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Tasmania Australia

Hi, Just a silly question on dosatron fertiliser injectors and the amount of fertilisers you use.
This is all based on using T-Tape to help make things a little easier to understand on what i am on about.
When you water, do you always fertilise as well?
If you say are watering 100 gallons a day from a 100 gallon tank, would you mix up enough fertiliser to go with the 100 gallons, or do you fertilise after you have watered?
I am only asking this as i was looking at setting up a dosatron fertiliser injector this season.
The other reason i am asking this is, if i were to be using say Neptunes Havest fertiliser, it is listed as 1/8 cup per gallon of water, I think that works out to about 12.5 cups per 100 gallons, seams to be a lot to add, dose this all sound correct?
It would also mean using a injector that i would be using about .78 gallons of Neptunes fertiliser per 100 gallons.

A bit of a confusing question i know, but any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

3/28/2020 4:43:42 AM

Massachusetts

I have used my Dosatron with drip tape for a few years so I will share a couple of thoughts with you. I only use that combination with clear solutions. I mix enough water and soluble fertilizer/humic acid/soluble seaweed/growth products in a 2 gallon pail. I set the dosatron to 50:1 and let it run. When the pail is empty, you have delivered your 100 gallons with whatever you put in the pail.
I would not use Neptunes via the Dosatron/drip tape route. I have clogged filters and drip lines with emulsions/hydrolysates and other precipitates. Sometimes you end up clogging only a few drip lines and that is difficult to find and fix. The recommended rate for most of the Neptunes Harvest stuff is 30 ml per gallon. So 3000 ml. in your 100 gallon tank.
I use a lot of different solutions successfully through the dosatron/drip tape. I usually use TKO or CalMagMax by themselves bacause the label say to (IIRC). Also I use/have used Sili-K, Growth Products Classic 18-3-6, Jack's 15-5-15 CaMag which I find are great by themselves but sometimes precipitate when various combinations are mixed together. So mix your stuff in your 2 gallon pail just watch to see if the solution gets cloudy or worse. Sili-K for example turns some solution into concrete.
This is probably more than you asked for and others will chime in. It's fall you right. Plenty of time to lay out your driptape plan on paper. Good Luck.

3/28/2020 9:50:41 AM

Tasmania Australia

Thanks, appreciate the information.
With adding so much soluble fertiliser, do you find that this messes up or changes the soil ph or soil balance at all much?
I probably would not be using neptunes, as we can't get it here easily in Australia, but just trying to use items that are readily available for you there to make things easier to understand what i am talking about.
Only reason asking about messing up the soil balance and ph is, like adding neptunes, as you mentioned 3000ml ( 0.79 gallons ) seams like a lot of fertiliser to be putting on say once a week.
I am guessing most fertilise every time they water, or do they really need this much fertiliser?

Sorry if the questions are getting a tad complicated.

3/28/2020 5:29:34 PM

North Of The Border

The fertilizer is usually only added once every week or two, and is not normally used for all of the water for that day. That being said, if you have 7 types of fertilizer you want to use, you would use a different one every other day probably, and do a 2 week rotation of fertilization. I would personally just use the drip tape for normal watr, and water by hand, anything else. I would also use the fish and seaweed for dollars and there for would have to be done by hand to some extent. I don't think that the plants need that much fertilizer in the water you use to water them, because with good soil, they should need minimal fertilizer over the year.

3/30/2020 6:50:42 AM

Central NY

minimal fe'rtilizer over the year?....you can grow a "big" one with that advice. that actually might have been my advice to you grower, being on a limited budget, but for the competition fruits, they need some ferts...

3/30/2020 7:37:48 AM

Central NY

(neptunes dosing is right)...

3/30/2020 7:39:25 AM

Tasmania Australia

Thanks again for the replies.
Sounds like most fertilisers are done via foilar, and the ones done via drip irrigation are slightly more diluted.
I was a tad concerned with adding fertilisers such as Monopotassium Phosphate fertiliser, this is 0-52-34 that it would upset the soil balance a bit.

3/31/2020 12:53:00 AM