Nute Study

[The Hemp Goddess]

Why bother with worm castings, other sea by-products, etc, that may be hot (burn ladies)?? Why bother mixing several organic sources?? This has all been done for you in Pure Blend Pro. Just mix 1-3 tsp/g and water. Works great for soil or soilless although there is Original Pure Blend for soil-only.

Someone posted about earth juice and being too thick in the bottle? This sounds very odd to me and I would switch to something that is more stable and more of a tea then a goop. IMHO PBP is my favorite nute.

Are you a salesman for this product--you mention it in almost every post? You are starting to sound like a spammer....enough. Okay?

 

[docfishwrinkle]

Dude seriousely This is an extensive study of nutrient lines. I've never even heard of your Pure Blend, but I have noticed that you have been plugging it in to every slot and corner of every thread that you could. I don't know if your working on commision or what, but you don't need to be selling your product on a stickied Nute study....your propaganda is cluttering up a good thread!

hey lf whats up? pure blend pro is made by botanicare. really is a decent nute if thats route is your cup of tea. might as well just stick w/ amendments as its cheaper & you can tweek how your girls like. agreed though on the plugging of product. sounds like the guy selling cube caps. funny havent seen him in a while.

 

[MikeOrganix]

Wow there are some jerks on this forum. Someone accused me of trying to sell nutes because I recommended Pure Blend Pro? How pathetic! I am not affiliated with any store and if people here are this rude I will gladly unregister. So much for trying to be helpful!

Legalize thanks for making me feel welcome! Pure blend Pro has been around for more than ten years. Open any hydro catalog or go to any hydro store and you will see it if you can get past the GH. Thanks for being a jerk!

Hemp Goddess I did not see any where that I am not allowed to post my comments and recommendations. If I have something I like that no one else mentions, I will talk about it. You are very rude and I do not appreciate the way you treat your members!

I came here to find a nice group of people and share this hobby. Just like that you have all made me feel very down on this site. In fact you have made me feel pretty crappy at home, so thanks a lot. You can keep your crappy site. Cya later! Unregister time.

 

[PeterPotatoes]

Awsome thread j-man, I love informative threads like this.

 

[jmansweed]

Thanks PeterPOTatoes

 

[kingtut]

Thanks man! You have done everyone quite the favor. Good in depth coverage.! :hubba:

 

[trichnut]

Hygrozyme question
I keep a rez for about a week and top off with filtered water and nutrients as needed. so for example if i had 30 gal in the rez i would put in about a 150 ml of hygrozyme. the next day i might have 20 gal left in the rez. would i but in 100 ml of hygrozyme right befor watering?

 

[jmansweed]

For 30 gallons I'd use about 1/2 that - more like 2.5 ml per gallon, even 2ml per. In Hydroponic systems smaller applications are a must in my experiences. So 30 gal resi - try like 75 ml max. Raise numbers after if you feel things are unresponsive.

Depending on how you run your system really determines when to add more. I only add more when I change my Resi- some people add small amounts every time they add water.

I found it was most effective when added with nutrients once a week. When I ran hydro I would top off the resi w/ just water as needed then change it weekly. In any case, under do it if anything with Hygrozyme and hydro systems. It's pretty effective in little doses.

Hope it goes smooth...........happy smoking :ccc:

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Thanks SO much Jman...

I am totally blown away at the depth of your study and all of the solid info in your post. I've been totally organic for about 6 years or so bouncing around between Earthjuice, AN Iguana lineup, Pureblend Pro, and more recently GO. They've all worked awesome in my grows but I do love the simplicity of the Earthjuice nute lineup most of all. I also love to use Hygrozyme no matter what type of soil I'm using. Lately I've been blooming a lot of plants in Subcool's Supersoil mix and when I do that I use occasional additives like Mychorrizae and benefial bacteria products, Cal-Mag, Molasses & Fulvic acid and then skip the base nutes.

Thanks again for all the hard work...:hubba:

Peace!

 

[jmansweed]

Hey Dirtyolsouth, thanks for checking things out. I'm preparing my next study including an all organic soil test. Not Subcools but something similar.

I'll tell you what - using water through the entire grow is awesome. I tried multiple soil mixes and eventually decided on a simple mix. It almost matches my EJ production rates. I'm currently working on the thread.

Thanks for the interest...........:bong:

 

[trichnut]

For 30 gallons I'd use about 1/2 that - more like 2.5 ml per gallon, even 2ml per. In Hydroponic systems smaller applications are a must in my experiences. So 30 gal resi - try like 75 ml max. Raise numbers after if you feel things are unresponsive.

Depending on how you run your system really determines when to add more. I only add more when I change my Resi- some people add small amounts every time they add water.

I found it was most effective when added with nutrients once a week. When I ran hydro I would top off the resi w/ just water as needed then change it weekly. In any case, under do it if anything with Hygrozyme and hydro systems. It's pretty effective in little doses.

