Fertilizer for drip irrigation

[Jarrod King]

Hello,

I got a sweet drip kit online for a great price and also got a venturi injector so that I can fertilize along with the drip irrigation. It is going to be for about 300 plants. I have very sandy soil right now and figured this would be a good way to have the fertilizer always be present, instead of just leaching out when I apply it on top of the soil. My question is what do you guys use for fertilizing this way that is cost-effective and water-soluble? I assume I can't just put 10-20-10 in some water? I see lots of options online, but I have never fertilized like this and thought I'd get some more experienced opinions.

[Worth1]

Do you want to go organic or conventional?

Conventional I would use Miracle Grow mixed to the right proportions to mix with the injector.

Organic I would use a liquid like Texas Tomato Food but it will be more of a pain than the Miracle Grow due to things settling in the container and stopping up the injector.
What you are going to have to figure out is how many gallons of water passes by the fertilizer container to empty the container.
Then you will know how strong to make your mix in the container with the fertilizer in it.

Also will you have enough water flowing by the injector to create the low pressure area needed to suck the fertilizer from the container?


Worth

[Jarrod King]

I'd like to go conventional probably, I assume the organic is much more expensive? But if anyone has experiences comparing the two I'd love to hear them.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Jarrod King

I'd like to go conventional probably, I assume the organic is much more expensive? But if anyone has experiences comparing the two I'd love to hear them.

You should hear soon enough from people that are doing it both ways.

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

Yeah, like Worth said, the venturi injectors come in different sizes. Your flow rate for the system needs to be within a certain range for the injector to work. The company who made the drip tape can tell you what the GPM for each emitter is. Then you estimate number of emitters to reach a GPM number for your system.

I follow the recommendation of Morgan County Seed Company. They say to alternate calcium nitrate with 4-18-38. I also have another liquid fertilizer that is Calcium, Magnesium, and Iron. I have just used the Miracle Grow type of tomato fertilizer also.

Organic ferts present the problem of clogging the emitters. A lot of them tend to be goopy. I have used molasses before; it worked well without clogging.

[AKmark]

Whatever formula you use, make sure to do a bypass to a second injector for Calcium Nitrate, if you run both through a single injector it will clog up because you cannot mix calcium N. with phosphate that is in the fertilizer.
In peat based medium we use Calcium Nitrate and Magnesium every time we water with fertilizer, that may be different in soil.

[Heritage]

Before you buy fertilizer, make sure the venturi injector works with your drip (tape or drippers?) configuration. It doesn't take much downstream resistance to render a venturi injector worthless. It is a tricky balancing act because drip tape requires a narrow operating PSI while the injector needs a high PSI differential between input and output. So, first hook up your injector and find out if it will inject a 5 gallon bucket of water into your drip tape set-up.

If so, then just buy a 20-20-20 (with micronutrients) fertilizer that is labeled as "water soluble" and follow the recommendations for your specific injector ratio.

Steve

[mdvpc]

I use GH Maxi-Grow and Maxi-Bloom in my fertigation system