Mega Crop vs Dyna-Gro comparison grow

hybridway2 said:

Dyno-Gro might work as long as you don't come close to following the directions. Pooooy

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homebrewer said:

Thank you for your patience! Life has been non-stop for a while now but I finally made some time for the review.

Mega Crop vs Dyna Gro final write-up.....

As I mentioned in the first post of this thread, I was going to be looking at different aspects of Mega Crop and comparing it to the food that I use regularly, which is DynaGro. I’ve already gone over ease of use, versatility, cost, pH stability, plant performance, plant health, etc., so my plan here is to just wrap this up with some closing thoughts.

The final yield for these plants was 805 grams (roughly 28.4 ounces) which is actually a personal best by 1 gram. My previous personal best occurred during my previous run with DynaGro just a couple months before this comparison grow. My goal in regards to yield coming into this comparison was 19-20oz because that’s been my average for years now in this corner tray with a 600 HPS. The thing about these last two runs, which have been personal bests, is that they’ve been powered by a brand new ballast. My previous ballast was a 600w Quantum and while that piece of sh*t did last a couple of years, it popped during the first week of my previous run with DynaGro and it took out a bulb with it. So I went to my local hydro store and promptly replaced the bulb and bought a new 600w single-ended Sun System 1. So the problem with these yield numbers is that it seems like this new ballast is vastly superior to my old Quantum and my old baseline for average yields is now antiquated. Before I can draw any final conclusions I’ll need to do another run with DG just to get an idea of what an ‘average’ yield might be. Regardless of the outcome of those future grows, 1.34 grams/watt from a static overhead system in a 3’x4’ space is pretty damn good. Hats off to Mega Crop.

Also something to consider, these MegaCrop plants were quite a bit larger than the DG plants that were pictured in this thread and they were also getting help from a neighboring light as seen below. How much of a difference did the extra height and light make? Probably not more than 15-20% but that’s maybe impossible to determine. Regardless, MC certainly proved to be a very capable plant food.

As I mentioned a number of times, I really didn’t like working with MC. It was a little dusty, dirty, and time consuming to use. On the flipside it was the cheapest food that I’ve ever tested in hydro but it really wasn’t that much cheaper than what I already use. We’re talking at most a $5 savings per two-month cycle in a 20+ gallon reservoir (basically $12 vs DynaGro’s $16.50). Does this savings add up on a larger scale? Certainly. Does the extra time required also scale up? Of course!. Time is my most precious commodity so personally I’d gladly pay a bit more for the sake of ease and efficiency. The bottom line is this: MC could save you $5 per light per harvest and that is a savings that one might actually notice. That's also a savings over one of the most inexpensive liquid foods on the market; DynaGro. So when comparing MC to other liquid foods the cost savings may be even more noticeable.

Speaking of time and efficiency, MC’s higher nitrogen content (as compared to DG’s bloom) did grow leafier, branchier plants which required much more maintenance than I’m used to. Had I not known what to expect in terms of the growth I probably would have yielded a ton of airy, wispy flowers. These plants also required a bit more trimming because they were a little more leafy – maybe 10-20% more leaf? I’ve also noticed that the overall density of the flowers is lower than normal but by no means is the overall density low. The flowers are a tad more fox-tailed that normal - essentially I think the extra N caused the seed bracts to stack more than I'm used to. For the record, I’m a sativa guy, I don’t really care about density. However, if a strain is supposed to produce flowers on the dense side of the spectrum then I don't think the plant food should alter that. In regards to the extra leaf and slightly lower density, I do think that these two ‘issues’ could easily be rectified by the addition of a bloom booster such as MKP. It’s not necessarily the higher P and K that would increase density but the diluted nitrogen content. Because MC supplies more calcium and magnesium than needed, I actually think MC formulated this food to be used with a booster.

As far as the actual quality of the product goes, it’s essentially indistinguishable from other nutrient brands. Aroma and resin production are possibly down a bit on this MC run but I’m sure the difference could be mitigated had I been using the same supplements as I do when running DynaGro. I actually did hear an unsolicited comment about how this round of Casey was really frosty so take that for what it’s worth.

So other than my complaints about the time involved (canopy maintenance, added trim time, weighing, mixing, and dissolving) and the little dusty messes MC makes, it’s a pretty solid performer and it doesn’t break the bank! Well done, Mega Crop.


MegaCrop tray growing into a neighboring light....

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Dried flowers under natural lighting (Mega Crop)...

