EI dosing frequency

[laka]

Can i dose the same qauntity of dry ferts as recommended in Tom's article but only once a week instead of thrice weekly? It sure would make maintenance easier. I assume this would not cause algae problems because as Tom says algae comes from nutrient deficiencies rather than plant nutrient excsess assuming CO2 and light levels are on par.
LAKA

 

[Tom Barr]

Question:

Would you prefer to eat once a week or each day?
What's better for you?

Plants have some flexibility but are not that much different.
2x a week with low light is okay, with higher light, 3x a week is about the min without having to pay a penalty in plant health/growth. Many do it daily and might skip a day or two etc.

The other issue is that they adapt to a particular concentration and as long as it stays somewhat stable over a range, then things grow best.

This is why you can have low levels and dose daily or high levels and get somewhat similar results although it's much larger and easier target to hit and allows 2-3x week vs daily.


Regards,

Tom Barr

 

[laka]

I don't believe your analogy is valid Tom.
The basis of EI dosing is to supply an over abundance of nutrients , more than
the plants can consume in any one week. So the nutrients are always in the water for the plants to absorb through out the duration until the weekly water change is due. Plants will only utilise what they need and leave the rest in the water. I do not think it is the case that all the nutrients are exhausted within 2-3 days!
Have you tested the above dosing scheme? ie once a week vs three times a week using same total concentrations of fertilisers?
LAKA

 

[Tom Barr]

The analogy is very much valid.

We as well as plants can and do adapt to low food/nutrients.
Cycling between the high and low ranges is not good for us nor plants.

This is very clear if you eat 5 small meals once a day vs 1 large meal, you feel better, you perform better.

Similar thing with plants.

You don't have to believe me and you go try it yourself and see...........
Try eating once a day, try dosing once a week......

Be my guest

If you have low light, less than 2w/gal normal FL's light, then once a week will likely work, moderate lighting, 2x week can be done, higher light, 3x a week.

The goal is to maintain a range to which the plants adapt, not feast or famine, hence the obvious analogy.

If you read the Newsletter, you'd see why this is true in terms of plant metabolism.

Regards,
Tom Barr