The Official House and Garden Thread

Kanivers

Active Member
I start with A&B Soil and use recommended amounts from their feeding schedule. This usually puts my water at about 6.3 or so. Then I add 2.5 ml cal mag per gallon which PH's it down to about 5.5 or so. At this point I ph up to 6.15 and add the rest of the line with the exception of the algen product. I also add GH's Florolicious plus at 1 ml per gallon and Humbolts Golden Tree at 1 ml per gallon. My ppm is usually spot on the lower side of the window. If I'm too high, I just dilute with more water. I don't always use cal mag.mostly in the beginning of my early seedling/ veg. My ph ends up around 6.15-6.3
 

challeacewei

Active Member
So i mixes my water last night and phed to 5.9 before additives. Once the additives go in it naturally drops the ph. I normally juat water after that without checking but last night i decided not to water. This morning i checked ph and its 5.4 and 5.5. What should i do just ph back up or what?

thanks all
 

bhamkia

Member
Here is my take on H&G

-Well worth the money spent. The quality that comes from this line is amazing.
- Flavors and colors are spectacular
- Little to no Flush really needed (always good if you have to do an emergency crop to to pests or molds)

Some tips things I have learned

For more cal mag I was told I could just up the Dose of B.... ( I could be wrong, correct me if I am)

An experienced grower once told me that stirring the roots upwards throughout the cycle helps the uptake.
Also pointed out that to help with not burning the plants, "ADD THE POWDER TO THE SOIL AND STIR AROUND BEFORE WATERING" - Any thoughts on this. Ive tried both. I got more results instantly with mixing into the water.

When I mixed into soil it took longer to see results but didnt have as much burn... (noticed you can use more powder this way)

Anyone have a homemade chart they can post?
 

Sativied

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, out of the whole H&G line which ones expire and degrade over time? Or do they all last indefinitely?
Root Excelurator is supposedly good for about a year, less if it's warm. Magic Green (foilage spray) will get a nastier smell over time. I highly recommend getting the smallest bottle of those. Not sure about the rest, but AB, Multizym, Bud XL, Top Booster should be good for years and Drip Clean probably much longer. This is the type of question House and Garden would be happy to answer if you should them an email.

I'm currently using H&G (hydro AB) combined with GHE (little bit of grow, mostly bloom) and while I can't say much about yield yet, it's going much better now. The H&G line clearly contains too much N, causing my plants to become too green and way too tall (with 8 different strains). Especially when using Multizym AND Bud XL (both are NPK 4-0-1). Adding GHE bloom to effectively reduce the N in the mix starting after the first week of transitioning to flowering has kept my plants at a very acceptable height.

@bhamkia: if memory serves me well I have to correct you on that indeed. Pretty sure it's A that contains the Cal (together with the majority of N). Regardless, there's no need for additional Ca and Mg if you're using H&G. It's based on being used with RO water and it's contains something like 12% Ca and 1.6% Mg (don't pin me down on those percentages, the lab test results I got that from are fading in memory :bigjoint: )

@Grandpapy: Thanks for sharing that update. Besides AB and Drip Clean the only product I'm considering to buy again is Root Excelurator. Expensive bottle though, and currently not using it and can't say I notice any difference besides that my roots and pump filters are now much cleaner than with Root Excel staining them.
 

youknowthekid!

Active Member
Thanks for the info Sativied. Have you used the entire H&G line together and still not got amazing results that you didn't think could be improved?
 

Sativied

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info Sativied. Have you used the entire H&G line together and still not got amazing results that you didn't think could be improved?
I used everything that was/is in the the starter kit, that's AB, Multizem, Magic Green, Top booster, Shooting powder (a little), Bud XL, Root Excel and drip clean. So haven't used amino treatment and Algen Extract.

