Grotek VitaMax... Is It Okay In Hydro?

[Caber1]

Guy sold me some and when I got home I read the instructions and nowhere does it say Hydroponics.
I look online and I can't find the company on a web site anywhere. Can't even find an article on the stuff.
It's a B1 vitamin mix if you didn't know.
Thought I would ask those that know and see what happens.
I'll phone the guy at the grow shop in the morning whether anyone answers or not.
Just curious? Anybody else have stories or tips about vitamins and pot?

 

[McBudz]

B1 is good. I would only be concerned about putting it in a hydro setup if it needs to be mixed at high concentrations where it would goop up the hydro process.

How do the instructions tell you to use it?

 

[Caber1]

Hey McBudz
I finally found the company website and I've followed their recommendations for hydroponics and we''ll see how it goes.
As I get more into this hydroponics stuff I'm really finding that there isn't a whole hell of a lot of good solid info.
Too much anecdotal stuff.

I guess my next question would be where is the best place to find layman nutrient information?
I know you need N-P-K and assorted other micro-nutrients, but there isn't much on how to read labels and what the labels really mean/say.

 

[McBudz]

yeah so true. thats really due to the fact that thye leave that up to you the gardener. Every crop, envirinment, water type etc requires slightly different variations of nutrients and micro nutrients. The nutrient manufacturer only has to tell you what minimum percentage of elements are in their given product line. Some leave out certain micro nutrients that are actually in the stuff since they dont want to or cant guarantee a certain minimum percentage of that element from batch to batch.

FERTILIZER ANALYSIS (discusses soil based but still holds true in hydro minus the obvious)

The analysis prouded on a fertilizer package refers to the amount of an element present in a formulation based on percentage of weight. All fertilizers are labeled with three numbers, giving the percentage by weight of nitrogen (N), phosphate (P2O5), and potash (K2O) respectively. Often, to simplify matters, these numbers are said to represent nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, or N-P-K. We should remember that it is not N-P-K, but N, P2O5, and K2O. Moat fertilizerscontain no P2O5, and K2O, but phosphorus and potassium are expressed as the amount of fertilizer would contain if they were in P2O5 equivalent, and K2O form equivalent. (These forms of expression are leftovers from the early days of chemistry, when all elements were expressed as oxides.) For example, if we have a 100 pound bag of fertilizer labeled 10-10-10, it contains 10 pounds of N, 10 pounds of P2O5, and 10 pounds of K2O. To convert the P2O5 content to actual phosphorous content, multiply the given weight by 0.43. To convert K2O content to potassium content, multiply the given weight by 0.83. The rest of the fertilizer's weight is filler.
Filler is important so that we can evenly spread the fertilizer and avoid burning plants with too much fertilizer.
For many years, there has been a model label law which some states have adopted for the classification of fertilizers. The law also establishes minimum levels of nutrients allowable and provides specific labeling requirements. To date, model label legislation has not met with total acceptance, so there are still differences from state to state as to what constitutes a fertilizer and the type of information on labels. Even so, the information contained on fertilizer labels has been well standardized, and the consumer is protected by state laws requiring manufacturers to guarantee the claimed nutrients.
The law requires that the manufacturer guarantees accuracy of what is claimed on the label. In some cases, a fertilizer will contain secondary nutrients or micronutrients not listed on the label because the manufacturer does not want to guarantee their exact amounts. The gardener/consumer is assured that nutrients listed on the label are actually contained in the fertilizer. On fertilizer labels, the initials W.I.N. and W.S.N. stand for Water Insoluble Nitrogen and Water Soluble Nitrogen, respectively. The water soluble nitrogen (W.S.N.) dissolves readily and is usually in very simple form, such as ammoniacal nitrogen (ammonia) or nitrate nitrogen. Nitrogen which will not dissolve readily may exist in other forms in the fertilizer. These are usually organic forms of nitrogen (with the exception of urea) that must be broken down into simpler forms before it can be used by plants.
Water insoluble nitrogen (W.I.N.) is referred to as a slow-release nitrogen source and delivers nitrogen at different rates according to the amount and kind of material in its composition.
The best fertilizer to use depends on many factors, such as the nutrients needed, soil structure, soil chemistry, and method of applying the fertilizer.


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