Making Your Own Nutrient Concentrates

[farside05]

I also reuse my Faux Mix a few times as well, I don't think Farside reuses his.

My current grow is the 1st time I've tried reusing it. I added 1/2 the amount of lime I use for a new batch as kind of a "recharge". So far it's going well.

 

[Pondwater]

WOW, damn IMO, Megacrop sold out. In their comparison chart they always used Jack's as the inferior product compared to theirs and now they're copying Jack's line? Also, doing a 2 part sort of takes away from their 1 part simplicity. I bet they'll lose a good amount of their loyal customers for those reasons.

FWIW, I don't use "Raw" brand of salts. Their shit is the same stuff I use, except they sell super duper small quantities for an extreme markup, because you know, their name on the package makes something as stupid as 8 ounces of SOP to sell for $8 when you could buy the same shit off Amazon @ 5lbs for $7. I left a BOM on page 3 if you want to begin collecting. I do suggest that you take the time to learn how to use Hydro Buddy, or any other nutrient calculator because when mixing your own, you do need to know those things. I'll crunch some numbers when I want to see the results, but I sure as shit am nobody's crutch. I did most of the work and left the road map for the next one to get up to speed a lot quicker and cheaper than it was for me. Only about the first 3-4 pages are required reading. The rest is just banter and Q&A, stuff like that.

sold out? howcome u mean with copy their recipie? it is almost the same exept MC added amino chelates kelp etc

hows that make it bad tho? loads of users had problems on 1 part and thats been eliminated now in 2 and fine tuning it seems it makes it better ? seen loads going back to it since they ddi and less complaints on it lol

i didnt mean the company raw i mean using raw salts like mono potassium nitrate ammonium nitrate phophorus etc in bags n makin the bae mix up.. i got me laptop out am reading loads now im off the phone lol gettin too much on there eye burns n typos

 

[farside05]

loads of users had problems on 1 part and thats been eliminated now in 2 and fine tuning it seems it makes it better ?

The only people I saw that had issues with Mega Crops 1 part product were those that played roulette with their Bud Explosion and Bud Candy products on top of the base 1 part. Neither of those 2 supplements are necessary. Plenty were warned against using them but did anyhow. The sheer amount of P&K in those two products can turn a growing media toxic in a hurry when added to a base product that was already ample.

Not meant to hijack your thread Sky. Probably should get back to your intended topic of mixing your own salts.

 

[Skybound]

Skybound to what extent do you rely on your EC meter when you’re mixing your feed? As you know mine busted and before I get around to ordering a new one it occurs to me I can probably manage with Hydro Buddy and just measuring everything by weight or volume. Even though I’m way more comfortable measuring by EC...

Thee only time I use my meters is when making cloning juice, and that's because I read somewhere that low PH like 5.5-5.8 is ideal for rooting, plus also cloning in rockwool, I wanted the C juice to also treat the cubes and dominate the PH of that. But when they get potted up to the buffered peat, I 100% never use either meter and haven't for maybe about a year give or take some months, lol. I am totally and completely relying on the lime/calcarb buffer. I think for someone like you, a bag of dolomite might be your greatest investment. Calcium carbonate(pulverized limestone) also if you can find it, but the dolomite is very common. The dolomite has a lot of Mg in it, that's why I go 3 cups each of cal carb and dolomite, to lessen the Mg and up the Ca.

 

[Skybound]

My current grow is the 1st time I've tried reusing it. I added 1/2 the amount of lime I use for a new batch as kind of a "recharge". So far it's going well.

I think I reused mine like 3-4 times before I started seeing problems, but I never take notes so I don't really know for sure. This time I loaded up on materials so shouldn't need to swap out for maybe 6 months. This stuff is amazing and cost so little to make. Less than $30 and I have a fresh 50 gallons of soil. And since it feeds like soil and not hydro, it's taking me a lot longer to use up my super cheap nutes, lol.

 

[Skybound]

sold out? howcome u mean with copy their recipie? it is almost the same exept MC added amino chelates kelp etc

hows that make it bad tho? loads of users had problems on 1 part and thats been eliminated now in 2 and fine tuning it seems it makes it better ? seen loads going back to it since they ddi and less complaints on it lol

i didnt mean the company raw i mean using raw salts like mono potassium nitrate ammonium nitrate phophorus etc in bags n makin the bae mix up.. i got me laptop out am reading loads now im off the phone lol gettin too much on there eye burns n typos

IMO, Greenleaf sold out by copying JR Peter's/Jack's recipe of 5-12-26. FWIW, my first dry nute program was Jack's 3-2-1 and to date I've never used Megacrop, I only emulated it with my salts. Jack's was fair IMO, not great, but not worse than GH, but the way I see it, a nutrient program is designed with a lot of different plant species in mind, but I only want a program with only cannabis in mind and is why I am in my own lane. It is my hope that other growers will learn to use a nutrient calculator to make their own lanes so we can compare and perfect.

