Anyone using Botanicare in Soil?

Newty · May 31, 2024

I have 6 Frostette seedlings growing in solo cups and Happy Frog, I'm looking to switch nutrients for this grow and would like some input.
I will be going to 2 parts Ocean Forest and 1 part Happy Frog when I transplant.

I'm considering using Botanicare Kind Base, Kind Grow, and Kind Bloom or the Pure Blend Pro Grow and Pure Blend Pro Bloom.

No matter if I use Kind or Pure Blend Pro, I will also be looking at using Silica Blast and I might also try their Pure Plend Tea, Vitamino, and also keep some Cal-Mag plus on hand.

My last few grows have been with General Hydroponics Flora Series, the Botanicare Kind series sounds similar with it having a 3 part with the Base needing mixed first.

I've always fed 50% less then the feed chart advertised for the Flora Series, would the same advice apply to Botanicare?

Does anyone have experience with Botanicare nutrients and supplements when growing in soil and what are your impressions?

Thanks!

Newty · Jun 6, 2024

I see I didn't get any feedback which is understandable because when I searched Botanicare on the forum as well on Google, I didn't really find a lot of info or first hand experiences.
I decided I'm going to try it anyways so I placed an order online and received it yesterday.

I will be using Pure Blend Pro Grow, Pure Blend Pro Soil, Silica Blast, Liquid Karma, Hydroplex, Vitamino, Pure Blend Tea, and CalMag Plus.
I'll be posting a grow diary soon so if anyone is curious about Botanicare Nutrients and Supplements, they can see how they are working for me there.

I have another question though so I'll just ask it here.
I've never added perlite to Fox Farm soil before but I figured it's going to help more then hurt so I'll be adding 10% or so to my soil.
Does brand of perlite matter?
Is there anything I need to look out for when purchasing such as additives that might be harmful?
What size do you generally use?

chinaoreo · Jun 10, 2024

congrats. i just ordered a bunch of pure blend pro myself. first time using it but have read nothing but very good things. i have ran the cns17 line with excelllent results..so ima kinda stoked..!

johnnynitro · Jun 10, 2024

I have used PureBlendPro for years. As well as silica blast & the tea. Always outstanding results. Even PBP on its own (nothing else) worked well. It's my #1 Choice

Newty · Jun 10, 2024

chinaoreo said:
congrats. i just ordered a bunch of pure blend pro myself. first time using it but have read nothing but very good things. i have ran the cns17 line with excelllent results..so ima kinda stoked..!

johnnynitro said:
I have used PureBlendPro for years. As well as silica blast & the tea. Always outstanding results. Even PBP on its own (nothing else) worked well. It's my #1 Choice

Thank you both for replying!!! I feel better about my purchase now lol.

I'm running GH Flora Series in my smaller tent grow right now, I started adding Botanicare Liquid Karma to that yesterday just to see what happens lol.

The Botanicare full line will be used in my bigger tent grow, should be transplanting this coming weekend and will start a grow diary then!

chinaoreo · Jun 10, 2024

If you really do some digging online, you can find a few people comparing PBP to AN and CANNA with the PBP coming out on top exp with smell and taste.. Everybody these days says go cheap powder and it does work. I’m just about to finish up a 25 pound bag of master crop.. but I will tell you that since I quit using botaniccare my quality fell off drastically too. There are a lot of people just like me sold on the botanicare and the Terps it provides. IMO

PooToe · Jun 10, 2024

I've experienced the opposite. Botanicare, AN, Athena, etc. are, IMO, overpriced. I've run at minimum 10 -20 crops with these brands and have never seen a real difference in taste or potency. As important as nutrients are to plants, again IMO, environment is equally if not more important.

I use GH FloraNova. Same shit as their 3 part series but already mixed together so one bottle instead of 3. It's cheap, easy and effective. After having run through practically every brand out there I've come to the conclusion that most of them are just selling you hype and nice bottle artwork.

chinaoreo · Jun 10, 2024

floranova is the equivalent to pure blend pro but much more expensive..

