A poll to see what kind of nutes are prefered.

[Odorous]

hm i see... real quick.. you said it doesnt affect the strength of nutes.. maybe im a moron but i test the water to see how strong it is (nute-wise) with a ppm meter n say it says 150ppm.. if i add that stuff on top, will it not bring that up as well??

[WheeloFortune]

nope. it shouldn't.

in fact, when your meter reads say, an arbitrary number, lets say 500 ppm. your plant starts using that up and leaving behind residues. your meter can't tell the difference between those residues, and the nutes that the plant wants. so when that builds up in the medium, you dont know it and you get the all famous lockout. bacteria breaks that down into a form plants can use again.

A FEW IMPORTANT BACTERIA

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria form symbiotic associations with the roots. Visible nodules are created where bacteria infect a growing root hair. The plant supplies simple carbon compounds to the bacteria, and the bacteria convert nitrogen (N2) from air into a form the plant host can use.

Nitrifying bacteria change ammonium (NH4+) to nitrite (NO2-) then to nitrate (NO3-) – a preferred form of nitrogen.

Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate to nitrogen (N2) or nitrous oxide (N2O) gas. Denitrifiers are anaerobic, meaning they are active where oxygen is absent, such as in saturated soils or inside soil aggregates. these guys suck.

Actinomycetes are a large group of bacteria that grow as hyphae like fungi. They are responsible for the characteristically “earthy” smell of freshly turned, healthy soil. Actinomycetes decompose a wide array of substrates, but are especially important in degrading recalcitrant (hard-to-decompose) compounds, such as chitin and cellulose, and are active at high pH levels. Fungi are more important in degrading these compounds at low pH. A number of antibiotics are produced by actinomycetes such as Streptomyces.

The piranha is fungi. They do sweet shit too.

it sounds more complicated than it is, you can just take it that they do good work and keep your roots, and in turn your plants nice and healthy, and you will still get all of the benefits. and yeah, add them on top of the nutes they wont effect your meter readings.

[Odorous]

Sold.

ill check that out then next time im at the store.. idk if its time for me to start using those yet im only like day 5... hey wheelo would you mind checkin out my thread? i just put a pic or 2 up of what i think might be a problem.. i dont wanna cloud this thread up with non-related material :/ thanks again dude! you def kno ya shit haha

[WheeloFortune]

thanks, and np. all that stuff was pretty nute related.

knowledge is only half the battle, application is paramount.

[spike69]

I use fox farms mostly,got some humboldt general nutrient that I use a few times in veg.

[Medifreddie]

Ah, so many choices for the beginning, the middle & the end fo sho. Just when ya think youre usin the good stuff, better stuff comes along. At least we're not being bombarded with the " new and improved" or the 'extra strength" marketing strategies. Yet...

It is simply amazing the amount of different nutes, hardware, growing techniques and reading material available to all of us once upon a time normal type peeps who have become cannabis growing mad scientists. LOL

That said, and being a dirt dude, I submit my plant growing nutes usage/assault plan. First, I use only Fox Farm Ocean Blend soil. Bullet proof and I sleep better at night knowing it contains worm castings. It just sounds important. All them worms busy doin all that nasty casting just for my benefit. I'm truly in their debt.

As I work exclusively with clones, no nutes get added in the 6 inch pots for the first month. (Again, I thank the hard at work,casting worms for this). At around a month, I begin sprinkling a couple tablespoons of Vital Earths Bat Guano 9-3-1, gently mixing it in the top 1/2inch layer of the soil. Not too deep as to pull up any surface roots. The high nitro promotes a strong healthy beginning and sets the stage for good things to come. Bang! New bud shoots start poppin all over the plants. This part always amazes me. At this point i do a quick super crop and they are on their way.

That's all I use until apprx 3 ft tall. Then it's time for little girls to become real women. No time to be a gentleman, this is where the assault begins. The lethal FoxFarm 3 pack is introduced. Up first is several weeks of Open Sesame 5-49-19. Oh yea, wake up little darlins. The nitro is reduced and the phosphorus is now a mainstay until harvest. After several weeks of the wake up call (Open Sesame) I tickle them with 3 or 4 feedings of Beastie Bloom 0-50-30 ( I lovingly refer to this stuff as "the hammer") No nitro, I now want them them to get down to the business of bud making. The high phosphorus level does just that. I follow the Beastie Bloom with the 3rd and final part of the 3 pack, ChaChing 9-50-10 as in "show me the money". As you see, the ChaChing brings back a skosh of nitro (9) but still pumps the phosphates(50) to the now fully crankin flowers.

I bring the sweeties back down to earth in the final couple of weeks or so with Indonesian Bat Guano 0.5-12-0.2. I must say them Indonesians do know their bat poop. This stuff cuts the nitro again (0.5) while maintaining a 'top-off of the phosphorus (12) until it's "come to daddy" time...it's a fairly agressive growing regime and I have a few clone graveyards to attest but once you get the hang of it, mad scientists aint got nothin on me...peace n good luck MF

[The Butcher]

+ rep medi freddie Love the post. very informitive and colorful..Love the indo's knowing thier bat poop..

[borntorun]

I do a compost tea that has fulvic acid and kelp added to it and then stewed for about 10 days. If I need to bump up the nitrogen I use generic blood meal (which also keeps the deer away) to bump the phosphate at the end of the season I just add generic bone meal to the mix.

[The Butcher]

damn BORN i'm glad to see you stopped by.The tea looks like it works.All we have to do is check out your snotty girl.The proof is all rite there.

[smokelongtime]

I used a flood and drain for my first grow doing it manually every couple of hours with Maxi Grow, Super thrive and made bat shit tea, and added Sweet for the first month. Then I changed to Dr. Hornby's Iguana Juice. Added a CO2 Boost Bucket and Beastie Bloom and Bud Blaster. Did fair.
2nd grow-organic- used AN Dr. Hornby's stuff. Also used some Floralicious and Earth Juice in Veg. Better than the first grow.
3rd grow- got Gh's Water Farm and totally Dr. Hornbys stuff. Only Iguana Juice Grow, Carbo Load and Tarantula Juice and Voodoo Juice at the beginning. used Flora Kleen every week and then in bloom Iguana Bloom, Carbo Load, Tarantula and Voodoo Juice. Best crop yet, best yield and real smooth to smoke. 2 1/2 lbs from 8 girls.
4th grow- I used a new product from Supernatural, their Gro Aqua and
Bloom Aqua and a bud booster from the same line. Also added some Carbo Load I had left over from the last grow. Also flushed with Flora Kleen every week. The last 2 weeks I switched back to Iguana Juice Bloom. Beautiful big sticky buds and again over 2 1/2 pounds.
Now they both have their problems.. The organic tends to develope slime and plug up the system with sheets of the stuff. The Supernatural had a lot of salt build up even with flushing weekly. I am now looking for something else for my nukes. Going to talk to my hydro guys tomorrow and maybe buy an Ebb and Gro system, will replace my 1000w bulbs too.
I have found this to be very informative and have enjoyed reading all the comments.

[Oldgrowerdude]

Im with you Dutch Masters Gold is the best no needed additives just good PH.
I just wish it was cheeper.....

[smokelongtime]

Okay, so I went to DH ( Discount Hydro in Riverside, CA about 200 miles from me) on Monday and because I am a GREAT customer ( order all my stuff from them, comes in plain boxes, best prices too) they took real good care of me with a discount. I spent over $1,800 there. Got my new Ebb and Gro system and here is a list of nutrients, etc that I have now for my girls.
Hydrozyme
Tarantula
Canna Rhizotonic
Dutch Master Liquid Light (told this is great stuff)
Hydro Fuel Grow A and B
Hydro Fuel Bloom A and B parts
Aussie Tonic
Wet Betty
Got 4 new light bulbs, 2 1000w HPS and 2 1000w MH, those were pricey too.
Now about the clones.......Oh my god, they a pitiful little, tiny things. I can't believe the co-ops have the balls to charge $20. a piece for them. Saw a lot of plants and clones, nothing like I grow. I left feeling pretty proud of my crops. I did buy 12 clones because I like different kinds and am tired of OG Kush, CA Orange, Purple Kush and Mandala #1. Bought some AK47, and hopefully some White Widow, not sure about that as I'm not sure about the intergrity of the co-op, didn't look like they know how to grow to me. Okay enough, I smoke and type and ramble.....

