Fertilizer ppm Calculator
Ray
determining the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in
fertilizer solutions. You simply plug in the N, P, and K values from the
label, and the number of teaspoons per gallon you use, and it tells you the
concentrations in ppm, plus the N, P, & K contributions to the TDS.
After a lot of discussions with the folks at Blackmore (they made the stuff
for MSU) and Peters, I have concluded that if your fertilizer has a wide
range of minor- and trace elements in it, you can manage your feeding
regimen by simply controlling the nitrogen loading. I have, therefore,
added another calculator to that page which allows one to simply enter the
"N" value from the fertilizer label and the desired nitrogen loading in ppm,
and it tells you how many teaspoons to add to a gallon of water (and
milliliters per liter).
http://www.firstrays.com/fertcalc.htm
--
Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
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J Fortuna
I fear I either do not understand something or I have been underfertilizing
by a lot (or both).
I actually use the Dyna-Gro (7-9-5) fertilizer which you refer to on your
page, and on your page you say that 1 teaspoon per gallon of this formula
results in a total contribution of 235 ppm, which if one reads further down
in your page is somewhere within the norm for Phals "in greenhouse
conditions in bark-based media". I grow in an apartment not in a greenhouse,
in moss not in bar, does that change the formula?
The instructions on this Dina-Gro fertilizer are to use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon
per gallon of water for houseplants. The instructions on your Web site seem
thus completely different from those on this fertilizer, unless I am missing
something crucial here.
Reading further in your page I noticed that (if I understand correctly)
lower light levels and temperatures mean that one should shoot for a much
lower ppm target. Does this explain the difference between 1 tsp per gallon
in greenhouse versus 1/4 teaspoon per gallon for windowsill culture?
Following the fertilizer label I use a 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water. I
use tap water not distilled water (I assume that this also makes a
difference in the ppm). I don't know the water composition in the DC area,
how important is it that I find out? Am I doing something wrong? My Phals
seem to be doing well enough, though I am sure that with more optimal
conditions their potential is much higher. I would really like to get one of
the mature ones to have 2 spikes at once (so far I have had two spikes only
when I bought plants with two spikes, but the following year yielded 1 spike
only), and so I have been trying to improve their conditions, which is why I
would like to know more about optimizing fertilizer now.
Thanks for explaining this.
Joanna
"Ray" <ray...@REMOVETHISfirstrays.com> wrote in message
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Ray
Yeah, you missed something, but there's more at issue than that.
1 teaspoon per gallon of Dyna-Gro "Grow" formula (7-9-5) used at 1 teaspoon
per gallon, adds a total of 235 ppm of dissolved solids to your water. Of
that 235 ppm, 99 ppm is nitrogen, 52 ppm is phosphorus, 55 ppm is potassium,
with the remaining 29 ppm being the balance of the minerals provided in the
formulation.
Dave Neal, owner of Dyna-Gro, is a firm believer in providing nutrition to
plants at a very low level every time you water. I subscribe to that same
approach, but now feel that his recommendations are simply too low.
For years, I fed his stuff at a rate of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon - a nitrogen
loading of about 50 ppm. About a year ago I increased my feeding to between
two- and three times that, and have seen marvelous results. I also switched
to the MSU stuff simultaneously, but if my premise about controlling by
nitrogen content being key, and letting the other nutrients fall where they
may, that should not have made too significant of a difference.
--
Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
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"J Fortuna" <joa...@REMOVEfortunabujard.com> wrote in message
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Edmond Cormier
long time.
Ed Cormier
"Ray" <ray...@REMOVETHISfirstrays.com> wrote in message
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Pat Brennan
a good chance you will burn up your roots in short order. (All depends what
your water is like.)
Pat
"Ray" <ray...@REMOVETHISfirstrays.com> wrote in message
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Claude
What about the S/H culture?
How much Dyna Grow shold I put in a gallon of tap water ?
