General Hydro GH 3-part shelf life....4 years??

[snowkitty]

Been working in a garden that is scrapping together everything from left over parts. Running drain to waste hydro. Had a lot of left over Advanced Nutrients...partial bottles here and there...so I was using AN Sensi Grow 2-part.

Made an interesting discovery which is that AN HAS INDEED changed their 2-part formula to be much more stable. When I started using the partial bottles of AN that were purchased in late 2008 or early 2009 (as opposed to ones I bought in 2010), after 3-5 days, there is a precipitation in the reservoir. This is drain to waste so it is from nothing else but the AN nutrients that were stable for the first 3 days and then started producing sediment.

Decided to scrap any leftover bottles of AN. THe new stuff worked great but the old AN formula definitely does not last more than 5 days without elements precipitating out and a nutrient deficiency showing up in the plants (looks like iron is getting locked out).

So now I have some BIG JUGS of General Hydroponics Flora 3-part Grow Micro Bloom. They have been sitting in a garage for 4 years. Not exposed to light. BUt also not climate controlled. They look fine with no sediment.

Are there any known reasons that the GH 3-part nutes should not survive 4 years?

 

[pikes peak 69]

Hello Snowkitty,

I think if you shake it good it would be ok. I've used GH 3part that was about 2 1/2 years old with no problems.
I would also think that if there would be problems they should have put a "use by date" on it.

But then again what do I know.LOL

pp69

 

[fractal]

GH 3 part is incredibly stable, unless you see things precipitated out of the solution it should be ok.

For a good and cheap grow nutrient I just switched from GH to CNS17 from botanicare. Wouldn't use a cheap fertilizer for blooming, but it kicks ass when used for vegging. Really produces big fuzzy roots, and it's a one part.

 

[snowkitty]

Nice to see you guys and thanks for the help! Things look fine after making one big batch. Now we'll see if the girls start looking happier on GH.

So I figured out the answer to my old question from a year ago. Yes, there are actually scientific changes in the new and improved AN formula.

BUT

I would hardly call that new and improved. I would call the old Sensi formulation fucked up. I used to get precipitation problems when I was running it but I always thought it was my own error or something in my hydroton recirculating. Now I know that there is a reason I got so frustrated trying to use the old AN Sensi. Thanks for improving your product so it works guys.