 

[Pondwater]

IMO, Greenleaf sold out by copying JR Peter's/Jack's recipe of 5-12-26. FWIW, my first dry nute program was Jack's 3-2-1 and to date I've never used Megacrop, I only emulated it with my salts. Jack's was fair IMO, not great, but not worse than GH, but the way I see it, a nutrient program is designed with a lot of different plant species in mind, but I only want a program with only cannabis in mind and is why I am in my own lane. It is my hope that other growers will learn to use a nutrient calculator to make their own lanes so we can compare and perfect.

cool as,
jacsk 321 i thought was meant be for cannabis, they offer a cannabis tissue sample testing service to better ur grow based on 5 12 26 ''No matter your growing environment, if it's your first time growing Cannabis or Hemp or you are a professional, we want to help walk you through every step of the growing season. Our schedules and formulas will help to ensure Jack's delivers the exact nutrient balance according to the your Cannabis & Hemp crop requirements''

so i just assumed with big growers saying use it on ic it was teh best and back to basic, but you seem to be taking it a step further haha.

so are you saying you've dialled cannabis in further than MC and jacks? to an extent you'd could yield and quality beat their nute line and plats be happier while being cheap and simple?

i have hydro buddy but i tryed to enter advance nues and MC and jacks but some elements seem to be missing and i couldnt figure how to add them, i had a look at 1 of few videos explaining it after 2hrs i gave up,

i tryed again next day and got told about some field i set to 0 that wasnt on the bottle and ive not been back since, id love to give it a bash again if i can find a guide somwhere lol il have alook it does seem to be helpful

 

[Weaselcracker]

Thee only time I use my meters is when making cloning juice, and that's because I read somewhere that low PH like 5.5-5.8 is ideal for rooting, plus also cloning in rockwool, I wanted the C juice to also treat the cubes and dominate the PH of that. But when they get potted up to the buffered peat, I 100% never use either meter and haven't for maybe about a year give or take some months, lol. I am totally and completely relying on the lime/calcarb buffer. I think for someone like you, a bag of dolomite might be your greatest investment. Calcium carbonate(pulverized limestone) also if you can find it, but the dolomite is very common. The dolomite has a lot of Mg in it, that's why I go 3 cups each of cal carb and dolomite, to lessen the Mg and up the Ca.

Thanks. It isn’t PH I’m thinking of. But it sounds like you don’t use a meter, so I’m assuming then you measure out your feedings by volume or weight- with a syringe and scale, as opposed to feeding by EC as I’m used to doing. The EC meter does make it pretty handy when I have a bunch of different strains with different feeding levels. But mostly it’s habit I guess. I’m going to see what I can mix up by weight, with what I have on the shelf now, and either tweak or else completely abandon the megacrop.

 

[Pondwater]

Thanks. It isn’t PH I’m thinking of. But it sounds like you don’t use a meter, so I’m assuming then you measure out your feedings by volume or weight- with a syringe and scale, as opposed to feeding by EC as I’m used to doing. The EC meter does make it pretty handy when I have a bunch of different strains with different feeding levels. But mostly it’s habit I guess. I’m going to see what I can mix up by weight, with what I have on the shelf now, and either tweak or else completely abandon the megacrop.

abandon it lol i feel like crying just as i got into megacrop and off my hype foods i find a crows ditching it lol arrgh

 

[Skybound]

so are you saying you've dialled cannabis in further than MC and jacks? to an extent you'd could yield and quality beat their nute line and plats be happier while being cheap and simple?

No, I would never claim that I can outperform every grower using 3-2-1, that's just too broad of a field to measure against, plus also, I am a stoner that read a thing or 2, the people in Jack's are chemists and biologists, I'm not on their level. But prior to the excerpt you pasted, I had not visited their site in over maybe 2 years and then there was zero mention of the word cannabis or hemp. What I am saying is that if I see a deficiency in my leaves, I do my own diligence to diagnose and make whatever correction I desire immediately. I am not restricted to what a premixed formula could give me. But being one that actually has used Jack's 3-2-1 with both their 5-12-26 and J. R. Peter's 5-11-26, I have no desire to ever use either one again. I mean if you're going to buy epsom and calcium nitrate, what's to stop you from just buying everything individually and copying Jack's or Megacrop, or GH, or AN, or Botanicare etc etc etc etc. As long as I can find someone's Guaranteed Analysis on the internet, I can emulate their regimen and test out the recipe without ever buying any of their products.

So while Jack's users have to spend more for the leaf tissue sample, then buy the new formulation of a finite quantity thus rendering themselves dependents of JR Peters, Skybound just buys the plain basic ingredients for pennies on the dollar and when the Rona comes back through, I am very well stocked up on ferts for the long haul. Not to mention, I am not selling anything to anybody, I am just a grower sharing his experiences for free, so if you choose to buy salts, great, or MC, great, or AN all good with me.