Amazing results I didn't think could be improved? No, I wouldn't go that far. Good results though, great quantity and quality. I also like how well clones and seedlings do on just a little A&B. BUT, like I said in my previous post, if you use the entire line, there's a lot of N on the menu. While I first blamed it on switching to hydro (coming from soil), then high DIF, crowded space, and every other cause I could find for stem elongation (stretch), 8 strains later I had to conclude that it's largely H&G ratios that cause my plants to become A. too tall, and B. too green. (Yes there is such a thing as too green :)). Last round I tried using A&B only and still ended up with same clawing and too dark green. Not using Multizen (NPK 4-0-1) made a good difference already, but not enough.

In the first post in this thread over a year or so ago I asked what the Bloom product was from H&G, felt like the starterkit was missing something. In the UK they actually have a H&G AB Bloom. I found that 'for me' missing part in GHE Bloom. The thing is, Multizen, Bud XL, Shooting Powder, Top Booster, they all contain the same basic elements already present in the A&B components. If you use Top Booster and Shooting Powder for example (as in high PK), you sort of need Bud XL (NPK 4-0-1) to unskew the ratio. While if you use Bud XL without Top Booster and/or shooter, then the NPK ratio is more suitable for vegging than the last 2-3 weeks of flowering. Basically it's all or nothing (the entire line, or none of the additives). By adding a little GHE Bloom (1-5-3) I can bump the PK a little or better said, can slowly lower N during flowering and lower it during the transition. My plants are now roughly 20inches tall, instead of the 40-60" I had last (H&G) rounds and I think it's going to be my best round so far:
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/413359-supercropping-canopy-control-118.html#post10327620
 

youknowthekid!

Active Member
I definitely agree that H&G will cause drastic growth. I filled a 8x5 with 6 plants that only got vegged 3 weeks lmao! Still, the bud and sugar production is unreal. I know once I get the process down under scrog in my next run or two that the growth will work right into that setup, hopefully. I'll probably have to start 12/12 before the girls even touch screen lol. I think perhaps the way I kept things a little better controlled and avoided the claw was that come top shooter and shooting powder I used those at 70-100% strength and reduced everything else to around 50%. It sounds like that's similar to what you're doing with GHE bloom. Keep me updated on the results. You're absolutely right, the one downside of H&G is that the growth can be too much and once you claw/shell leaves it's a bitch to undo.
 

Sativied

Well-Known Member
I definitely agree that H&G will cause drastic growth. I filled a 8x5 with 6 plants that only got vegged 3 weeks lmao!
Oh then you definitely know what I'm talking about. :) Drastic indeed, can open the closet twice a day and still be shocked by the growth. Last round I had 4 plants I didn't top or train at all, was selecting a mom for some seeds and wanted to see their structure without training. Two of them increased a whopping ~1200% in size (from 5inch tall to 60, stem like a broomstick). Germinated and a little preveg as seedling under 54watt only, then 2-3 days in the flower tubes before the switch. Check out the two on the left in the back:

Switched to 12/12 (2 buckets to be removed, males)
stretchA.jpg

A little over 20 days later:
stretchB.jpg

The one right in the back is just a very stretchy (failed) cross of my own. But, the one in center front is the mother of the clones I linked to in my previous post, the node spacing after transition on the clones is about half of that on the mom. A huge and welcome difference.


H&G A component NPK 3-0-3
H&G B component NPK 1-3-6
AB Combined: NPK 4-3-9

When using little or no Multizen (4-0-1) during veg, that's not a bad ratio at all. Last round I used a little more A than B during veg and transitioning, basically wanted to see if I could get away with using just A and B. The combined N-P-K of 4-3-9 is very doable during veg but while I'm not a big fan of high P boosters or high P throughout the entire flowering phase, I essentially want to lower the N slowly during the flowering stage, while increasing the P a bit.

GHE (FloraDuo) Bloom is 1-5-3. I know of some growers who use merely that product (without Grow, which is 5-0-5) and go straight to 12/12 (from rooted clones), and do fine yield-wise but often end up with premature yellowing and a yellow harvest. GHE Bloom alone is too high on P (imo), I don't want to the P to be higher than the K at any point. As you can see, by combining some GHE Bloom with H&G AB I can effectively lower the N and give it a little PK boost in week 5/6 (GHE Bloom+ extra H&G B).

