Jack's Professional Fertilizer

rawrrrz

Active Member
Yeah, I get that.. It's just less convenient for me personally and phones bug me. So I'm just being stubborn and looking to find an alternative that's more convenient for my needs. If they actually had a location near me, I'd pay them a visit with cash-in-hand as well. That'd be the ideal way to do it, even.. I'll save calling them up for my 'Plan B' though, since I'm sure it wouldn't be nearly as much of a hassle as I'm making it out to be, as you said.

Also, you said you're running a DTW system, would you expect any issues with a recirculating? That was the other added benefit to the Verti-Gro for me, they said it was formulated for recirculating hydroponics.
 

Grower Z

Member
For sure the Peters is formulated for true recirculating hydro systems and the guy that I learned about it from is running what I would call a constant feed sub-irrigation system.
 

rawrrrz

Active Member
Well, Verti-Gro has yet to respond to my e-mail, so I kept looking, and I feel like an idiot for not finding this sooner.

http://www.jrpeterslab.com/order_now.html

You can order Jack's Pro Hydro, Cal Nit, and many other raw chemicals etc from their site in 1lbs, 5lbs, or 25lbs.

The Jack's Pro Hydro is:
1 lb - $9.50
5 lbs - $19.50
25 lbs - $36.50

Calcium Nitrate:
1 lb - $9.50
5 lbs - $18.50
25 lbs - $24.00

They accept Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal - For International or overnight shipping there's a number on the page you can call too.
 

sappytreetree

New Member
So heres some copy past on plant nutrition youll be reall suprized how manry hydro fertlzers do not have at least 13 elments in them companys like dyna-grow are pretty good but i called G.H the other day about there basic three part and it only has 10 elements

Plant nutrition is the study of the chemical elements that are necessary for plant growth. A nutrient that is able to limit plant growth according to Liebig's law of the minimum, is considered an essential plant nutrient if the plant can not complete its full life cycle without it. There are 16 essential plant nutrients. Carbon and oxygen are absorbed from the air, while other nutrients including water are obtained from the soil. Plants must obtain the following mineral nutrients from the soil[1]:
  • the three primPlant nutrition is the study of the chemical elements that are necessary for plant growth. A nutrient that is able to limit plant growth according to Liebig's law of the minimum, is considered an essential plant nutrient if the plant can not complete its full life cycle without it. There are 16 essential plant nutrients. Carbon and oxygen are absorbed from the air, while other nutrients including water are obtained from the soil. Plants must obtain the following mineral nutrients from the soil[1]:
    • the three primary macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
    • the three secondary macronutrients such as calcium(Ca), sulfur (S), magnesium (Mg).
    • the macronutrient Silicon (Si)
    • and micronutrients or trace minerals: boron (B), chlorine (Cl), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo) selenium (Se), and sodium (Na).ary macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
  • the three secondary macronutrients such as calcium(Ca), sulfur (S), magnesium (Mg).
  • the macronutrient Silicon (Si)
  • and micronutrients or trace minerals: boron (B), chlorine (Cl), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo) selenium (Se), and sodium (Na).
 

funatfkc

Member
sappytreetree,
thanks for the info. At this link you gave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_nutrition#cite_note-0 it lists the 16 elements. Jacks Hydro has 11 of them, and on Jack's Product Analysis sheet, it explains how to add the calcium to get the proper amount.
It also says how to add Epsom salts if additional magnesium is needed in the event that a water test indicates this need.

There is no information on Jack's sheet regarding Silicon, Chlorine, Selenium or Sodium. As I'm a believer in Jacks products, if they don't have these, nor mention these, it seems to me that I can grow without them.

