Wow, I've not heard of most of those, apart from lucas formula', that's what I do now.
GH flora series 0/8/16 under a 400w HPS.
I think lucas formula' is pretty sweet so i'd be really interested to find out about what Snowblinds up too especially as he's moved on from Lucas to a better way!
Can you tell me more Snowblind please? have you got any links or such?
Also why do you think its better than Lucas'? is it yield or taste?? can't be for ease of use, Lucas' is brain dead simple.
Thanks for the reply's dude, I got some good stuff to look at there!
...BudZ...
It is a lot to get into and right now I dont have the time because I need to get ready for work. I also really dont want to offend anyone. A lot of people grow a certain way and get results that make them happy so I dont want to piss those people off.
Most people do not understand, nor do they care to learn the elemental breakdown of what they are feeding their plants! If you dont know the exact elemental percentages of your nutes, then you are basically out of touch with your plants and unable to fully understand whatever it is that they might be trying to tell you. Are you just mixing up your nutes with no calculator? Lucas was big on understanding these numbers, so for this he is spot on and a good influence!
Lucas was good for getting me to understand the PPM and percentages of elements of what I was giving the plants. His numbers however are based on the work of a dude named PH and Mel Frank. Its now 2011 and tissue samples are and have been done on pot plants. The numbers from tissue sample are not what Lucas uses! You need way less Phosphorus in your nutes for example!
With Jacks in Flower im close to these numbers!
N...113
P.....41
K....171
Ca...90
Mg...50
S.....65
535 elemental ppm
Keep at 5.7 ph
3 grams per gal Jacks Pro Hydro Special (A)
1.8 grams per gal CaN03 calcium nitrate (B)
Ph rises a lot so I add ph down. Depending on what you use it will add a little N or P to your numbers. When you recirculate you can buffer ph by running a slightly different profile, however, I stay on top of my PH chages every day. A lot of people dont have either the time or the urge to do this. When your ph is buffered there is little fluctuation.
The Jacks is very cheap. It costs more to ship it then to buy the nutes themselves!
I add epsom salts for Mag as needed...
I like the Ca:N ratio of .8 and the N:P ratio of .66 and the K:P at 4.17 a great deal. Those are very close to what I want to shoot for...
To recirculate without chaging your reso, like Lucas, is also a very bad practice. Not to offend anyone, but this the hallmark of lazy growing. When you addback nutes to standing reso water you have no idea what your plants have consumed or what they need or what will be in the nute mix. You never know where you are at. The overal ppm reading at this point will not reveal the exact elemental percentages. How much Nitrogen, how much calcium, how much Phosphorus is in your mix? You need to know these numbers!When you grow in soil in a sense you never know quite where you are at in terms of the root zone and whats being taken in. Hydro gives you more control at the root zone over the uptake of nutes. You need to utilize this control. Changing your reso at least once a week is a start. Add back only water and ph down to 5.7 at all times! Idealy you would change your reso at least every three days. Once a week at minimum.
Let me put it like this. You dont drink water, piss it out then drink it all over again do you? You drain to waste your own nutrients from your body. Why would you make your plants drink their own waste water over and over and over? That is a bad idea. It does not make any sense at all to me now. I cant believe that I would not change my reso before for weeks and felt so clever. Now I realize I was a dumbass!
When you feed the plants a balenced formula such as Jacks you need little to no flush at all. The weed will burn to a clean grey ash with little to know flush. Here is a link to a great thread on another forum. This thread is very long and very informative. I would take the time to read the entire thread too. If you read this entire thread you will be a better grower! The disscussion of Jacks Hydroponic formula starts up kinda later so keep reading to find it. After using the Jacks Hydro formula I feel that it is the easiest product to use with the best results. Crazy results!
Really a great thread!
They make the Jack Hydroponic Formula.
You can grow weed a lot of ways with a lot of formulas so to each their own. I used Lucas at first and thought my plants looked good, however, looking back now I see that they were not optimized all always lacked something! I see deficiencies with most pictures posted on the internet of pot plants. Your plants have a language, and you need to learn it.
I would never buy a AN product and the entire fert industry is a joke! Be very carefull what you purchase and understand that nutes are basic salts and nothing more. Really nothing more. You can easily make your own nutes, but that is a different disscussion. You might not like the Fatman, but we have a great thread on the Farm here about making your own nutes. Again I would encourage everyone to read this thread to better understand whats up with fertilizers in general.
Ive already had plants grow so big with Jacks that I lost control of them! Best yield, taste and overall health so far. Is Jacks the best? Well no, but it is a good base to start and understand whats really going on with your plants....let me know if you have some specific questions......anyone else here reading this using the Jacks Hydroponic formula with Ca Nitrate?