# DIY Iron Fertilizer?



## Dewmazz (Sep 6, 2005)

Okay, so I ran out of iron supplement, but I've been meaning to get some different stuff anyway. I thought that since my LFS has crap plant products, I'd make my own iron suppliment our of pharmacy-available tablets. I was thinking about diluting one 325 mg tablet of ferrous sulfate in a galon of water, then using 5 ml of this solution maybe twice a week. My question is, is ferrous _sulfate_ alright to use, or would it be better to return the stuff I have and get ferrous _gluconate_ tablets to dilute. I know that flourish iron uses gluconate, but I wanted to get some of the "chemists" opinions on the subject. Thanks.


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## gregwatson (May 24, 2004)

I'm not a chemist ... and I was sure that one of our more knowledgeable technical guys here on the forums would have jumped in and give us the "real answer" to your question ...

I'm just speculating here ... but I would personally prefer to make an experimental guess on the side of the gluconate tablet formulation ...

... so if you and I were doing this experiement together ... and our only criteria was going to be based on visual observations of our plants ... I would personally go with the gluconate form ...

One reason I would make this guess ... and its only a guess ... is that I am a big fan of the Seachem Flourish Iron product and it uses some form of an organic gluconate form of Iron ... now this doesn't mean that the formulation in the tables you are talking about are even remotely similar ... so its only a guess ...

So often in our hobby, we use "known" products because someone else has been successful with them ... for example, greenlight stump remover works just fine for Potassium Nitrate ... is it ideal? Who knows ... does it work just fine? Absolutely ...

We can often use what we have access to ... and be just fine ... will it always be ideal? Perhaps not, but if it works, there is nothing wrong with it.

So ... I would encourage you to give it a try ... and report back with information about whether it works for you or not ...

Earlier, I talked about visually observing your plants ... I mention that because there is this nagging fleeting thought in the back of my mind that says that a gluconate form of Iron does not register quite the same on an Iron test kit ... so I wouldn't necessarily rely on what a test kit says (or I'd at least be attentive to the possibility that you may have iron in a useable form for your plants but that it might not quite register on a test the way you might expect it too) ...

I know that's not quite the answer you probably wanted ... but 24 hours have passed and I felt you deserved what little thoughts or opinions I could provide <grin> ...

Good luck on your test ...

Greg


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## Dewmazz (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks. Unfortunately, it was pretty much "raw" iron, so the crap oxidized in a period of less than maybe 5 hours. #-o Stupid me. This oxidized form, of course, is useless to the plants. So I did some more research and I've found that adding some vitamin C may help keep the iron chelated (if I understand correctly). I suppose I might as well just use some Flourish Iron (or some of your fine products  ). Oh well. It was an interesting 15 min. experiment.


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

I can't speak for vitamin C, although my doc told my preggo wife to take her iron pills with vitamin C to help in the uptake. However, citric acid is a good chelator in general for metal ions like iron+2 or iron+3. This comes from experience in wastewater treatment where citrate is added to industrial cleaners to help with leaded brass parts. It is a pain to break the chelate during the waste treatment phase.

I'd think that the gluconate would function in a similar way to the citrate. Sulfate, I recall, is not a chelator in the general sense.

Also, plants can use the iron in both forms. It just requires more energy and time for the plants to convert the Fe+3 to Fe+2.

-Dustin


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## BLaZe (Mar 12, 2005)

i have some pharmacy tablets that are :

Ferrous Fumerate 300mg
(equivalent to 100 mg of elemental iron)

Vitamin C : 200Mg 

folic acid : 0.5Mg 

so can i use these as a source of iron fertilizer ?

chemical formula of ferrous fumerate : C4H2FeO4.


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

When I started fertilizing, I thought it would be a fun intellectual challenge to find things locally and use them as fertilizers. Twenty or so wasted dollars later and the wrong ingredients led me to buy from Greg Waston. I am a cheapskate, hence my looking locally first. However, his ferts are very very affordable and then you know you have exactly what you need.
Just my .02....


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