Nutrient Showdown: What is YOUR base nutrient of choice?

All this talk of 'Bottle Feeding' has me worried -
I feed my babies naturally...
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For moms, dads, veg, in coco soiless, have been using H&G Aqua flakes A+B w/ drip clean, small amounts of a couple different Cal-mags (old AN CalMag Grw was best imhio - 'i' being inexperienced or ignorant, take yer pick), pH to 5.9 and uS to ~1.4

Flower - always winging it.

In mode of 'using up' all the old stuff acquired, then going super simple going forward, probably DIY salts for moms/veg.
 
with coco I have used a lot of floranova, which I like, but have gone auto feed over the past few months that I fear clogging with the humates in the nova so I have transitioned to CNS17 bloom. I intend to add humates and/or tea handfed somewhat regularly to sway the flavor/output some.
 
For coco - Canna A & B
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For hydro - GH 3 part / Lucas formula .....
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For soil - BMO (Blue Mountain Organics - eBay) Grow it Green & Flower Power ....
.
 
I won't laugh at anybody's choice of nutrient but I will say that I too dig on simple cheap nutrient varieties. There is a leap one has to make leaving fancy nutrients but once I did the savings and performance blew me away. My progression went Dynagro, GH, then Jacks. Aside from the Jacks I've used the others in many hydroponic applications (dtw, e+f, dwc) with pretty great success.
 
I'd love to learn more about mixing my own salts but don't even know where to start.

Any references would be appreciated...recipes etc.

I've had good results with AN's jungle juice so I won't rip on it, being that it's basically a clone of the GH 3 part i'm sure that stuff would be just as well. It's been a long time since i've used the GH 3 part so I couldn't speak on performance of one vs the other.

I agree about the marketing hype being hype yadda yadda we know it's a snake pit. Just want quality advice from quality growers to see what options are out there and working for everyone else. I know a lot of you guys go through more of the stuff than I do or will ever, so your input is appreciated.

THC
 
Canna a/b in flower is not a bad recomendation, per bush Drs post. Always had ca/mg issues in veg with it though, instantly vanished when set to 12/12.

I've been real curious about making the jump to Jack's or maxibloom. Anybody used both and like one or the other better?

For home grows in legal states...we need to get away from the expensive bottles if we're to compete. :swordfight:
 
For home grows in legal states...we need to get away from the expensive bottles if we're to compete. :swordfight:


that certainly makes sense but what you'd be saving is just a drop in the bucket. staying organic is much more lucrative IMHO. saving 20$/lb is a great idea but it doesn't negate the fact you'll be working in a much more saturated market. to each their own though. :puffpuffpass:
 
I'd love to learn more about mixing my own salts but don't even know where to start.

Any references would be appreciated...recipes etc.
THC

Raw salts mixed using hydrobuddy here. 5 gallons of A and 5 gallons of B = 500 gallons of final solution, total cost 8 USD:D

2b2s

I believe there is another program / app out there too but Ive seen this one mentioned by a few people.
 
that certainly makes sense but what you'd be saving is just a drop in the bucket. staying organic is much more lucrative IMHO. saving 20$/lb is a great idea but it doesn't negate the fact you'll be working in a much more saturated market. to each their own though. :puffpuffpass:

Curious, do you have rough numbers that compares the production cost of salts vs organics? I plan on marking an excel sheet that can add up the input cost for me based on a soil test but Id have to be pretty spot on and consistent with my ability to fertilize first. Just always been curious.
 
Curious, do you have rough numbers that compares the production cost of salts vs organics? I plan on marking an excel sheet that can add up the input cost for me based on a soil test but Id have to be pretty spot on and consistent with my ability to fertilize first. Just always been curious.


i don't have the numbers for production cost kicking around. i don't really think about that too much nowadays. it would also depend on how you go about your organic program, whether it be dry or liquid nutes, etc. i can tell you that people who switched from organics to conventional growing to be "more productive" lost $400/unit right off the bat, only to realize that they could never compete with the influx of commercial herb that was even cheaper. whether it was local or not didn't make much of a difference to the consumer because neither were organic. it's a race to the bottom the home grower can't win, esp if growing is your primary income. perhaps things are different in other parts, but that's how it played out around here. :2c:
 
that certainly makes sense but what you'd be saving is just a drop in the bucket. staying organic is much more lucrative IMHO. saving 20$/lb is a great idea but it doesn't negate the fact you'll be working in a much more saturated market. to each their own though. :puffpuffpass:

I can put out in an apartment room for 40 cents/gram using coco and good hydro nutes. Can't imagine organic being cheaper? My buddy spends lots on his organic goodies. What did you mean? I'm a little confused...
 
I can put out in an apartment room for 40 cents/gram using coco and good hydro nutes. Can't imagine organic being cheaper? My buddy spends lots on his organic goodies. What did you mean? I'm a little confused...


it may not be significantly cheaper, but the demand and value is higher.
 
For anybody interested in Jack's, here is the recipe:

grams/gln
3___________Jacks Hydro nutrient____5-12-26
2___________calcium nitrate_________15-0-0
1___________magnesium sulfate (epsom salt)

It's actually pretty simple once you see the information like this. Currently, we are using a 3/1.5/1 ratio in flower and having good success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmh8MB4F5kI
 
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That is pretty much what I was thinking easy coast. Everyone is in a race to the bottom un most industries. Thank god there will always be a market for premium / artisan product. Without a doubt, organics can be very cheap, even on a commercial scale if buying pallets of amends. Things could possibly get even cheaper and productive if incorporating FPJs, FFJs, sprouted seed teas, etc..

Not having to pay for crappy PGH/PGRs, enzymes, and microbe products is a god send when you can get the same, or better product, for a fraction of the price.
 
I'd love to learn more about mixing my own salts but don't even know where to start.

Any references would be appreciated...recipes etc.THC

here is my flower recipe: 150-60-200-175-60 ppm's N-P-K-Ca-Mg and for veg:160-30- 230- 100-30 ppm's N-P-K-Ca-Mg

The bigger the batch the easier it is to weigh out and mix due to the micros. If only mixing like a gallon of stock solution at a time you will need a jewelers scale:D

2b2s
 
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Anyone using Mills?

Used H&G in the past with great results, currently using Soul Synthetics with good results.
Someone mentioned Organic in Hydro, don't do it you will have a hard time with PH fluctuation, I learned this the hard way and almost lost my garden to it. Even with Roots Organic Soul Synthetics line it's still can fluctuate and jump up too or pass 7.0 if your not careful.
:puffpuffpass:
 
Have been running House & Gardens for years in coco with excellent results. Presently running Peters in one house as a comparison.Seems to be fine in veg. Finished product will be the proof in the pudding.
 
I have been pretty happy with Advanced Nutrients Sensi Bloom.

I've recently discovered that AN re-released the original, non-ph perfect Sensi Grow and Sensi Bloom. I'm going to give that a try. I got such fantastic results with that and since they switched to ph perfect, i haven't seen yields like i used to. After trying the ph perfect stuff, i went with the Jungle Juice 2 part. Like I said though, i haven't seen yields like the original Sensi line since they took it off the market. Now that it;s back, i'm excited to try it again.

I was also looking at giving Emerald Harvest a try.
 
all i know is there is no added water in any of my nutes before they hit the res

calcium nitrate..

.....N-P-K

dry mixabe fulvic

dry mixable kelp
 
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