Lucas formula

[painroad]

I'm getting ready to start up my grow and was curious if anybody has a link to the lucas formula? I have searched but can't seem to find the actual formula just a lot of post talking about.

painroad

 

[Japanfreakier]

Do yourself a favor and don't use it. It sucks.

 

[B. Friendly]

ok dude here's the formula and here's a variation link. I'd go with the Rez's receipe and a few more GH products like, FloraNectar, Floralicious Plus, Diamond Nectar and FloraBlend
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=81674
Here's a good link for feeding products: http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/plant_enhance.html

Lucas Formula

General Hydroponics Flora Series Feeding Strategy - Lucas Formula

G-M-B (Grow-Micro-Bloom)
0-5-10 - For Vegetative cycle (18/6)
0-8-16 - For Flowering cycle (12/12)

The numbers above indicate the number of milliliters (ml) of Flora Grow, Micro or Bloom formulas that I use in one gallon (US Liquid) of nutrients.

You will notice I dont use any of the Flora “Grow” formula, do not need to, the Flora "Micro" provides plenty of Nitrogen.

There are two ways to work with this formula:

1. Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected water solution as required to maintain full reservoir level. After adding back an amount of water equal to the amount of your reservoir capacity you should change the reservoir and put in fresh solution.

2. Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected 100% strength nutrient solution as required to maintain full reservoir level. Continue to use this nutrient solution without dumping the tank unless the PPM rises above acceptable levels.

Between vegetative and flowering cycles you should dump your nutrients, then flush (possibly with Clearex) to remove salt buildups, then change to the other feeding program. Always shake your GH nutrient bottles before using them!

For young plants, just transplanted into the hydro setup, give them 50% strength nutrient mix to prevent overfeeding them while their young. Gradually bring up the mix to full strength as they grow over the next few weeks or so.

The lucas formula is normally intended for use with RO or near 0 PPM water.

NOTE: The Lucas formula eliminates the need for Epsom salts to correct (Magnesium) Mg deficiencies in most normal feeding programs recommended by manufacturers. Cannabis needs a lot of Magnesium to thrive.

The Flora Micro is providing the Nitrogen and the Magnesium in the proper balance, thus there is no need for the Grow formula and little or no room under the maximum acceptable ppm limit of 1600 @ 0.7 conversion.

Calculated EC/TDS levels:

EC microsiemen:
0-4-8: 946 µS
0-5-10: 1184 µS
0-8-16: 1894 µS

TDS @ 0.5 conversion:
0-4-8 = 473 ppm
0-5-10 = 592 ppm
0-8-16 = 947 ppm

TDS @ 0.7 conversion:
0-4-8 = 663 ppm
0-5-10 = 829 ppm
0-8-16 = 1326 ppm

Addback Calculator - (For Advanced Users)

Say you were running the 0-8-16 formula, at 0.7 conversion with a 22 gallon res. When you first fill it up, your ppm will be around 1330.

Now you have been growing for a week, and some of the water has been taken up by the plants, some has evaporated, and now your res is at 947 ppm. You need to get your ppm from 947 to 1330. Here is the equation:

((target - current) / target) * 8 ml per gallon * res gallons = Flora Micro (ml) double this figure to get Flora Bloom (ml)

Example:

((1330 - 947) / 1330) * 8 * 22
(383 / 1330) * 8 * 22
0.3 * 8 * 22 = 53 ml Flora Micro

53 ml Flora Micro, double that and you get 106 ml Flora Bloom. So 53 ml Flora Micro and 106 ml Flora Bloom to add back to your 22 gallon res to get you from 947 to 1330.

Using Hard Water GH Micro

I had been experimenting with using the Hard water Micro as a substitute for the normal Flora Micro, this to account for my hard 350 PPM water and the lack of a large enough RO filter at the time. It has worked well for me. I just kept my reservoir below 1150 PPM @ .5 conversion and its all good.

One tip - do not pH down this stuff, the hard water micro will drop pH gradually over the next 24 hours, for example I mix up a batch, it is at like 6.2, the next day, its at 5.6-5.8 after running in the system for a while. If I pH downed that to 5.7 before putting it in the system, it ended up as low as 4.8-5.2 by the next day.

My conclusion, the hard water micro was buffering the alkaline crud in my water, it just doesnot do it ASAP fast like the phosphoric acid. ---

 

[painroad]

Thanks for links and the reply... i also ran across rezs thread but thought it was for coco. I grow rockwool (6 in cubes) on perlite top feed with sprayers and have always just used the 3 part GH. But reading through all the threads waiting to get in my house. I figured i would try and change some things to see if could get some better results.

I'm a outdoor grower for the most part but have a couple yrs of growing this way indoors with decent results. But now i have a lot more space so i'm thinking about maybe changing my setup and the way i feed. But on this first run i'm gonna stick to what i know. I moved to the higher elavation and struggled big time indoors. So i wanted to get one under my belt to make sure i can produce prior to the move. Anyways sorry to ramble i'm high and watching high stakes poker

 

[painroad]

Ya i just read through rezs thread again and says it's for coco not recirculating which is the way my set up is. Any reason why the lucas formula sucks? I think that's the first time i've heard that before.