On the instruction sheet, you suggested 1/2 teaspoon of DynaGrow and 1/4
teaspoon of Protekt.
Now, since you believe the reccomandation of Dave Neal are too low, how much
Dynagrow should I put in my water for S/H culture?
Thanks
Claude
Ray
I will not make a recommendation, because I do not know what you are
growing, what kind of conditions you grow in, etc.
If the 1/2 tsp/gallon level works for you, why change? If you do want to
try increasing it, do so only in minor degrees, and continue at that rate
for many months to see how it works. I doubt that a teaspoon is too much,
but it might also be a waste.
--
Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
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"Claude" <Cla...@Claude.Claude> wrote in message
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Tanya
i liked the other calculator too and haven't seen this one Y.E.T. HOWEVER,
major confusion:
MANY food / fertilizer labels state such_and_such amount (ex: 1 tsp / gallon)
for houseplants and a larger amount for outDoors.
(e.g.: 1 TBSP per gallon)
isn't the absolute concentration the same? for powder?
aren't these supposed to be standardized (at least minimally?)
thank you
sincerely
Tanya
Ray
expressed in weight percentages, and vary by formula and the raw materials
used to make them up.
Shultz general purpose plant food is 20-30-20, but if you dissolved a pound
of it in a pound of water and sold it as a liquid fertilizer concentrate, it
would be labeled as 10-15-10, meaning that you would need to add twice as
much by weight, to achieve the same nutrient concentration.
As to why you'd use more outdoors than in a houseplant, in your houseplant,
100% of what you add is in the pot for the plant to absorb, while outdoors,
it becomes available to essentially an infinite amount of soil.
Fortunately, diffusion into the soil isn't so fast that it pumps the
nutrition out instantly, so some is still available for the plants that were
intentionally fed. Then there's the light level...more light=more
photosynthesis=more nutrient demand. Light intensity outdoors is much great
than that coming through a window,
--
Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
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"Tanya" <tjtmdOM...@attglobal.net> wrote in message
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Tanya
sincerely
Tanya
Reka
lowest level of 100 ppm, I get 2 1/2 tsp., well over the 1/4 - 1/2 tsp.
recommended. That sounds scary to me. Is this right?
--
Reka
I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html
"Ray" <ray...@REMOVETHISfirstrays.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
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ve, therefore,
> simply enter the
> "N" value from the fertilizer label and the desired nitrogen loading in
ppm,
> and it tells you how many teaspoons to add to a gallon of water (and
> milliliters per liter).
>
> http://www.firstrays.com/fertcalc.htm
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Ray
teaspoons, then adding 1 teaspoon to a gallon of water gives 30000/769 = 39
ppm N (my calculator rounds it to 40), so 100/39 = ~2.5 teaspoons.
The question is not in the calculation, it's in whose recommended dosage
rate to trust!
Dave Neal (D-G) has long recommended low fertilizer dosages, feeling that it
spurs on more root growth as the plant "reaches" for more food. The folks
at Texas A&M, Blackmore Co., and J.R. Peters all have researched and/or
recommend 50-100 ppm for continuous feeding (every time, as in S/H), or
100-200 ppm for periodic feeding (such as every other week, with fresh water
in between).
Over the last year, I have been using around 125-150 ppm at every watering,
and am quite pleased. I do drench the plants pretty heavily via an overhead
misting system in between sometimes, so I'm probably knocking back my
overall concentration a bit in between feedings.
--
Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
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"Reka" <hukar...@rolmail.net> wrote in message
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Reka
"Ray" <ray...@REMOVETHISfirstrays.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> Well, if the liquid is 3% N in the bottle (30000 ppm), and the gallon is
768
> teaspoons, then adding 1 teaspoon to a gallon of water gives 30000/769 =
39
> ppm N (my calculator rounds it to 40), so 100/39 = ~2.5 teaspoons.
>
> The question is not in the calculation, it's in whose recommended dosage
> rate to trust!
>
try.
Reka