Easy to get nutrients (Bunnings/Yates/Coles/etc) for HYDRO not soil

[alienpuppy]

Hello, I'm after some help putting together nutrients for a small hydro 2x veg + 2x flower (~20L tank each) hydroponic recycling system with hydroton clay pebbles. But need nutrients from Bunnings/Yates/Coles/etc!

  

The nearest hydro shop from me is a couple hours away and I'm helping a friend set up a small grow as he had great success with THC+CBD during chemotherapy, but he wants to keep things fairly simple and he has security concerns even with paying cash at hydro shops (whether valid or not), and would prefer the convenience and affordability of being able to get something that's available at local places like Bunnings, Yates nurseries, or Coles/Woolies etc. Yes, I'd rather just go to a hydro shop and get a couple years worth of supplies, but he's not interested, and I'm sure we can find something that does fine - probably not great, but fine - for medical marijuana.

 

However pretty much all my Bunnings searches come up with SOIL-based discussions! but we're using a 20 litre reservoir with recycle/return, changing every 1-2 weeks.

 

Interestingly he said one of the main reasons he wanted to grow himself was so that he knew what was in it... annnd then I found out he's growing with Made In China "MiracleGro". Just some problems with MiracleGro...

- it's meant for foliar+roots, but seemingly not hydro

- "Safe For Vegetables: Yes" -- get the hell outta here, it's "Made In China".

- apparently has heavy metals, even if "Levels of cadmium, mercury (etc) are undetectable, therefore this can be labeled as safe"

- not pH-friendly... pH drops from ~6 to ~4 within 48hrs and I'm thinking it'll need more pH Up than nutes at this stage; seems ridiculous.

- it has a wetting agent, i'm not sure if this is good or not

- artificially dyed red (bloom) and blue (veg). All I know about dyes is a bucketload of them are carcinogenic.

- NPK for veg is ok but bloom sucks:

   4-1-2 Miracle Gro Grow  (24-6-12)

   2.3-1-2.6 Miracle Gro Bloom (16-7-18)

 One of the threads here had a reply from a user who said he loved using MiracleGro, yet had his in his profile "Fav. Type: Organic" ...

 

I'm also having trouble figuring out which works well in hydro and which doesn't... for example I was contemplating buying Urea but read it's not good for hydro?

 

Anyway here's an INCOMPLETE, JUST STARTED LIST of some of the things i've come across... still lots of searching to do!

On the left is the "reduced-the-lowest-to-1" artificial NPK ratio (when required) -- on the right is the actual/listed ratio

Reduced NPK ratio:    PRODUCT (listed NPK)
------------------    ---------------------------------------------
5   - 1 - 1.7         Yates All Purpose Soluble Grow (25-5-8.8)
5.4 - 1 - 8           Yates Flower+Fruit Soluble Flower (14-2.6-21)
5.8 - 1 - 3.5         Yates Aquasol (23-3.95-14)
                     (Aquasol seems more made for hydro, but the NPK of the other two look better for cannabis?)

0   - 0 - 41.5 - 17   Sulphate of Potash Soluble Powder by Richgro

46 - 0 - 0 - 0        Richgro Urea

?                     Manutec 1kg Epsom Salt (Magnesium) $7
?                     Manutec 500g Trace Element Soluble Powder  $10
?                     Manutec Hydrangea Pink Fert (Calcium Nitrate)

6 - 1 - 6.5           Nitrosol (12-2-13-7) $12 for 1L (makes 250L) WARNING Shelf Life 3mo?

12  - 1.4 - 7         Powerfeed Concentrate (from makers of Seasol) $11 for 1.2L makes 540L
4.6 - 1.2 - 3.1       Multicrop Seaweed Plant Food Concentrate
1.6 - 0.5 - 0.75      Charlie Carp Organic
5   - 1   - 3         Charlie Carp All Purpose (10-2-6)

I'm pretty sure all those ones are made in Australia, or at least Australian companies.

 

I'm currently leaning towards the Yates All Purpose for veg, and Yates Flower n Fruit for bloom, although for the latter the N level is a bit higher than I would like, and I'm assuming I should still add some extra potassium, but in what form?

 

Any other nutrients/additives?  I'm also not quite sure which ones i DON'T want to add to hydro systems! A lot of people have had good success with some of these, but most I was reading about were in soil.

Edited August 10, 2017 by alienpuppy

[doctor_nelson]

 

 

Any other nutrients/additives?  I'm also not quite sure which ones i DON'T want to add to hydro systems! A lot of people have had good success with some of these, but most I was reading about were in soil.

 

 

I don't think you want to add any of those to a DWC recirculating system. FWIW: I'm getting good results using General Hydroponics "Maxibloom" purchased from ebay - google "lucas formula cannabis". It works great for me with some calimagic in coco and is said to be good for DWC. 1.25g/L so a one kilogram package will yield 800L for about AU$32

 

Bunnings don't carry anything specific for hydroponics and I doubt that you can get what you need other than from egay or a hydroponics supplier - with all the associated risks of discovery. I'm paranoid and I understand that ordering a kilo of maxibloom may put me at risk of Mr Plod combing millions of ebay.com.au transactions and discovering my sins, but frankly I doubt that LE has the time or resources to do that - maxibloom is not a prohibited substance. Yet.

 

For bonus points, order everything online but get it delivered to a consenting friend's address where there is no grow going on?

Edited August 10, 2017 by doctor_nelson

[ooodog]

Bunnings do a little hydro stuff but it's kept near the seeds and basic pots. They got rock wool and a very small range of nutes. Just FYI.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using OZ Stoners

[doctor_nelson]

Bunnings do a little hydro stuff but it's kept near the seeds and basic pots. They got rock wool and a very small range of nutes. Just FYI.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using OZ Stoners

 

Must be a really big Bunnings - the nearby one in Alexandria is a monster and has rockwool and other things for cuttings, but I couldn't find anything hydroponic specific there. I just checked the online catalogue search - couldn't find any hydroponic specific nutrients or even Ca/Mg supplements like calimagic (other than epsom salts!) so it must be a regional thing.

Edited August 11, 2017 by doctor_nelson

[ooodog]

It's not a huge store but it's always busy. WA based.

[Stereoballs]

Just ebay that shit dude like old mate said send it to address with no grow going on sorted. Best of luck to you and your friend

[_Puff_Tough_]

Some bunnings stores stock hydroponics nutrients, they arent great but its more than adequate for your grow....

[louise]

I'm currently leaning towards the Yates All Purpose for veg, and Yates Flower n Fruit for bloom, although for the latter the N level is a bit higher than I would like, and I'm assuming I should still add some extra potassium, but in what form?

The Yates stuff is for soil... just because it is soluble doesn't mean it is suitable for hydroponics.

[Stereoballs]

Or go soil if you cant get hydro nutes

[AussieBogan]

Manutec brand sell hydro nutes at bunnings...