GLASSHOUSECROPSRESEARCHANDEXPERIMENTSTATION

NAALDWIJK
THENETHERLANDS

AMETHODFORCALCULATING THECOMPOSITIONOFNUTRIENTSOLUTIONSFOR
SOILLESSCULTURES

Second translatededition

C.Sonneveld

May1985

No.57 Price 5 , ~
Informatiereeks
Introduction

Thepurposeofthisbrochureistoprovideinformationaboutamethod
ofcalculatingnutrientsolutionsforsoillessculturesonthebasisof
standardnutrientsolutions.Suchnutrientsolutions forseveralcrops
aregiveninaseparatebrochure (Sonneveld andArnoldBik,1984).
Usingthestandardnutrientsolutionsandthetablesinthisbrochure
itispossibletocalculatenutrientsolutionsadjusted todifferent
waterqualities.

Thecompositionofstandardnutrientsolutionsisexpressed asmole.
Thereforethisunitwillbeusedthroughout thisbrochure.

Definition ofmole

Theinternationally accepteddefinition foramoleisasfollows."The

moleistheamountofsubstanceofasystemwhichcontainsasmany
elementary entitiesastherearecarbonatomsin0.012 kilogramsof
carbon-12.Theelementary entitiesmustbespecified andmaybeatoms,
molecules,ions,electrons,otherparticlesorspecified groupsofsuch
particles." (AylwardandFindley,1974).

Atomicweights

Atomicweightswhichareofinterest forcalculationsmadeinthis
brochurearelisted inTable1.Theatomicweightsarederived fromthe
internationalatomicweights (AylwardandFindley,1974)byrounding
offtoonedecimalplace.Thisissufficiently accurate forourcal-
culations.

Waterquality

Thedemands forthequalityofwater foruseinsubstratesystemshas

beendescribedinaseparatereport (Sonneveld, 1983).

Sometimestheionsfoundinwaterareplantnutrients,suchasSO. ,
Ca ,Mg .Otherionspresentinwaterareabsorbedbyplantsinsmall
quantities,butsoonwillreachconcentrationsharmfultoplants.
ExamplesofthisareNa andCI.

Table1.Roundedatomicweights (Ar)ofanumberofelements.

Elements Ar Elements Ar

N 14 Fe 55.9
P 31 Mn 54.9
K 39.1 Zn 65.4
Ca 40.1 B 10.8
Mg 24.3 Cu 63.6
S 32.1 Mo 95.9
0 16 Si 28.1
H 1
C 12
Na 23
Cl 35.5

Ionsinthewaterusedbytheplantasnutrientsmustbededucted from
thestandard nutrientsolution.Anexceptiontothisisironwhichis
present inwater.ThisprecipitatesoutasFe(OH),andthenisnot
availabletoplants.

AlthoughHCOZisnotaplantnutrientithastobeconsidered inthe
calculations.AccumulationofHCO,will increasethepHmarkedly.For
thisreasonitmustbeneutralizedwithacids.With theadditionof
acidstobicarbonatecontainingwater,thefollowing reactionoccurs:
HC0 3 "+H 3 0 + > 2H20+ C O ^

Usuallyphosphoricacid ornitricacidareused forthisneutralization.

Fertilizers

InTable2thefertilizersused forthecompositionofnutrient solutions

arelisted.Inthistablethechemicalcompositionandthemolecularweight
arealsogiven.Molecularweightsofironchelatesandcalciumnitrate
Table2.Fertilizersusedtocomposenutrientssolutions

Chemical Percent Molecular

Fertilizers Composition Nutrients Weights

Nitricacid100 H N0 3 22N 63

Phosphoricacid100? H 3 P0 4 32P 98

Calciumnitrate Ca (N0 3 ) 2 15.5N19Ca (200)

PotassiumNitrate K N0 3 13N, 38K 101.1

Ammoniumnitrate NH 4 N0 3 35N 80

Magnesiumnitrate Mg(N03)2.6H20 HN,9Mg 256.3

Monopotassiumphosphate KH 2 P0 A 23P, 28K 136.1

Monoammoniumphosphate NH 4 H 2 P0 4 27P, 12N 115

Potassiumsulphate K 2 S0 4 45K,18S 174.3

Epsomsalt MgS04.7H20 lOMg,13S 246.3

Manganesesulphate MnS04.H20 32Mn 169

Zincsulphate ZnS04.7H20 23Zn 287.5

Borax Na2B407.10H20 IIB 381.2

Coppersulphate CuS04.5H20 " 25Cu 249.7

Sodiummolybdate Na2Mo04.2H20 40Mo 241.9

IronchelateEDTA13% Fe-EDTA 13Fe (430)

IronchelateDTPA6% Fe-DTPA 6Fe (932)

