See I'm all up for this, although the market is smaller in England so I might be hard pushed to find the ingredients, but this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. What were the differences you mentioned?
Kelphumic- Almost double veg growth speed and eating more
Silica- thicker stems and petioles that can support noticeably more weight
Sugar- overnight stickiness on basically any plant very noticeable to the touch on a live plant
Microbes- more roots and eating more
These are not all of the effects just the noticeable stuff in side by sides. These are the most dramatic effects listed. I use all of these at different times if I'm attempting to maximize growth rate, flowering speed, and yield. I'll list usage after products.
Kelp humic:
zeus juice by
nftg, nirvana by an,
liquid karma by
botanicare, golden tree
Silica: and potassium silicate works.
Dynagro protekt and
general hydroponics armorsi are the cheapest liquids and agsil is a super cheap powder.
Sugar: sweet series by
botanicare,
bud candy by an, a million other products. I haven't heavily gone through researching these yet but the formulas are similar. Glucose,maltose,dribose. I plan to test raw ingredients and sucrose soon but haven't yet. What i do know: do not tend to dramatically fluff buds like some growers(cervantes) and products claim, but can make just about any plant instantly sticky to the touch. I also have seen studies showing that it delays flowering initiation at high and low concentrations in the dicot used in studies most similar to cannabis, so i only use after budset, if i want to. I don't always use sugars though some smokers love them and some hate them. I like
bud candy of the two more these days but don't use them all the time.
Microbes:
great white, og biowar,
mykos &
azos,
voodoo juice, a million other products
For usage:
Kelphumic: i use this on anything i want to veg faster and all through flower. It's not super noticeable late flower but it's so noticeable in every other stage that i use it because i hope its changes are still effective just not visible. I Just use whatever rate the product says or raw powders at a 2kelp:5humic ratio, which comes from a famous study and has proven efficacy.
Silica: You would use ideally all the time but i usually start it at flip and run it until swell finishes or just before. It usually allows me to not have to stake until the very end or not at all vs. as soon as they swell at all without. It also helps a lot in hot gardens. It's something that's abundant in the earth but totally absent in peat, coco, and hydro(So basically all indoor plants) mediums and mixes. I use it at a tsp/gallon, which is max dosage recommended on
protekt and armorsi iirc.
Sugar: already explained a little but i just use recommended rates and start it at week 4 if I'm going to use it. I tend to use all of these once or twice a week depending on medium. Just squeeze a small bud to feel for stickiness after using sugar and see how many days its sticky for afterwards, reapply accordingly. In peat i find its about 4 days per water.
Microbes: i use these at transplant, once a week in flower with my rinse feed, and use them the entire time in hydro. They prevent root rot(hydrogard, etc.) And i find increase root growth and health pretty dramatically. I sprinkle the powder on roots at transplant, water it in weekly, and use it at recommended rates or 1tsp. per plant, whichever smaller usually. Most are 1 tsp. that i use(og biowar and
great white both are iirc).
That's all i got time for for now. There's other honourable mentions and products i believe in and a few i want to believe in but can't prove or haven't tested well enough yet. Rough list of other proven or semiproven additives or products: harpin proteins, fish emulsion, amino acids, yeast extract, aloe, fulvic acid, enzymes, and i might be forgetting a couple. I consider all of those as proven but maybe not proven, useful, or reasonable for cannabis use. Or im just not sure yet on any of those. I'm not claiming to be an expert or anything, just most of my focus growing has been on learning and additive efficacy. Basically i grow the same cuts frequently while testing. 10 control, 5 test 1, 5 test 2, 5 test 3, wouldn't be uncommon with the different tests being dosages of a single additive.