RE: [APD] Soil and the Diana Factor -- or - if it works

["GW " <gregwatson at gregwatson_com>]

>>I think Diana raised the bar for aquarium books when she
>>published _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_. I'd give her a
>>medal for that alone.

It was the first book that essentially "brought things together for me"
- i.e. concepts and principles really started to make sense.

I believe in "guidelines" not "rules" ... thus, to me Poor Man's Dosing
Drops is a set of fertilizing guidelines - for me, a concept of dosing
dry ingredients in a cost effective manner to meet the macro and micro
nutrient uptake requirements of my individual tank, not rigid rules
based exclusively on a Sears/Conlin "strategy" of limiting one macro
nutrient.

I dose all three macro nutrients and CSM Plantex in the best tradition
of Poor Man's Dosing Drops, in ratios that meet the uptake requirements
of my tank.  

In the best tradition of finding a Poor Man's Dosing solution I use the
best substrate within my budget that meet the needs of my tank.

In the best tradition of finding a Poor Man's supplemental fertilizing
solution, I might use any of the methods recommended by many great
people here that fit within my budget that meet the needs of my tank.

In what to me is the best tradition of PMDD, I follow the guidelines
that there are Poor Man's ways of meeting the micro and macro nutrient
requirements of my tank.

Based on my life's experience, Walstad's book brought a lot of concepts
into focus, Chuck Gadd's dosing calculator taught me a way to
practically apply knowledge that was significantly influenced by
Sears/Conlin and TheKrib.com, and Tom Barr taught me the most important
concept, to meet the nutrient requirements (aka uptake requirements) of
my 180 gallon planted aquarium.

While I may not be following a Sears/Conlin "limiting" strategy, to me I
am dosing Poor Man's Dosing Drop's to meet the nutrient uptake
requirements of my plants, in my opinion, in the best tradition of PMDD
... but then I believe in guidelines that meet the nutrient uptake
requirements of plants, not "rules" ...

Greg Watson
http://www.gregwatson.com


_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants