The Mega Crop Thread

[multiVortex]

Reconstituting Mega Crop into a liquid for a more consistent representation of the overall product is great in theory, but my trials have not gone well. I've wasted over 400 grams of the product trying to create a liquids like you've mentioned on several occasions. After a day or two, elements fall out of suspension and form a precipitate on the bottom of the container. Shake all you want, not all of it will go back into suspension. Maybe if you are going to use it all immediately it would be ok, but I want to mix up a larger batch so I'm not repeating that process every time I have to water. For that reason I find it no better than just using it as a powder, which is far less time consuming.

However, I think you made some mistake in your mixing. You can mix a concentrate into a liquid, and some small amounts of precipitate will form of calcium and sulfur. However, all you need to do is shake the mix well so it is even, then add dosage into your water from there. After several hours, the precipitate will eventually redissolve into the final water mix to be soluble again (the calcium and sulfur).

This shouldn't be an issue in a recirculating system, should it?

While I'm still waiting on my MC to arrive (stupid post office and their delays ), my normal routine is to pre-mix nutes a day before in a big container (I think it's 40gal capacity, give or take) and let it mix with a little 100gph pump. Then check the parameters right before use, adjust if needed.

 

[bluter]

i gave up on pre-mixing or worrying if the MC was completely dissolving in the ro.

now i just mix it on feed day, and give everything a good stir when feeding. sometimes i'll mix it a day ahead, but just as a time saving measure. again, just give it a good stir before feeding, and don't worry. i've noticed my ppm will fluctuate a bit, which is consistent with settling solids suspended in liquid.

 

[farside05]

This shouldn't be an issue in a recirculating system, should it?

While I'm still waiting on my MC to arrive (stupid post office and their delays ), my normal routine is to pre-mix nutes a day before in a big container (I think it's 40gal capacity, give or take) and let it mix with a little 100gph pump. Then check the parameters right before use, adjust if needed.

I would doubt it will be an issue. It's just when it's mixed at high concentrations. At normal feed strength I haven't noticed anything falling out of suspension.

 

[multiVortex]

I would doubt it will be an issue. It's just when it's mixed at high concentrations. At normal feed strength I haven't noticed anything falling out of suspension.

Ah, supersaturated. Got it. No worries on my end then.

 

[farside05]

Ah, supersaturated. Got it. No worries on my end then.

Yeah, like 80x regular feed strength.

 

[bluter]

@farside05

are you using ro ?

 

[Weaselcracker]

Definitely keep an eye on your plants, if they look underfed you can increase the dosage right away and they should respond quickly.

I'm feeding about every 2 days

I’ve been pissing around with nutrient mixes a lot lately, mostly not with the best results -that’s why I’m looking at MC. The underfeeding came about from trying Skybound’s tried and true levels.

Skybound was feeding daily in a DTW setup. I feed once a week. I found I had to almost double his amounts to make it work for me. So yeah- the mix strength is going to vary depending on your feeding routine, I do like seeing that total ppm number in a range that makes sense to me.

 

[bluter]

I’ve been pissing around with nutrient mixes a lot lately, mostly not with the best results -that’s why I’m looking at MC. The underfeeding came about from trying Skybound’s tried and true levels.

Skybound was feeding daily in a DTW setup. I feed once a week. I found I had to almost double his amounts to make it work for me. So yeah- the mix strength is going to vary depending on your feeding routine, I do like seeing that total ppm number in a range that makes sense to me.

i've done a couple different styles over the years, and i always wind up underfeeding in anything hydro.
at least to start.

i think it's mostly just me. the few times i've over fed i pretty much killed everything, or it was seriously slow and weird looking. i started having success when i under fed, and have kind of maybe taken it too far.

i'd still rather start low and ramp up though. unfortunately, it puts the plants at risk of deficiencies, and requires keeping an active read on them.

 

[multiVortex]

Thankfully the post office has kindly decided to move my package along, albeit a day late. No idea what they did with it, or how, but it went from arriving at a spot, then arriving late (should have been here yesterday), and with no other departure/arrival info, it magically went out for delivery. So it went from arriving 3hrs away, to here and out for delivery with no intervention.

It was aliens.

i'd still rather start low and ramp up though. unfortunately, it puts the plants at risk of deficiencies, and requires keeping an active read on them.

Isn't that kind of what we should be doing anyway? Feed and read?

