Bloom boosters: BS or Necessity?

xtsho said:

Do you mean the 18-18-21? I know people that use that and end up with very nice plants and good harvests.

You'll find different opinions for the best ratio's to use in flower. Some say 1-1-2, 1-2-3, 1-3-2, etc... I don't pay any attention to those specific ratios. The 18-18-21 has everything in it and the plant will take what it needs. Regardless of the ration it's more important not to overfeed. You can grow healthy plants from start to finish with just a basic 4-4-4, 10-10-10, or what you're using. Overfeeding is what will cause problems. Completely eliminating N and feeding only higher levels of P/K can cause nutrient antagonism. And a complete reduction of N is not good because flowers use N to develop.

There seems to the mindset with some growers that any N in flower is bad and mega levels of P/K is good. There are many posts of plants midway through flower with yellowing dying leaves because they started feeding 1500+ ppm's of nothing but a bunch of P/K.

As for people hating on Miracle-Gro, ignore them and let them hate. Maybe they're trying to justify spending $100 on nutrients and in many instances get a poorer harvest and yield than people using a $10 box of Miracle-Gro. Whatever their reasons most have never even used it they have only heard that it's the devil on cannabis forums. The same soluble salts that many cannabis specific nutrients use come from the same factories as the ones in Miracle-Gro.

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You are correct. It's 18-18- 21 I'm using. Good to hear many people use it start to finish with good results. I guess I'll continue using it for flower. I'm underfeeding if anything. I'm at day 80 and just fertilized for the first time 6 days ago and they seem to be liking it. Will be giving them a weekly feeding from now on. 27 gallon soil grow

father nature said:

You are correct. It's 18-18- 21 I'm using. Good to hear many people use it start to finish with good results. I guess I'll continue using it for flower. I'm underfeeding if anything. I'm at day 80 and just fertilized for the first time 6 days ago and they seem to be liking it. Will be giving them a weekly feeding from now on. 27 gallon soil grow

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I wouldn't necessarily say many as I only know a couple but their plants always look better than many of the grows I see on here with people feeding their plants everything but the kitchen sink. There was a thread about Miracle-Gro and the guys plants looked better than many kitchen sink feeders using a bunch of expensive, fancy, cannabis specific nutrients.

I've smoked the weed grown with Miracle-Gro and it wasn't any of that "Miracle-Gro will make your weed taste like crap". The weed tasted great. In fact it tasted better than some of the dispensary weed I've smoked that was grown by commercial growers that are likely using some fancy cannabis specific fertilizer. As I said before, many people saying negative things have no actual experience with the brand but are just parroting what they've read in online forums. As with any fertilizer make sure not to overfeed and your plants should stay healthy.

Renfro said:

Definitely avoid using MKP. That stuff will ruin the flavor of your flower.

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I respect you much, but what you've said here is misleading, at best.

MKP is simply Monopotatssium Phosphate. I guarantee that you use something very similar during your grows. It might be called "GH Flora Bloom".

The chemical mixture is the same, or at least similar enough in nature to what all synthetic nutrient manufacturers bundle into one or another of their bottles.

It isn't what the product is that causes flavour issues, it's how one uses the product.

GH Flora Bloom:
0-5-4

MKP:
0-52-34

...reduction:

0-5-4 | 0-5.2-3.4

GH Flora Bloom has some S and Mg in it, where pure MKP does not.

Bottom line ..... if you NEED to “ boost “ your flowers then you are doing something wrong.

Budzbuddha said:

Bottom line ..... if you NEED to “ boost “ your flowers then you are doing something wrong.

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"Boost" is a marketing term. As stated already, so long as plants receive the nutrients/elements they need, there's no sense adding stuff from extra bottles.

A 2-part or 3-part already has everything plants need (given the manufacturer is someone reliable). There's no need for extras.

Need is a subjective term. A lot of people are sastisfied growing mids.

Hate to break it .... Breeders lie.
Seed stock can often be S1 / F1 offerings and the grower “ believes “ they are full fleshed out lines .
So the “ MiDs “ trope is far more common than you think. Seriously , if you buy a listed F3 strain , how would you know ?

But there those that DO refine their offerings and it shows in “ consistent “ plant performance. ( Mephisto / DJ short ) comes to mind.
Cappulator is another and Rare Dankness , but many mainstream breeders like Barney’s often sling bunk. The only way to get TRUE stability is to run the lines your self. Matter of fact , there is a grower on here @HighLowGrow that has regularly works his BKR grows ( I had the pleasure of receiving beans to run Purple Gorilla x Sour Stomper ) and respect the work involved to polish the lines.

So called Cup Winning Strains May be just marketing to sling some tester beans or first gen seeds. The issue is if a grower cannot bring a plant to its potential thru a dialed in environment, feed and the conditions needed without adding “ marketed “ amendments then why bother growing ?

A balanced living soil / medium will trump ANY bottle nute.

Simply adding KELP during flower , brings enzymes , micro Nutes , hormones , b vitamins , cytokines ALL WITHOUT stupid catch names and claims.