Am I missing something here?
 

rawrrrz

Active Member
This will actually be my first time using the Jack's Pro Hydro mix. I'm also no botanist\chemist, I don't even know which technical field title would be appropriate for someone dealing with this stuff haha.. So I'm still right there with ya as this will be very experimental for me unless someone else stumbles in saying how to ideally mix these up xD

Probably the most simple way to start with this combo would be to add them in equal amounts, it's suggested in one of the snippets I'm going to paste below, even.. ("On a small scale, the easiest way to use our Jack’s Hydroponic System is to create a ready-to-use solution by combining ½ teaspoon of each formulation per gallon of water").. 5-12-26 + 15.5-0-0 = 20.5 - 12 - 26-ish, and rounding that would be fairly close to a typical 2-1-3 ratio. Take the -ish in to account though, as adding one thing can cause deficiencies in others, and I'm in no way qualified to do the more complex math lol. If you wanted a little boost to your nitrogen\calcium, just add a little more. If you believe in a lower N and higher P-K during bloom, you could add a little less. Aside from that, just watch the plant closely and try to keep her healthy. If you notice problems, look up a list of deficiencies and tweak it to fix it.

That's what I plan to do, at least. There's no one exact way to ideally mix these up though. The 5-12-26 is just a staple of nutes, that you're going to then supplement based on your specific needs to meet your desired ratios. When it comes to ratios, it's still an experimental science, at best. So I think the best results will come out of experimenting with it yourself to see what works for you. If you or someone else has a better idea or has already had success with the mix, please do share, ignore everything I've said, and take their advice instead lol.. I'm just overly tired and sort of thinking about how to do this myself as I type, so I could just be making an ass out of myself here.. I'm still waiting on my order to arrive, so if no one else chimes in to break it down with a simple step-by-step walkthrough on using these nutes, I'll certainly figure it out or fail miserably trying, and share after I've actually given it a go.


As far as Jack's missing a few nutes, you're mostly right in your thinking. It's not that they serve no purpose at all, but just that their required levels are very low. They're not in a lot of fertilizers even, because sufficient amounts will either be found in water and\or the cost of adding them at a higher ratio outweighs the effects it would actually have. An excess of Sodium, for example, can cause a Potassium deficiency, so higher-than-trace ratios could potentially cause more problems than it'd help. However, while not exactly required for a successful grow, there have been a number of people lately promoting the use of Silicon\Silica as not only just a trace element, but adding it in quantities rivaling that of the secondary or even the macro nutrients.

'riddleme' had a post talking about Silica's benefits here on RIU, if you'd like a look: https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/316301-calling-all-noob-growers-5.html#post4021272



Here's the snippets I found of two different general instructions on mixing up the solution:

"Follow these steps to obtain a precipitate free solution
1. Dissolve 130 ounces of 5-12-26 Hydroponic in 1000 gallons of final feed solution. You will obtain the
following elemental PPM concentrations:
Element N P K Mg SO4 Fe Mn Zn Cu B Mo
PPM 50 52 215 63 246 3 .50 .15 .15 .50 .10
2. Dissolve any additional Epsom Salts desired into the above 1000 gallon solution before proceeding. For
most crops 50 PPM Magnesium is an adequate level in solution. To increase your Magnesium levels
dissolve 10 ounces of Epsom Salts in 1000 gallons of final feed solution to obtain 7.5 PPM additional
Magnesium.
3. Dissolve 86 ounces of Calcium Nitrate into the above 1000 gallon solution to obtain a total nutrient
concentration of 150 PPM Nitrogen and 116 PPM Calcium.
E.C at 100 ppm N = 2.10 Limit of Solubility= 3 lb/gal."

"SPECIAL MIXING DIRECTIONS:
Jack’s Hydroponic formulation and Jack’s Calcium Nitrate are packaged separately, and require a
little special attention when mixing - in order to avoid forming a precipitant in the tank. These
products must be dissolved either in a two tank system or in dilute (or Ready-to-Use) quantities.
Following these specific stepwise directions is vital, along with the knowledge that these items
should NEVER be mixed in a concentrate tank together.

