I can't speak of that stuff specifically, but you can use epsom salts to correct a magnesium deficiency. Of course iron deficiency looks similar and a magnesium deficiency could be caused by a lock out from say too much calcium.

I don't use that stuff on toms. I use the floramato. However, I use both on everything else right now and I do add some maxibloom. I don't use the instructions. I keep my EC at 1.6 or so for the peppers, for example. I'm not very strict about it, though. I also don't use the grow formula for long on peppers. I switch to the bloom early on.

@grizzman

Right on, but how much of the epsom salts do you use exactly?

@joejr.

Ah, so you do end up with some kind of magnesium deficiency? How much of the bloom do you add? Or better yet, what ratio would you say you use, gro to bloom? Also, what reason do you use floramato rather than maxigro/bloom??

Thanks for the responses guys!

It's not a matter of deficiency. It's a matter of bloom formulas being better for peppers than grow formulas. I've found that cutting out the grow early on eliminates blossom drop almost entirely.

I use 2.2 grams of epsom salts per 5 liters of water.

Ah, excellent. Thank you grizzman!

@ joejr

I understand that peppers require a little bit different treatment because of their specific temperament. I, however, am not really interested in the peppers as much as I am the tomatoes. Why is it that you use floramato, rather than maxigro/bloom? Have you actually found that floramato is tried and true, and it indeed works better for tomatoes than does the Maxi series? If so what was the comparison between the two results?

I don't know much about this blossom end rot, but it sounds nasty!

Actually, the maxigro is pretty close to the floramato according to the label. What it boils down to is the fact that I was first using floramato on both and came to the conclusion it had too much nitrogen for the peppers. So, I only switched formulas for the peppers since the tomatoes were doing so well. I used the maxi series on only a couple tomato plants to see how it would do. I tried transitioning to bloom, though, and it didn't go well. Rather than try experimenting, I just went back to the floramato since it was working well on the other tomatoes and I had plenty left. I haven't tried mixing the maxigro with the maxibloom on tomatoes, but I suspect it would do just as well. On indeterminate tomatoes, you want to have more nitrogen than the bloom formula has even when flowering as the plant continues producing vegetation at a steady rate. If you don't, the leaves will start going yellow. Not good for the fruit's sugar production, from what I gather. Of course, if you prune properly, you might be alright. I've never been disciplined enough to prune properly. It's a little more hit and miss for me on pruning. I get a little preoccupied with kids, work, and now school. In hydro in the sun, indeterminate plants can get away from you quickly.

I'd like to do a couple good controlled experiments to determine the best formula. I've just not had time. Actually, I want to get away from brand names altogether and just buy the stuff to make my own. I intend to this year when I can finally get around to it. I said that last year, too, though.

I am a little confused, as it seems to me like the nitrogen rating on both floramato and maxigro are 10? But this makes total sense, if there was too much nitrogen for the peppers. Maybe I am wrong about the nitrogen ratings?

Sorry, I also have a nosey question. Did/do you use the online guide that GH has posted for the use of the Maxi series? Here is a link just in case you havn't. They present a method of mixing the grow and bloom early in flowering; however, the precision that they use in the guide may not be well suited for tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: GH - Maxi Series Feeding Schedule

I would just stay with recomended dosage 1/2 strength. Go get some cal+mag thats what they need. I use the liquid 3-part,cal+mag, and other supplements. Depending on your waters ppm/ph you need to then ph and ppm your water to get to the desiered ppm/ph level.

@ TMG1

Ah hah! After having done a year with Fox Farm 3-part nutrients, I have decided to try and make things a bit more economical. I figure that if you spend $50 on nutrients, you should at LEAST get $50 worth of veggies, and considering that I am a broke college student, well, you get the picture. Don't get me wrong, I love growing things hydroponically. I would easily spend more than I get out of it than I could, if there wasn't some logical and sensical part of my mind screaming out from the unconscious, saying "michael, this isn't worth it."
Hah, I am weird I know. As I said before though, you get the picture as to where I stand and why. We all probably hope for similar things, as I can't imagine even one person around here believing that they shouldn't get at least, at the bare minimum, the same amount in veggies as they put into their hydroponics systems.

So I guess what I am getting at here is a question regarding a cheap source of Cal-Mag. What is a reliable, yet CHEAP source of this product, if such a thing exists?

Thanks for everyones time, your help has been great thus far!

~ BUMP ~

you can buy a 50 lb bag of calcium nitrate for about $65 at a landscape supply store. (you need greenhouse grade) and you can get epsom salts at the drug store for about $2. both will last you a looooong time. I haven't even put a dent in my calcium nitrate yet.
ask the landscape supplier about cal-mag. they can probably get it for you.

there are mathematical formulas available to figure out the ppm of the nutrient solution. they will assume pure water. my local water is 450 ppm from the tap. maxi series will work fine mixed in equal amounts, but it is just another over priced fertilizer being pushed on the hobby grower. there are much cheaper alternatives. btw if you use an online calculator for ppm it will only give you the npk so it isn't accurate.

