Am i the only one using full strenghth nutes? am i crazy? wasting cash?

[Diamonddss]

i have spent many hours reading here at icmag.
im mostly self taught with no outside help and im on my 2nd grow. Ive learned alot and still am but

i constantly read "nute burn, nute burn: and often read people saying stuff like
3/4 strenghth is too strong even during full flower.
or i only feed every 3rd watering
i also see pics of alot of leaves and nute burn is often the reply.
i have some leaves here or trhere that look like many of the picvs but they are usually way low on the plaNT and my canopy looks great.

Am i crazy because im actually using the suggested dose on the back and using full strength and feeding every single water?
Am i wasting money and time as watering and feeding taking me about an hour every 2 or 3 days.



My plants are not perfect and im certainly got much to learn but am i the only full strenth feeder and every water?

im a med grow for personal runnning 16 girls of various strains.


i have a good friend who uses very little to any nutes and says im wasting way to much time and money

 

[Diamonddss]

my schedule @ 21 days flower
pbp soil bloom 25ml/gall
hydroplex 5ml/gall
sweet berry 10ml/gall @ 4 weeks 15ml/gall
lk 5-10ml/gall suspended 1st 2 weeks of flower.

 

[growshower]

nah man i use full strength dutchmaster all the way and my plants don't even flinch

 

[B. Friendly]

it all depends what you're using. When i had GH's 3 part series, calmg, miro nut's I would add full strength and then some.
but with this schedule i can only use half strength, since i am using so much.

 

[medmaker420]

The reason people say start at 25% is because usually the person is new to either growing OR that specific nute regiment. When it is a new grower, going with 25% allows room for their errors like overwatering which is pretty standard with new growers.

Once a grower gets things dialed in and specifically the wet/dry cycle that these plants like, they can bump up the feed and focus more on the plants growth style versus what the back of a bottle tells you.

 

[ShroomDr]

my schedule @ 21 days flower
pbp soil bloom 25ml/gall
hydroplex 5ml/gall
sweet berry 10ml/gall @ 4 weeks 15ml/gall
lk 5-10ml/gall suspended 1st 2 weeks of flower.

hey if it works it works, I dont go over 20ml/Gal pbp bloom soil, and i think i start locking out Ca when im over 7ml/Gal of Sweet.

Ive got hydroplex, but i rarely use it, and i traded liquid karma for Technaflora Liquid Humus (used clone though flower at 2ml/Gal).

I also add a little Cal-Mag+ (like 1-2ml/Gal) if im going over 4ml/Gal of sweet. (too much Mg, fucks up Ca [using my water]).


most of the time, i cut the pbp bloom soil in half, and use CNS (again at 1/2 of what i would use if solo). Both together @ 10ml/Gal is roughly 80n 100p 200k.

When most talk about not using 'Full Strength" it is related to the label on the bottle. Mfg want to sell product, they always seem to list too high an application rate, the higher the application rate, the quicker you run out (thus buying more product).

 

[FreezerBoy]

Mfg want to sell product, they always seem to list too high an application rate, the higher the application rate, the quicker you run out (thus buying more product).

Yeah, that.

I start at 1/4 move to 1/2 and ask the plants how they feel about it. Ofttimes they say too much and I'll back down to 1/3. But, that's in a DWC under a 250. DWC traditionally uses less nutes and small lamps produce less hungry plants.

 

[tokinafaty420]

Also consider that many of these products (unless designed for cannabis) were not tested on Cannabis. Most likely was tested on everyday veggie garden type plants. My tomatoes tend to eat more than my MJ.

 

[swordfish]

it all depends on your strain and enviorment.. I can run 2400 ppm on super snow dogg with adavnced consieour and be fine. My friend gets burn at 1500 same strain and nutes, he not using c02 get it?

 

[Diamonddss]

hey if it works it works, I dont go over 20ml/Gal pbp bloom soil, and i think i start locking out Ca when im over 7ml/Gal of Sweet.

Ive got hydroplex, but i rarely use it, and i traded liquid karma for Technaflora Liquid Humus (used clone though flower at 2ml/Gal).

I also add a little Cal-Mag+ (like 1-2ml/Gal) if im going over 4ml/Gal of sweet. (too much Mg, fucks up Ca [using my water]).


most of the time, i cut the pbp bloom soil in half, and use CNS (again at 1/2 of what i would use if solo). Both together @ 10ml/Gal is roughly 80n 100p 200k.