Mids just means middle of the road weed. Nice rant tho.

My personal experience with boosters has been mixed. When using fertilizer that has lowe potassium and phosphorus i saw bigger yields with a booster. Now that I have switched to Jacks Hydroponic 321 fertilizer, I cant tell a bit of difference. The 321 fertilizer has a lot higher PK than what I was using. Im absolutely in love with this stuff. Its extremely high NPK values but totally worth it, IMHO. The fertilizer is 5-12-26 and 15-0-0. This stuff rocks. As long as you follow the mix instructions to the letter, it will not harm your plants. i even tested it on a seedling and it responded very well to a dose every 10 days. Low salt build up too

I use blossom boosters. I strongly recommend blossom boosters.....

I prefer jacks classic blossom booster and flower fuel. Fox farms cha ching at the end for a lot of resins. I couldn’t imagine not using them....
To each their own.

Moabfighter said:

I use blossom boosters. I strongly recommend blossom boosters.....

I prefer jacks classic blossom booster and flower fuel. Fox farms cha ching at the end for a lot of resins. I couldn’t imagine not using them....
To each their own.

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I wouldn't be bragging with that pic. My opinion.

I use small amounts of PK boosters but my main weapon of choice is

magnesium Sulphate and good old Calmag.

I use Magnesium sulphate later in flower for some additional S along with Mg.

Next grow I’m switching to MKP thanks once again to @spek9 for your analysis and testing.

14g dissolved into 100ml of water will create a bloom “booster” of P and K that at a dilution rate of 1ml to 1L will give you and EC increase of 0.2EC.

These plants pictured are day 67 of 12/12 and have been fed the following

DUTCH PRO HYDRO COCO GROW A/B

plant magic MagneCal

DUTCH PRO EXPLODE

Magnesium Sulphate.

thats it.

Never exceeding 1.4EC total plants are 2ft tall approx.

teddy bonkers said:

I wouldn't be bragging with that pic. My opinion.

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Let’s see what you can grow, Teddy.

Moabfighter said:

Let’s see what you can grow, Teddy.
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can't compete with those fried ass buds. step away from the boosters bro.

teddy bonkers said:

can't compete with those fried ass buds. step away from the boosters bro.

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Fried ass properly flushed faded buds?

I don’t like pissing contests but you’re insane. I’m a far better grower than you are 100%

well the ability of roots to selectively pick up ions is somewhat greatly lost in any hydrogrow...
so you gotta forcefeed a plant with the right ratios and I see the reasons for a bottled substitute of a great number of things... its for those that dont want to mix from the powder... because, esp. to overdoe the stuff is going to do more harm than good....
some bottles contain nonlisted substances like plant hormones... and deliver also the required plantfood for this... one can see the turmoil if too many of such bottles are used indiscriminately...

so soil is much more complex and natural and only there can a plant fully utilize its toolset, and retain the greatest level of control of nutrition intake.

Im thinking of boosting S + Ca with gypsum during midflower to give the new plant mass potentially harder cellwalls & more terpenes. S is a type of plantfood that is very harmless and nearly cant be overdone. Its part of the DNA and therefore always needed for any type of plant tissue. Thats something to say about many essential compounds....
The PK boosters are perhaps a product more suitable for heavy leechers fruitcarrying vegetables like tomato, melone, cucumber.... u see the need for extra K when they hold so much WATER! unlike our "flowers", Cannabis is more like a rose and not an eggplant or such.

Shifting Ca:Mg to 2:1 may also take out the darker green of leaves a bit. When in flower it does lesser built "green" plantmass, less Chlorophyl which is 4 N 1 Mg, and depending on luminosity on lower fanleaves and senescence, the plant may recycle these substances additionally...

And also increase Fe & Mn before stickiness sets in, as both are needed by the cannabinoid precursors

@teddy bonkers lets see your plants please.
To talk shit is one thing. I’m posting far better than the no pics you have. Don’t talk shit.



Seriously I’m getting triggered I guess. I never met anyone growing the thunder I am except iceman and you aren’t posting shit for pictures. Why you wanna talk shit? I’m not laying off anything because I grow the best buds anyone that smokes my buds have ever smoked.

Let’s see your indoor @teddy bonkers




Edit I’ve asked you twice now to show me what you can grow teddy and you won’t post shit because you’re a bitch that can’t grow worth a fuck but want to have something to say even when you can’t grow. Suck my sweaty balls.

father nature said:

You are correct. It's 18-18- 21 I'm using. Good to hear many people use it start to finish with good results. I guess I'll continue using it for flower. I'm underfeeding if anything. I'm at day 80 and just fertilized for the first time 6 days ago and they seem to be liking it. Will be giving them a weekly feeding from now on. 27 gallon soil grow

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I use something similar. Jacks Hydroponic 321 mix. Its 5-12-26 and 15-0-0. on cannabis and tomatoes and no longer need any boosters

LOL, triggered