I am curious if anyone knows about, or has experience, with long term or slow release fertilizers in your tanks.
I have read Aaron's Mineralized Soil How-to so I know there are some longer-term methods out there but the reason I ask is because I share a building at work with a company that is working to translate government research into slow release fertilizers for farmers, landscapers, and garden centers into a commercial product.
I happened to walk past their office and noticed their sign sounded like they dealt with fertilizers so I asked if they did any work with aquatic plants because I'm always looking for other potential hobbyists. It turns out they hadn't thought about aquatic plants but they got really excited when I explained the hobby to them.
From what I understand (and this is subject to change because I am just going off of what I remember), the product they are working with is actually the delivery mechanism for fertilizers. It is releases the fertilizers independent of moisture and temperature and actually has the ability to "recharge" itself by taking up excess nutrients and releasing them later on. The idea is to prevent and mitigate run off. It can be produced in any shape, think play-doh or pasta, and is made to break down eventually, but I believe not for years.
It can be added to the substrate but they also wanted to know if people would add it to their filters as a way to easily access it later on. I'm not sure if that is practical and I hadn't thought of it but I dose every day so its not really an issue I've had to deal with.
I do know people who use root tabs suggest not disturbing the soil after they have been placed because everything is released in the water column, but because it is slow release, not affected by water, and reabsorbs nutrients, I don't know if that would be an issue.
I wanted to get some of your feedback since I've been out of the hobby for awhile and some of you are much more techie/scientific than I am. So let me know what your thoughts are!
We also got into a discussion about lighting and LED lights. I guess they guy I was talking to has a cousin who is working on algae for bio-fuel research and has been using LED lights of a certain wave length to encourage algae growth. But, he's going to send me a research paper on it so I'll save that one for another day!
Slow Release Fertilizers
Slow Release Fertilizers
Rachael
Sounds like a very interesting conversation! I've seen forum threads online about folks experimenting with slow-release fertilizers like Osmacote with mixed results. I know folks inside the club use Joke spikes, but I'm pretty sure they're not as slow-release as what you're referring to; more akin to root-tabs. To be honest, the product/concept you're describing sounds an awful lot like discussions much smarter folks around here have had regarding substrates with extremely high CEC ratios, like Soilmaster Select. (In that a higher CEC allows them to absorb nutrients for plants to use down the road.) I don't understand the actual mechanisms, unfortunately.
Overall, it sounds like a very intriguing prospect. If any part of the hobby had more experience here, I would expect it would be the pond lily folks, as they all have their secret recipes for providing huge amounts of nutrition at the roots of their plants.
Overall, it sounds like a very intriguing prospect. If any part of the hobby had more experience here, I would expect it would be the pond lily folks, as they all have their secret recipes for providing huge amounts of nutrition at the roots of their plants.
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DelawareJim
- Posts: 1249
- Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 4:25 pm
- Real Name: Jim Michaels
- Location: Southeast PA
That sounds like exciting work. I know for agriculture that would be such a boon to help reduce nutrient contamination of wells in the corn-belt, reduce the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico and clean up the Chesapeake. (Although the Zebra mussels that were discovered downstream from the Conowingo dam will eventually take care of that in their own destructive way.)
Actually we pond folks aren't doing much differently than those using a mineralized soil substrate. We just have the advantage that the soil is somewhat contained in a "sealed" container so, in theory, there is less nutrient loss to the surrounding water. Otherwise we add a granular complete fertilizer in the bottom of the container and supplement with root tabs/Jobes spikes until it's time to replant in about a year or 2.
Cheers.
Jim
Actually we pond folks aren't doing much differently than those using a mineralized soil substrate. We just have the advantage that the soil is somewhat contained in a "sealed" container so, in theory, there is less nutrient loss to the surrounding water. Otherwise we add a granular complete fertilizer in the bottom of the container and supplement with root tabs/Jobes spikes until it's time to replant in about a year or 2.
Cheers.
Jim
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DelawareJim
- Posts: 1249
- Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 4:25 pm
- Real Name: Jim Michaels
- Location: Southeast PA
I've not seen any yet.
I just use what I can find that has N-P-K that most closely matches my plants needs. Lately, I'm using Jobe's spikes for potted plant and hanging baskets.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images ... ome-garden
For Crypts and Lagenandras, I'll put in a half stick per clump as needed. For Swords, I use a whole stick per plant.
Cheers.
Jim
I just use what I can find that has N-P-K that most closely matches my plants needs. Lately, I'm using Jobe's spikes for potted plant and hanging baskets.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images ... ome-garden
For Crypts and Lagenandras, I'll put in a half stick per clump as needed. For Swords, I use a whole stick per plant.
Cheers.
Jim
