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Zinc in Hydroponics · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hi, welcome back to the Hydroponics Daily. I'm Dr. Russell Sharp.
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  Today we're going to talk about an essential micronutrient that is zinc.
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  Zinc is very important for auxin synthesis and function.
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  So auxin is the hormone in plants that provides the apical dominance.
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  It tells the plant how to grow, what form, whether it's a shrub or a single
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  stem tree. It's very important.
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  It's the rooting hormone. It's what's in rooting powder.
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  And so the natural hormone that leads to
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  root production and so auxin and zinc's
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  very important for auxin production without it you'll have
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  issues with rooting and apical dominance things like
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  that it's also another enzyme activity modulator
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  co-enzyme so very important for that metal for transitioning energy in the enzymes
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  certain enzymes you will get symptoms of deficiency but they're very very rare
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  and they you're probably more likely be due to something else if you see these symptoms.
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  Intervenal chlorosis, you will see the yellowing between the veins,
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  but the more common nutrients where that's going to be an issue,
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  like magnesium and grey brown spots on leaves.
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  But if I saw grey brown spots on my leaves, the first thing I would think is disease.
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  It certainly wouldn't be zinc deficiency, especially if I was using a half.
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  Decent fertilizer that contains zinc again zinc
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  is added as a chelated micronutrient in
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  most half decent fertilizers and good fertilizers so
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  you shouldn't worry about it if you're using a good fertilizer and
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  high soil ph if you've got really high soil ph you might
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  have a zinc deficiency you might have a copper deficiency you might
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  have a manganese deficiency but you're going to have an
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  deficiency way before you have issues with
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  those nutrients so it just wouldn't be on my
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  radar for something i'd be overly worried about or looking for you
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  can get one of the interesting things about zinc is that
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  galvanized posts contain a
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  lot of zinc and when they make you
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  make fences with galvanized posts often you'll you'll
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  see orchids growing around them and some people
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  say why have they planted though that fence right next
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  to those rare orchids not realizing that those rare
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  orchids are growing next to the post because they contain high levels of
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  zinc and you get lots of plants that are like hyper accumulators of
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  zinc zinc is a heavy metal in high high amounts
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  and so there's certain plants certain orchids that can
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  absorb the zinc from around where it's dissolved from the galvanized posts so
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  that's really interesting it's just a great word to say as well zinc i like
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  it it's an easy word to say it's a nice word it trips off the tongue i'm waffling
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  now that's the end of the hydroponics daily for today.