Picked up a few DIY ferts, now what?

[carpguy]

You know I meant to respond to this a couple of days ago and just got busy and spaced. Asking questions that require a little thought isn't a bad thing…

I was on a wild goose chase looking for Stump Remover over the winter -- apparently not a good time of year to be looking. I wound up with Spectracide from Lowe's (last bottle), but only after picking up some Bonide Stump Remover. The Bonide didn't say what was in it and someone at another forum warned me off it -- not nitrate and deadly toxic to the fish they said. Be sure you know what you're putting in the water. I think the Greenlight is a brand I've heard mentioned as good but you should really look into it.

Chuck Gadd's
dosage calculator will give you pretty much exactly how much of what to add for a bunch of common DIY ferts. Its set up to workout stock solutions but if you set the stock solution to 1 ml it will give you the dry dose.

 

[Sumpin'fishy]

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! Why me GOD?!!! LOL.

It figures that I had something that isn't right. Man, I looked all over the place for something saying specifically "Greenlight Stump Remover" and couldn't find it. Finally found this stuff and gave it a try assuming it was what everyone was talking about. Anyways, I just got through dosing for the second time in a week and the fish seem fine. It does raise the Nitrate levels, btw. Today they were back to undetectable levels and I redosed 1/2 tsp. (as well as other ferts).

Listed ingredients: (as written on bottle)
-triclopyr (3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinyloxyacetic acid), as the triethylamine salt 8.8%
Inert ingredients 91.2%

I'll try to find something more "recognized" this weekend, but I'm not going to do anything about it this week, unless my fish start dropping like flies.

Thanks for the replies, though!

 

[djlen]

Chuck Gadds does recommend Greenlight on his website so I guess it's ok to use. What threw me was when you said it was red in color. All the stump remover I've used was a pure white, fine powder that desolved quickly into the water table.
Just be real careful with your dosing. Better to underdose than over. You'll eventually get to know what your plants will use in a given period of time. Same thing with the PO4. My plants use that at twice the rate of nitrate.
Len

 

[carpguy]

It seems to me as I let my mind's eye travel back down those long aisles that there was a sauce called "Stump and Vine Killer" and then an entirely different one called "Stump Remover".

My Spectracide says: "WARNING: CONTAINS POTASSIUM NITRATE…" It also says "To kill stumps: Apply Spectracide Brush Killer Concentrate (sold separately), or a similar systemic herbicide…" and "Green freshly cut stumps should be killed prior to treating with a brush killer…"

I think you've got the wrong sauce. I'd vote for massive water changes just to be on the safe side of the coin.