Dyna-Gro vs Advanced Nutrients Connoisseur (AK47 Grow)

homebrewer said:

I love Floralicious Plus but that Cyto looks really good on paper even though they say 10% is not soluble. That could cause issues in hydro systems. I don't know that those two products are comparable to one another. You could probably use both but you'd still be missing magnesium.

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Hello , I am posterart . I am new here . I use Dyna Gro products and like them . I have foloowed a lot of threads and posts from homebrewer and appreciate all the knowledge and experience you share . : ))

TBoneJack said:

I'd like to join in and offer an opposing opinion, if I may. I hope I won't be perceived as biased.

I like AN. So far, that is.

I'm a long time organic grower who has, for several years, used a homemade soil mix that takes me all the way to harvest with nothing but un-ph'ed tap water. No nutes or additives of any kind. I copied the soil mix from member @sidewing here on RIU, so I can't take credit for it. But it's a great soil mix.

Anyway, my upper back and neck issues have compelled me to try grow methods that don't require the effort of mixing soil and carrying heavy pots. And since I absolutely hate adjusting pH, I decided to try the AN "pH Perfect Connoisseur" nutes first.

So far, I've been pleased. In an even comparison grow, AN is out-dueling my tried-and-true organic soil. So far, that is.

See my comparison grow here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/satori-comparison-grow-organic-vs-soilless-synthetic.879321/

I'm using AN Connoisseur Grow & Bloom, plus the Hobbyist package. So far, the only complaint I have is cost.

The convenience of bottled nutes that don't require pH adjustment is a huge appeal to me. And on top of that, it sure looks like I'll get a significantly bigger harvest than I'm used to. So it's gonna be hard for me to abandon AN.

I've actually tried Dyna Gro, based upon recommendations by @homebrewer . And Dyna Gro worked pretty well. With pH adjustments, that is. And I just hate adjusting pH. In fact, I've decided that I'll never adjust pH again.

So it appears that my only choices are organic on the one hand, and AN on the other. And I'm thinking I'll choose AN.

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In my opinion you'd be financially better off making your own raw salt formula.. Raw salts if you're sourcing your own ingredients are just as good as organics. They're considered natural, it's hard to get a lot of natural things officially labeled organic. But you can (if you wanted) basically recreate their watered down product for a fraction of the price. I have another thread up called "hydrobuddy" that has my formula I'm using in hydro/dwc. I deal with chronic back and neck pain and carrying the heavy pots after harvest was rough. Now I only have to carry a 5 gallon bucket to the sink once a week to dump it on reservoir change.
I will say with a soil mix the smoke is very smooth right after chop and dry without cure. In hydro it's a little more harsh right after dry with no cure, but after a 2 to 4 week cure it's actually better.
I spent about 200 bucks on all my raw salts (half of that was buying each individual chelated micro nutrient) and I have enough to last me a couple years of some ingredients, longer on others.

sidewing said:

In my opinion you'd be financially better off making your own raw salt formula.. Raw salts if you're sourcing your own ingredients are just as good as organics. They're considered natural, it's hard to get a lot of natural things officially labeled organic. But you can (if you wanted) basically recreate their watered down product for a fraction of the price. I have another thread up called "hydrobuddy" that has my formula I'm using in hydro/dwc. I deal with chronic back and neck pain and carrying the heavy pots after harvest was rough. Now I only have to carry a 5 gallon bucket to the sink once a week to dump it on reservoir change.
I will say with a soil mix the smoke is very smooth right after chop and dry without cure. In hydro it's a little more harsh right after dry with no cure, but after a 2 to 4 week cure it's actually better.
I spent about 200 bucks on all my raw salts (half of that was buying each individual chelated micro nutrient) and I have enough to last me a couple years of some ingredients, longer on others.

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Thanks. I'll check out your new blog.

Your soil mix was fire (yet not too hot) for my plants for a long time. I appreciate your efforts in experimenting and then posting your results.

Even if I decide to go with AN in the future, I'm sure I'll grow organic again sometime. I love organics. But I'll invest in one of those cement mixers sold by Harbor Bay, to save my back and neck from turning my compost tumbler 100 times...

Thanks. I don't log it here, I do it on another (private not public) forum. But it has the recipe here.
I found subcools to be way too hot and I could taste it in the final product. Mine ran out of gas just in time for harvest.

On my raw salt mix the ph with everything is 7.0.. But if you lower the level of agsil (potassium silicate) it'll drop the ph, you can dial it to be a perfect 6.5 for soil.

homebrewer said:

You don't need to pH-adjust foods before you water as your medium has plenty of buffering power. I stopped pH-ing my stuff a long time ago with no ill affects.

And of course bottled foods will out perform organic soil grows. The organic crowd is not doing what they do for big yields.

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Do you personally add anything to your pro-mix bx besides the vermiculite and perlite to even out the texture? I keep seeing people suggesting lime this and lime that and can't seem to see why you would need it in a soilless with DG...? I'm not going to be growing any landraces (YET!).

