Iron and other minerals

mlucero

Hello everyone, wondering how I can tell when i need to add minerals to my system. Is there a sign if my plants are not producing, or a test that can be done?
Thanks
:-)

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Zman

When your leaves are not green but yellowish.

Mordyr

Zman said it best.. when leaves are yellowing off or growth is slow.. Common things i add every second weeks Chelated Iron, Potassium Bi Carb. and Epsom salts and seaweed extract for those trace minerals.. if your only doing leafy green you can cut back on potassium but tom's/cukes def need the extra help.

TCLynx

new leaves coming in yellow but with green veins is a sign of Iron deficiency. (this is often actually caused by lock out due to high pH rather than an actual lack of iron.)

Potassium deficiency can show in a few different ways but in a new system, plants not flowering or fruiting can sometimes be from lack of potassium and seaweed extract can take care of that. If the pH is dropping then potassium bicarb can be used to keep pH up while also providing potassium.

Epsom salts can provide magnesium but I don't know if I would recognize a magnesium deficiency.

Mordyr

TCLynx wrote:

Potassium deficiency can show in a few different ways but in a new system, plants not flowering or fruiting If the pH is dropping then potassium bicarb can be used to keep pH up while also providing potassium.

Epsom salts can provide magnesium but I don't know if I would recognize a magnesium deficiency.

main reason we use it. to get PH in check as well as deal with potassium deficiency
usually let PH drift to 6.4 - 6.5 then and 1 tablespoon PH goes too like 6.9 - 7 and sits thier for awhile wont re add till PH needs to be up. Altho might switch to hydrated lime for one dose of PH up and then potassium for next while we have winter plant load that require little potassium and add Epsom salts every little while just to be sure... does that not add to sulfates as well? being magnesium sulfate?

TCLynx

Yes epsom salts are magnesium sulfate.

And alternating between the potassium and calcium is a good option for keeping pH up without getting too much of either one. I have to be careful with my systems as my well water is very heavy on the calcium carbonate and so if I don't have enough rain water to top up with I wind up with too much calcium carbonate in my water and no chance to add the potassium bicarbonate.

mlucero

Folks, thank you very much! No yellow, but ph is a little high, about 7.0, the plants will flower, Tomatoes, snap beans, bell peppers, but will not fruit, so it looks like i will need to suplement some minerals.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

mlucero

By the way, i am in Texas, so hello from across the pond! I have a small system, 30 gal tank, 7 Pacu, with 3 10 gal grow beds using river rock. The biggest mistake I've made so far was hooking my grow beds in series, with one loop siphon on the end to drain, everything was going well until I added some earth worms, now I am having drain problem, so I am going to reconfigure for each bed to have it's own drain...hopefully without disturbing the plants.
I wanted to start off small before doing a larger system. I run everything off of my solar panel set up so I'm fairly self sufficient with a small system, but we are looking to expand once we get the small system dialed in.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Mordyr

mlucero wrote:

Folks, thank you very much! No yellow, but ph is a little high, about 7.0, the plants will flower, Tomatoes, snap beans, bell peppers, but will not fruit, so it looks like i will need to suplement some minerals.

We had smiler problems.. At a PH of 7 plants can utilize most nutrient just fine.. For us it was a combination of bugs.. and not good temperatures / pollination. We had screens on vents and door to not let bugs in .. then realize the effort it takes to pollinate flowers manually and removed the screen's but i think temp was key for toms and peppers to start setting fruits as well as if you have to much nitrates in the system. To much nitrates will cause the toms to focus the growth on growing larger vs setting fruits. drop the nitrates down to almost untraceable and should start seeing more fruits. We never did have any luck with peppers.. to cold where we live and late crappy summer not enough sun.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

TCLynx

I'd say a pH of 7 is fine too.

Temperatures can stop flower and fruit set of many plants. Here in FL it's too hot through summer for tomatoes to set fruit, hopefully my two new plants will start flowering and fruiting here soon.

Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

Iron and other minerals

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics