Lucas Formula done different ways

In a hempy style bucket, say 1-2 gallons each, under a 250w hps, how might one automate a Lucas formula watering cycle? Spray tips to spread and evenly wet the perlite, once per day sound about right? If not a sprayer, then how many individual drip or weep holes in each pot? I'd imagine skitty's 1/2" bent PVC tubes on a micro scale. Obviously the wicking nature of croutons is slightly different than straight perlite... Bugs are bugging me in the current runs. Thinking about trying this system... But it needs to be a somewhat automated watering system. Thanks in advance.
Freeheeler
 
I run hempy's in a drip system. Watered 7 times a day. They love it. I use stuff from dripworks...and buy a small pump. Good to go. takes about an hour to setup 10 site system.
 
In the late 90's I started out with GH, and even Lucas formula, and always followed a watering schedule of 6 times during light cycle and at least one during lights off.
The move to DWC eliminated that, but used the timer to spray the roots with solution and that was better.

Even in the more recent years I still ran shorter and frequent feeding cycle in coco rather than one large feeding. This made a huge difference in growth and yield for me.
 
bigsur51 said:
I have used GH Micro and Bloom and 8-16 for a few years with acceptable results, all things considered like environment and genetics.

Someone recently suggested Jungle Juice as a replacement. He said JJ Micro and Bloom was the same as GH Micro and Bloom. Is this true?

The price was cheaper and I needed some and that is all they had at the hydro store so I bought some. Micro and Bloom. 8-16 just like GH and so far so good.
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I have that too. Don't mix anything in with it though, except maybe some cal mag. I ran the 3 part with a bunch of different plants and it does very well. I didn't try the Lucas version though.
 
I'm gettin ready to do a DWC run here pretty soon. I intend to use Flora Nova Bloom as my main nutrient on this grow. If anyone reading this thread has experience with FloraNova in DWC and wouldn't mind sharing some stories, I would greatly appreciate it. I am looking at a GH product catalog as I write this. I am noticing there are only 2 feeding schedules for FloraNova. One is for a recirculating set up.........and the other is for drain-to-waste. Neither of which is DWC. Btw........I will be using 5 gallon buckets with a 12" net pot....but this set up is NOT recirculating. I refill the buckets myself when the water level drops. I always find it best to speak to someone who is successful using the nutrient in question, in the exact style grow ( DWC ) that you want to do. Cuts down on the F*ck up quota. I used to know a dude from IC mag that went by the name of Bonecarver OG. He grew the biggest and healthiest trees out of 5 gallon buckets that I had ever seen..and I know he used FloraNova as part of his feeding regimen. Unfortunately, my account over there got all screwed up back in 08, and I cannot do ANYTHING on there now...so reaching out to Bonecarver is impossible. He had given me some stellar advice too........which was saved in my Pm's. But.........unfortunately all of my stuff got wiped. So......long story short....I'm flyin blind here. Anybody out there in Cabana-land that grows DWC in 5 gallon buckets using FloraNova......lay some wisdom on me baby. Peace:peace: Bob
 
Whataboutbob:
Floranova is fucking easy to use in dwc and you will love it. You don't even really need to use the veg bottle, the bloom bottle itself is pretty equal to the lucas formula if I remember correctly. I use it in non-recirculating dwc 27 tubs with a couple plants per tub. Should work great in the buckets.
If I remember correctly I used 8ml/gallon of the floranova. It will keep the ph adjusted and stable on it's own.
I grew in ro water so I added 5 ml of cal/mag per gallon of water first I think or whatever it takes to get the water up to 100-150ppm. Then add the 8ml of floranova bloom per gallon.
If you want to keep it simple you can stick with that. Myself I liked adding a bloom booster for the last half of flowering. I used half strength floranova bloom and half strength pure blend pro soil during the second half of flowering. I found that lowering the N and raising the P helped my buds fatten up and have a nicer, fuller shape.

Also my tubs were topped off automatically with pure ro water by float valves as the plants drank. Then after a couple days when the ppm dropped I would just add more floranova bloom to get i back up to the desired ppm range.
 
NocturnalG said:
Whataboutbob:
Floranova is fucking easy to use in dwc and you will love it. You don't even really need to use the veg bottle, the bloom bottle itself is pretty equal to the lucas formula if I remember correctly. I use it in non-recirculating dwc 27 tubs with a couple plants per tub. Should work great in the buckets.
If I remember correctly I used 8ml/gallon of the floranova. It will keep the ph adjusted and stable on it's own.
I grew in ro water so I added 5 ml of cal/mag per gallon of water first I think or whatever it takes to get the water up to 100-150ppm. Then add the 8ml of floranova bloom per gallon.
If you want to keep it simple you can stick with that. Myself I liked adding a bloom booster for the last half of flowering. I used half strength floranova bloom and half strength pure blend pro soil during the second half of flowering. I found that lowering the N and raising the P helped my buds fatten up and have a nicer, fuller shape.

Also my tubs were topped off automatically with pure ro water by float valves as the plants drank. Then after a couple days when the ppm dropped I would just add more floranova bloom to get i back up to the desired ppm range.
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Thanks for the info Nocturnal. If I wasn't excited before about doing this grow, NOW .......you got my wheels spinnin.:teeth: I'm all about doing things the easy way. Last time I did a 5 gallon bucket grow was 4 or 5 years ago. I grew a Simon Serious Ak 47 plant. Used GH 3 part Flora series. Biggest single plant that I had ever grown in 20+ years. 15 0z. dry. Think I may have made a mistake in referencing Bonecarver og as a master of the 5 gallon bucket DWC? I think he is a coco-nut? Now I'm thinkin it may have been Chunga that gave me advice.........told me he used Floranova Bloom. I dunno..but if it was Chunga.........his shit was WAY IMPRESSIVE. I can't seem to find any pictures of his plants tho? All except for some massive dude dressed up like a chic? LOL Thanks again Noc. G. Peace:peace: Bob
 
The biggest thing for dwc is keeping the water in the buckets cool. Not sure if you are growing on a basement floor or if you plan on having a chiller. If the res gets too warm the roots will not be happy and get all goey. I had the most success with dwc in the winter. Since my system wasn't recirculating I used the bigger 27 gallon tubs to try and keep the res more stable and cooler. I was able to do a flood and drain table though in he summer without the heat issues.
 
Great thread. I have always been a Lucas form follower and gearing up to get growing again one of the things I am indecisive in is what medium I am going to go with and what ferts/for to follow.

I will always be a firm believer in DWC as I know the speed of growth that can be achieved and outside of soil and soil blends DWC has been the top two methods for me. Soil is great but once I saw the growth difference between soil and DWC I never looked back to be honest. I am sure some of the soil guru's out there probably can speed the process up quicker than what I was turning out with soil grows so I am deff. not knocking it by any means.

But the last couple of grows I got under my belt was using Lucas but with coco in a passive hydroponic feeding fashion which also I had good results and seen fast growth rates.

So I love threads like this where people have taken the time breaking the numbers down even further for different stages.

I am tempted to look at some of the other formula's like Big Ricky's that a few friends use who used Lucas before and swear by it so there must be something there that they like to leave Lucas and go with Big Ricky so I will do my diligence.

I am not one to get into all the additives as I like to think I have bought into all the marketing years ago and when finding Lucas and only really needing two bottles of a 3 part kit hard to justify using all the other additives.

My last two grows my buddy who owns a local grow supply shop set me up pretty good with the Humbolt line of products to do a side by side and in trade for feedback he would supply me with the full line as the manufactures suggested rations and programs but their line did not perform or I could not conclude any significant or advantages to switching from what I had used in the past. Nice line of products and does grow nice plants but from my perspective it doesn't stand up against Lucas.

Thanks for these types of threads! I appreciate it and I am sure many others do as well.

Kind Regards,

Blue
 
yeah it is a no fail easy peasy. I will have to try 6/9 and see. Thanks for sharing man
 
I've been doing the head 6/9 for the past couple of years. I'm doing a side by side now with FloraNova Bloom (aka Lucas in a bottle), and regular old 6/9. So far the FNB are greener after 2 weeks of 12/12.

If this works out FNB is actually easier and cheaper, some people say it adds a tad extra funk too.
 
No shit so you are just using Flora Nova Bloom alone and that alone has the requirements? I used FLora Nova and Lucas but back when I used it I swear it had not been calculated out that just bloom had what it needed and again I swear I was using Grow and Bloom with Lucas this is great to know as I like the Flora series.

Funny when it first came out the bottles felt so heavy compared to what was available. I need to get to the supply store not only for provisions but for the awesome catalogs that have everything in them from every manufacture covering the entire gambit from lighting systems to all the different fert lines and soil lines.

You have a side by side thread going or maybe post a couple pics to see the difference? if not all good but very cool to hear that 1 bottle is all that is needed.

One thing that has had my curiosity for a while is how much better would the plants do if used as the manufacture recommends with say the flora series Grow, Micro and Bloom?

I have never bought a bottle of grow so obviously I have never used it per GH recommendations. I have used the Nova series full kit per instructed with good results but as soon as I heard of the Lucas back on the old site firestar or whatever it was and people started raving about it I immediately switched so I couldn't tell you if there was any difference in performance for lack of a better term. It was less money spent certainly but I guess what I am getting at is are we missing anything by not using it in the recommended way or close to it or is it as simple as it is all in the numbers and the numbers do not lie?



