A HYDROPONICS NUTRIENT SOLUTION BASED ON COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER'

Abstract

Many people want to use hydroponics in production of plants but often are hobbyists with limited access to the reagents necessary to formulate a nutrient solution. Several readily available commercial fertilizers and chemicals with tomato-(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) as the test plant were used to develop a nutrient solution. A 20-8.8-16.6 IN-P-K) general purpose fertilizer was added (1 g/liter) to deionized water to make a basic solution. This solution was fortified with slow-release fertilizer (approx. 17N-2.6P-8.5K with Ca, Hg, and minor elements) at 1 g/liter added directly to hydroponics vessels. Tomato developed severe foliar symptoms of Ca deficiency in this medium. Addition of CaSO4 or CaCO3 at 0.5 or 1 g/liter to give a solid phase of these chemicals in the vessels prevented development of symptoms of Ca deficiency; however, plants now showed symptoms of Mg deficiency. Addition of MgS0 at 0.25 g/liter to the basic solution prevented symptoms o Mg deficiency. Analyses confirmed that leaf N, P, K, Ca, and Mg were sufficient. This solution was as good as Hoagland's No. 1 solution for growth of tomato, marigold, and cucumber and was better than Hoagland's solution for growth of corn and wheat.