And for the PH guy - if you mix at the proper ratio, then DG will come out at the exact number you need; unless you skimped on the Pro-Tekt, then ignore the previous statement.

SamsonsRiddle said:

Do you personally add anything to your pro-mix bx besides the vermiculite and perlite to even out the texture? I keep seeing people suggesting lime this and lime that and can't seem to see why you would need it in a soilless with DG...? I'm not going to be growing any landraces (YET!).

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Nope, I only use those three things to make my promix mix: promix, vermiculite, and perlite.

Lime has a handful of benefits (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_lime) but I would only use it if I were growing organically. DG already supplies all the elements that my plants need.

And for the PH guy - if you mix at the proper ratio, then DG will come out at the exact number you need; unless you skimped on the Pro-Tekt, then ignore the previous statement.

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I can't speak for other mediums but I stopped messing with pH in promix and have not noticed any negatives since doing so. Promix seems to buffer the pH very well.

I noticed on the first page that at that time you were doing a feed, feed, water routine when you were in dirt (I think sunshine?). You were using 3ml/gal of calmag during the water day with ro. Do you do the same in Pro-mix? Or does the lime supply enough?

SamsonsRiddle said:

I noticed on the first page that at that time you were doing a feed, feed, water routine when you were in dirt (I think sunshine?). You were using 3ml/gal of calmag during the water day with ro. Do you do the same in Pro-mix? Or does the lime supply enough?

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Now I just feed at every watering with no calmag and no lime. Works great!

homebrewer said:

Now I just feed at every watering with no calmag and no lime. Works great!

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Hey home brewer love the thread i tried using dg when i first started two years ago with ill effect and switched to general organics but i got things dialed in and wanted to see what dg could do for me in soil . I also seen the feed feed water and didnt want to rinse soil out in flower do you still feed at 3ml/gl all the way thru flower and i clone in rock wool then move to dirt what should i give my babies that are just rooted in rockwool ready to go in soil /foliage pro/ grow/ bloom/ and at what rate per gallon for them and should i feed feed water with them because they are small or just feed every watering ? tips are appreciated thanks homebrewer

Macmac124 said:

Hey home brewer love the thread i tried using dg when i first started two years ago with ill effect and switched to general organics but i got things dialed in and wanted to see what dg could do for me in soil . I also seen the feed feed water and didnt want to rinse soil out in flower do you still feed at 3ml/gl all the way thru flower and i clone in rock wool then move to dirt what should i give my babies that are just rooted in rockwool ready to go in soil /foliage pro/ grow/ bloom/ and at what rate per gallon for them and should i feed feed water with them because they are small or just feed every watering ? tips are appreciated thanks homebrewer

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I feed in the range of 1/2 tsp/gal during flower in promix but those rates are very specific to how often I feed, the size of my plants, the location of my plants in the garden, the volume of water I water with, and the wattage I run. DG's grow or foliage pro when used correctly will compete and often out-perform anything on the market but as with any food that takes some work on the grower's end to dial it in. Given the fact we're only dealing with one part, that shouldn't be that hard .

Newly rooted clones? I feed them foliage pro from start to finish with a little protekt.

homebrewer said:

Just make sure you have a pH pen and a TDS meter then hit me up for a suggested feeding schedule for dirt or hydro. DG’s nutes will fry plants at ‘normal doses’ because their highly concentrated so that’s the only thing I’d tell growers to watch out for.

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Hi, Homebrewer. I was just reading through this awesome thread and am convinced to switch to Dyna-Gro. Would you happen to have this 1-3-2 ratio feeding schedule? It would be invaluable to me. I'm in a recirculating hydro DWC.

Thank you!

agil78 said:

Hi, Homebrewer. I was just reading through this awesome thread and am convinced to switch to Dyna-Gro. Would you happen to have this 1-3-2 ratio feeding schedule? It would be invaluable to me. I'm in a recirculating hydro DWC.

Thank you!

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Feed at the EC that works for you right now. I like Grow or Foliage pro in veg. I like combos of bloom and FP or Grow during flower, using just enough Grow or FP to keep the plants green.

homebrewer said:

Feed at the EC that works for you right now. I like Grow or Foliage pro in veg. I like combos of bloom and FP or Grow during flower, using just enough Grow or FP to keep the plants green.

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Do you find the Mag Pro necessary while flowering when you're using the Grow/Bloom combo? I imagine the NPK levels of the Mag Pro are unnecessary when using the grow/bloom combo? Maybe just some Cal Mag which doesn't have all of the P & K that Mag Pro contains?

agil78 said:

Do you find the Mag Pro necessary while flowering when you're using the Grow/Bloom combo? I imagine the NPK levels of the Mag Pro are unnecessary when using the grow/bloom combo? Maybe just some Cal Mag which doesn't have all of the P & K that Mag Pro contains?

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Grow, Bloom, and Foliage Pro already contain calcium and magnesium so cal/mag is not needed. Neither is Magpro.