 

[Weaselcracker]

Because I have been getting various deficiencies from my various experiments, and the limitations of how I can balance elements
using the bottles on my shelf, the deficiencies I got from underfeeding just kinda got thrown into the general confusion and took quite a while to figure out. Various leaf splotches in flowering, not as obvious as a hungry looking plant in veg.
Once I boosted the feeding levels everything was good. For a while....ha ha

 

[farside05]

@farside05

are you using ro ?

See below

I use my city tap water that comes in at 150ppm. I have a RO water system but quit using it for the plants since I don't have to lug the water as far and the tub faucet fills the jugs quicker. I found no difference between using the RO and my tap.

I also put away the pH pen. 1) I'm in Pro Mix or Faux Mix® and it will balance similar to soil, 2) with my tap, Mega Crop, Pro-Tekt, and Cal-Mag, all on equal proportions, it almost always comes out to a pH if 6.5 which is my target anyhow.

 

[bluter]

I use my city tap water that comes in at 150ppm. I have a RO water system but quit using it for the plants since I don't have to lug the water as far and the tub faucet fills the jugs quicker. I found no difference between using the RO and my tap.

there it is. wasn't sure if you mentioned it or not.

i'm wondering if the precipitate you notice is being caused by a mineral in the tap water.
i sort of suspect calcium, as i've noticed precipitate develop when adding a liquid cal-mag supplement. the observation is backed by an immediate drop in ppm.

 

[farside05]

there it is. wasn't sure if you mentioned it or not.

i'm wondering if the precipitate you notice is being caused by a mineral in the tap water.
i sort of suspect calcium, as i've noticed precipitate develop when adding a liquid cal-mag supplement. the observation is backed by an immediate drop in ppm.

When I tried to make the concentrated liquid, it was with RO. I don't get any precipitate at normal feeding levels with either RO or tap. I have not noticed any precipitate when I add my liquid Cal-Mag to it. Perhaps try varying the order in which you mix. Either add it before the MC or after the MC, oposite of what you are doing now, and see if it still occurs. I know with Silica additives you need to add them before your base nutes.

Here's the jar of concentrated liquid.

IMG_20191016_143133.jpg

• farside05
• Oct 16, 2019

I can shake it and within a minute you can watch solids start to form back on the bottom.

 

[InTheShed]

What if you shake it and mix up a gallon of regular strength feeding immediately. Would it precipitate out of that as well?

 

[farside05]

What if you shake it and mix up a gallon of regular strength feeding immediately. Would it precipitate out of that as well?

Probably not because it would be further diluted, but the fact that I see things falling back to the bottom very quickly leaves me leery that i'm not getting 100% of all the Calcium, since that's what the Greenleaf rep said it is. On the previous batch that I tried that with, I saw Calcium deficiencies show up right away. If you're having Calcium fall out and you're not getting 100% of it, how is that any better than any inconsistencies you're getting in a small scoop of powder? It defeats the whole purpose of what I was trying to accomplish. I'm not bashing the product in any way. I love it and I don't see myself trying anything else considering the results I've had with it, the cost, and ease of use. I'm just skeptical of trying to make a liquid from it after my trials.

PS - If you complain about getting the little balls to dissolve in a gallon of water, try 1/4 of the water and 20x the Mega Crop. I had to run mine through the blender to get it to all break down when I made the concentrate.

 

[InTheShed]

Probably not because it would be further diluted

But isn't that the point? If you can get the solution while still in suspension and use that to mix your final nutes, wouldn't that give you an even mixture?

Personally, I just mix 3-5 gallons at a time so I get a good ball/powder distribution. I store what I don't use in 1 gallon milk jugs and nothing settles out even after 4-5 days.

 

[farside05]

But isn't that the point? If you can get the solution while still in suspension and use that to mix your final nutes, wouldn't that give you an even mixture?

Personally, I just mix 3-5 gallons at a time so I get a good ball/powder distribution. I store what I don't use in 1 gallon milk jugs and nothing settles out even after 4-5 days.

Yes, but if I can't get 1g per 10ml to stay in suspension, at what point can I? 1g per 20ml? If that's the case, now it's taking me 120ml per gallon for a dose that I would just scoop out 3/4tsp of powder. Do that by 4 plants and 2 gallons of feed each at a time and I'm making a new liter/quart every time I have to water. Plus my bigger syringe is 15ml, so I'm having to dose multiple syringes per gallon. It ends up being a big time suck mixing powder to solution and dosing multiple syringes. Part of the point, at least for me, of using MC is ease and speed of use. As long as everything is staying nice and green with explosive growth, why go to the extra trouble? A couple years ago I probably would have. I've become far less anal the last couple grows and have actually gotten quite lazy. Funny thing is, the lazier and less anal I've gotten, the better my results have been.