On a small scale, the easiest way to use our Jack’s Hydroponic System is to create a
ready-to-use solution by combining ½ teaspoon of each formulation per gallon of water - just
make sure you do not combine them in any stronger concentrations or the materials will solidify
and drop to the bottom of the solution. Also, be sure to aerate the solution with a bubbler or
change the solution every other day to maintain proper oxygen levels.
Note: An alternative to mixing the products together is to apply them separately, using one at a
time and alternating them every other feeding. This will assure that your plants are receiving the
ideal levels of nutrients.”
 

funatfkc

Member
I ordered from http://www.jrpeterslab.com/order_now.html on 8/5/10 and received the order on 8/11/10.
Jack's Pro Hydroponic 5-12-26
Calcium Nitrate 5 lbs

Guidelines included with the order state:
To make a small amount of hydroponic growing solution, combine ½ teaspoon each of the following water soluble fertilizers per 1 gallon of water:
Jack's Professional Hydroponic 5-12-26 and
Jack's Professional Calcium Nitrate 15.5-0-0

Be sure to aerate the solution with a bubbler or change the solution every other day to maintain proper oxygen levels in the solution.

I'll be following other information I've gleaned from these discussions and start with ¼ teaspoon per gallon and increase over the grow to ½ teaspoon per gallon.

And I've taken Riddleme's advice and ordered a TDS meter as I grow aeroponically.

I appreciate all of the education I've received so far and am transitioning from A/N 3-part nutrients to Jack's...and will save a lot of $'s in the process.
 

rawrrrz

Active Member
Haha, I had my order placed on 8/5 and received my nutes on 8/11 as well. However, I don't have a TDS meter handy at the moment, either. I've known I'd need one, but kept putting it off because I'm cheap and hate paying for anything lol.. Main issue is just that I'm not exactly sure how much of a dilution that 'solution' will be. Whether that would make a solution equal to that of your typical nutes, which you'd then measure out and dilute further when you actually added it to your res, or if they meant that would be the solution in your res. If I at least knew that much, I'd probably skimp on the meter and just increase my feeding through the grow, watching to see how they responded to it. Either way I'll definitely be saving a lot of money as well.
 

Grower Z

Member
I'm using the Peters hydro which is slightly different. Slight less P and less Mg. I have to add epsom salts.

But roughly 2 grams per gallon of the Peters + 1.25 grams per gallon of Calcium Nitrate = EC 1.2

Scotts provides for Peters the same instructions as Rawrrrz posted for the Jacks in #28. I am following that and just scaling down to the proper EC.

What we need is for someone to get leaf tissue tests done for flowering cannabis in 4 stages of growth. Early/late veg and bloom. But I don't think they will be that much different than what we've seen for many other plants.
 

funatfkc

Member
I'm confused.
1st - I've purchased a TDS meter and it's about time.
2nd - I'm switching from A/N products to Jack's. Much much less expensive and riddleme has convinced me it's the way to go.

My confusion.
8/21 - New H2O and Jacks for flower. EC 1020
8/22 - EC 1400
8/23 - EC 1500
8/24 - EC 1500
I thought the EC reading would decrease as the plants use the nutrients. So far, the EC reading is increasing in both my Veg tub and Flower tub.
Thoughts from the more knowledgeable will be greatly appreciated.
 

rawrrrz

Active Member
Woo, where to start.. First off, the difference in the measurements. TDS meters usually use ppm, or parts per million. EC meters are usually microsiemens (mS/cm) or millisiemens (µS/cm). So saying your EC is whatever, I'd assume you were referring to siemens, and with numbers that large it'd have to be millisiemens (unless you really screwed up the amounts you poured in haha). If you're measuring the EC with siemens, you'll get an exact measurement. TDS meters are calculated estimates of ppm based on EC (x 0.5, .64, and .7 depending on the manfucaturer of the meter, and which approximation they went with). But for future reference, just saying your TDS\EC is a number, without the actual unit of measurement being used, it could be entirely misleading.