Hello homebrewer. I got a DG grow schedule from Customer Service ( the one that has the figures for Foliage Pro or Grow). You mention in this thread that those figure will burn my plants. What is the schedule that you suggest for Soil and Coco Coir?

Thank you.

Raymundo Rocket said:

Hello homebrewer. I got a DG grow schedule from Customer Service ( the one that has the figures for Foliage Pro or Grow). You mention in this thread that those figure will burn my plants. What is the schedule that you suggest for Soil and Coco Coir?

Thank you.

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Read this page.

homebrewer said:

Now I just feed at every watering with no calmag and no lime. Works great!

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OK followed directions. Transplanted this about 6 days ago to promix bx with some perlite and vermiculite mixed in. Went into 2 gallon fabric pot. it's the only plant i have going, under a 100x3 mars hydro led lamp. just watered at the beginner of their light cycle last night with dyna gro fp @ 100 ppm (.5 scale) and a couple drops of protekt 16oz. of solution. I went ahead and ph's it to 5.9, just because. the last watering was 1 day after transplant and she got dynagro fp @ 50 ppm (.5 scale) with no protekt 8 oz. of solution, didn't ph that time.

She looks horrible, and i admit she started to look bad while still in the seed starting soil (but very minor). Are my levels all wrong? temps are 68-80 (usually 78 on 70 off) with rh 60-65 off and 35-48 on. what am i doing wrong here? c99 from female seeds and my only one because of my tiny space.

sorry to hijack

SamsonsRiddle said:

OK followed directions. Transplanted this about 6 days ago to promix bx with some perlite and vermiculite mixed in. Went into 2 gallon fabric pot. it's the only plant i have going, under a 100x3 mars hydro led lamp. just watered at the beginner of their light cycle last night with dyna gro fp @ 100 ppm (.5 scale) and a couple drops of protekt 16oz. of solution. I went ahead and ph's it to 5.9, just because. the last watering was 1 day after transplant and she got dynagro fp @ 50 ppm (.5 scale) with no protekt 8 oz. of solution, didn't ph that time.

She looks horrible, and i admit she started to look bad while still in the seed starting soil (but very minor). Are my levels all wrong? temps are 68-80 (usually 78 on 70 off) with rh 60-65 off and 35-48 on. what am i doing wrong here? c99 from female seeds and my only one because of my tiny space.

sorry to hijack

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are you using distilled water?

SamsonsRiddle said:

OK followed directions. Transplanted this about 6 days ago to promix bx with some perlite and vermiculite mixed in. Went into 2 gallon fabric pot. it's the only plant i have going, under a 100x3 mars hydro led lamp. just watered at the beginner of their light cycle last night with dyna gro fp @ 100 ppm (.5 scale) and a couple drops of protekt 16oz. of solution. I went ahead and ph's it to 5.9, just because. the last watering was 1 day after transplant and she got dynagro fp @ 50 ppm (.5 scale) with no protekt 8 oz. of solution, didn't ph that time.

She looks horrible, and i admit she started to look bad while still in the seed starting soil (but very minor). Are my levels all wrong? temps are 68-80 (usually 78 on 70 off) with rh 60-65 off and 35-48 on. what am i doing wrong here? c99 from female seeds and my only one because of my tiny space.

sorry to hijack

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Yeah, those don't look great but the good news is that they have plenty of time to recover. My first question would be what kind of water are you using? My second thought is that your feeding levels are pretty low. When I water small plants with a weak EC/ppm mix, they actually aren't getting very much food because of the volume of water that I'm using. Small plants don't get 16 ounces at every watering. Make sense? I actually feed small plants a healthy dose of food, maybe .5 EC or 250 ppm (.5 scale). Once they've been transplanted, I'll cut those feeding levels in half or so because at that point they're getting watered with a great volume of water.

homebrewer said:

Yeah, those don't look great but the good news is that they have plenty of time to recover. My first question would be what kind of water are you using? My second thought is that your feeding levels are pretty low. When I water small plants with a weak EC/ppm mix, they actually aren't getting very much food because of the volume of water that I'm using. Small plants don't get 16 ounces at every watering. Make sense? I actually feed small plants a healthy dose of food, maybe .5 EC or 250 ppm (.5 scale). Once they've been transplanted, I'll cut those feeding levels in half or so because at that point they're getting watered with a great volume of water.

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It's only one girl, the space i have is pretty small - going for quality over quantity, that's why i came to the pro.
I've been using the walmart ro water (out of the machine, usually somewhere between 50-120 ppm .5 scale), or i tried nestle purelife which comes in at 66 ppm.
I understand what you're saying about the volume and strength of water/feed based on the size. This is in a 2 gallon fabric pot, like i said, and if i give 16 ounces spread around the outer part of the container i have no runoff and i'm pretty sure most of the feed doesn't reach the bottom of the pot.
I'll try to raise the ppm again to 250 and maybe water it at about 10-12oz. Wait a week or so and see if it takes off, then lower my ppm a little bit and start giving her more water. Sound about right?