PooToe · Jun 10, 2024

chinaoreo said:
floranova is the equivalent to pure blend pro but much more expensive..

Really? Might wanna break out the calculator on this one...

Price source Hydrobuilder

1 gal of Pure Blend Pro - $36.92
1 gal of FloraNova - $63.32

Recommended Dosages

Pure Blend Pro - 7-8ml /gal
FloraNova - 2.5ml/gal

There are 3786ml in a gallon.

Pure Blend Pro - 3786/7 =540.86 applications per gallon
FloraNova - 3786/2.5 = 1514.40 applications per gallon

FloraNova contains almost 3 times the amount of nutrient applications as Pure Blend Pro.

Price per ml

Pure Blend Pro - $36.92/541 = $.07
FloraNova - $63.32/1515 = $.04

A gallon of FloraNova Grow costs around 40% more than a gallon of Pure Blend Pro but provides 3 times as many applications. This would equal out to a gallon of FloraNova providing approximately 30% more nutrient than a gallon of Pure Blend Pro but costing almost half per ml.

After years of using many of these brands I got tired of buying water and sat down and did a cost analysis of each. For ease of use and effectiveness FloraNova kept coming out on top. Using Pure Blend Pro at anything less than the recommended dosages will usually result in deficiencies. I've never had to use more than half the recommended dosage with FloraNova so the cost for FloraNova is actually around .02/ml.

Use what you think works best for you but do some actual math if cost factors into your grows. I've worked at commercial grows and most of them use GH or Dyna Gro. It's rare that you see them use AN or Botanicare as their main brand. Those brands tend to be used mostly by hobby growers like us.

Honestly, if you are at a commercial grower level, brand shouldn't really matter as they are all very similar in performance. It's what the operator does with the product in regard to timing and manipulating the ratios that comes from experience that matters most.

Taste and potency mainly come from genetics. Those two categories will vary with the growers skill more than what he's feeding his plants. If he can bring down temps the last few weeks and the genetics are good you'll have smelly ass dank that tastes good. If not then you'll be smoking hay. Nothing to do with what nutrient he fed it.

chinaoreo · Jun 10, 2024

Very excellent layman terms breakdown and makes sense. You def have more experience with the Nutes.. I got the PBP 2.5 gallons for 66$ so abit cheaper .. I’ll try the floranova next.. thanks growmie

PooToe · Jun 11, 2024

chinaoreo said:
Very excellent layman terms breakdown and makes sense. You def have more experience with the Nutes.. I got the PBP 2.5 gallons for 66$ so abit cheaper .. I’ll try the floranova next.. thanks growmie

No worries my Dude! We're all here to cut through the broscience and get to the meat of what works best for our goals!

Growing dank doesn't have to be expensive if you know the right questions to ask.

AZreefer · Jun 11, 2024

I was on the fence with dyna gro because i like simple. You just sold me.

Newty · Jun 11, 2024

PooToe said:
I use GH FloraNova. Same shit as their 3 part series but already mixed together so one bottle instead of 3. It's cheap, easy and efeffectivk.

Is the FloraNova more concentrated? I'm currently using the regular Flora 3 part, they call for as much as 15 ml/gal per bottle while the FloraNova is 7.5ml/gal.
I cut the 3 part Flora feed chart in half but was just wondering if FloraNova is the same but all in 1 bottle, why is the ml/gal half of the regular Flora series. I'm guessing it is just much more concentrated.

Smokey0418 · Jun 11, 2024

I ran a 3 part for a very very long time by green air products.
Genesis . I ran the ammonia based one.
This would come as a pablum in jug and you would add warm water to dilute to a jug of liquid fertilizer .

But having trouble locating it I turned to botanicare, pro.
Growing in soil at the time I found this be a great mix , just the one bottle was easy.

But in hydro this fertilizer was not being very Kind , no pun intended.

So I switched to Botanicare Kind. I would using this at 3/5 th strength at just over 1 ec and have enjoyed it .