The past few rounds with H&G led to the best and most frosty results I had, it'll be interesting to see how using GHE Bloom as an additive will influence that, or hopefully won't. If it doesn't work out and end up with premature yellowing, I may use Bud XL again next round. Also being 4-0-1, it's odd, because others (Canna, or take Ripen with zero N from GHE for example) tend to focus on P and K at the end of the flowering period, while Bud XL is mostly N and zero P. If I wouldn't know better by now, that would 'feel' like adding veg/grow nutes at the end. It more than evens out if you use the high PK shooter but while I'm pretty sure the XL means little to nothing, I have wondered several times if and how much it influenced the result quality-wise.
 

youknowthekid!

Active Member
You have an awesome game plan, and as I sit here reading the n-p-k ratios of the whole line it is awfully perplexing. Bud XL is certainly an industry loophole when it comes to ratio. One alternative I may consider next time, before going to an additional p-k feed, is to try 2 parts B for every 1 part A and possibly use Bud XL at reduced strength as well. That MAY just keep the tops down around canopy level, hopefully! I would like to use everything else at decent strength because the impression I get is that the H&G stims are very catalytic to making their great soup, not to mention they reportedly trigger great hormonal responses for the best flowering results.

Who the hell knows? I'm just going to have to player around and see what does the trick. Do you have a journal going for your current run?
 

Sativied

Well-Known Member
B alone does have a nice base NPK ratio to add to but using more B than A over a longer period may lead to Calcium deficiencies (and perhaps micros, don't know exactly which are in A and which in B). H&G does mention somewhere in a chart one should always use an equal amount of A and B. Combined with a bottle of CalMag, or another Ca+Mg additive (which typically includes some N) it might just work pretty good. I don't have a journal going, I'll post a harvest thread when it's done and in the meantime post some updates scattered across several thread :)
 

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
if you dont want to buy the CalMag but like the H&G Cocos you can just go with the Canna Coco A&B. SAme thing but with CalMag in it already and a lower K to avoid Potassium buildup
 

Sativied

Well-Known Member
Just found an interesting pdf http://www.house-garden.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/npk-analysis-of-house-and-garden-products.pdf

Aqua supposedly contains more Mg and Iron because of magnetic pumps commonly being used in recirculating systems. Which means Hydro contains less than 0.83% Mg and not 1.6 as I mentioned earlier (though, good chance I will run into that other analysis which claimed 1.6). Calcium isn't listed, but for now I assume Calcium Nitrate is used for the N in A component.
 

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
When H&G starts adding Calcium into their Cocos line i'll probably move back over. I hate mixing so many things into our resevoirs, too time consuming when you have a bunch of plants. I'll stick with the 1 parts for awhile.
 

alexkil

Member
Hello
I just start to use H&G after using Technaflora
I was have some issues with roots and i think because of Thrive Alive B-1
My system is kind of dwc with air stones .
Now i using Aqua A&B with multizyme ,silica(Potsil),root ex,magical and drip clean .
My system start to be clean and root are looking good i talk with support from H&G and this what they advice :

"You can use the Roots Excel , I would use it at .25-.5 ml per gallon. The active ingredients cause some film in the res at full strength . I would stay away from the Algen and Amino because to many organic compounds in this system will cause things to go ammoniacal . The combination of living organisms and organic compounds combined with heavy oxygen breaks down the nutrient to quick and can cause lock out and nutrient deficiencies . If using distilled water or RO water I would add 150ppm of Cal-Mag to the water before mixing nutrients . We have plenty of Cal-Mag in the line ,The Cal-Mag is needed to stabilize the the PH."

What do you think about it?
I understand that Algae it also kind of Thrive Alive and that i don't want to use.
But what about Amino ?

Thanks
 
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