Need ideas to simplify my additives

Im starting to feel like I use too many different additives for the results I get. Im pulling around 1.5 lbs per harvest off two 600 watt lights every month (I have 4 lights altogether). Plants start off in 2 gal smart pots and are vegged in a 2x4 trays 3-4 weeks, I get them to 18-24" min before I flip, all are under a trellis 24" above the tray and are transferred into 3-5 gal smart or geo pots in hydroton on 3x6 flood trays.
I use MaxiBloom/Maxi Grow or Flora Nova as my base, start at 1000 ppm on week one of flower and work my way up to 1500 weeks 3-5 then back down to 1200 last two weeks. I use a bunch of different additives like; Snow Storm for crystals, Liquid Karma as a humic/sea kelp sup, MOAB 1st week to pop the flowers out, powdered Kool Bloom last two weeks for hardening and final weight, Hydroplex for weight weeks 3-5, Deuce Deuce last week or two for Harding, and Carboload the last two weeks as a sweetener. I feel like I could get away with throwing out the Karma, Carboload, Deuce Deuce and Snow storm, thoughts?
I no longer work at a Hydro store so this crap is getting expensive for what I feel are mediocre results.
I rather just focus on keeping the environment solid, and PPM's and pH where they need to be. Also if you have never used them, the organics in the snowstorm and Karma gunk everything up and make it a PITA to clean.

PS - I have heard from customers and friends that Bloombastic is a good additive that can replace things like Snow Storm, Hydroplex, etc... (A good weight bulder / blinger) Any one have good results?

Thanks in advance
Bezy

sounds like you've got your hydro system in a nice flow, have you considered using co2?

No since its not a sealed room, I have a 12" 1000 CFM fan that runs non-stop, it cools all 4 lights quite well and is hooked up to a huge carbon filter to scrub the air. Thanks, It is a nice flow and does produce fairly consistently but I strive to get to 1 gram / Watt with a simple to follow nute schedule. Its weird, I produced 1.5 lbs on four plants my first grow with this set up and on 9 plants I produce the same on the last grow. Although there were some different strains, Im going to stick to my blueberry strain which has produced an 8 and a 9 oz plant thus far. Also looking for a good cut of GDP and/or G13 so I can have a nice indica dominate strain that also produces well. The snow cap, AK-48, and Short Ryder I have tried are all good stuff, just not good producers as well. I'm harvesting in two weeks some Chocolate Chunk Thai, Blue dream and Blueberry in a SOG setup with 40 plants, well see if they produce well, so far the CCT and BB look huge for plants in 1 gal pots, the Blue Dream looks disappointing.

The Iranian G13 from Dr. Greenthumb supposedly when done properly will produce a pound or more per plant...at least that's what my dealer told me about that strain that his grower grows. I've got some going right now under 300watts of HPS from a hermi that landed in his crop of the strain and the results are amazing so far for how little light i've got going on and only using soil...I could only imagine what beasts this strain can do with hydro under higher powered HID's...

PotPimp is growing some right now as well he just started a few weeks ago. He has a journal of it

Here's an idea: do a run without all your additives. You'll find your life very simplified when you notice they didn't do much, if anything.

Bezy said:

I no longer work at a Hydro store so this crap is getting expensive for what I feel are mediocre results.

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Wow, so you a) had no idea what they did but sold them b) used them c) found out they don't do much, especially for the price tag

I hope you feel remorseful for screwing all those people out of their coin.

Hahaha, I know what they do and I always did stress that your environment and equipment you use are the most important things for your plants. Most people in this industry are pretty dumb and just want a quick and simple fix in the form of an additive. I can stress that they dont really need these things all I want but they will wax and wane about whats gonna make their shiznit the dopest dope around. I always tryed to teach first then sell next, unfortunately a lot of people dont want to hear what you have to tell them.
Anyways, the MOAB I use does kick the flowers out faster, the Deuce Deuce and Kool Bloom do harden up the buds well, the Carboload does help with scent and flavor, the Snow Storm does help with crystal production and an over all more frosty appearance. I feel like these do help produce a better overall final product, but the difference in price you get isn't worth the trouble. Having a good strain that grows well and is something people know and want is much more important, and I have used just basic nutes in the past with good results. As soon as Im out of all of these additives I will do a run or two with just my base nutes, a Magnesium/Sulfur/Calcium supplemental, and I'll probably foliar silica with my weekly mite spray.
Yea I saw that G13 strain on that site, I think I'll get me some seeds rights now!