I am currently using maxibloom with great results. Plants are super productive due to the high levels of secondary macro nutrients in it.

I use it at 1/2 tsp per gal and up to 1 tsp per gal. Staying at 3/4 a tsp per gal is good.

This plant was fertilized with MaxiBloom.
{{gwi:53956}}

Thanks very much for the post TMG! That is a really healthy looking plant right there - very nice green growth and the peppers are looking good too.

I just added 4 tsp of MaxiGrow into a 9 gallon DWC and was dissapointed when I checked up on it today. The pH had rocketed up to 8.0+, water was murky, and most of the solute had precipitated out of the solution and was at the bottom of the tub.

Maybe this happened because of the small amount of fertilizer I used? Not sure how I will do it, but I would like to figure out a good way to prevent the precipitation from happening on lower doses.

Thanks for the kind words.

I am sorry to hear the news, maybe this will help.

You need to first mix the 4 tsp in a smaller bottle like a 1 liter soda bottle with really hot water. Shake until everything is dissovled. When I fertilize I take the gal jug and fill just about 2 cup of hot from the tap, then I add my 3/4 tsp and shake until it is disolved. If I add it to a full gal of cold water it is too much to get it disolved. Hope that helped.

I should have added:

Once dissolved, you can then add it to your tub with the required amount of water. For example, When I use the hot 2 cups of water in the gal jug to dissolve the 3/4 tsp, I then top off the the rest of the gal jug with cold tap so I end up with 3/4-1 tsp per gal.

Ethnobotany,
if your nutrients are precipitating out at that concentration (vs not being dissolved) it was either the consequence of another fertilizer being in the water or there is something else in the water. Is your water municipal or from a well?
I'm drawing from memory here but I believe when a nutrient precipitates, the calcium and potassium form an insoluble bond. if you take those out of the water, I would think the pH would drop, not rise. It strikes me more as the nitrogen and phosphorus are being consumed or bound up(they tend to lower the pH) what kinds and how many plants are you growing?

I think Ethnobotany said the fertilizer did not disolve all the way and if you ever used maxibloom you would understand, as it is not worth adding right to water because it just wont dissolve. The reason I use hot water like I said.

Grizzman is right though, I am not sure about the ph.

Excellent replies from both of you.

What I did to mix was just drop 4 tsp of MaxiGrow directly to my DWC filled with water from the tap. I mixed it up with a rather large spoon until it looked like no solute was left undissolved (but I easily could have been mistaken). I tested the pH after about 5 minutes and it was roughly 6.5, perfectly where I wanted it.

Next day I came outside and like-say there were all kinds of precipitate on the bottom of the tub, like you said Grizz it was probably from some simple displacement/precipitation reactions, which I assume occurred for two reasons:

A.) Common ions such as Ca2+, K+, Na+, Cl-, PO42-, etc. already in the tap water

B.) The reacting ions in the water caused the pH to increase, because some of the reactions may have utilized hydrogen ions. When the ions precipitated, due to Le Chatleur's principle, the reactions continued occurring.

So basically here are my thoughts.

1.) When doing reservoir changes I could remedy the alkaline water with lots of pH down before I mix nutrients in, that way the buffers in the pH down could prevent the chronic pH swing upwards overnight and into the next day.

2.) Mix the nutrients in very hot water before adding to my DWC, because there is still the possibility that the nutrients were just simply not dissolved completely.

P.S.
There are currently 4 netty cups with a couple cucumber plants in each. They're just putting out their second set of leaves.

Hey good idea. The one advantag eof liquid fertilizer is it is easy to dissolve in the water. The dry fertilizer like maxi bloom is cheap though

Nice set up.

Thanks, its nothing extravagant but with time I will have a yard to build some bigger projects.

We live in a giant, 1/2 mile circumference apartment complex. I say circumference b/cuz it is a circular, 3 story complex with a giant courtyard in the middle.

For growing plants the circle isn't exactly beneficial for those that don't have south facing apartments... fortunately we do :D

Here are what the cucumbers are looking like at the end of day 10 since they popped up:

^^^ sorry on the time-frame, it has actually been about 2 weeks since they popped out of the rockwool.

Anyone else use the Maxi series currently or in the past? So far I am impressed with the green of the leaves and the speed of growth. Last summer I used FoxFarm nutrients in this same system which seemed to be more effective, but not a big enough difference to justify paying nearly 2X the price for.

The real test will be flowering/fruiting... shouldn't be too much longer...

Hey guys/gals, just wanted to show you an update of my cukes in the DWC. Again, this is with Maxiseries nutrients only and at about ~6-7 weeks since the seeds germinated in rockwool.

I add 7.5 ml of Calmag to Maxi grow, or you can add epsom