Dear Maximum Yield: Could you please inform me about the ideal nutrient balances (macro and micro) expressed in ppm for the following crops:
a) sweet pepper d) tomato b) eggplant e) lettuce c) cucumber f) radish Consider that we are working in an open hydroponic system (we don’t reuse nutrient solutions) and we tailor make our nutrient solutions. Thank you in advance for your information.
Carlos
Carlos: Much of the information that you are looking for will be dependent on environmental conditions, particularly season/growth phase, and growing medium. Water quality is also an important factor. There are some great resources that I can recommend to you.
Check out “Growing Greenhouse Tomatoes in Soil and Soilless Media” and “Growing Greenhouse Cucumbers in Soil and Soilless Media” both books are by Dr. A.P. Papadopoulos. They can be viewed online at the Canadian Greenhouse Crop Processing and Research Centre (GPRC)’s website. “Hydroponic Food Production” by Dr. Howard Resh and “Gardening Without Soil” By James Sholto Douglas would also be very useful in your search (available through Maximum Yield, see pages 34 and 35). The “Neutron 2000” software program may also be of value to you. Typically people who are growing this many crop varieties would find it more convenient to use a commercially prepared fertilizer that can be tailored to each type of plant under varying conditions. Many commercially prepared hydroponic fertilizers have different feeding values listed on the label.
Regards, Erik Biksa