You cannot use the same fertilizer for growing crops in soil to grow hydroponic gardens. The reason is because soil will interact with the fertilizer in a much different way than water without soil. Therefore, a different fertilizer must be employed for hydroponic nutrients.
Then there are the arguments that chicken manure makes the best fertilizer. I have even heard people telling you to mix it with cow manure and add it directly to your gardens. That is a definite mistake because fresh manure of any kind will be too “hot” and burn up your plants. Chicken and cow droppings must be aged and composted to yield the beneficial microbes in safe amounts. This is now as simple as using a compost tea bag.
Compost tea is a nutritionally rich “extract” of microbes, enzymes and bio-active plant compounds made from compost. It is a true organic fertilizer.
I have discovered the best compost tea bags that are created by a certain family farm in Stony Point, North Carolina.
At first glance, I did not see anything special about their compost tea until I tried it on my own garden. The results were nothing short of amazing. I grow everything in 10′ flower pots. The plants are greener. The peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers are beautiful.
I went personally to the Smith Farm to inquire about the formula for creating compost tea bags. You see, they have a “secret recipe” in creating the whole process to make compost teabags.
Shhhh! They use dairy milk cow manure.
“There is virtually no smell because it is made from Dairy cows’ manure which is the creme de la creme of gourmet cow pies!”
At Smith Farm they pointed out that plant roots have little hairs and if these ever dry out, the plants will die. Compost tea bags will add enough hydroponic nutrients to the irrigation solution to satisfy your plants. It is truly a beneficial organic fertilizer whether you grow in hydroponic systems or in container gardening.