Do nutrients have a use by date?

willc said:

Nice one, yeah i have noticed sediment/crystals in the bottoms of the containers before but just gave it a good shake. I know its meant for Coco Coir but i just copied Bonemans hempy thread and it worked perfectly with almost exactly the same results ( https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/109237-bonemans-ak47-ppp-hempy-side.html ) I reckon it must be declining with age so i think ill sling it out and try the Iguana Juice (anyone got any experience with this?) thanks for the info!!

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sexyroots.for.all said:

Hey Willc, this should shed some light on your nutrients . In short, nutrients can always go bad (despite what people say about the freshness always being there). In nature, every object that is nonliving has a half life. This means that over a time span of "t", half of its mass will degrade. This is more commonly talked about when dealing with radioactive particles because their energy fades very quickly in addition to substance degradation, but the same thing applies to nutrients. A more common example would be how most medications expire, even though they are in condensed dry forms. As mentioned previously in the post, sediment build up on the bottom indicates that salts in the solution have "fallen out", meaning that although there is a liquid solution, it may be inactive. This is a common mistake for growers to assume that because there is liquid in the bottle, that the solution is still good. Lastly, since most growers do not practice laboratory practices, many solutions are tainted with traces of other solutions or chlorine or other contaminants. This reduces the shelf life of your nutrients even further. In theory, if a nutrient was stored with perfect management and temperature control etc. then yes, your solution could last you years. In practicality though, this is not the case and many people experience the effects of old nutrients!!! If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask

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fatman7574 said:

Dude were talking minerals and metal half life times of thousands of years. Mineral fertilizers do not go bad in a human life span as long as they do not go out of suspension. Tainting the fertilizer with a little chlorine will have no great effect. Unless the fertilezers have some non mineral supplemments such as organics within the solutio the only thing that can effect the nutrient mix through normal handling and use is evaporation, heat or a radical change in the solution pH.

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decrimCA said:

yeah, sexyroots, not sure I agree either that something can last forever. Even in perfect conditions, nutrients will break down. They just do.

Just like if you stuffed me in a room in perfect conditions, my body, being made of biological materials, will break down.

Organic formulations, (like your body) are different from minerals. Organic formulations/compounds are always changing as they degared or are consumed by organisms and therefore changed. That is not the case with chemicals/minerals. Something has to make reaction conditions possible or they stay as they are.

It just happens. Sorry, that is not the case at all with chemical nutes.

I'm glad that Advanced Nutrients emailed someone back and gave a time window in which you can rely on the products to still work.

Wow, Dude, that is lame. AN is the most deceptive, parasitic mj nutrient manafacturer out there. They are simply giving general cover their butt information that did not evena addresss whether the nutrient formulation was organic or chemical. Likely you just got a sales reprep's canned cover thy companies ass response. Besides if AN could get people to believe the shelf life was a short time they simply sell more products.

I tell you what, if you buy their story simply send me or another grower your old chemical nutrients. I guarantee if chemical nutrients are not subjected to freezing, heat or evaporation there shelf life is indefinate as long as you do not grossly contaminate them with anything that redically alters their pH or that causes mass oxidation. Few people acidentially pour a large quantity of acid, alkaline or oxidants in a bottle of nconcentrated nutrients.

I just try to make sure I'm always rotating my stuff to make sure it's new and fresh. And if I'm not sure, I just do ahead and buy a new bottle. Like I said you can simply send me your old nutrients to me or some other grower who realises the stability of minerals.

There's nothing worse than realizing your stuff is expired and then not being able to do a lot about it. Just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

It's a good idea to just write the date that you bought the nute on the bottle with a permanent market to remind yourself when it's time to go shopping. Duh, and if they sit in the warehouse and on the retalers store shelf for a year what then? Do you see a use by date or a manfacturing date on the bottles of nutrients?

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