But my understanding is that Kind has been discontinued, so sooner or later I’m going to have to change or again find some older stock.

PooToe · Jun 11, 2024

Newty said:
Is the FloraNova more concentrated? I'm currently using the regular Flora 3 part, they call for as much as 15 ml/gal per bottle while the FloraNova is 7.5ml/gal.
I cut the 3 part Flora feed chart in half but was just wondering if FloraNova is the same but all in 1 bottle, why is the ml/gal half of the regular Flora series. I'm guessing it is just much more concentrated.

From where I sit? Yes. One of the things I was trying to illustrate was there is more to finding cheap nutes than just the initial price. Sometimes it's better to spend more and get more +. I usually run my volume runs in my 5 x 5 tent and a quart of FN Grow will last me almost 3 grows while FN Bloom will get me through almost 2 grows. With FloraNova, 2.5ml/gal dosages are for drain to waste feedings like you typically do in soil. The 7.5 is if you're using hydroponics where you're recirculating the feed solution.

If you look over the analysis I did, most people using Pure Blend Pro would continue buying Pure Blend Pro thinking their getting a deal vs those stupid FloraNova users paying twice what the PBP buyers are. The thing is once you dive deeper you realize that for the applications that you get from a gallon of FloraNova vs PBP you would actually pay over $100 for the same amount of applications a $60 gallon of FloraNova provides.

As I said before, use what works best for you but dig a little deeper. WHY is Pure Blend Pro so much cheaper than FloraNova? After I did my analysis I realized that what's important is not the brand but the amount of applications you're buying. Most all the brands out there all pretty much do the same thing. When I hear people say that this or that nutrient gave them great terps or more resinous flowers or whatever other accolade they want to hang on their nutrients I just shake my head. Nutrients are there for the plant to use to make sugar to fuel growth. It doesn't care if that nutrient ion came from Advanced Nutrients Connoisseurs blend or Miracle Gro. Genetics is what primarily provides the amount of terps or thc your flower possesses. Grower skill follows in regard to upgrading or degrading those categories.

Newty · Jun 11, 2024

PooToe said:
From where I sit? Yes. One of the things I was trying to illustrate was there is more to finding cheap nutes than just the initial price. Sometimes it's better to spend more and get more +. I usually run my volume runs in my 5 x 5 tent and a quart of FN Grow will last me almost 3 grows while FN Bloom will get me through almost 2 grows. With FloraNova, 2.5ml/gal dosages are for drain to waste feedings like you typically do in soil. The 7.5 is if you're using hydroponics where you're recirculating the feed solution.

If you look over the analysis I did, most people using Pure Blend Pro would continue buying Pure Blend Pro thinking their getting a deal vs those stupid FloraNova users paying twice what the PBP buyers are. The thing is once you dive deeper you realize that for the applications that you get from a gallon of FloraNova vs PBP you would actually pay over $100 for the same amount of applications a $60 gallon of FloraNova provides.

As I said before, use what works best for you but dig a little deeper. WHY is Pure Blend Pro so much cheaper than FloraNova? After I did my analysis I realized that what's important is not the brand but the amount of applications you're buying. Most all the brands out there all pretty much do the same thing. When I hear people say that this or that nutrient gave them great terps or more resinous flowers or whatever other accolade they want to hang on their nutrients I just shake my head. Nutrients are there for the plant to use to make sugar to fuel growth. It doesn't care if that nutrient ion came from Advanced Nutrients Connoisseurs blend or Miracle Gro. Genetics is what primarily provides the amount of terps or thc your flower possesses. Grower skill follows in regard to upgrading or degrading those categories.

I appreciate all your insight!!!
I use to only grow organic, prep and setup with my busy life made me switch to liquid nutes. I've only used a handful of different brands and while I've had success with those brands, I like to try new things so I said why not Botanicare. I'll see how it goes but if it ends up costing me an arm and a leg, I'll switch.
I purchased 8 quart bottles of different Botanicare nutes/supplements, it cost me $93 from the supplier I purchased from but that was on sale.

