Dear Scholars,
I prepared a full strength Hoagland solution for cucumber seedlings. The Hoagland solution showed precipitation while adjusting pH with KOH to 6.0 then I added tryptone (50 mg/L) in the solution that avoids precipitation. After sterilization at 121 oC for 15 minutes, precipitates appeared again, how do I solve this problem?
In addition, how do I avoid microbial contamination (bacterial and fungal) in Hoagland solution during plant growth? I have covered the flasks with black cloth to avoid algae growth. I am using 40 micro molar Fe in the Hoagland solution prepared as solution III from EDTA-2Na, KOH, H2SO4 and FeSO4. The actual conc. of Fe in Hoagland solution is 5 micro molar.