Three ways to judge the quality of powdered hydroponic nutrient products
Commercial hydroponic nutrients are often available as liquid concentrates. These offer a very reproducible experience for the user, with very high homogeneity and easiness of application. However, one big drawback…
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How to control algae in a hydroponic crop
Microscopic algae can be a very annoying problem in a hydroponic crop. As photosynthetic organisms they can cover all exposed surfaces that get wet with hydroponic nutrient solution and can…
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Can you use regular soil fertilizers in hydroponics?
If you have just started your journey into hydroponics you’re probably wondering why you need to spend your money in hydroponic specific nutrients when there are so many cheaply available…
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Accurately preparing large quantities of concentrated hydroponic nutrients
When preparing concentrated solutions for hydroponics it is important to have a reproducible process that always generates the exact same results. If this is not done, you’ll obtain different nutrient…
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Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) in hydroponics
Plants did not evolve in an isolated environment but with a wide variety of different microbes. Through their evolution, plants prospered more in the presence of certain microbes and therefore…
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Why do NPK labels express P and K as oxides?
If you have had any contact with the fertilizer world you have probably noticed that fertilizer labels contain N-P-K values on their front and back labels, denoting the chemical composition…
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HydroBuddy has now been updated to v1.70: New features and modifications
My free and open source hydroponic nutrient calculator has been available since 2010, going through many iterations and changes through the years. The latest version as of May-24-2020 is now…
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Calcium EDTA and its problems in hydroponics
Calcium is mainly used in hydroponics as calcium nitrate, given that this is a very soluble and abundant form of calcium. However this is not the only way calcium can…
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How to prepare a low cost chelated micronutrient solution
Micronutrients constitute only a small portion of a plant’s nutritional requirements but are still vital to growth and development. They are mainly comprised of heavy metals (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu,…
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How to prepare pH 4 and 7 buffers from scratch without using a pH meter
I wrote a post in the past about how you could prepare pH buffers in order to calibrate your pH meter if you happen to already have a calibrated pH…
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