What the MSU fertilizer looks like?

[newflasker]

I am not very happy with my fertilizer so I bought 1 pounds of MSU fertilizer on the internet to test my seedlings. I believe that there are not much companies make MSU fertilizer. I want to know that my fertilizer is the same with your fertilizer or not? My fertilizer is light silver white powder but when it dissolves in water it's green-blue color.
The mixture looks good except few tiny dark yellow which I believe the minor-elements. When I mix with water a tiny tiny amount is not dissolve (may be it takes more take time to dissolve but I can't wait). Question: my fertilizer is the same with your fertilizer or not? I hope I did not buy a fake MSU. Love to hear from you.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by newflasker

I am not very happy with my fertilizer so I bought 1 pounds of MSU fertilizer on the internet to test my seedlings. I believe that there are not much companies make MSU fertilizer. I want to know that my fertilizer is the same with your fertilizer or not? My fertilizer is light silver white powder but when it dissolves in water it's green-blue color.
The mixture looks good except few tiny dark yellow which I believe the minor-elements. When I mix with water a tiny tiny amount is not dissolve (may be it takes more take time to dissolve but I can't wait). Question: my fertilizer is the same with your fertilizer or not? I hope I did not buy a fake MSU. Love to hear from you.

That sounds correct to me. I mix mine as a stock solution and you have to heat the container to comfortable warm before all the last traces dissolve.

[stonedragonfarms]

Mine is much the same; you can also rapidly agitate your fertilizer with a small amount of water (which is what I do) to get it to dissolve. From what I remember, the color is irrelevant--most vendors follow a formula to mix the fertilizer and add whatever dye they routinely use...

[Ray]

Even the original stuff from Greencare looks different from time to time, as they use different dyes and the physical properties of the ingredients change depending upon their raw materials sources.

You will also find that the stuff manufactured in summer and that from winter will look different, too.

Then there's the difference between the well water and RO formulas...

[Ocelaris]

Should you dissolve it ahead of time? I usually have gallons of RO water waiting, pop 1 and 1/2 tsp in, shake it vigorously, and a minute later (assuming everything is dissolved) I use it...

I know when I used to have a salt water tank you are supposed to let the salt + RO sit for a hour or more to let all the bonds develop/dissolve, but you can't see it happen so I'm not sure what to think.

[Ross]

I dissolve it as a concentrate ahead of time. Easier for me.

[Ocelaris]

Like you would mix 1 tsp fert with 1 tbsp water and then use a slurry to your RO? Or you dissolve the fert in the gallon or so ahead of time? I might start doing that, since I know when my watering days are, usually once on the weekends, and once during the week. Not hard to do ahead of time, I just never really thought to do it.

The Vandas get the same water for 3-4 days, since they're just soaking... I know bad habit, but I hate throwing water that took me 2 hours to make after 1 use! Well, particularly with the vandaceous species since I soak them every day for 30 min, would change my weekly water useage from 6 gallons to 18! Remember, I'm in a 800sq foot apartment, storing 6 gallon jugs of RO takes up enough space, and a few hours on the weekends...

Maybe I should make it in larger batches, say in 5 gallon drums, but then the hard part is distributing it...

[Ray]

If you consider that the particle sizes of the ingredients can be pretty coarse (especially in the summer, when humidity prevents thorough grinding), which leads to less-than-optimal mixing, it is possible for the teaspoon you scoop today to be chemically different from the one you do tomorrow. Based upon that, I think it's a good idea to mix up a concentrate in water (using multiple "scoops" of the solid, so the formula becomes more representative), then use that as your material for further dilution before application.

For example, if you want to have a final mixture for application of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon, I's add 128 x 0.5 teaspoons (1-1/3 cups) of powder to a gallon jug, then fill with hot water to make up one gallon of solution. At that point, you can shake well, then dispense one ounce of that solution to make up one gallon of final nutrient solution.

[newflasker]

I did the same way that Ray said. I mix a large amount of fertilizer in a liter of water then dilute to the specific concentration for watering. By doing that way you may reduce some problems of small fertilizer company (or home made fertilizer). How can you mix up a tiny amount of micro-elements into a large amount of fertilizer and make sure that tiny amount distribute all over the fertilizer? Take a look at the fertilizer of a big company like scotts you will see all particles have the same size and the same color. Another problem: hold a mixture of different size of particles and shake it you will see the small grain go to the bottom (or up). You no longer have a good mixture. That is the problem when fertilizer is moving from one place to another. So one teaspoon of fertilizer you use today could be much different than a teaspoon you dissolve in water tomorrow. Dissolve a large amount of fertilizer then dilute to use may reduce the problem. BTW, I dissolve 1.5 gram /liter my MSU and got pH = 4.25 . I raid pH using ammoniac to see the solution is a good buffer than my fertilizer 20-10-20 or not: a little bit better but not much. I use it to water my young seedlings: so far my seedlings seem they like it (not yellow or black yet, ).

[Ross]

I'll join the group as another stock solution maker. My mix of MSU is 3.5 cups powder to 1 gallon warmed RO water. I sit the bottle in a sink full of HOT water to assure the solution stays warm till all the salts dissolve. Then I use 1 tbsp (1/2 oz) per gallon RO water in final mix. Yields approx 125ppm Nitrogen solution. (Thanks Ray for the formula).