Smokey0418 said:
I ran a 3 part for a very very long time by green air products.
Genesis . I ran the ammonia based one.
This would come as a pablum in jug and you would add warm water to dilute to a jug of liquid fertilizer .

But having trouble locating it I turned to botanicare, pro.
Growing in soil at the time I found this be a great mix , just the one bottle was easy.

But in hydro this fertilizer was not being very Kind , no pun intended.

So I switched to Botanicare Kind. I would using this at 3/5 th strength at just over 1 ec and have enjoyed it .

But my understanding is that Kind has been discontinued, so sooner or later I’m going to have to change or again find some older stock.

I've used for 3 grows the 3 part GH Flora series, I read somewhere that it's the same thing as the Botanicare KIND series but I never confirmed it.
GH and Botanicare are both owned by Hawthorne/Scotts so it wouldn't surprise me.

HeadHunterpipes · Jun 11, 2024

I use Canna Aqua and Silica Gold .. plus Zinc Iron Boron CalMag .
I use 45% of recommended doses. Completely wild to see how fast a plant can grow when your nailing the plant with everything it needs .
Hopefully I can keep this up.
Ps It did how ever make me start to use allot of PH down, Now I am making my own,,

PooToe · Jun 11, 2024

Newty said:
I appreciate all your insight!!!
I use to only grow organic, prep and setup with my busy life made me switch to liquid nutes. I've only used a handful of different brands and while I've had success with those brands, I like to try new things so I said why not Botanicare. I'll see how it goes but if it ends up costing me an arm and a leg, I'll switch.
I purchased 8 quart bottles of different Botanicare nutes/supplements, it cost me $93 from the supplier I purchased from but that was on sale.

I've used for 3 grows the 3 part GH Flora series, I read somewhere that it's the same thing as the Botanicare KIND series but I never confirmed it.
GH and Botanicare are both owned by Hawthorne/Scotts so it wouldn't surprise me.

The most important part of choosing a nutrient is how many applications the volume you're looking at will provide. A Nitrogen ion is a nitrogen ion. One is not better than another. The only real thing you can do to improve on it is to chelate them to make them easier for the soil microbes in the rhizosphere to present to the roots. Nitrogen from AN is the same as nitrogen from Miracle Gro.

If you really want to dial in your nutrition program learn what each ion does on its own. For example, if I'm trying to keep everything organic but want some of the flexibility that synthetics give you, add Fulvic and Humic acids into your program. Fulvic will increase your root structure along with adding some extra iron and magnesium to your soil. Humic will increase microbial activity along with making nutrient uptake more available to the plant similar to chelating your synthetic ions.

I assume you have more than a few grows under your belt so you have a basic understanding of how they work in the soil. Expand that knowledge and you'll be amazed at how much easier it is to make your own ratios based on what your girls are telling you at the time. THAT, my friend, is how you separate the novices from the pro's. Most average growers will keep feeding the same ratio throughout the feed but if you can feed what they are wanting at the time you'll see some real gains in dry weight. Timing is a large part of growing. Time it right and you get donkey dicks. Time it wrong and you get inchworms.

Sativajoe · Jun 12, 2024

PooToe said:
I've experienced the opposite. Botanicare, AN, Athena, etc. are, IMO, overpriced. I've run at minimum 10 -20 crops with these brands and have never seen a real difference in taste or potency. As important as nutrients are to plants, again IMO, environment is equally if not more important.

I use GH FloraNova. Same shit as their 3 part series but already mixed together so one bottle instead of 3. It's cheap, easy and effective. After having run through practically every brand out there I've come to the conclusion that most of them are just selling you hype and nice bottle artwork.

Gh floranova in 1 bottle? I haven't seen that before, sounds interesting, can you elaborate

PooToe · Jun 12, 2024

Sativajoe said:
Gh floranova in 1 bottle? I haven't seen that before, sounds interesting, can you elaborate

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