IronchelateEDDHA5% Fe-EDDHA 5Fe (1118)

Potassiumbicarbonate KH C0 3 39K 100.1

Calciumhydroxide Ca (0H) 2 54Ca 74.1

havebeenestimated.Ironchelatesoftencontainimpurities,somole-
cularweightshavebeencalculatedonthebasisofironcontent.Cal-
ciumnitrate fertilizercontainscrystallizationwaterandammonium
nitrate.Theexactmolecular formulais5[Ca (N0,) ? . 2H0J .NH.N0,.
Thenthemolecularweightis1080.5and1molcalciumnitrateis
chemically equivalentto5molCa ,11molN0,~and 1molNH.
Toavoidcomplicatedcalculationsitisindicated asCa (N0,)_ and
themolecularweightisrounded.Actually,asmallproportionofthe
nitrogenisgivenasammonium insteadofnitrateandslightlyextra
nitrogenandlesscalcium ispresent.However,thesedeviationsare
slightandacceptable forpracticalpurposes.Acidsaregivenas
purechemicals.However,acidsalwayscontainwater.Theright
quantitieswillbefoundbyusingtherelativecontent (0.01*?)as
dividend.

Calculationsofnutrientsolutions

Calculationsofnutrientsolutionscanusuallybedivided intotwo
parts.Thefirstpartinvolvescalculating themajorelementswith
whichasaruleinthefertilizersusedtwoormorecomponentshave
tobeconsidered.ForexampleifKNO,isadded toincreasethepotassium
content,thenitratehastobecalculated too.Thesecondpartofthe
calculations concernstheminornutrients.Thesearemucheasierto
calculatebecausetheothercomponentsofthefertilizersarenegligible.

Apracticalexample forcalculatingmajorelementsofanutrient
solution isshownintable3.Inthistableuseismadeofthestandard
nutrientsolution forcucumbersincasethatnonutrientsareavailable
intherawwater.
Table3. Schemeforcalculatinganutrientsolutionwithout
correcting for ionsinrawwater

Standardcompositionmmol.l"

Fertilizermmol.l"1N0 3 " h^PO^" SO^"" NH 4 + K+ Ca"1"1" MgH

11.75 1.25 1.0 0.5 5.5 3.5 1.0

NH 4 N0 3
0.5 0.5 0.5
KH 2 P0 4 1.25 1.25 1.25

Ca(N0 3 ) 2
3.5 7.0 3.5

K N0 3 4.25 4.25 4.25

MgSO,. 1.0 1.0 1.0

Theamountsoffertilizercalculated intable3expressed inmmol.l"

canbeeasilybeconverted tomg.1~ foraready solutionor
kg.m" fora100timesconcentrated stocksolution.Theresultsare
listed intable4.

Table4. Majorelementsofreadyandstocksolution forcucumbers

calculated fromtable3.

Readysolut ion Stocksolution

Fertilizer
. -3
mg.l,-1
kg.m

Ammouniumnitrate 40 4.0

Monopotassium phosphate 170 17.0

Calciumnitrate 700 70.0

Potassiumnitrate 430 43.0

Epsomsalt 246 24.6

Calculations fortheminor elementsofthecucumbersolutionsaregiven

inTable5.
Numbersinthethirdand fourthcolumnareobtained asfollows:
10umolFe=10*932ugFe-DTPA (6?)=9.32mgFe-DTPA(68).
The100timesconcentrated stocksolutionperm contains
10umol*103*m~3*932*10"6g*umor*102=932g.m"3.Asimilarmethodcan
beapplied totheotherminorelements. Keepinmindthat1mol
borax=4molB.So20umolB.l_1= I *20*381.2ug.l_1=l,91mg.I"1.

Table5 Calculationsofminornutrientsforthecucumbersolutions

Addition Fertilizers Readysolution Stocksolution

,-1 -3
umol.l
mg.1 g.m

10Fe Ironchelate6% 9.32 932

10Mn Manganesesulphate 1.69 169

4Zn Zincsulphate 1.15 115

20B Borax 1.91 191

0.5Cu Cuppersulphate 0.12 12

0.5Mo Sodiummolybdate 0.12 12

Thereareseveralother fertilizerswhichcanbeused;thechoicecan
befixedon technicalmerits.Ifthisisnotthecase,thecheapest
fertilizerswillbeused.Thefertilizersshouldbedivided intotwo
different tanks,commonlynamedAandB.TankAshouldnotcontain
phosphatesandsulphates,whileintankBnofertilizerswhichcontain
calciumshouldbeadded,topreventprecipitationofcalciumphosphateor
calciumsulphate.Tablesaregiveninthesupplement fortheconversion
mol.l"- inthestandardnutrien
ofmol.l nutrientsolutiontogorkg.m" fora100
timesconcentrated stocksolution.