Hope it goes smooth...........happy smoking :ccc:

thanks. Just got a bottle of "Hygrozyme" and it's saying to put in 8-10ml per gal. Is 2ml really enough? I'm hand watering. Each plant gets about a half gal every 3 days or so.

 

[jmansweed]

8 to 10 ml is high imo. I don't want to imply you can't use more than 2.5 ml per gallon. I've seen one to many growers overdo it so my recommendation is more a starting point.

I was assuming you use hydroponics - ? My recommendations would be mildly different in soil.

 

[funmauiboy]

You mention the quality of Humboldt Nutes but you didn't do a study on them...i'm transitioning to Sunshine 4 mix from Ocean Forest potting soil and would like to go to the Humboldt organic line what do you think?????????

FINDING MY NUTE PROGRAM :

The following is a comprehensive, independent comparison of 8 various nutrient applications and my experiences with them. As I make a living growing medicinal marijuana, quality production, efficiency and price were all taken into consideration. Some products out there are painfully expensive and claim results beyond compare. As many companies still haven't fully immersed themselves in the "marijuana community" it's hard to trust the nute schedules they offer or results they claim in relationship to cannabis. There are obvious exceptions, Advanced Nutrients and Humboldt to name a few but the majority hide behind tomatoes and fruit - that's another issue unto itself. This Aspect however, led me to develop a program that worked for my marijuana strain and me. That idea alone is important to grasp. In nutrient, plant and grower compatibility I believe many things need consideration. Through numerous head to head testing and numerical comparisons I've eliminated some products and discovered an understanding of nutes and more importantly, they're ingredient's.

Under the right conditions and depending on it's stage Marijuana absorbs a maximum amount of each nute it needs. This "amount" is based on a variety of aspects including size, strain, mediums and calculated typically through a parts per million count (ppm). These parts per million represent literally how many "nutrient" salts you have vs. 1 million parts distilled water. When working with mostly soluble fertilizers it's important to understand what this means. When nutrients are dissolved in water, they take on an electrical charge, known as an ion. Salts(ions) conduct electricity from one to the other, the more salts (ions) - the more electrical conductivity (EC). If this EC climbs too high, specific nutrient absorption will stop. If the EC is to low not enough nutrients will be absorbed. Most popular digital ppm meters measure EC and convert it to ppm. Roughly advised ppm counts should be between 550 and 1850. In organic soils and with soluble organic fertilizers its difficult to directly apply the ppm form of measurements. Most organic solutions contain nutrients in microbial form - not salts and are explained typically in %. This % has to be converted to ppm to properly determine how strong in individual nutes a solution may be. This conversion is less accurate but perfectly appropriate for this test. Similarly, pH must be taken into consideration with every application under comparative conditions. Simply put, pH (potential Hydrogen) is a measurement of how acidic vs alkaline your substrate and/or nutrient solution is. Plants absorb nutrients through water bound hydrogen osmosis. This process is the exchange of the negative hydrogen ions (called anions) for positive hydrogen ions attached to nutrients (called cations). This microbial exchange of food takes place directly around the root zone, called the rhizophere. This rhizophere thrives best with a balanced amount of potential hydrogen. Most plants generally grow between a pH of 5.5 and 7.5 (measured on a range from 0 to 14, 14 being the most alkaline). As long as nutrients are available in the proper ratios most leading nutrient manufacturers should and did produce similar results. It's the ingredients and microbial action's taking place that will dictate which nute I found superior.

To begin this project, I started with a variety of products, most chosen because of some success I've had with them at one point or another. I broke them down into general grow, bloom, micro and additives groups. Next, I researched ingredients and specified which nutrient each provided and at roughly what %. I then compared likeness and weakness. For example, some "Nutes" provide water soluble and in-soluble forms of nitrogen, some have more magnesium than others, various forms of micro-nutes are provided in drastically different ways. Some nutrients were provided through enhancing microbial life itself. Others had instant results. Things like this were all taking into consideration. With a pre-determined idea of what ppm count of each nute cannabis prefers and careful calculations I could predict which product lines were weak or strong in which nute prior to any application. This is how I developed the 8 different nutrient programs. The schedule's can differ drastically, ultimately however, I designed them to provide similar amounts of each nute over the entire cycle. Rather than any "spikes" or shocking absence of any nute I adjusted some programs so a steady curve was developed. Rarely will you see my programs simply switch from grow to bloom, instead a gradual transition will occur. This would eventually help me determine which "ingredients" were most effective at which stage. As a brief example, after calculating total available nitrogen in Fox Farms schedule, I decided to initially lower the specified applied amount and extended use into early flowering. Additionally, I removed the recommended later flowering application of Grow Big. This resulted in a "curve" of application, starting weak, gradually building strength and tapering off again. This led to some consistent results with many standard and popular nutrient applications. Basically, I matched the intensity from one program to the next prior to even initiating them. I felt these more cannabis specific feeding schedules would better expose true weaknesses with-in the programs and specify which ingredients marijuana prefers.

