Switching away from bottled nutrients

spek9

Well-Known Member
Hey all, it's been quite a long time since I've posted anything but questionable advice to folk, so I'm going to start a new journal to document my current experiment of switching from General Hydroponics Flora 3-part nutrients to Jack's 5-12-26, Calcium Nitrate, and Mono Potassium Phosphate powdered water-soluble nutrients.

This post will detail some of the numbers. Moving forward, I'll include pictures of everything. From the scales used for measuring, to the stock tanks I'm storing in, to the plants I'm growing with the new mix.

To kick things off, I did some rough number calculations last night. I was very high from both edibles as well as a couple of rare bong hits while watching Westworld (the original movie) with the wife so numbers may be off a tad, but...

With GH Flora, I calculated that at maximum, using their recommended dosage of the Micro blend, I could get 94.6 gallons of mixed nutrient solution. With the new nutrients, I purchased 1kg of the 5-12-26, Calcium Nitrate and MKP. Based on measurements of the 5-12-26 (the most used portion), I will get, at maximum (again, using the recommended amount), approximately 312.5 gallons of mixture.

I looked over previous receipts of my GH, and the single receipt of the new nutrients:

GH: $48.50 (CDN) for 94.6 gal mixed (all three parts)
New: $34 (CDN) for 312.5 gal mixed (all three parts)

You can see that for a much lesser price, the new nutrient solution is significantly less expensive, but it'll produce more than three times the amount. Imagine if I purchased in 4kg amounts! Not only that, the GH states a minimum amount of each nutrient in the bottle to protect proprietary information. The new nutrients state exact proportions. ie. I know what's going in.

I put together a five gallon bucket with a tap, to mix a small, two gallon test mixture of the new mix as follows:

- 5-12-15: 7.2g
- Calnit: 4.8g

That's 3.6g of base, and 2.4g of calnit per gallon.

I put four freshly rooted clones out of my aerocloner into my Sunshine #4 medium, and gave them a full dose of the new mixture.

I've got a lot of work to do in all of my tents tonight, so next feed (two days), I will begin upping pictures and further information.

Because this is a full blown experiment that will reach my production product tents, I'll be keeping a very detailed diary of things, until the feeding becomes muscle memory.

Based on Renfro's awesome Nutrient Calculator, here's where I am currently:

1588196706378.png

@jondamon requested he be notified when I start this journal. Consider it done ;)
 
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jondamon

Well-Known Member
Hey all, it's been quite a long time since I've posted anything but questionable advice to folk, so I'm going to start a new journal to document my current experiment of switching from General Hydroponics Flora 3-part nutrients to Jack's 5-12-26, Calcium Nitrate, and Mono Potassium Phosphate powdered water-soluble nutrients.

This post will detail some of the numbers. Moving forward, I'll include pictures of everything. From the scales used for measuring, to the stock tanks I'm storing in, to the plants I'm growing with the new mix.

To kick things off, I did some rough number calculations last night. I was very high from both edibles as well as a couple of rare bong hits while watching Westworld (the original movie) with the wife so numbers may be off a tad, but...

With GH Flora, I calculated that at maximum, using their recommended dosage of the Micro blend, I could get 94.6 gallons of mixed nutrient solution. With the new nutrients, I purchased 1kg of the 5-12-26, Calcium Nitrate and MKP. Based on measurements of the 5-12-26 (the most used portion), I will get, at maximum (again, using the recommended amount), approximately 312.5 gallons of mixture.

I looked over previous receipts of my GH, and the single receipt of the new nutrients:

GH: $48.50 (CDN) for 94.6 gal mixed (all three parts)
New: $34 (CDN) for 312.5 gal mixed (all three parts)

You can see that for a much lesser price, the new nutrient solution is significantly less expensive, but it'll produce more than three times the amount. Imagine if I purchased in 4kg amounts! Not only that, the GH states a minimum amount of each nutrient in the bottle to protect proprietary information. The new nutrients state exact proportions. ie. I know what's going in.

I put together a five gallon bucket with a tap, to mix a small, two gallon test mixture of the new mix as follows:

- 5-12-15: 7.2g
- Calnit: 4.8g

That's 3.6g of base, and 2.4g of calnit per gallon.

I put four freshly rooted clones out of my aerocloner into my Sunshine #4 medium, and gave them a full dose of the new mixture.

I've got a lot of work to do in all of my tents tonight, so next feed (two days), I will begin upping pictures and further information.

Because this is a full blown experiment that will reach my production product tents, I'll be keeping a very detailed diary of things, until the feeding becomes muscle memory.

Based on Renfro's awesome Nutrient Calculator, here's where I am currently:

View attachment 4549723

@jondamon requested he be notified when I start this journal. Consider it done ;)

Love it so far buddy. Very informative.

