# Do nutrients have a use by date?



## willc (Feb 28, 2010)

Ive been using advanced nutrients monkey juice for 1 year and a half now from the same batch. Ive been doing everything the same but have noticed that im starting to get more nutrient disorders. Could it be that the nutes are going "off"?


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## willc (Feb 28, 2010)

anybody? i emailed Advanced nutrients but no reply


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## Creek (Feb 28, 2010)

I try to use all my nutes in a year. Anything older then 1 year and I throw it out. I've had major issues with old nutes before and expecially advanced nutrients too.


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## fatman7574 (Feb 28, 2010)

Unless there are precipitates formed in the bottom of the jug then there is nothing that goes bad due to age as long as the caps left on. Precipiates usually are ony formed if the concentrated nutrients get hot or the water evaporates too much due to a cap not being on the jug. You are aware that the formulation is specifically made for use with growing medias that have a high CEC such as soil woith a lot of humus, peat moss or something like Coco Coir.


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## wiseguy316 (Feb 28, 2010)

Shake them up and test the ppm in a gallon of water, if one teaspoon reads over 400 , i bet they are fine


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## willc (Feb 28, 2010)

Nice one, yeah i have noticed sediment/crystals in the bottoms of the containers before but just gave it a good shake. I know its meant for Coco Coir but i just copied Bonemans hempy thread and it worked perfectly with almost exactly the same results ( https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/109237-bonemans-ak47-ppp-hempy-side.html ) I reckon it must be declining with age so i think ill sling it out and try the Iguana Juice (anyone got any experience with this?) thanks for the info!!


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## fatman7574 (Mar 1, 2010)

willc said:


> Nice one, yeah i have noticed sediment/crystals in the bottoms of the containers before but just gave it a good shake. I know its meant for Coco Coir but i just copied Bonemans hempy thread and it worked perfectly with almost exactly the same results ( https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/109237-bonemans-ak47-ppp-hempy-side.html ) I reckon it must be declining with age so i think ill sling it out and try the Iguana Juice (anyone got any experience with this?) thanks for the info!!


There is nothing that can decline with age. The only way nutrient reduction will take place is if the nutrients form the participates t you described. To get these back into supension just filter them out and add them to soe RO water. Heat and stir until they are dissolved. Let cool and add back to jug. The little bit of added water will dilute the strength a slight bit but the ratio of the nutrients will be restored abck to what they were when you bought them. Boneman is a nitwit I would not follow his advice about much of anything.


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## willc (Mar 1, 2010)

ha ha, ill give that a go, seems a shame to throw them away, thanks!
PS. lol, I thought bonemans thread was good, i followed it and got some great results


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## willc (Mar 1, 2010)

I just filtered out the sediment in the bottom of the container and its almost like limescale from an old kettle. Ive heated it in ro water but it doesnt seem to be dissolving, just kind of crushes down into a sand but doesnt become suspended ie sinks to the bottom, any ideas?


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## CLOSETGROWTH (Mar 1, 2010)

Buy fresh nutes, Dont risk nute deficiencies.. Not worth it.

Happened to me, clumping and low ppm, deficiencies ect..


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## sexyroots.for.all (Mar 1, 2010)

Hey Willc, this should shed some light on your nutrients . In short, nutrients can always go bad (despite what people say about the freshness always being there). In nature, every object that is nonliving has a half life. This means that over a time span of "t", half of its mass will degrade. This is more commonly talked about when dealing with radioactive particles because their energy fades very quickly in addition to substance degradation, but the same thing applies to nutrients. A more common example would be how most medications expire, even though they are in condensed dry forms. As mentioned previously in the post, sediment build up on the bottom indicates that salts in the solution have "fallen out", meaning that although there is a liquid solution, it may be inactive. This is a common mistake for growers to assume that because there is liquid in the bottle, that the solution is still good. Lastly, since most growers do not practice laboratory practices, many solutions are tainted with traces of other solutions or chlorine or other contaminants. This reduces the shelf life of your nutrients even further. In theory, if a nutrient was stored with perfect management and temperature control etc. then yes, your solution could last you years. In practicality though, this is not the case and many people experience the effects of old nutrients!!! If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask


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## sexyroots.for.all (Mar 1, 2010)

Also, I have used the iguana juice from advanced nutrients if thats the one you are referring too. It worked extremely effectively (I was running a few other additives in addition although bud candy by advanced could replace most of them). The only problem I had with it was that because I run a bigger air pump than most with micropores (which provides excellent bubbling underneath) was that my solution sometimes started to bubble to much and I had to cut the power back. This seems to happen more with organic solutions than synthetics but overall it was worth the expensive pricetag that came with it. However, the connoisseur series for flowering and sensi A + B for vegetative in combination with some additives is highly efficient and I have not found a base nutrient that comes close to the performance.

http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/sensigrow1lparta.aspx
http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/sensigrow1lpartb.aspx
http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/budcandy1l.aspx
http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/connoisseur1lparta.aspx
http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/connoisseur1lpartb.aspx

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask!


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## willc (Mar 1, 2010)

Thanks allot sexyroots.for.all, that makes allot of sense to me. Ive decided to ditch it and get some fresh Iguana Juice and maybe the bud candy like you suggest. The only thing that im worried about now is that people say it stinks, did you have this problem?


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## willc (Mar 1, 2010)

Just incase anyones interested, here was my reply from Advanced Nutrients tech support..

[FONT=&quot]Our products have a shelf life of 24 months, excluding Sensizym which has a shelf life of 18 months. If there are crystals, it means that certain parts elements have fallen out of solution. You may consider trying to reconstitute them using a bowl and hot water.[/FONT]

Short but sweet LOL, not really a definitive answer!


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## fatman7574 (Mar 1, 2010)

sexyroots.for.all said:


> Hey Willc, this should shed some light on your nutrients . In short, nutrients can always go bad (despite what people say about the freshness always being there). In nature, every object that is nonliving has a half life. This means that over a time span of "t", half of its mass will degrade. This is more commonly talked about when dealing with radioactive particles because their energy fades very quickly in addition to substance degradation, but the same thing applies to nutrients. A more common example would be how most medications expire, even though they are in condensed dry forms. As mentioned previously in the post, sediment build up on the bottom indicates that salts in the solution have "fallen out", meaning that although there is a liquid solution, it may be inactive. This is a common mistake for growers to assume that because there is liquid in the bottle, that the solution is still good. Lastly, since most growers do not practice laboratory practices, many solutions are tainted with traces of other solutions or chlorine or other contaminants. This reduces the shelf life of your nutrients even further. In theory, if a nutrient was stored with perfect management and temperature control etc. then yes, your solution could last you years. In practicality though, this is not the case and many people experience the effects of old nutrients!!! If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask


*Dude* were talking minerals and metal half life times of thousands of years. Mineral fertilizers *do not go bad in a human life span as* long as they do not go out of suspension. Tainting the fertilizer with a little chlorine will have no great effect. Unless the fertilezers have some non mineral supplemments such as organics within the solutio the only thing that can effect the nutrient mix through normal handling and use is evaporation, heat or a radical change in the solution pH.


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## decrimCA (Mar 5, 2010)

fatman7574 said:


> *Dude* were talking minerals and metal half life times of thousands of years. Mineral fertilizers *do not go bad in a human life span as* long as they do not go out of suspension. Tainting the fertilizer with a little chlorine will have no great effect. Unless the fertilezers have some non mineral supplemments such as organics within the solutio the only thing that can effect the nutrient mix through normal handling and use is evaporation, heat or a radical change in the solution pH.


yeah, sexyroots, not sure I agree either that something can last forever. Even in perfect conditions, nutrients will break down. They just do.

Just like if you stuffed me in a room in perfect conditions, my body, being made of biological materials, will break down.

It just happens.

I'm glad that Advanced Nutrients emailed someone back and gave a time window in which you can rely on the products to still work.

I just try to make sure I'm always rotating my stuff to make sure it's new and fresh. And if I'm not sure, I just do ahead and buy a new bottle.