 

[Skybound]

Thanks. It isn’t PH I’m thinking of. But it sounds like you don’t use a meter, so I’m assuming then you measure out your feedings by volume or weight- with a syringe and scale, as opposed to feeding by EC as I’m used to doing. The EC meter does make it pretty handy when I have a bunch of different strains with different feeding levels. But mostly it’s habit I guess. I’m going to see what I can mix up by weight, with what I have on the shelf now, and either tweak or else completely abandon the megacrop.

Because I mix my macros into 10:1 concentrates, I can easily derive fractions of a gram in ml of liquid, so no scales needed except when originally mixing up the concentrate. So when I plot out my feed, I load up all of my macros into HB, then set it to 1 Gal because that's what I use down here, and type in my target ppm for the macros. HB then computes and tells me 1.23 grams of (MKP), and I can shift the decimal over one position to know I need 12.3ml of MKP, and just multiply that 12.3 by the number of gallons I'm mixing.

What I've learned, especially now growing in the soil is that EC is only important in a recirculating system where H2O can evaporate out and jack the EC way up, so then you would measure EC when you first mix the res and monitor how much that deviates throughout the week, but in my experience, that rarely changes much in a 7 day period, so I would only really want to have a meter if I did res changes every 10 days or longer like the Kratky method growers. But mixing drain to waste, I do not meter at all. Since I'm discussing it, I also go from just a rooted cube into a 9 ounce cup of croutons, and that I also do not use a meter when mixing nutes for it. I make a special blend for the rockwool starter plants that is just my veg mix at full strength minus the silica, and only because the rockwool isn't buffered so the silica would jack the PH way up and cause problems, but my young ones also like the current feeds. Here's a pic of my veg closet now. The little girls in the blue cups are in rockwool croutons. As soon as they root the cubes, I put them into the croutons and feed them veg nutes minus silica and don't check EC or ph when making that mix. If I ever go back to recirculating again I will revert to my meters, but not until.

 

[Skybound]

and 2 shots of bloom. Just 2 more stunted plants to get through and all of the greatly overused soil will have been rotated out with new Faux Mix. It looks like a pretty swell Christmas all on the back row, but all new entries all look super happy. FWIW, I switched my ferts slightly again about 2 weeks ago to lessen the K some to allow for more Ca and Mg uptake. This seems to have worked well, though I must be watchful b/c winter dry air can instigate a K deficiency which makes for slightly unsightly leaves, lol.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Wow they’re looking perfect Nice job. Nice to see pics of your grow again too.

 

[Skybound]

 

[farside05]

I like the looks of that. Similar to the 5g Mega Crop, 5ml Cal Mag, 5ml Faux-Tekt I use.

N - 157
P - 39
K - 241
Mg - 53
Ca - 148

 

[Skybound]

I like the looks of that. Similar to the 5g Mega Crop, 5ml Cal Mag, 5ml Faux-Tekt I use.

N - 157
P - 39
K - 241
Mg - 53
Ca - 148

Do you anticipate giving MC's 2 part a whirl?

 

[farside05]

Do you anticipate giving MC's 2 part a whirl?

Based on their recommendations of 4.2g Part A, and 1.8g Part B, it comes out very close to their 1 part except it has about 100ppm more Sulfur. I have about a pound of the 1 part left, so it may be a while before I have to make a decision. Frankly I'm a little intrigued by Jack's Nutrients 15-5-20 for tap water. I still have some MSU Orchid fertilizer (Orchidgain) I may dabble with again. Last time I tried it was under inferior lighting.

 

[Skybound]

Based on their recommendations of 4.2g Part A, and 1.8g Part B, it comes out very close to their 1 part except it has about 100ppm more Sulfur. I have about a pound of the 1 part left, so it may be a while before I have to make a decision. Frankly I'm a little intrigued by Jack's Nutrients 15-5-20 for tap water. I still have some MSU Orchid fertilizer (Orchidgain) I may dabble with again. Last time I tried it was under inferior lighting.

Unless maybe for piney terp smoke, I found the greater sulfur content will make the smoke taste a lot sweeter which is a great thing for citrus and fruit tasting smoke. It looks like they went a little nuts with the P too, I like that, but the N looks maybe too low.

Oh wow, I just noticed it has low Ca as well.

Edit - upping the Part B (Cal Nite) up to 2.5 grams raises the Nitrate to 150ppm and Cal to 125.

 

[NorCaliwood]

Drive-by

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving Day.

That flower room is bulking up quite nicely..........

 

[Pondwater]

So its good but do i ignore 1.8 end bloom and keep 2.5?

I swapped my hydrotank
200l a222. 22 b 95.23

Do i need to add more or use a booster? Im week 5 flower