When most talk about not using 'Full Strength" it is related to the label on the bottle. Mfg want to sell product, they always seem to list too high an application rate, the higher the application rate, the quicker you run out (thus buying more product).

im still newer and learning. Im gonna keep reading and i will try different things but i cant grow year round and these nutes are expensive.

also im just using straight tap from city and the local grow shop guy insist i dont need cal/mag suppliment? is this true

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=165182
this is my humble attempt

 

[CaptainTrips]

Whats the PPM of your tap? You can also probably find a water report from your municipal and find out what is in it. I use tap water and don't use any sort of calmag. What PPM/EC are you running your nutes at? I have run full strength before, was my first hydro run... Was running Maxibloom around 1800-2000 ppm, on a .5 conversion meter... Plants were fine, but probably excessive. I don't know if anyone has done any reasonable tests to see if there are yield differents between different concentrations with MJ.

 

[OMountainMix]

Diamonddss, I was wondering the same thing while my hubby was gone and I was on my own. I got good yield and the pot tasted great, but my hubby says go balls to the wall until the end and then use clearex. After seeing how our grape krush came out and the size of the nugs, I'm inclined to agree.

I budget the cost of nutes into my harvest and pay for the nutes the very first thing when I have harvested. I am working my way up to buying the 5 gallon containers. This is just the cost of growing. It's like power and water, you have to have it.

You could also use gh three part with the lucas formula if you want to save money, but my hubby swears by pure blend pro or floranova.

Our water is perfect city water, so we don't use calmag. You might want to read your water report or test on the water yourself to see if you also are lucky enough to have awesome water.

Also, we have had to foliar feed, too, and I should have been doing it before. The Grape Krush literally drained their water every 24 hours at the height of flowering AND had to be foliar fed 3 times. THEN, they were happy. I could seriously hear them growling like monsters. We could not feed them enough. Then again, we knew that they were like that . . . . We also had to foliar feed our OMM's this round, but they were larger than they shoudl have been going into flowering. My fault, b/c with my stigmatism I just can NOT look at the trichomes through a magnifying lense and it's hard for me to judge if they are done or not.

 

[FreezerBoy]

also im just using straight tap from city and the local grow shop guy insist i dont need cal/mag suppliment? is this true

Most likely. Certain micro nutes (such as calcium, magnesium) are supplied in less than needed strength with the expectation that the grower will add them with those found in tap water. This is why it's common for RO users to add CalMag to the res as the RO process strips it out.

 

[trueblu23]

I dunno if you have read this yet but you should if not, Fertilize Wisely I basically was your position but after I read that it cleared everything up.

 

[BigTop]

Side-by-side test it... I'm a gamblin man so will put a zip on your coming to conclusion to use lower rates... that would be a kick-ass thread btw... ;-)

 

[fonzee]

I use Hesi mainly and with full dose I get around 1000 PPM.
With double dose I get around 1700PPM.

Thats using tap water with 300PPM.

I use full strengh with my current Greenhouse Seeds strains (and Nirvana's Blue Mystic) as they are heavy feeders. My plants are doing fine but it seems a watering with straight water once every 2 weeks or so will be benificial.

However, I started a Mandala Seeds 8 Miles High almost a month ago and it doesn't need anything more than 1ml of GHE Total Gro per L and 2ml of Hesi Root Complex.
Even that is too much and I use it once every 2 waterings.


POINT IS its very strain specific.

 

[Diamonddss]

after reading and research im gonna cut back to 75% and then maybe slightly lower towards 50% strenght. Im a little late @ almost 4 weeks of flower but what the hell. I do have a few plants with issues but overall they look good

 

[TexasToker]

I think it all depends on:
Fertilizer brand
Experience
Strain/pheno

I have way fewer issues running lower doses than if I were to go all out. Mainly during veg. During flower I juice them pretty good until they say stop, then depending on strain I start using just water and carbs up to harvest. Some people say I miss out on potential, but I like my smoke just fine.

 

[buddah]

The reason people say start at 25% is because usually the person is new to either growing OR that specific nute regiment. When it is a new grower, going with 25% allows room for their errors like overwatering which is pretty standard with new growers.

Once a grower gets things dialed in and specifically the wet/dry cycle that these plants like, they can bump up the feed and focus more on the plants growth style versus what the back of a bottle tells you.

this is the point!!!

 

[snooplbc]

i use full fox farm line and follow the feeding schedule to the T...its a proven and studied schecdule from a trusted name...