Frequently nutrientsolutionshavetobecorrected forHC0,~,Ca ,

andMg becausetheseionsareoftenconstituentsofmanytypesofwater.
ToneutralizetheHC0-."equivalentquantitiesofH,0 areadded.Usually
whenthewatercontainsHC0,~equivalentamountsofCa andMg are
presentandsubsequently similaramountsoftheseionshavetobesub-
tracted fromthestandardsolution.
Table8givesanexampleforcalculating anutrientsolution forgrowing
tomatoesinrockwool.Inthecalculation 3mmolHCO,,1mmolCa ,and
++ -1
0.5mmolMg .1 intherawmateraretakenintoaccount.

Table6. Schemeforcalculatinganutrientsolution forwater

containing 3mmolHCO,.1mmolCa and0.5 mmolMg .1

Standard composition

Fertilizermmol.l"1 N0 3 " H^O^" SO^" H30+ NH 4 + K+ Ca"*"1"Mg"*"1"

10.5 1.5 2.5 0.5 7.0 3.75 1.0

Corrections

+3.0 -1.0 -0.5

Composition tocalculate

10.5 1.5 2.5 3.0 0.5 7.0 2.75 0.5

H 3 P0 4
1.5 1.5 1.5

HN0 3 1.5 1.5 1.5

NH 4 N0 3 0.5 0.5 0.5

Ca(N0 3 ) 2 2.75 5.5 2.75

K N0 3 3.0 3.0 3.0

K 2 S0 4 2.0 2.0 4.0

Mq S0A 0.5 0.5 0.5

Theresultscalculated andlisted intable6areconverted tomg.l for

areadysolutionorkg.m" fora100timesconcentrated stocksolution.
Theamountsoffertilizercalculated areshownintable7.Forphosphoric
acidandnitricacidsolutionsof75?and65?irespectivelyareinserted.
Sodividendsof0.75 and0.65 areused.
Table7 Amountsoffertilizer forareadyanda100timesconcentrated
stocksolution,calculated fromtable6

Fertilizer Readysolution Stocksolution

,-1 . -3
kg.m
mg.l

Phosphoricacid 15% 126 12.6

Nitricacid 65% 145 14.5

Ammoniumnitrate 40 4.0

Calciumnitrate 550 55.0

Potassiumnitrate 303 30.3

Potassiumsulphate 349 34.9

Epsomsalt 123 12.3

Fortomatoes,cucumbers,sweetpeppersandeggplants100timesconcentrated
stocksolutionswithadjustmentsforHC0,~,Ca andMg arepublished
(Sonneveld enVanderWees,1984,1982,1984aandVoogt,1982).Byusing
thesenutrientsolutionsitisnotnecessary inmostcasestocalculate
adifferentstocksolution foreachtypeofwater.
 10

References

Aylward,G.H.andT.J.V.Findlay,1974.SIChemicaldata.Secondedition.
JohnWileyandSons.

Sonneveld,C , enR.ArnoldBik,1984.Voedingsoplossingen voorgroenten

enbloemengeteeld inwaterofsubstraten.Nutrientsolutionsfor
vegetablesand flowersgrowninwaterorsubstrates (Fourthedition)
Proefstationvoor TuinbouwonderGlas,Naaldwijk. Informatiereeks
No.69.

Sonneveld,C , 1983.Adviesbasisvoorwaterkwaliteitvoordeglastuin-
bouw.(Derdedruk).Proefstation voorTuinbouwonderGlas,Naaldwijk.
InformatiereeksNo.75.

Sonneveld,C.enA.vanderWees,1982.Voedingsoplossingen voordeteelt
vankomkommers insteenwol (Vierdedruk).Proefstation voorTuinbouw
onderGlas,Naaldwijk,InformatiereeksNo.44.

Sonneveld,C.enA.vanderWees,1984.Voedingsoplossingen voordeteelt
vantomateninsteenwol (Vijfdedruk).ProefstationvoorTuinbouw
onderGlas,Naaldwijk.InformatiereeksNo.63.

Sonneveld,C.enA.vanderWees,1984.Voedingsoplossingen voordeteelt
vanpaprikainsteenwol (Tweede druk).Proefstation voorTuinbouw
onderGlas,Naaldwijk.InformatiereeksNo.76.

