benniespliff
New Member
"
dont even worry about npks when making your own soil and growing organically. npk ratios are something the hydro industry made up and all the hydro people bug out on."
Is this true?
- Thread starter benniespliff
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mtgeezer
Well-Known Member
Don't know where you get that idea but the science behind NPK ratios applies to ANY growing medium, soil first then hydro since hydroponics is relatively a newer method relatively. Farmers have been fertilizing their fields for thousands of years to improve harvests and in some cases they use crop rotation to balance nutrients naturally. Case in point, alfalfa roots build nodules of nitrogen from the soil. In preferred methodology the plant does best for a 5 year period before crops begin to decline. After 5 years some farmers will plow it under and over-plant in tomatoes because they feed on the nitrogen nodules and in a year or two will naturally re-balance the NPK ratios to minimize the necessity of dumping tons of fertilizers on the land.
kinddiesel
Well-Known Member
yes npk huge difference . makes a huge difference . what if you ran a 0/10//10 then its not green. or a 10/0/10 no flowering or a 10/10/0 weak stems don't believe every thing you read .
hyroot
Well-Known Member
Correct npk numbers don't make a difference. Alot of nutes have way too much and cause abuse to the plant. Just like lighting its about a balance... You ever noticed why all the true natural organic or vegan organic nutes have such low npk numbers and out perform the nutes with high npk numbers. Then also some strains require more specific nutes than others. Like purple kush is a calcium hog and requires 3 times more cal than most plants. Og's are potassium hogs. They require 4-5 times more potassium than other plants. Also og's , 9 lb. Hammer, afghan kush, Jesus og, real master kush, afghani bullrider , cheese strains require very little nitrogen. It really depends on the strain. Its about finding the perfect medium or balance. It usually takes a few runs to learn a strain though. Then you have nutrient accumulators like living mulch, kelp, rock dust, etc... The have low npk's, yet they help pull nutes from the soil for the plant to uptake. Just like lighting where the green region pulls photons from other regions to help all pigments absorb light and not go dormant...
st0wandgrow
Well-Known Member
This is true to an extent. In order to wrap your head around why this statement is mostly true, you have to understand the difference between organics and synthetics. With synthetics you are bi-passing the soil food web and directly feeding the plant. Obviously as a grower you have to meet your plants nutritional needs, so macro and micro nutrients (and minerals) have to be supplied by YOU in the correct proportions, when the plant requires it. NPK matters a great deal when using synthetics.
In organics the grower does not "feed" the plant. The army of microbes in your soil takes care of that. Your job is to inoculate the soil with billions of microbes, and provide to them a well rounded assortment of organic amendments that they in turn will process, and through death and deification supply the plant with bio-available sources of nutrients. These microbes work in unison with the plant, and give to it what it needs, when it needs it. The plant (through the use of exudates) will attract microbes to the rhizosphere, and up-take the nutrients that it needs at that particular point in it's development.
So, to your question: You don't have to bust out a calculator and add up the NPK values of the various inputs you are adding to your base, but there does need to be a well rounded assortment of ingredients that will cover your bases. Most all-in-one organic fertilizers like an Espoma product will provide this. I add a bunch of single input stuff (like alfalfa meal, kelp meal, neem seed meal, etc) and then throw in a cup or two of an all purpose organic fertilizer for good measure.
st0wandgrow
Well-Known Member
It is amazing, isn't it? A working relationship formed over millions of years.
charface
Well-Known Member
I guess Im still confused.
I do worry about getting my soil out of balance and also burning.
I have a hard time getting the image out of my head of the roots worming around
looking for and eating food
Instead of them ordering takeout.
So out of balance I can wrap my mind around.
But how does burning occure?
in my mind I attributed it to too high
concentration of a nute.
Or is it simply that some nutes actually generate heat even after composting?
Sorry if that is cobfusing.
Both of these I attribute to npk values.
if the answer is too long and complicated
Edit
Now that I know what my question is I can go research it easy enough.
Was just being lazy.
I do worry about getting my soil out of balance and also burning.
I have a hard time getting the image out of my head of the roots worming around
looking for and eating food
Instead of them ordering takeout.
So out of balance I can wrap my mind around.
But how does burning occure?
in my mind I attributed it to too high
concentration of a nute.
Or is it simply that some nutes actually generate heat even after composting?
Sorry if that is cobfusing.
Both of these I attribute to npk values.
if the answer is too long and complicated
Edit
Now that I know what my question is I can go research it easy enough.
Was just being lazy.