Thanks for you honest opinions
Bezy

I would ditch the carbo load...useless in hydro unless your adding beneficials, I found snow storm didn't do much at all, ditch the hydroplex as well.

I use the BC pure blend pro line and the only additives I add are liquid karma the whole way through, kelp foliar sprays, humboldts ginourmous weeks 2-6, and AN foverdrive in weeks 7-8.

Yea Im deff ditching the carbo load, snow storm makes a diff in crystal production for me, its just tricantinol derived from Alfafa. The hydroplex is the same thing as ginormous, although the ginormous has a bit better #'s and I believe is cheaper.
I dont think they sell foreverdrive in California, Im assuming its the same as Overdrive which is similar to a product like Kool Bloom, P-K stacker. Im gonna just use MOAB the last two weeks which is a bit better then Kool bloom and cuts out one more thing to buy.

Like I always say, keep it stupid simple

I would ditch the carbo load...useless in hydro unless your adding beneficials, I found snow storm didn't do much at all, ditch the hydroplex as well.

I use the BC pure blend pro line and the only additives I add are liquid karma the whole way through, kelp foliar sprays, humboldts ginourmous weeks 2-6, and AN foverdrive in weeks 7-8.

I too am trying to work out the best compromise of quality/yield/simplicity in a feeding schedule biased on MaxiBloom or FloraBloom (using a Modified Lucas formula) The only additives I have been using lately are Hygrozyme and Superthrivebut I have been strongly considering the addition of KoolBloom(or MOAB) in low concentrations at the start of flowering gradually increasing even as I taper off the other nutrients towards the end of flowering/ripening.(substituting a higher percentage of MaxiBloom with KoolBloom in the top-off solution biased on week of flowering)

Reservoir contents would be diluted to 1/4-1/3 strength and have:
Triacontanol 1-2ppm
Benzylaminopurine (BAP) 75-100ppm
Maybe even IAA 30-45ppm
Hormones added in place of all the aquatic plant extracts then used as a foliage feed (on a regular basis).
These hormones are available in nearly pure powder form, shelf stable and soluble in either pure water or Ethanol alcohol.

Guile said:

I too am trying to work out the best compromise of quality/yield/simplicity in a feeding schedule biased on MaxiBloom or FloraBloom (using a Modified Lucas formula) The only additives I have been using lately are Hygrozyme and Superthrivebut I have been strongly considering the addition of KoolBloom(or MOAB) in low concentrations at the start of flowering gradually increasing even as I taper off the other nutrients towards the end of flowering/ripening.(substituting a higher percentage of MaxiBloom with KoolBloom in the top-off solution biased on week of flowering)

Reservoir contents would be diluted to 1/4-1/3 strength and have:
Triacontanol 1-2ppm
Benzylaminopurine (BAP) 75-100ppm
Maybe even IAA 30-45ppm
Hormones added in place of all the aquatic plant extracts then used as a foliage feed (on a regular basis).
These hormones are available in nearly pure powder form, shelf stable and soluble in either pure water or Ethanol alcohol.

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I was listening until you said you use Superthrive. Google it up there and see why.

Still not clear on the issue over Superthrive (perhaps I'm just not looking in the right place) but much of what I read states that low concentrations (just a few ppm) of B vitamins seems to be very beneficial especially when used as a foliage spray. Is it inconsistent in its concentration or contain other harmful compounds?

By the way my latest experiments have been with much higher concentrations of hormones (nearly 5-10 times as much as I mentioned earlier) and a higher dilution ratio of nutrients for foliage feeding (more like 1:4 or 20%) these changes were biased on distributor recommendations and have resulted in conditions that leave me to believe my earlier (above mentioned) concentrations were likely more accurate.

I'm planning on diluting my hormone mix to: (and may even half it again to a factor of 2.5)

5ppm Triacontanol
50ppm IAA
500ppm 6-BAP

This is on the low end of the distributors recommendations, and half that of my first test batch, that resulted in some leave curling (according to the distributor a symptom of too much IAA)