There's nothing worse than realizing your stuff is expired and then not being able to do a lot about it. Just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

It's a good idea to just write the date that you bought the nute on the bottle with a permanent market to remind yourself when it's time to go shopping.


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## fatman7574 (Mar 5, 2010)

decrimCA said:


> yeah, sexyroots, not sure I agree either that something can last forever. Even in perfect conditions, nutrients will break down. They just do.
> 
> Just like if you stuffed me in a room in perfect conditions, my body, being made of biological materials, will break down.
> 
> ...


It is nice that you have an opinion, but it would be better if your opinion was based on the science of chemistry.


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## sloppyseconds (Apr 6, 2015)

You can always tell what nutrients are gonna create Salt Build Up!!!!


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## dbkick (Apr 6, 2015)

Most have a couple year shelf life.
It's strange how they don't put an expiration date on most though.
AN uses batch codes to tell age. Wouldn't it be just as easy to put a fucking "use by this date" label on?


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## nicholas newman (May 15, 2015)

do bio bizz bio grow bloom and top max did not now because they are organic


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## RIGUY80 (Oct 19, 2016)

So this shop sold ne a hobbisest bundle last yearbfrin advanced and I have been using them and noticing issues. New grower 3rd grow. Shot happens. But after finally finding one expiration date that's date back 2013 stamped inside the box. Looked at every bottle. Entailed them 4 times. FB and IG. Still nothing at all not eeven a well. Just one 2 days ago saying hello FBI is support you have been looking for us how can we help you. Wtf. So now after 200 spent. Between this bundle. Sensi Aand B not opened. Sure there expired no dates. As well as bud candy again sure expired. But AN can't answer.any of 4 emails. Little excessive its been 2 weeks. Shaking the Voodoo juice B52. Overdrive ,candy,Bigbud before every use. But 3 years. They said they have a money back guarantee if um not happy. I don't have the damn receipt and these places close a dime a dozen with ebay ans amazon. China. J

Any thoughts on continued use. Thanks...RIGUY80


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## Donkeydon1980 (Oct 31, 2016)

sexyroots.for.all said:


> Hey Willc, this should shed some light on your nutrients . In short, nutrients can always go bad (despite what people say about the freshness always being there). In nature, every object that is nonliving has a half life. This means that over a time span of "t", half of its mass will degrade. This is more commonly talked about when dealing with radioactive particles because their energy fades very quickly in addition to substance degradation, but the same thing applies to nutrients. A more common example would be how most medications expire, even though they are in condensed dry forms. As mentioned previously in the post, sediment build up on the bottom indicates that salts in the solution have "fallen out", meaning that although there is a liquid solution, it may be inactive. This is a common mistake for growers to assume that because there is liquid in the bottle, that the solution is still good. Lastly, since most growers do not practice laboratory practices, many solutions are tainted with traces of other solutions or chlorine or other contaminants. This reduces the shelf life of your nutrients even further. In theory, if a nutrient was stored with perfect management and temperature control etc. then yes, your solution could last you years. In practicality though, this is not the case and many people experience the effects of old nutrients!!! If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask


Thanks


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## RIGUY80 (Nov 4, 2016)

Donkeydon1980 said:


> Thanks


Thanks


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## bullSnot (Aug 19, 2017)

I use Humboldt Organic Nutes and I have a bottle of Natural Grow that smells sour and rancid - my new bottle smells fresh with a touch of molasses....should I just toss the old stinky one?


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## zblade (Apr 11, 2020)

GH uses batch codes on products with live cultures or that can expire.
I keep live culture nutrients in refrigerator and get an extra year or two.
If they start stinking,separate or form solids odds are time to toss or use outdoors.


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## Meast21 (Apr 21, 2020)

Creek said:


> I try to use all my nutes in a year. Anything older then 1 year and I throw it out. I've had major issues with old nutes before and expecially advanced nutrients too.


Right about a year is right. Good luck trying to find out which nutrient went bad if you use a bunch of different ones.... Also keep nutes of the ground if possible or on cardboard.


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