feel free to use or modify this software for your nutrient preparation needs. It’s free and OpenSource! Get the software here.
Latest blog posts
pH vs Nutrient Availability: Rethinking the Classic Charts
If you’ve been around hydroponics long enough, you’ve probably seen the ubiquitous “pH vs nutrient availability” chart. It usually looks like a series of colored bars, each showing how available a nutrient supposedly is across a pH range. The bars are wide for some nutrients at certain pH values, narrow for others, and the chart […]
Can you manage downy mildew in hydroponic basil with organic foliar sprays?
Basil downy mildew, caused by the obligate oomycete Peronospora belbahrii, has become one of the most serious diseases affecting hydroponic and greenhouse basil production globally. The pathogen, first documented in Europe in 2001 and later detected in the United States in 2007, requires high relative humidity (at least 85%) or wet leaves to infect plants (1). Temperature […]
Triacontanol Foliar Sprays in Soilless Culture: Formulation and Application
Triacontanol is a naturally occurring long-chain fatty alcohol found in plant cuticle waxes that can act as a growth regulator at very low concentrations. Below I focus on peer-reviewed evidence for triacontanol in hydroponic and soilless systems, with attention to preparation methods, yield effects, and quality outcomes in tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and lettuce. Evidence for […]
Calcium silicate (wollastonite) in soilless crops
Silicon in media is not a magic switch. In soilless systems it can help, it can do nothing, and at the wrong rate or pH it can hurt. Calcium silicate sources such as wollastonite release plant-available Si into inert substrates and typically raise pH, which is useful in peat but potentially more risky in coir […]