Gonna watch this so I don’t miss any updates.
 

spek9

Well-Known Member
Here's a few pics of my Blueberry x Afghani #1 F2 in three phases of growth. Note to breeders/chuckers that when I say F2, I only grew out five to 10 of the plants (5-10 males, same with females) to get where I am, so not a very diverse selection at all. Nonetheless, I've done what I could with the space and kit I had.

First pic shows three phases of flower. Closest is 5-6 weeks (the plant on the front-left is seeded F3). The middle plants are 2-3 weeks flower. The ones in the back are 10 weeks flower (2 more weeks before harvest).

first_second_third.jpg

Week five-six flower:

second.jpg

Two weeks from harvest:

third.jpg

I was amazed by how the seeded plant (front left of the first pic) required so much Nitrogen. I couldn't keep up. The entire plant is still yellow from my inability to keep up with the N requirements.

My Blueberry x Afghani #1 strain has both caused me so many inconsistent problems, but at the same time, so much enjoyment in its use. It's heaven to intake. It's just a bitch to grow. Calcium problems, Magnesium issues... it's like I can't feed them properly.

This strain is going to be an ideal test for the new nutrients.
 

spek9

Well-Known Member
New nutrients are working out very well so far.

Here's where I store the tanks and such (sorry for the bad pictures. My phone camera is acting funny, and I haven't had the time to dig out my photography kit):

20200521_163658.jpg

Multi-topped plant that's been in veg for eight weeks. I've got another just like it. They'll go into flower in two days. They're both my own Blueberry x Afghani #1 F1s. I'm shutting the cloner down for a run. I got a bunch of strains given to me by friends so I'm going to try something new while at the same time make some more seeds:

20200521_163533.jpg

Seeds from the BB x AF#1 F2 that finished last week. We're going to use the bud for tinctures, so I've only gathered the seeds that fell out of the plant during harvest. The rest will dry out completely, and we'll gather the remaining seeds at that time:

20200521_163603.jpg
 

spek9

Well-Known Member
I got a bit of finance from a small company who wants me to do some side-by-sides with a couple of their strains, so I pulled out a couple of tents and lamps from storage, and am currently setting up my third veg/flower environment in my basement. I've got just one area left down there that isn't occupied by growing.

Flower and veg tents, side by side. Like my other two environments, I'll be using one of my custom controllers to use the air from veg to warm the flower tent during lights-off. The yellow wire hanging everywhere connects the sensors to my controller (ESP8266-NodeMCU-12e based):

20200523_162656.jpg

20200523_163111.jpg

Yesterday, in my production environment, I dropped four (BBKxGSOC)xBBK seeds from the Bad Fish Bean Co. into 1/2gal pots. I've never grown them out before, but my intention is to hopefully get one male out of the four to breed back against itself to stock up on this strain.
 

spek9

Well-Known Member
I'm loving the new nutrients. Since I started using them at the beginning of May, I've made only three slight adjustments to the ratios. I'm still seeing a very slight N tox in a couple of the plants, so I'm going to reduce the N by 10 or so PPM by dropping my Calcium Nitrate slightly.

Here's what is in my stock tanks right now (before any change mentioned above. I'll make the change after my tanks are empty):

1592673259154.png

For flowering plants, I add in 1.6g of MKP per gallon:

1592673292407.png

So for plants under two weeks, I dilute the veg mixture to about 1/2 potency. Veg has a nice round 3-1-4 ratio, whereas flower is pretty close to to 1-1-2.

Amounts for the above are (per gallon of H2O):

Calcium Nitrate: 1.8 g
5-12-26: 3.6 g
Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus: 3.950 mL
MKP (when used): 1.6 g
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Coming up on pollination day.

Sour Diesel that I reversed with Colloidal Silver, about to drop pollen (pic taken a couple of days ago). Sorry about picture quality, I've been having some serious issues with my camera:

reversed_female_cannabis_plant.jpg

A Sour Diesel female that's been in flower for a few days that I'll be pollinating (6 week veg):

20200617_191343.jpg

...and one of my own strain, Blueberry x Afghani #1 (I call it Spiceberry). It'll be pollinated with SD pollen as well:

20200617_191451.jpg
 

Uprangewilly

Well-Known Member
Wow, that sour d male looks crazy. I’ve never seen a male stack like that. Very cool.
You have some beautiful and healthy looking plants.

I have also switched from multi part liquid nutrients to jacks. It’s been great, I won’t go back. Only problem I have is the storage. That damn calcium nitrate will draw moisture right out of the air and essentially melt away and become a mess if you don’t store it properly.
 

spek9

Well-Known Member
That damn calcium nitrate will draw moisture right out of the air and essentially melt away and become a mess if you don’t store it properly.
I've heard that, but I'm used to sensitive electronics and chemicals so I'm a stickler for safe and proper handling and storage so that's not an issue. It's also a significant hazard for your eyes and its corrosive, so I always don eye goggles and gloves along with an N95 mask when mixing my nutrients (Calnit doesn't go airborne like the Jack's does, but since I'm mixing them at the same time, I just wear my PPE for the whole process).
 
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