Thanks for the info though on the single bottle
 
Back in the day, pH and moondog came up with this formula. They had about a dozen med growers use it and report back specifics on numbers and such. Lucas used the returned data to validate the formulas effectiveness and started spreading the use of it. That's how it came to be known as the "Lucas" formula.

The side by sides that were done by the testers showed that there wasn't any discernible difference between using GH's 3part directions or pH/moondogs (Lucas) formula. One of the 2 additions Lucas made was to use a Calcium supplement if using RO.

The med growers were using 1k HPS for bloom.

Lucas did eventually agree that the FNB (Flora Nova Bloom) could be a substitute for the original 9/16.

HTH
 
So is anybody aware that GH=Monsanto? Ph's angelfire spreadsheet has a calculator that will let you figure out the "lucas formula" fwiw the lucas formula is not from lucas but his good friend ph, she did all the work and lucas promoted the formula which by extension became known as the lucas formula:D

2b2s
 
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I never asked about that side, but I do remember talking with both PH and Lucas about this formula and I can not say I was one of the med growers, but I did give feedback on what I was doing and the results, I was one that used RO water and had some little issues, but at that time Epsom salt solved the issue.

It was the 3rd nutrient line I ever used at the time for a year or so, never went back to it for some reason.
 
BCW1 said:
No shit so you are just using Flora Nova Bloom alone and that alone has the requirements? I used FLora Nova and Lucas but back when I used it I swear it had not been calculated out that just bloom had what it needed and again I swear I was using Grow and Bloom with Lucas this is great to know as I like the Flora series.

Funny when it first came out the bottles felt so heavy compared to what was available. I need to get to the supply store not only for provisions but for the awesome catalogs that have everything in them from every manufacture covering the entire gambit from lighting systems to all the different fert lines and soil lines.

You have a side by side thread going or maybe post a couple pics to see the difference? if not all good but very cool to hear that 1 bottle is all that is needed.

One thing that has had my curiosity for a while is how much better would the plants do if used as the manufacture recommends with say the flora series Grow, Micro and Bloom?

I have never bought a bottle of grow so obviously I have never used it per GH recommendations. I have used the Nova series full kit per instructed with good results but as soon as I heard of the Lucas back on the old site firestar or whatever it was and people started raving about it I immediately switched so I couldn't tell you if there was any difference in performance for lack of a better term. It was less money spent certainly but I guess what I am getting at is are we missing anything by not using it in the recommended way or close to it or is it as simple as it is all in the numbers and the numbers do not lie?



Thanks for the info though on the single bottle
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Yes, the FNB seems like it has it all, it's even on the lucas formula website. They say to use 8ml/gallon for full bloom, I give a little less in veg. So far so good.

If I get the time I will snap a pic of the test tent tonight, which has 7 plants with the 6/9, and 8 with 8ml FNB. The difference is easy to see right away, as my 6/9 plants almost always get yellowed leaves early when put under 1000 watts.
 
Stretch said:
cool thread.
:chico:

anyone using the 7gram Maxibloom recipe? Seems really easy. I want to give that a shot.

:afro:
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I've personally never witnessed a benefit from using bloom boosters with the 6/9 coco regimen. I only really test stuff on the Katsu BK, which I've hit a wall with a while ago.
 
I am aware of PH and when she documented the info on angel fire I mention a site fire but couldn't remember the full name of the site so I certainly am aware of who mathed it but for me it will always be Lucas as he is the one who brought it mainstream and that is what everyone refers to it as for recognition.

One thing I didn't use was the Cal/Mag and probably should because I too was using R/O on well water that went from 400 ppm down to 6-9 I can see stripping all the cal and mag out by filtering it with R/O. Like mentioned about I would use a little Epsom a pinch here and there and at times would foliar feed with Epsom a couple times in veg and maybe once in the week 2-3 range of flowering but there were times I have some issues that I could not quite figure out so def. be using some Cal/Mag

Yeah I think the old Nova was 5/10 or was that Lucas form veg ration? 5/10 - 8/16? I am working my way back and will gather all that info after I have all my equipment needed and get ready to start.

I have a few things coming to my sop UPS tomorrow. Should have a bunch of stuff in tomorrow to make a aero cloner which I wont need for awhile but may transfer seedlings into it after the bind the rubber dirt block. Still a toss up Coco like I left off or DWC. I like growing bushes and DWC worked well 2 plants per tub. The coco was more labor intensive as I fed once a day 5 days in a row. flushed the 6th day let them chill the 7th and repeat.
 
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