Rockwool vs. Perlite vs. Hydroton vs. Soil | Hacker News Reader

Rockwool vs. Perlite vs. Hydroton vs. Soil

hydronerd.com

24 pointsnamidark7 comments

Nice comparison, but I think he missed the best option: Diatomaceous Earth (frequently abbreviated DE). It's been used for Bonsai for a while, but some tomato growers have been excited by it for a few years now: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=22329

I used it this year, and think it's great. Ph neutral, sterile, cheap, non-hazardous, holds water but allows oxygenation, low environmental impact, pleasant to work with, and locally available. It can be purchased from chain auto parts stores as an oil spill cleanup (http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/MTA4/8925/N0431.oap) and sometimes from Dollar Stores as kitty litter.

Well worth trying if you are starting seeds or rooting seedlings. If buying for the first time, note that you do _not_ want "food grade" DE, which is a fine powder. The seedling stuff is more like fine grained cat litter. And you want to be sure you aren't buying a clay product instead, since some have similar names. Ultrasorb, Optisorb, or Blue Ribbon DE Premium Cat litter are brands to look for --- make sure it explicitly says "diatomaceous earth" or DE.

How about nutrition profiles? We've seen huge vegetables and fruits at the super markets, but their profiles suck compared to conventionally-grown, but usually smaller plants. If we only focus on rapidly growing biomass sold per weight ignoring the main reason we need plants - their nutritional benefit, we're going nowhere. Also, we know from some research that the more a plant has so struggle, the better its micronutrient profile is. Such example is the connection between grapes, climate, and resveratrol content.

I was aware grapes having a higher percentage of tannins, flavenoids, etc... when grown in adverse conditions. However, I thought this was a property of the fact that the plant always commented the same nutrients to the grape, but because it's restricted in how much water it can intake, the grapes never fully plump with as much water. This plumping would reduce the percentage, and then dilute the wine. I didn't realize they actually provide more nutrients. This seems counter intuitive, since the plant would on rocky hard soils, have much fewer nutrients to draw from. Do you have a citation handy, it would be a good Sunday afternoon read?

I remember reading (maybe here) about a guy who did hydroponics and comparing nutritional profiles and got better results for certain nutrients compared to conventionally grown ones. I've read long ago resveratrol especially discussing the content in different regions and grape types across in Europe and also why Muscadine grape (native to Florida) has the highest amounts - few times higher than Spanish reds. I think Oregon is also better suited for healthier wines as well. I don't have anything handy, unfortunately as I have the bad habit not to organize my findings outside of keeping the conclusions read or made in my head, but those reads made me switch to Spanish Rioja from French Pinot Noir. I never looked at the map before now, but it seems that Rioja's location is very well-situated for higher resveratrol and the wine is great. :)

Do you have any suggestions or DIY ways to get the nutritional values? I'd be glad to take them to a lab or ship them as long as it wasn't crazy expensive. I noted what nutrients I used ( Maxigrow veg ) but I have no idea how to get the nutritional values (such as vitamins).

Unfortunately, not personally. I wish there was a testing service as I use Lapka (https://mylapka.com/), but it doesn't give much. I've always wanted to test different vendors at the farmers' market and compare to Whole Foods and others.

If I needed a medium to nurture root structure a and retain some water/air, coconut coir all the way

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