Now, as far as the numbers not decreasing, it could be for a variety of reasons. My first guess would be that they're using up more water than nutrients. You need to understand what the measurements are actually reading. EC = Electrical Conductivity, TDS = Total Dissolved Solids. Read up on them on wikipedia or something if you don't understand the measurements and what they're actually telling you. The more nutrients there are in a smaller volume of water, the higher the EC\TDS ratings will be. (Ex. X amount of nutes in Y amount of water, plants absorb 10% of X and 50% of Y, the X to Y ratio is now proportionately higher than previously) Plants don't absorb everything in the res at the same rate. Sometimes they're more thirsty, sometimes they're more hungry, and they can even go after specific nutrients and eat up all the N, but leave a surplus amount of K behind. This is why people talk about dumping their res at least once a week. While the EC\TDS measurements will tell you how much crap is floating around in your water, it doesn't tell you details about what exactly is in there, or how much of each of the different things there are.

So, you need to take things like the amount of water in your res at the time of taking the readings in to account, as well. If you were to top off the res with water prior to taking your readings, maintaining the same volume of liquid inside of it, then the numbers should decrease. If not, then you're having other issues which could be a variety of things. It could mean you spilled or dropped something in to the tank by accident, or something could've gotten in, for example. There's also all sorts of chemical reactions etc that could take place and effect it. Even the temperature of the water can change the reading, because it effects the conductivity and the rate at which all of these reactions and processes are occurring.

So yeah, there's a few general explanations of why that could happen.. Hope that helps point ya in the right direction =)
 

funatfkc

Member
Well I'm glad you responded. And I feel a lot less confused.
My meter reads TDS in ppm up to 999. Over 999 it shows the ppm and a "x10" symbol to let me know it's greater than 999.

While it should be common sense, and I should have realized it, I didn't. Water depletion would change the nutrient percentage. Basic chemistry, and a basic brain fart on my part. Again, thanks for pointing this out.

I added water after my initial reading this morning, and would you believe the reading I took after adding water and stirring it around a bit was lower than the reading I took before adding the water.

Thanks to your info, I'll be bringing the water quantity up to par level prior to taking my daily readings.

You've made my day. Thanks.
 

OxDudette

Member
This has not been updated in a while, but I recently used some of this and it was so good I thought I would search the forum and see if anyone else was using it, only to find this thread. I have been using GH nutrients in my bubbleponics, and my plants looked great for the first 30 days, but then got very sick. Turns out I did not add any "micro" nutrients. I only bought the grow and bloom, not realizing that they did not have the micro-nutrients. Because my plants were so sick and dying, I didn't have time to order something on-line and there are no GH suppliers around here, so I went to the hardware store and looked through all of their products. After some research, I finally decided to try the Peter's General Purpose. It is 20-20-20 with micro elements.

I cleaned and flushed my water and added this stuff back at 1 TSP per gallon, which is what it recommends for indoors. Within 24 hours my plants were lush green and had grown nearly 2 inches. The roots got really white with lot's of new growth and shoots as well. I can tell you for certain that my plants love this stuff, and I paid only $5 for 1 pound tub, so it's very reasonably priced. They also have a bloom formula which they recommend to use once the plants go into bloom. It's called bloom booster and is 10-30-20. I found a site where you can order a combo package of both the general purpose grow and the bloom and it comes in separate containers and in multiple sizes. It's water soluble and mixes easily in the water by simply stirring it a bit. Best of all, it works well and is very reasonably priced.

There is no way I will use anything but this based on how good my stuff is looking right now. I'll try and update this later with the bloom formula once I start using it. Below is a link to where you can order this fertilizer on line.

http://www.jacksclassic.com/order_now.html
 

riddleme

Well-Known Member
This has not been updated in a while, but I recently used some of this and it was so good I thought I would search the forum and see if anyone else was using it, only to find this thread. I have been using GH nutrients in my bubbleponics, and my plants looked great for the first 30 days, but then got very sick. Turns out I did not add any "micro" nutrients. I only bought the grow and bloom, not realizing that they did not have the micro-nutrients. Because my plants were so sick and dying, I didn't have time to order something on-line and there are no GH suppliers around here, so I went to the hardware store and looked through all of their products. After some research, I finally decided to try the Peter's General Purpose. It is 20-20-20 with micro elements.