 

[Carcass]

Here's a little experiment I just did with 4 grams of MegaCrop in about 2.5 tbsp. of water...

After shaking for a couple minutes to dissolve everything:

And after sitting for ten minutes:

So some settling does happen...might not be a problem as long as you shake it up well before using,if you pre-mix it.
Although... It does semi-solidify if left overnight,and you have to actually scrape it off the bottom to get it to dissolve again...(I did it,that's how I know)

Maybe this will answer some questions,maybe not...but it is why I only mix it up as needed.

 

[bluter]

i'm not getting near that amount of precipitate.
i haven't tried a concentrated mix tho. might just try and see.

i honestly think zapping the stuff helps it dissolve as well.
i don't think it would make much difference if you are getting that much tho.

 

[GreenleafNutr]

I would doubt it will be an issue. It's just when it's mixed at high concentrations. At normal feed strength I haven't noticed anything falling out of suspension.

yes true

I’ve been pissing around with nutrient mixes a lot lately, mostly not with the best results -that’s why I’m looking at MC. The underfeeding came about from trying Skybound’s tried and true levels.

Skybound was feeding daily in a DTW setup. I feed once a week. I found I had to almost double his amounts to make it work for me. So yeah- the mix strength is going to vary depending on your feeding routine, I do like seeing that total ppm number in a range that makes sense to me.

There is a really easy way to get Mega Crop dosage dialed in pretty quickly. Just by observing your plants, if they are too light green then you should increase the dosage. If they are extreme dark green, then reduce the dosage.

If you set the dosage based on the Nitrogen levels, its very easy since this is very visible for the human eye. The other ratios and ingredients will automatically fall into balance based on this. Once you have the Mega Crop dosage set, you can pretty much run on cruise control and the growing nutrient process becomes very easy and quick.

Yes, as the plant gets bigger and progresses through its lifecycle, you will need to ramp up dosage and account for this. Also, during flowering/bloom you can optionally add in additionally a 0 Nitrogen PK booster, if you think your yields could benefit.

Thankfully the post office has kindly decided to move my package along, albeit a day late. No idea what they did with it, or how, but it went from arriving at a spot, then arriving late (should have been here yesterday), and with no other departure/arrival info, it magically went out for delivery. So it went from arriving 3hrs away, to here and out for delivery with no intervention.

It was aliens.





Isn't that kind of what we should be doing anyway? Feed and read?

tbh, all shipping in America basically breaks down from October to January every year. Expect strange things !

When I tried to make the concentrated liquid, it was with RO. I don't get any precipitate at normal feeding levels with either RO or tap. I have not noticed any precipitate when I add my liquid Cal-Mag to it. Perhaps try varying the order in which you mix. Either add it before the MC or after the MC, oposite of what you are doing now, and see if it still occurs. I know with Silica additives you need to add them before your base nutes.

Here's the jar of concentrated liquid.

IMG_20191016_143133.jpg

• farside05
• Oct 16, 2019

I can shake it and within a minute you can watch solids start to form back on the bottom.

Yes, this is expected. Mega Crop has 4 separate calcium sources, 3 of which are always soluble, so don't worry too much about that. What you should do while feeding like this, is shake the jar well so its evenly distributed, then immediately dose as needed into your full water tank. There will be bits of Calcium floating around visibly, however in 12-24 hours they should pretty much mostly redissolve into the solution.

Here's a little experiment I just did with 4 grams of MegaCrop in about 2.5 tbsp. of water...

After shaking for a couple minutes to dissolve everything:

And after sitting for ten minutes:

So some settling does happen...might not be a problem as long as you shake it up well before using,if you pre-mix it.
Although... It does semi-solidify if left overnight,and you have to actually scrape it off the bottom to get it to dissolve again...(I did it,that's how I know)

Maybe this will answer some questions,maybe not...but it is why I only mix it up as needed.

Yes, this is expected, see the previous reply. Shake it up well, dose and then you can add it to the water and eventually it will mostly end up dissolved into solution again (available to the plants).


Also, as mentioned you can use a coffee grinder or blender method and keep a powder mixed in an air-tight container. This might be easier.