New Mega Crop nothing like old?

Justin Goody · Oct 7, 2020

multiVortex said:
By race I meant how well the finish is, not how quickly.

But I can't believe that the burnt up leaves aren't decreasing the end result. Even if it's 5%, 10%, or a 15% loss, it's still worth being figured out.

Until such a time that I can accommodate some play runs with clones (from the same mom) to figure it out, I'm hoping someone stumbles onto the underlying issue. Until then though, I'll have to work a little more to keep things rolling smooth.

That will be awesome!
@carcass is growing a few of the varieties I just grew but with slightly different feeding schedules. The Wedding Cheesecake he has is just getting to 5g/G, where mine was already at 6g with Sweet Candy, terpinator, silica blast added. Mine seemed to love the food until about 3 weeks from finish where the leaves started to fry. I'd say that had an impact, yes. It's still great tasting really potent flower but for sure it would have gotten even bigger if I hadn't dosed it so high.

The Phantom · Oct 7, 2020

Use a mix of gypsum and ag lime over dolomite lime anytime you can.

multiVortex · Oct 7, 2020

13goody13 said:
That will be awesome!
@carcass is growing a few of the varieties I just grew but with slightly different feeding schedules. The Wedding Cheesecake he has is just getting to 5g/G, where mine was already at 6g with Sweet Candy, terpinator, silica blast added. Mine seemed to love the food until about 3 weeks from finish where the leaves started to fry. I'd say that had an impact, yes. It's still great tasting really potent flower but for sure it would have gotten even bigger if I hadn't dosed it so high.

Exactly. I for one appreciate y‘all have the capacity for messing around. I wish I did, but hopefully soon and then I can get rolling. I think by years end my count should be triple, so in the new year hopefully.

Weaselcracker · Oct 7, 2020

I agree that the sort of frazzled leaves I’m getting with Mega Crop are definitely not the sort of leaves I’m comfortable with, and I’ve seen a real reduction in quality.

I’m processing Sauga’s comment about overfeeding. I’ve usually settled around 6g/gallon for my hungrier plants. I tried going lower- issues. I tried going higher- issues. I think it’s more complicated than that. But I’m not close-minded. In fact I hope I’m wrong!

Would 5g be a safer bet- for hungry indica types? I always feed about 25% lighter for the pure-ish sativas.

From what I read on the MC site- they said to gauge the levels by the the leaf color -basically the N level. N being the element in the MC mix which is at an extremely high level compared to other cannabis nutrient lines out there.

I figured/have been told I’d see overly dark green with high level feeding, and deficiencies such as calcium def at lower levels. It hasn’t worked out like this- I’m just seeing a basic imbalance.

Anyway - I’m sorta just talking.... I have to drag out the computer and crunch all the numbers to see where all the levels of soluble elements are at. Which is something that I hate and have been avoiding because I am lazy and busy, and that’s why I bought this stuff to begin with ha ha...

MrSauga · Oct 7, 2020

Weaselcracker said:
I figured/have been told I’d see overly dark green with high level feeding, and deficiencies such as calcium def at lower levels. It hasn’t worked out like this- I’m just seeing a basic imbalance.

When you are looking for the green you are looking for uniformity up and down the plant. As the plant demands more MC, during the veg stage, the lower leaves will start to fade in color first. A dark green may be different to me than it is to you. Every plant almost has a different tinge to it so you gauge it on each plant.
I argue(nicely) all the time about a Ca def with MC from lack of nutes. There is enough Ca in it that it shouldn't be an issue during veg, especially if your plant is green top to bottom.
Less is more with MC. My goal is to hold at 4.5g during veg and adjust from there when in flower. Plants shouldn't need more than 5g max during veg, and at 5g's that to me is high in most circumstances.

Weaselcracker · Oct 7, 2020

Hey Mr S, I had to go back and edit. I thought it was Bluter that made the overfeeding comment but actually it was you.
I have never fed above 4.5 in veg. I am much less worried about veg anyway. Veg is so incredibly easy and forgiving compared to late flowering. I have many options for keeping plants perfect in veg.

That said - I’m seeing what I take to be Ca def in veg. I’m not overly worried about it because it’s super easy for me to switch to a different nutrient -which could be any number of bottled nutes-, compost, bunny poo, etc.

It’s these flowering deficiencies I’m worried about. It’s made a huge difference just to find out that I’m not the only one, so now I know I have to start messing with the system.

MrSauga · Oct 7, 2020

Weaselcracker said:
It’s these flowering deficiencies I’m worried about. It’s made a huge difference just to find out that I’m not the only one, so now I know I have to start messing with the system.

I'm gonna pop by your journal and try and get caught up. I'd hate to see you give up on it but I can totally understand why people do.

mrking · Oct 7, 2020

I'm just a noob, learning from all the experience on these forums <- keep this in mind.

@InTheShed had issues in flowering as well, due to old ProMix that couldn't maintain the medium PH, so elevated the PH in the medium over time due to the N used in MC.