 

[slowandeasy]

Hey painroad,

You might like to try Maxi-Bloom. It is a dry fert, that is the Lucas Formula in a 1 part nute. I ran it this run, and loved it. I also started adding 100ppm of Magi-Cal, which helps with any cal-mag issues. Maxi-Bloom is very potent, just mix it a day ahead to make sure it is fully dissolved. Very cheap and easy, just make sure you have a good EC meter and watch the pH. Maxi-Bloom has ultrastable pH. As for the EC or PPM, if EC goes up your feeding too much...if it goes down, they are hungry. Good luck.

 

[one Q]

FloraSeries any about to a ratio of 1part Micro and 2parts Bloom. This is easy to adjust to plants that want less (or more which is rare) You can easily add a little more Bloom instead of getting another product for PK boosting. (dont flame)
MaxBloomi 1tsp/gallon MAX but could do less as needed by plants
TriFlex 6/9-Base/Bloom MAX
FloraNova 8ml/gallon or less as needed by plants.

Thats it off the top of my head. Good luck.

 

[Daddy-O]

.

 

[slowandeasy]

FloraNova bloom has too much gunk in it for hydro IMHO. Maxi-Bloom or Flora series are much cleaner to work with in hydro. I used FNB a few runs, it works...but have fun mixing it fully. My last bottle was crystalized and caused problems down the road. Which ever nute you choose, start light and read your plants.

 

[csharper]

wow guys - kinda the problem with these public forums - plus there was topic about this misinformation issue just last week....

so yeah, basically he asked about lucas forumula, and a bunch of guys spout of with combo of copy paste and their own personal unrelated experiences.

LOL - lucas forumula does not suck - but neither does gh 3 part if you have experience/sucess with that so far.

So again, lucas does not suck at all, but it is more than a formula - it is a whole methodology for managing your recirc hydro system. http://www.cannabis-world.org/cw/showthread.php?t=892

The "lucas forumula" info pasted in above is not the real deal, do yourself a favor and read that cw thread I linked from the man himself.

However, painroad, in your case, this is really just going to boil down to less waste/res changes - not an increased yield. You will not increase your yield with different nutrients or supplements unless you are not limited in any way by light or co2....

 

[Cheeb]

The "lucas forumula" info pasted in above is not the real deal, do yourself a favor and read that cw thread I linked from the man himself.

huh? The info pasted by B.Friendly is infact the "real deal" although lucas started just suggesting 8/16 for everything - only recommending 5/10 for floro grows. Everything else looks pretty spot on to me and I've been using the lucas formula for a hell of a long time. The CW thread is a good read however; if you ignore all the same questions over and over and over again to the guy.

The lucas formula - 8ml micro per gal / 16ml bloom per gal - thats it.
Lucas's idealogy and methods however get a little deeper then that I suppose, but 0-8-16 using floramicro and florabloom pretty much covers the dosage side of things.

PS - I think the lucas formula kicks ass and would put up a properly grown lucas formula bud of a great strain next to some nugs grown with other nutes/methods any day of the week. Plants want NPK and a good enviroment - everything else is genetic in my opinion.

I have no problem obtaining top notch quality frosty ass buds using the good ol' micro and bloom. I'll pass on the $45 a liter stuff...simply nothing in it to justify that cost.

peace
cheeb

 

[SOTF420]

Lucas formula grows dense monster buds, & alot less leaf. Great if you are going for yield.

In veg a 1/1/1 GH flora ratio works fantastic for very green & healthy big bushy plants.

 

[superusa]

This might help you if you decide to use the add back method. I had to do this for a friend anyway so i figured i would post it up here.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=160444

 

[superusa]

And I don't think the lucas formula sucks too bad....
Day 33 of flower:

 

[adrenachroman]

Do yourself a favor and don't use it. It sucks.

day 24 flower-GH Lucas formula-Church scrog.

 

[adrenachroman]

GH Lucas Formula Nightshade-400w hps

 

[adrenachroman]

GH Lucas formula Big Bud

 

[adrenachroman]

the last pic I flushed too early-still got 12 1/2 OZ from 400 w hps.Been using the Lucas formula for a while now, it definitely does not suck

 

[painroad]

Wow lots of responses since i last logged on, been busy finishing up my room all the great feed back is why i wanted to use this. I'm still not clear though when starting with clones i only use half strength? And also the add back if i'm in a 30 gal res and add 5 gal not sure how much nutes to add. But once i add 30 gals back then i dump res and start a new one? Thanks everybody i love ICMAG so much knowledge...

 

[slowandeasy]

Get yourself a EC/PPM meter and just top off your rez with diluted nutes to keep the same levels. You can do the whole dump res and start over...but no need to.