Trying to swap nutrients

[Lulubutler]

I'm in week 3 of flowering and have been useing general hydroponic I ran out of the grow bottle and I wanted to try something difrent so I ordered the advance nutrient sample pack comes with like 8-9 direct bottles and I was wondering should I just finish up with the general hydroponic even though Im missing the grow bottle or switch now?

 

[Kepp89]

ive been told from someone about a year ago that you want to start and finish with one. if you have to switch, then do a minimal switch with an extended water only period to help flush out any remaining old fert in the soil f rom the bloom nute which is now empty.

i never looked into what he said. just what i remember him telling me. its why he said i shouldnt buy the sample pack without also buying i forget which 2 but you always run out at week X then you run into the switchover problem of if the plant will be happy or not/how much time she needs to figure out the change.

i would assume your best bet is to add the new bloom stuff at 1/4 strength at most and keep the rest as is. dont do this until youve watered 3-4 times with straight h2o. then next time around make sure you have enough of all your nutes before you start

 

[Ikkt]

No, don't.
Use the Lukas ratio.
It's proven and works quite well.

Have you searched for Lucas formula and saw what great crops people grow with it?
If not DO IT!
Good gardeners get great yields of top quality with nothing more than a simple NPK fertilizer. That's a well known fact.
Most of the time as succesfull gardener you do nothing, just watch!
All those extra bottles are just there to superficially cover lack of skill, keep you occupied so you feel as if you'd do something necessary or to get your money. To use add ons really successfully you need to know what you're doing.
And they make it hard to learn the fundamentals of growing a good crop if you just put em in with no idea.

You absolutely don't need 9 bottles, more bottles don't make a better crop!
I never tried a booster or such that didn't fuck up the flavor, everything tastes the same: like generic commercial artifical flavored bud.
That's not what I'm growing for.

If you weren't using a delicate system like Dwc I'd recommend just one bottle: Flora nova grow. Perhaps bloom for the last two weeks but it's not needed.
Hard to get at first, but it is really that simple.

PS: All the organic stuff and the urea/carbamates in AN don't play well with water culture IMHO. If there's nothing in your pack already get a bacteria/myco/trichoderma product to avoid rot before your system is run in.

 

[Lulubutler]

Alright I ran into a much bigger problem spoder mites I heard all over use neem oil so I did I used 2ml in 1lt with 3 drops of soap and spray buds lightly and sprayed decently all overy the rest of the plants should I wash my buds cause now I'm hearing neem oil will mess ur buds up I'm about 3 week into flowering going into 4 weeks

 

[Lulubutler]

And Im taking ur advice I'm returning the 9 bottles and just gonna keep it simple

 

[Kepp89]

I would wash the buds when harvesting, and only spray again with neem if it gets worse. Take the branches and dip them into 3 different buckets. I forget the reason but google washing buds at harvest. Usually see them use 3 buckets with agents in them.

You don’t really ever want to spray the buds more than you need to. It’s easy for them to hold moisture and give mold a great cranny to grow and destroy your work

 

[Ikkt]

The only thing I found really effective for spidermites is abamectine. If you can find a product with it you can spray it on the fan leaves but not the buds/sugar leaves. That's often hard to do but with your two rather smallish plants it should be pretty doable.

It's non systemic but stays in the cuticle layer and kills every mite that tries to feed on the fan leaves. That often works well cause those little bastards don't like the buds when they start to get resinous and sticky, so they have to retreat to the toxic fan leaves if they aren't enough yet to put webs over the buds.

I always recommend, and do so myself, to spray abamectine twice, first time after a Clone is established and a second time about a week after the flip before they start budding. That way spidermites will never be a problem again and your buds stay clean of nasty stuff like neem, oils or worse. I do it every run, not when I have mites but as precaution. Only thing that's important is to use the right concentration so they get killed for good and don't develop resistance!

Neem hasn't been more effective than hosing down the plant with water for me and all other things I've tried where more a desperate band aid than a fix in my experience. Others experiences differ, spidermites can be harder or easier to kill or control depending on a lot of things.
So I can't give advice on anything else. Except spraying plants with water and as much pressure the plants can take. That's not a solution but it'll buy you time till you've got something on hand.


About the AN, you can try it but I just wouldn't recommend it for beginners. Simple formulas like Lucas, two or one part nutrients are really nice cause you can concentrate more on other aspects without worrying what to put in you nutrient solution.
As you can see with the mites there is a lot to keep an eye on so it's a plus to have a simple solution for feeding. Especially if your starting your first grows with Dwc.
When you've made your first couple grows without major problems I'd say it's time to slowly start experimenting.
Always one step at a time, patience is the most important skill I had to learn for successful gardening!

 

[Trustfall]

ive been told from someone about a year ago that you want to start and finish with one. if you have to switch, then do a minimal switch with an extended water only period to help flush out any remaining old fert in the soil f rom the bloom nute which is now empty.

i never looked into what he said. just what i remember him telling me. its why he said i shouldnt buy the sample pack without also buying i forget which 2 but you always run out at week X then you run into the switchover problem of if the plant will be happy or not/how much time she needs to figure out the change.

i would assume your best bet is to add the new bloom stuff at 1/4 strength at most and keep the rest as is. dont do this until youve watered 3-4 times with straight h2o. then next time around make sure you have enough of all your nutes before you start

There is nothing wrong with switching nutrient company’s half way through flower as long as you know what your doing. Your friend is full of crap.

I used new mellinium through week 4 then switched right over to botanicare till flush.
Are you a member at RIU?

 

[Ikkt]

"...As long as you know what you're doing."

That's the point. Someone who asks this question obviously lacks the experience to go all over the place with different fertilizers. Can work out OK but could also lead to hard to diagnose problems.
So while I too don't agree with the flushing and straight water nonsense I'd suggest for the first grow to keep it as simple and consistent as possible.

And no need for insults, doesn't make for a stronger argument...

 

[Trustfall]

"...As long as you know what you're doing."

That's the point. Someone who asks this question obviously lacks the experience to go all over the place with different fertilizers. Can work out OK but could also lead to hard to diagnose problems.
So while I too don't agree with the flushing and straight water nonsense I'd suggest for the first grow to keep it as simple and consistent as possible.

And no need for insults, doesn't make for a stronger argument...

It doesn’t lead to hard to diagnose problems. Most problems after mid flower are not going to be fixed anyway. Just ride them out.
And when I said as long as you know what your doing that is as simple as making sure your EC is similar to what you were feeding before.

 

[Lulubutler]

Ya I can say I don't know much yet but love to learn I appreciate all yalls help I'm gonna switch to the Lucas formale next batch cause I don't have the money to switch right now but maybe the next batch will be much easier n better thank yall here's an updated pic of the buds 3 going into 4