I cleaned and flushed my water and added this stuff back at 1 TSP per gallon, which is what it recommends for indoors. Within 24 hours my plants were lush green and had grown nearly 2 inches. The roots got really white with lot's of new growth and shoots as well. I can tell you for certain that my plants love this stuff, and I paid only $5 for 1 pound tub, so it's very reasonably priced. They also have a bloom formula which they recommend to use once the plants go into bloom. It's called bloom booster and is 10-30-20. I found a site where you can order a combo package of both the general purpose grow and the bloom and it comes in separate containers and in multiple sizes. It's water soluble and mixes easily in the water by simply stirring it a bit. Best of all, it works well and is very reasonably priced.

There is no way I will use anything but this based on how good my stuff is looking right now. I'll try and update this later with the bloom formula once I start using it. Below is a link to where you can order this fertilizer on line.

http://www.jacksclassic.com/order_now.html
Howdy Dudette. been telling folks this for awhile, there are a lot of growers here that use Jacks, check my nutes on a budget (sig link) but once you graduate from the classic duo to the pro stuff (what this threads is about) you'll be even more amazed, I switched to a peat based medium and found that Jack's Professional had a nute called Peat Lite Special it was $28 for a 25 pound bag and designed for peat based mediums woo hoo it was a 20-10-20 and I used it for the whole grow, awesome stuff!
 

OxDudette

Member
Thanks for the heads up. I'll read up on it. This has been an interesting change to have to only go with a single additive that is easy to measure and best of all, it works so well. ;)
 

smoke n strum

Active Member
is it me, or are all the people that promote Jack's ferts disappearing from this site recently. You see, it's all about money people. The people on this site(the ones running it),are no better than exxon, microsoft, ge, or any other corporation. They want you to think its all about the movement to legalize it, but the truth is if that happened, they would be out of business. Think about it. The marijuana specific fertilizer manufacturers, or re-distributors, use these forums to promote their products. They have people planted in these forums. If you are a prominent member of these forums and you start talking about things that take money out of their pockets, like buying tested and true products like J. R. Peters fertilizers, (oh, forgot to mention the seed sellers, they suck too), they only have two choices, they can either recruit you to sell their products, or if you won't spread their lies to sell their over-priced, inferior, designer label garbage, they will use their planted salesmen to get you banned like they did to Uncle Ben last night. Yes it's true, the best gardener on this site was banned because he crusaded against the marijuana specific fertilizer manufacturers and their snake oils. This site is garbage just like AN, Fox Farms, Humboldt Nutrients and several other corporate opportunists. This will be my last post here. After a lengthy discussion with one of the moderators last night, I now realize I had also been duped into thinking this was a site that was uniting us mj legalization supporters. It's not... it is all about the money. Good Luck and good growing.
 

danbarn3

Member
Well smoke n strum, sorry to hear about your dissapointment with this forum. I hope none of it is true but I have no knowledge or experience to prove that it is not.

Anyway, this is my first post ever in any growing forum. I was setting myself up to use a Botanicare lineup as organically prescribed by a certain StinkBud. Thus far, only did rooting with Clonex... TBC...
 

danbarn3

Member
At the advice of OxDudette and several others who preceded her, I have made the following decision:

Strapped for cash, and several weeks overdue for vegetative nutes/fertilizer in my current first and only grow, I have opted to go with jacksclassic and give this a shot.

I just purchased the "Dynamic Duo" All purpose 20-20-20 and Blossom Booster 10-30-20 in two small 8 ounce tubs for 8.98 plus 6 for shipping. What have I got to lose for 15 bucks other than... well the 15 bucks?

Thank you all for the Jacks Classic recomendation. Hope it works out as good for me as it did for you. I will keep you posted.
 
Top