Best NPK Ratio for Veg and Flower

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
No argument there. I certainly do not mean to offend just that each persons experiences are different, the ph fluctuations were not the fertilizers fault. And I in no way was trying to defend the guy repping AN whom's quote I referred to, you're GH vs DG just seemed bias,IMO. Again no hard feelings, cheers.
Biased towards GH?
 

thenotsoesoteric

Well-Known Member
Sorry only read first page or so, bias was a bit strong. At first I thought you were leaning towards dyna grow but then I went back and read more of your post. I probably should have read your whole thread more before I posted the first comment. Please forgive my previous post.

And I also apologize for spelling "you're" like an illiterate a-hole. "You are GH vs DG....." Der.:dunce:
 

AlfaDawg

Member
PEOPLE, PEOPLE! If you have the right soil you never have to worry about NPK.
Ya'll get some of this http://buildasoil.com/products/base-soil-mix
and all you have to do is water all the way through to harvest and you'll kick
yourselves in the ass for not finding this soil sooner.
No brown or discolored leaves, no flushing and man .... the yield, taste, potency, and color of your plants will blow your mind.
Try it, don't try it, whatever. I'm simply sharing what may be the golden fleece of the growers world.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
PEOPLE, PEOPLE! If you have the right soil you never have to worry about NPK.
Ya'll get some of this http://buildasoil.com/products/base-soil-mix
and all you have to do is water all the way through to harvest and you'll kick
yourselves in the ass for not finding this soil sooner.
No brown or discolored leaves, no flushing and man .... the yield, taste, potency, and color of your plants will blow your mind.
Try it, don't try it, whatever. I'm simply sharing what may be the golden fleece of the growers world.
WOW! And no need to flush?!

And if you hurry you can get the........
New and Improved Probiotic Recipe for faster Vegetative Growth and Intense Flowering!
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Soil.jpg

Uncle Ben's "super soil" :) Loaded and mixed with the bucket of my tractor. This is about half of what I originally mixed up.

!/2 organics, 1/2 inert (sand, vermiculite) - blood meal, bone meal, dolomite, muriate of potash, peat, compost, pine bark, alfalfa nuggets (horse cubes) dissolved into a slurry and then tossed into mix.
 
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Soulkipper

Active Member
how about a 4-2-3 ratio + some azomite & started in rapid rooters...
also.. what would be recommended for reusing the soil... or should you get new soil?
it's got plenty of perlite and such already in it 21-11-16 is the full 4-2-3 ratio #.. 4.2 - 2.2 - 3.2 technically
 

cjmade

Active Member
I know this thread is old, but hell! This is epic. This should be pinned or something as it has basicaly answered all my potential questions about nutes! Thanks!
 

purplehays1

Well-Known Member
My plant is in week 5 of flower, (8 week strain) going to be one more feeding before flush, is using moab (1-50-30) at about 800 PPM a bad idea?
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
My plant is in week 5 of flower, (8 week strain) going to be one more feeding before flush, is using moab (1-50-30) at about 800 PPM a bad idea?
If you want do shitcan the very unit that produces bud - leaves, then you have found the perfect solution.

Good luck
 

az2000

Well-Known Member
My plant is in week 5 of flower, (8 week strain) going to be one more feeding before flush, is using moab (1-50-30) at about 800 PPM a bad idea?
I think bloom boosters are intended to be mixed with half-strength nutrients (whatever you'd feed if not boosting, cut in half). That's how I do it. Not sure boosting does much. But, can't say it hurts either. I shoot for 1-4-2 to 1-5-3 (npk ratio) and about 800ppm.

I created a spreadsheet which helps figure out the ratios if you're using multiple products. Add whatever you feed normally to see what your current NPK ratio is. Reduce the amounts in half, then play with the ratio of booster to get the ppm and NPK ratio where you want it.
 

purplehays1

Well-Known Member
I think bloom boosters are intended to be mixed with half-strength nutrients (whatever you'd feed if not boosting, cut in half). That's how I do it. Not sure boosting does much. But, can't say it hurts either. I shoot for 1-4-2 to 1-5-3 (npk ratio) and about 800ppm.