MC uses nitrate (NO3) form of nitrogen which raises the PH over time in growing medium. Where as ammonium nitrogen (NH4) fertilizers drives PH down. This is taken from his exhausted conversation with a development director at ProMix. Here is that thread. He fixed the issue by using a fert with NH4 in it to drive the PH down, then resumed with MC as usual once the issue is resolved. This is my understanding of it, so if I have misspoke please call me out.

Could the N used in MC be the issue that everyone is having in mid-flower?

Weaselcracker · Oct 7, 2020

MrSauga said:
I'm gonna pop by your journal and try and get caught up. I'd hate to see you give up on it but I can totally understand why people do.

Ahh! I’ve barely been on the forum in months. I haven’t managed to catch up on my journal myself -so you would be wasting your time -but I super appreciate the thought!

MrSauga · Oct 7, 2020

Weaselcracker said:
Ahh! I’ve barely been on the forum in months. I haven’t managed to catch up on my journal myself -so you would be wasting your time -but I super appreciate the thought!

Fair enough. I'm watching it now so I'll keep an eye on how things are going and if I have any suggestions I'll let you know. Good luck Weasel.

Buds Buddy · Oct 7, 2020

THC Onlyfans said:
Got the newest mega crop 4 months ago or so. Looks nothing like the old mega crop and also smells completely different. Can someone confirm this or did I get a different product.
Brown is clumped but color is still brown. New mega crop is gray

Damn, had to go open my new bag to see. It's Gray. Almost looks like the Sweet Candy.

InTheShed · Oct 7, 2020

mrking said:
This is my understanding of it, so if I have misspoke please call me out.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. I ran the 20-10-20 fert for about a week and a half to get the pH back down into the correct range (under 6.2pH). My ProMix HP was about 14 months past the manufacture date, so 2 months past the best-use-by date under ideal of storage conditions. These were stored in the sun in the heat of Burbank CA, so knock a few months off from that and you can see where the problems started.

On the topic of MegaCrop and folks seeing issues in flower and the possible lockouts folks see if they use too much, I have a thought that came to me while catching up on this thread, (ignoring the type of N they use and its effect on pH - which the folks at GLN don't believe to be true). I'm not committed to this (and it may not be all that original), but thought I would put it here for discussion:

When most of us went with MC, it was because it was a simple and inexpensive way to fertilize our plants. One product, weigh it, mix it, feed. Easy. Then came the discussion about whether their NPK ratio was the correct ratio for cannabis after being told that plants need much more P in flower than they actually do. And it turned out that plants don't need to be hit with high levels of P to produce big buds.

And then came the lockouts that many folks found if they got a little too high in the feeding.

What we haven't discussed is the fact that GLN may have gotten the ratios wrong, or at least not ideal for your specific plant. Maybe their 9-6-17 and their amount of Ca and Mg aren't balanced to what your individual plants need. And there is no way, using a single product, to dial up (for example) the N without pushing one of the other elements into the lockout zone.

Weaselcracker · Oct 7, 2020

Very basic, somewhat lazy, question here @InTheShed but what levels are you feeding at in flowering? Any other supplements? And expired promix aside, have your results been ok?

I haven’t been on the forum much this last summer, but when last I was on it seemed like everyone was super happy with the stuff. Is the honeymoon over?

InTheShed · Oct 7, 2020

Weaselcracker said:
Very basic, somewhat lazy, question here @InTheShed but what levels are you feeding at in flowering? Any other supplements? And expired promix aside, have your results been ok?

I haven’t been on the forum much this last summer, but when last I was on it seemed like everyone was super happy with the stuff. Is the honeymoon over?

I'd say that the honeymoon is over and we're in the making-it-work-for-our-plants stage!

I don't use anything but MC for my grows and they do pretty well. I have been topping out around 5.5g/gallon now where last summer I got as high as 6.5. I've been losing more fans in flower than I like but it's hard for me to know if that's a MC pH swing problem or a MC nutrient problem. Hard to figure out as they can look the same at the leaf level.

That said, I pulled 2.2 and 2.6g/day off my last two plants, so I'm not complaining! I will be doing slurry tests more often as I go.

I also have bags of Geoflora Veg and Bloom that I won that I will be trying out on some Candida clones I'm rooting now for a second attempt at selfing with GA3. Not sure what the pricing works out to for a grow on that line, but they are sponsors!

Weaselcracker · Oct 7, 2020

Well that sounds good. The deficiencies I’ve been seeing are more definitely more... bad. Not the usual late season leaf dropping. However, my growing approach has been a bit slap dash as usual. With the information I’ve gotten from this thread I’ll be able to take a closer look at things and hopefully save the relationship before it sours.

Thanks everybody, it’s been a big help. :passitleft:

TorturedSoul · Oct 7, 2020

MrSauga said:
I think you'll find most of us tend to use the Mulder Chart. You'll see below that excessive Mg does not affect the uptake of Ca, rather the other way around.

The only elements Mg interacts with is P and K when in excess.

The version of the chart that I have shows an excess of magnesium as being able to interfere with calcium. Which is a good thing, because it can/does. An overabundance of either will affect the plant's ability to use the other.