[Oldgrowerdude]

I spent about $1000 to set up

1 1000watt switchable ballast so I can run both kinds of bulb. HD and HPS.
2 bulbs one for grow one for bloom
1 12-2 gallion bucket eb and flow setup includeds everything $525
Milar for the walls
Fans
plywood for the windows and floor, 4 sheets

I have used the setup several times and have no complants you can grow 6 foot trees with this setup all in 2 gallon buckets.

[munki]

Originally Posted by smokelongtime

Okay, so I went to DH ( Discount Hydro in Riverside, CA about 200 miles from me) on Monday and because I am a GREAT customer ( order all my stuff from them, comes in plain boxes, best prices too) they took real good care of me with a discount. I spent over $1,800 there. Got my new Ebb and Gro system and here is a list of nutrients, etc that I have now for my girls.
Hydrozyme
Tarantula
Canna Rhizotonic
Dutch Master Liquid Light (told this is great stuff)
Hydro Fuel Grow A and B
Hydro Fuel Bloom A and B parts
Aussie Tonic
Wet Betty
Got 4 new light bulbs, 2 1000w HPS and 2 1000w MH, those were pricey too.
Now about the clones.......Oh my god, they a pitiful little, tiny things. I can't believe the co-ops have the balls to charge $20. a piece for them. Saw a lot of plants and clones, nothing like I grow. I left feeling pretty proud of my crops. I did buy 12 clones because I like different kinds and am tired of OG Kush, CA Orange, Purple Kush and Mandala #1. Bought some AK47, and hopefully some White Widow, not sure about that as I'm not sure about the intergrity of the co-op, didn't look like they know how to grow to me. Okay enough, I smoke and type and ramble.....

Wow. Talk about jumping in with both feet! We better see a journal on your grow here.

Do know that clones are becoming pretty prevalent here in So Cal so shop around. $10 clones can be had pretty easily. That is what I paid for mine. There are some people that post on Craigslist that have them too. Heck, you can have clones delivered to your doorstep in California. Just keep an eagle eye on any clones you get from the outside world and look for pests. It may be a good idea to setup a separate area as a "quarantine area" that outside plants can go for a week or two for observation. The easiest way to deal with pests is to not get them in the first place. Just a word of caution as your grow will be big and I really hope you don't have to deal with a large pest problem on your first grow.

[The Butcher]

Originally Posted by smokelongtime

Okay, so I went to DH ( Discount Hydro in Riverside, CA about 200 miles from me) on Monday and because I am a GREAT customer ( order all my stuff from them, comes in plain boxes, best prices too) they took real good care of me with a discount. I spent over $1,800 there. Got my new Ebb and Gro system and here is a list of nutrients, etc that I have now for my girls.
Hydrozyme
Tarantula
Canna Rhizotonic
Dutch Master Liquid Light (told this is great stuff)
Hydro Fuel Grow A and B
Hydro Fuel Bloom A and B parts
Aussie Tonic
Wet Betty
Got 4 new light bulbs, 2 1000w HPS and 2 1000w MH, those were pricey too.
Now about the clones.......Oh my god, they a pitiful little, tiny things. I can't believe the co-ops have the balls to charge $20. a piece for them. Saw a lot of plants and clones, nothing like I grow. I left feeling pretty proud of my crops. I did buy 12 clones because I like different kinds and am tired of OG Kush, CA Orange, Purple Kush and Mandala #1. Bought some AK47, and hopefully some White Widow, not sure about that as I'm not sure about the intergrity of the co-op, didn't look like they know how to grow to me. Okay enough, I smoke and type and ramble.....

nice choice on the liquid kight did you get the penetrator, i use liquid light but it does need penetrator in order to get down into the stomata on the top of the leafs.That stuff makes your girls do the HAPPY DANCE for hours.I LOVE THAT STUFF!! i feed twice a week durring veg and 3 times during the first 3 weeks of flowering then discontinue there after.

You got all you bases covered roots, foliar and a regular regimine.Damn like munki said"we beeter see a journal out of this purchase"
Well at least we hope you post one up.
Grat job on the purchase.And good luck