Running different substrates, different pH levels, and water quality are just some things that could change the results for many of you. The following are broadly the nute programs I tested, additives used and constant variables involved. I'll continue with descriptions and detailed info on each schedule as well as list and explain significant numerical results.



Test 1 - Earth-juice full line Grow - Bloom - Micro-blast - Catalyst - Meta K

Test 2- Neptune's Harvest/Marine based nutrients Alaska fish fertilizer - Neptune's harvest fish and seaweed fertilizer - Neptune's harvest fish fertilizer -
Neptune's harvest Crab shell - Neptune's harvest seaweed fertilizer

Test 3 - Earth-juice/Marine based nutrient blend Alaskan fish fertilizer - Neptune's Harvest seaweed fertilizer - Neptune's Harvest fish fertilizer - Earth-juice Bloom - Earth-juice Catalyst - Earth-juice Micro-blast

Test 4- Fox Farm full line Grow big - Big bloom - Tiger bloom - Open Sesame - Beasties Bloom - Cha ching

Test 5- Advanced nutrients Sensi line Sensi grow 2 part - Sensi bloom 2 part - Sensizyme - Bud blood - Carboload - Voodoo juice - Overdrive - B-52 - Final phase

Test 6- Dyna gro Dyna grow - Dyna bloom - Protekt

Test 7- Bio-Canna Vega - Flores - Bio-boost -Rhizotonic - Cannazyme

Test 8- General Organics Bio-weed - Bio Thrive Grow - Bio Thrive Bloom - Bio-bud - Bio-weed - Cal/mag


Additives used within each test:


Safergro biomin calcium
Safergro biomin magnesium
Botanicare Cal/mag +
Hygrozyme
Advanced nutrient Piranha
Advanced nutrients Bud blood
Spray and Grow zinc/iron foliar spray
Superthrive
Megagro
Greenfuse bloom stimulator


Constant variables:

Genetically identical plants used. Dutch passion Skywalker - this particular pheno is Mazar strong and fast flowering with excellent predictability.

Pro-mix medium used through-out. I find this is great at maintaining a dense enough structure for microbial life but allows for soluble drain to waste applications. There is also
mycorrhizal fungus included.

10 to 15 days in Ez-clone with water and air stones only - 24 hour weak flouros
7 day rooting period in 1 gallon pots - water only for initial soak - 24 hour low intensity T5's

FEEDING SCHEDULES BEGIN

14 days in 1 gallon pots under 24 hr high intensity T5's (referred to as early vegetative cycle)
21 days in 5 gallon pots under 24 hr high intensity T5's (referred to late vegetative cycle)
45+ days total flowering time under 12/12 1000 watt Hortilux high pressure sodium (referred to as flowering cycle)

12 plants per light - 8, 1000 watt air-cooled lights in 12/12

Lights on temp = 75 to 80 degrees humidity = 50%
Lights off temp = 70 to 75 degrees humidity = 55%

soil ph steady at 6.3 to 6.5

 

[jmansweed]

Funmauiboy,

Thanks for checking out the thread. I'm currently planning another study. Almost ready to put it in effect but I'm waiting on a few details. Humbolt is under serious consideration in the next round.

For no specific reason I have yet to develop any real experience with Humbolt but have heard solid feedback generally. I make a point of studying ingredients and do know that they're product is not notch. Pricey, but could be worth every penny.

Sunshine is a great mix, as is my preference - Pro-mix. Either one is a good choice. Sunshine has less micro nutes and more Dolomite, along with chunkier Pearlite. Pro-mix is a little more refined and acidic.

Sunshine and Humbolt nutes should operate real well together - keep us posted.

thanks again

 

[shavits_one]

Wow that was really great and informative, thanks for posting! If using EJ in tea form what ratios would you use of each formula in the different growth stages?

 

[jmansweed]

Hey Shavits 1, Thanks for checking things out. I've seen allot of interest in making tea's and how the schedule should be adjusted. I'm planning on adding a tea section shortly - next few days or so. I'll try and have an appropriate schedule included.

Roughly advised however, any of the ratios in my current schedule still apply. Water will have a large factor.

With making EJ tea, I always start with the basic 4 solutions, Grow - Bloom - Cat - Micro. I'll only add Molasses and/or Hygrozyme/enzymes if needed. More recently, I've had great success throwing a filter bag of worm castings in during veg feedings as well.

I'll get a more detailed post up shortly..............thanks again

 

[nouvellechef]

What about H&G?

I see good results with others. I see stellar results in water applications with H&G. Thoughts?

 

[jmansweed]

I've heard lots of good stuff about them also. I've been looking for a solid Hydro nute, I'll have to look into them more.

They make an organic blend (Bio-Component) I've been interested in trying out. I'll have to try them on the Hydro table - eh?

 

[nouvellechef]

Well from what I am seeing. Follow the chart for normal, Flakes A & B. Easy cheesy. The results are solid.

 

[707NewGenGrower]

i hate reading and i read that whole thing
GREAT info
i been using fox farm with great success, but smell and harshness could be better, EJ here i come