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More Mega Crop...

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DynaGro Flower....

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miyagifungi said:

I was thinking about doing a side by side but had some questions for @homebrewer first. Went ahead and bought Dynagro as well to see what I can do. @hybridway2 I actually was reading your posting on LED lighting and Hygro's Youtube channel was there. What do you think about the LEDs he is running and what's your opinion on the eight bar leds ? I actually had some spectre phasers which I am sure are the same as the fluence ones but just private labeled.

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hybridway2 said:

Apologies, just seeing this now as apparently I've been put on Slo-Mo or some type of restrictions w/o my knowledge to drive me batty. Oh, and NO explanation days after my inquiry. Lmfao! Only RIU...
Anyways, HygroHybrid on You-Tube running the 550 r-spec & x2 , SF's? But no 8 bar light I've seen him use yet.?.
Just so you know, i do not leave comments or suggestions on anyones videos. Only a watcher.
Lmk, if we're taking about the same guy & i can answer your question.
Hope all is well in your hood!

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miyagifungi said:

Thanks for the reply. Yes we are talking about the same guy. Im not sold on LEDs yet. Just gathering as many peoples opinions as possible. I did however come across a crazy situation and picked up 9 of the 8 bar spectre phasers. I couldn't pass on the deal. I believe you have ran an 8 bar led and was just curious on what your thoughts were and any suggestions. I was thinking about doing some side by sides with lights and nutrients and have a detailed grow journal. Wanted to get in contact with @homebrewer for some input on Dynagro.

Main question though is how do think the 8 bar led performs compared to the 1000 watt HPS? Again thanks for your time.

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Phaser X660 Pro | Spectre LED

spectreled.com

hybridway2 said:

My bad bud! Lost this post to reply.
These them?

Phaser X660 Pro | Spectre LED

spectreled.com

You're gonna rock that Thouie with those bro. Nice!
If there's any questions i may be able to help with lmk! Be happy to help. Can be a learning curve for many. But once dialed in, there's no going back.

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miyagifungi said:

My bad forgot to reply directly to your thread. I am still new to this. The forum that is lol.

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hybridway2 said:

My bad bud! Lost this post to reply.
These them?

Phaser X660 Pro | Spectre LED

spectreled.com

You're gonna rock that Thouie with those bro. Nice!
If there's any questions i may be able to help with lmk! Be happy to help. Can be a learning curve for many. But once dialed in, there's no going back.

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lukio said:

nice grow, dude.

whats the tipping from? ive had this on the last two MC grows at 0.9 ec. ive switched nutes

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1gfunk1 said:

What you changed too? Ionic me or thinking jacks 123 or RO.

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homebrewer said:

Well you can either add pH-up or you can add something beneficial to the plants. Your choice.
Advanced growers don't need instructions. Just a pH pen and a TDS meter.
I think you mean silicon, which is the 2nd most abundant element on earth.
I'll agree that their feeding schedule is not great, but only inexperienced growers follow schedules. To that, I've seen maybe one feeding schedule from a single plant food company that I'd consider spot on. All the rest of them instruct their users to overfeed and are overly complicated. Once you understand that feeding schedules exist more to move product than any other reason, you can stop taking them so literally.
When mixing a fresh res with any plant food, silica should be added first, as you already know. You *could* also use it after everything is all mixed up to adjust the pH of your reservoir with zero issues BUT that is likely giving your plants more silica than needed. It's really no different than growers feeding plants additional amounts of cal/mag when their base nutrients already contain it. Feeding plants more of any single element than needed can cause nutritional issues in the plant.
Maybe you don't understand water chemistry? The bicarbonate content of your tap water buffers pH. If you use RO water then adding any plant food to it will cause the pH to drop significantly. For example, MegaCrop at 1.1 EC in RO water produces a resulting pH of 5.02. Straight DynaGro with my tap water results in a pH of 5.9. MC with my tap water results in a pH of 6.4ish. I fail to see the issue, regardless of where the pH falls. Have you heard of pH-up and pH-down? lol

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lukio said:

lol i forgot about this thread after OP denied there was a problem with all that burn...haaaaaa.



yeah i dropped MC, they were fiddling with ratios and not telling people. theres more about it in another thread somewhere. Go with Jacks if you can get it.

good luck

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jzs147 said:

Can ya use megacrop in recirclating systems?

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1gfunk1 said:

What you useing atm ? Am In hydro dwc & using ionic grow & bloom plus a Few addertive.

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