BCSS - Forum

Hoping for a steer here. The plants in my latest greenhouse are watered using a hose. The difficulty arises when I want to feed them as it takes way too long doing it using a watering can.

I read on the internet that you can get attachments for the hose which dispense liquid fertilizer (which sounds ideal). However, most reviews I've read suggest that they're pretty much useless in that the required control of fertiliser is almost impossible to achieve.

So does anyone use something like this and if so is there a 'better than others' brand/model?

Many thanks

This is mine. It is very good. I use it for plain watering, feeding and drench insecticide.
I find it reliable

Birchmeier aquamix, been using one for several years with no complaints. Will dose as low as 0.2%, though this seems a bit hit and miss, so I generally feed at the 0.5% setting which always works well. Fed about 1000s of cacti with it today, the thought of doing that with a watering can is horrifying. I also use it for imidacloprid dosing, though very rarely do this as haven't seen a mealy for several years now. I feed with tomorite, higher nitrogen feeding has given me issues with erwinia late in the season.

The last 5 years or so I've been using the Miracle Gro feeder with either Miracle Gro or whatever soluble feed catches my eye (usually because it's cheap) Seems to work just fine, my plants grow OK.

There again my feeding regimen has always been rather hit or miss.

Conrad wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 9:01 pm Birchmeier aquamix, been using one for several years with no complaints. Will dose as low as 0.2%, though this seems a bit hit and miss, so I generally feed at the 0.5% setting which always works well. Fed about 1000s of cacti with it today, the thought of doing that with a watering can is horrifying. I also use it for imidacloprid dosing, though very rarely do this as haven't seen a mealy for several years now. I feed with tomorite, higher nitrogen feeding has given me issues with erwinia late in the season.

I generally feed at 1%. I have to refill sometimes, but it makes calculations easy and I have also seen higher feed rates are more reliable than the lowest ones

I have tried the Phostrogen diluter (or whatever it is called) - not impressed and it is only geared to the solubility of Phostrogen anyway (even if adjustable in terms of dilution).

I always water plants individually - always have - it doesn't take that long even with hundreds of pots and you don't miss or drench anything accidentally. I normally use a Kilaspray (which is, or used to be, available in large sizes), although I have also experimented with a cheap pump feeding a lance from a large tank, which worked well enough.

I would not trust me with a hose with C&S, or any cheaper dosing/diluting kit.

Commercial growers generally use an accurate dosing system, even if quite a small set-up and/or by hand. I will remember the name of the kit eventually (and post here), but I have seen it used for other industial uses and it is VERY reliable. It doses a concentrate into the main flow.

Dositron????????

I am unsure that I'd ever use Miracle-gro for C&S, except very early in the season - it is high nitrogen - hence it's claims for phenominal growth.

Cidermanrolls wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 9:05 pm

Conrad wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 9:01 pm Birchmeier aquamix, been using one for several years with no complaints. Will dose as low as 0.2%, though this seems a bit hit and miss, so I generally feed at the 0.5% setting which always works well. Fed about 1000s of cacti with it today, the thought of doing that with a watering can is horrifying. I also use it for imidacloprid dosing, though very rarely do this as haven't seen a mealy for several years now. I feed with tomorite, higher nitrogen feeding has given me issues with erwinia late in the season.

I generally feed at 1%. I have to refill sometimes, but it makes calculations easy and I have also seen higher feed rates are more reliable than the lowest ones

Makes sense, honestly the 0.2 setting just doesn't seem to do anything. What feed do you put through it? I use neat tomorite at .5% which works out at about the bottle recommend rate, which is probably a bit high for cacti. 1l normally does me three waterings of a 36ft x 16ft space. I wish I had flood benches!

Thanks all for the information The Birchmeier aquamix seems to be a good choice so I'll go for one of those and look forward to ditching the watering can