Voogt,W.,1982.Voedingsoplossingen voordeteeltvanauberginesin
steenwol.Proefstationvoor TuinbouwonderGlas,Naaldwijk.Informa-
tiereeksNo.77.
 11

Supplement1

Conversionofacidsandsaltsfrommmol.l inthereadynutrientsol-
utiontokg.m" orl.m~ ina100timesconcentratedstocksolution

H
Aantal HN03* 3 P 0 4* KN0
3 NH4N03 K^PO^
mmol kg kg kg kg kg

l 4.9 5.1 4.0 6.8

3.2
1 6.3 9.8 10.1 8.0 13.6
U 9.4 14.7 15.2 12.0 20.4
2 12.6 19.6 20.2 16.0 27.2
15.8 24.5 25.3 20.0 34.0
3 18.9 29.4 30.3 24.0 40.8
H 22.0 34.3 35.4 28.0 47.6
25.2 39.2 40.4 32.0 54.4
4 28.4 44.1 45.5 36.0 61.2
31.5 49.0 50.6 40.0 68.0
5 34.6 53.9 55.6 44.0 74.9
H 37.8 58.8 60.7 48.0 81.7
6 41.0 63.7 65.7 52.0 88.5
6* 44.1 68.6 70.8 56.0 95.3
7 47.2 73.5 75.8 60.0 102.1
n 50.4 78.4 80.9 64.0 108.9
8
53.6 83.3 85.9 68.0 115.7
8*
56.7 88.2 91.0 72.0 122.5
9
9| 59.8 93.1 96.0 76.0 129.3
10 63.0 98.0 101.1 80.0 136.1

* Calculatedaspureacid.Theconcentrationavailablewillbetaken

intoaccount.
 12

Supplement2

Conversionofsaltsfrommmol.l inthereadynutrientsolution to
kg .m~ ina100timesconcentrated stocksolution-

Aantal Ca(N0 3 ) 2 Mg(N0 3 ) 2 K 2 S0 4

MgSQ 4
3
mmol (15.5N) 6 H20 7H20
kg kg kg kg

0.25 5 6.4 4.4 6.2

0.50 10 12.8 8.7 12.3

0.75 15 19.2 13.1 18.5

1.00 20 25.6 17.4 24.6

1.25 25 32.0 21.8 30.8

1.50 30 38.4 26.1 37.0

1.75 35 44.9 30.5 43.1

2.00 40 51.3 34.9 49.3

2.25 45 57.7 39.2 55.4

2.50 50 64.1 43.6 61.6

2.75 55 70.5 47.9 67.8

3.00 60 76.9 52.3 73.9

3.25 65 83.3 56.6 80.1

3.50 70 89.7 61.0 86.2

3.75 75 96.1 65.4 92.4

4.00 80 102.5 69.7 98.6

4.25 85 108.9 74.1 104.7

4.50 90 115.3 78.4 110.9

4.75 95 121.7 82.8 117.0

5.00 100 128.2 87.2 123.2

 13

Supplement3

Conversionofironchelatesfromumol.l inthereadynutrientsol-
utiontog.m~ ina100timesconcentrated stocksolution.

? i r o n i n the chelate
13
./jmol
Fe

5 215 466 559

10 430 932 1118

15 645 1398 1677

20 860 1864 2236

25 1075 2330 2795

30 1290 2796 3354

35 1505 3262 3913

40 1720 3728 4472

45 1935 4194 5031

50 2150 4660 5590

55 2365 5126 6149

60 2580 5592 6708

65 2795 6058 7267

70 3010 6524 7826

75 3225 6990 8385

80 3440 7456 8944

85 3655 7922 9503

90 3870 8388 10062

95 4085 8854 10621

100 4300 9320 11180

 14
Supplement4

Conversionofminornutrient fertilizers fromumol.l inthe-1

ready
nutrientsolution tog.m ina100timesconcentrated stocksolution.

.xjmol MnS04 Aimol ZnS04 Na 2 B 47* .ximol CuS04 Na 2 Mo0 4

H20 7H 2 0 10H 2 0 5H 2 0 2H20
g 9 g g g

2 34 1 29 38 0.1 2.5 2.4

4 68 2 58 76 0.2 5.0 4.8
6 101 3 86 114 0.3 7.5 7.3
8 135 4 115 152 0.4 10.0 9.7
10 169 5 144 191 0.5 12.5 12.1
12 203 6 172 229 0.6 15.0 14.5
14 237 7 201 267 0.7 17.5 16.9
16 270 8 230 305 0.8 20.0 19.4
18 304 9 259 343 0.9 22.5 21.8
20 338 10 288 381 1.0 25.0 24.2
22 372 11 316 419 1.1 27.5 26.6
24 406 12 345 457 1.2 30.0 29.0
26 439 13 374 496 1.3 32.5 31.4
28 473 14 402 534 1.4 35.0 33.9
30 507 15 431 572 1.5 37.5 36.3
_ii

Keepinmindthat1molNaB.07< 10H 2 0 r4molB.

CS/JB/85/A