Molasses as a Nutrient

Sometimes it is best to look at a few pieces of old knowledge and some old school techniques to find some new ideas for enhancing your garden. I have recently come across some mentions of using molasses as a natural fertilizer in your garden and I wondered if it could be used with hydroponics. Let’s take a look.

organic molasses as hydroponic nutrient

There are rumors about adding sugar to the soil of your garden to increase the sweetness of the fruits of your plants. This may be a bit of a myth and I have not been able to confirm this yet, but I have been checking out the nutrient content of the molasses and I am impressed. There is calcium, magnesium and a bunch of other great stuff in there.

The biggest advantage of using molasses is that it supports a healthy microbial ecology in your hydroponics system. This is one of the biggest difficulties that we, as hydroponic gardeners, can face. You will want to get un-sulfured molasses as the form of sulfur they use is a preservative meant to stop microbial activity. We are trying to encourage those microbes and this would be highly counter counter-productive.

The best way to use molasses is to get some black strap and mix it with water in a ratio of 1 part molasses to 100 parts water. This is the absolute maximum concentration that you want to use. Any more than this and your risk causing root rot or slime in your hydroponics system. You also need to make sure that you fully dissolve the molasses or you are risking clogging your system. IT can gum up your growing medium, pumps or sprayers and be very difficult to clean out. For this reason, I suggest adding the molasses to boiling water, mixing it in completely and then letting it cool before using it with your hydroponics.

Product Review: Annie Haven’s Natural Moo Poo

Every gardener is always looking for new nutrients to try.  If you prefer real natural fertilizer, Annie Haven’s Moo Poo is for you.  Moo Poo is an all natural soil conditioner made from life stock manure.  It is also known as manure tea.

Organic NutrientsThe Moo Poo comes in tea bag sized pouches that you let seep into water for a few days before use.  It is a really simple process for some really strong organics.

One tea bag can make as much as 5 gallons of nutrients.  If you are using a hydroponics system, I suggest using one tea bag for 10 gallons or more.  You can really make these go a long way.

The natural tea is perfect for all kinds of plants.  You can use it indoors or outdoors.  It is good for container gardens, outdoor gardens, and even hydroponics.

Hydroponic gardeners will be able to get 90+ gallons of fertilizer out of the 9 pack which is only $22.  Thats the same price you are paying for nutrients now.

There are three types of manure tea from the ManureTea.com shop.  You can choose from horse or cow manure for your vegetable garden.  There is also an alfalfa mix for roses.

Click here to learn more.

Organic Nutrients