I created a spreadsheet which helps figure out the ratios if you're using multiple products. Add whatever you feed normally to see what your current NPK ratio is. Reduce the amounts in half, then play with the ratio of booster to get the ppm and NPK ratio where you want it.
I may be mistaken but isnt a 1-5-3 at 800 ppm pretty close to a 1-50-30 at 800 ppm minus like 100 ppm of N?
If you want do shitcan the very unit that produces bud - leaves, then you have found the perfect solution.

Good luck
I am not talking about starving the plants of N i feed planty of N up until the last feeding (week 6-7) and then l just let them finish. I dont force the leaves to have a N deficiency, they finish nice and green.
 
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az2000

Well-Known Member
I may be mistaken but isnt a 1-5-3 at 800 ppm pretty close to a 1-50-30 at 800 ppm minus like 100 ppm of N?.
1:5:3 parts is equivalent to 10:50:30 parts. I don't know how much N that translates into. The 1-50-30 may work out for you. I haven't gone that extreme.
 

purplehays1

Well-Known Member
1:5:3 parts is equivalent to 10:50:30 parts. I don't know how much N that translates into. The 1-50-30 may work out for you. I haven't gone that extreme.
Assuming all the macros have the same ec (i know this isnt true) then a 1-5-3 at 800ppmn would be 11% N so if they were the same ec then that 88 ppms of N. So assuming N is higher EC which i think it is, its max like 150 PPM's of N. Maybe ill just supplement it with some cal/mg+ which has some N and all the micros. I am out of my GH bloom and its 0-5-4 and cant see how a 0-50-30 could be that much of a change at the same EC.
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
In hydro, reducing N too much makes it impossible to get enough calcium. This is, obviously, because calcium nitrate is the only economically viable source of calcium for hydroponics. That means that the level of calcium is tied somewhat to the level of nitrogen. You could get rid of all the potassium nitrate and replace it with K fromfrom monopotassium phosphate, but then the only way to cut out nitrogen would be to start cutting the calcium nitrate. You can see where the problem there is.

Phosphorous levels that high are pointless anyway. Imo, a better hydroponic NPK ratio for flowering is is 1 : 1.2 : 1.7, especially during the stretch and the bulking up period. Lower K and higher P might be better for ripening though.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Assuming all the macros have the same ec (i know this isnt true) then a 1-5-3 at 800ppmn would be 11% N so if they were the same ec then that 88 ppms of N. So assuming N is higher EC which i think it is, its max like 150 PPM's of N. Maybe ill just supplement it with some cal/mg+ which has some N and all the micros. I am out of my GH bloom and its 0-5-4 and cant see how a 0-50-30 could be that much of a change at the same EC.
That high of a P will induce a N and micros deficiency. Plants need very little P in relation to N and K and that goes for both veg and flowering.
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Starting 12/12 lighting cycle starts the stretch period, not using high P foods.

My point was that in hydroponic mixes, the level of N is tied to the level of Ca because the ingredient added to get one is used to get the other. Calcium nitrate is used to provide the majority of N in most hydro formuilas, and reducing N beyond a point has the effect of reducing calcium. It becomes obvious when actually designing the recipes that certain formulas are physically impossible to make.

It is not even possible to reduce N below a certain level without also reducing calcium. (in hydroponic formulas.)

It's high P foods that cause stretch as I've posted a million times. Here, once again.

http://www.gpnmag.com/what-really-causes-stretch
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
The opposite problem is also true when designing hydroponic formulas.

It's physically impossible to add more nitrate N without also adding more K or Ca, or significantly altering the pH, because the only ways you're going to add significant amounts of nitrate are calcium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and nitric acid. You could add ammonium nitrate, but you're supposed to limit the amount of ammonium N used in hydroponic nutes.

If you use potassium nitrate to add N, you will throw off your K, and if you use calcium nitrate to add N, you will throw off your Ca. If you use nitric acid to add N, pH will go to 2 and pH up would convert the nitric acid into potassium nitrate, so that's a fail idea.

You can not avoid this using fancy bottles either. They are bound by the same rules.

(This is only for hydroponic/nitrate based formulas. Urea based formulas do not have this "problem")

The real question for hydroponic growers should be "what's the best K : Ca : Mg ratio", because the level of nitrogen practically sets itself.
 
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