cheapest bulk nutrients in Australia wanted
tuppy
Can anyone recommend a cheap bulk source of nutrients in the Western
suburbs (Penrith)
for general and tomato growing. Just seems to be overpriced boutique
shops with all the hemp paraphenalia. Im looking to start a hydroponic
farm on a shoestring budget. All I need really is good nutrients that
are cost effective.
cheers!
Group Manager
good prices, however I do not know what the shipping cost is for your
area...............All you need is "General Hydroponics" nutrients,
don't be fooled by any on the fancy names.
Joe Cyber (Cyber-Hydroponics)
The best way is to make your own nutrient from raw elements.
This is the only way to keep the cost down; also you can have the
formulation set to your water supply, temperatures and crop grown.
However the down side is that a formulation costs money to be made up
to suit your farm. If you are interested this is what I do.
I do understand that most the Hydroponic shops are set for a type of
crop and not suited for large operation as a farm. What works for 100
plants will have problems when you expand to 100,000+. A whole lot of
problems assault you when you move into commercial size farms. Each
farm is different has its own idiosyncrasy.
If you're serous about it,
Drop me an email
Joe
Bob
sorta sets hydroponics back into the realm of black magic ... which is
total bullshit !!
Hydroponics is water based. Water quality is key to success. Too
many with rancid available water choose to fight with it....and fail.
A reverse osmosis filter solves about 98% of all hydro setups. The
other 2% are solved with appropriate use of a PH meter.
Whether one gallon or 100,000 gallons, the principals are the same...
set the PH of the water to the area your plants most enjoy and let
them grow.
For a small operation, under a 1000 gallons I still recommend General
Hydroponic nutrients. Small quantity reservoir cost are at about 0.16
a gallon which only come down as volume goes up. Many, many have
proven that a combination of Micro and Bloom are very adequate for
massive growth, mixed in a ratio of 1 part Micro to 2 parts Bloom.
Plants live or die by PH .... NOT by nutrient level. If the nutrient
level is too high.. the plants will show that within 3 days of any res
changes. Repairing that is as simple as adding straight water or if
its really out of whack just dumping the res and redoing it.
Fighting with poor water is pointless. RO filters have come waaay
down in price and they do work 24 hours a day. If you have a 1000
gallon setup, a 100 gallon a day unit will provide a full change out
in 10 days. Very few if any need a unit that will run a res change
volume in a single 24 hour period.
There are 100's of existing premixed formula's out there... ones that
are fully time proven.
If yours are time proven then go right ahead. For a new grower, using
a standard such as General Hydroponics will allow for instant problem
resolution by those who have been there.
The issue with your formulation is simple... you are the only source of help.
Ive built and successfully run units of 100 gallons and smaller and
have successfully advised sites with capacities of over 500 gallons.
Equiptment doesnt need to be expensive either. The Hanna Checker 1,
available on ebay, is under $40 delivered. Dry calibration capsules
can be had for under $10.
Bob
Joe Cyber (Cyber-Hydroponics)
The thread is about cheap nutrient, here in Austraila GH is expensive,
particularly when used on a commercial scale and in comparison with the
cost of single element purchases. For a small scale home operation, I
would highly recommend GH. Powder nutrients made into stock solutions
are cheaper again, however still expensive on a commercial scale.
Where RO is used on a commerical basis, the EPA (Environmental
Protection Authority) oversees what occurs with the salt waste water.
Additionally, on top of the initial cost is the cost of membranes and
power. Hence why water supply is important in commerical hyproponics
growing, and why the farms I consult for accommodate the water quality
(trace elements etc.) in the nutrient formulation, as well as the
particular nutrient requirements, which vary from plant to plant. It is
nothing for a farm growing commerical quantities of plants to utilise
in excess of 20 000 litres a day - and that's not with a dump! You may
reconsider your RO viability statements now! Commerical operations are
more complex than for a home grower. Water is a resource that you must
use carefully with systems in place to save every drop. It is a
goverment requirement to have a water saving action plan in place.
Dumping the tank has to be something you do when you have to, keeping
in mind that the dump water will need to be used somewhere else.
It is true that pH is a factor, however, elements build up in the
solution as the plants take the NPK and you top up with more NPK as
well as the trace elements that the plants have not used all of from
the last feed. With a smaller nutrient tank volume per plant ratio,
things would start to go down hill fast and the solution can become
toxic. At this point dumping a tank can't save a farm (too much moly,
boron, manganese = DEATH with no hope of saving the plants).
CF and temperature have a very close relationship; the warmer the
temperature the higher the CF will become, the colder the lower. If CF
is too high by the time you see the problem it is too late, no one will
buy a lettuce with the top all rosetted with burn on the outer leaf
with a bitter taste. Drop a high CF down on a fruiting tomato and all
your fruit will split and no one will buy it.
I wouldn't recommend a farm proceed without appropriate meters : )
In several farms I consult at, with in excess of 180 000+ plants,
additional control is achieved through installed computer monitoring
and logging processes with appropriate control parameters. In
particular, water saving is a key aim of this control. If you click on
my address, you can find a link to the Wisa site that produces this
equipment.
Drop me a line if you are interested in knowing more.
Sincere regards
Joe Crane
Cyber-Hydroponics