DWC Growers who use the Lucas Formula (Jack's 5-12-26 Hydro)

GuerrillaRed · Aug 23, 2018

Man... I just recently switched nute bases from the Lucas Formula (GH Micro & Bloom) after over a decade to Jack's 5-12-26. It has completely rocked my world.

I have always had great quality but below average results with Lucas. I figured everything I was reading on the internet was exaggerations. However, just three weeks into flowering with Jack's and my whole world view is different. My plants are exploding upwards with leaves pointed towards the heavens and I'm having healthier plants with more impressive growth than I've ever seen.

The other thing I'm extremely impressed with is how clean the reservoir is. Extremely healthy clean roots in healthy clean water. With Lucas, I'm used to the Res turning into a fairly gross dark brown res where the roots would become stained.

I don't want to turn into an advertisement here. But the reason I am creating this thread is to hopefully help you guys profit from my experience. I regret not switching sooner. I think most of us who were from the generation who got into hydro in the infancy of internet marijuana communities started with Lucas. Back in the time when a lot of this stuff was still myth and largely underworld, Lucas was absolutely incredible. However, now that we're deep into legalization and medical, there is now so much better stuff than the Lucas Formula out there. I want to encourage old heads to not get stuck in your old ways and consider upgrading and trying new things.

Hope this was helpful. :tiphat:

CaStoner · Aug 23, 2018

Sounds good I may have to give it a shot..any Pic's?

GuerrillaRed · Aug 23, 2018

This is about 18 days after the flip with clones that were rushed into flowering.

Edit: Whoops, not sure why my pics are resized down without being able to be scaled.

HughGhasso · Aug 24, 2018

I too just made the Jacks switch after years on the maxibloom. Holy shit is all I have to say. My plants have never looked better.

GuerrillaRed · Aug 24, 2018

HughGhasso said:
I too just made the Jacks switch after years on the maxibloom. Holy shit is all I have to say. My plants have never looked better.

I would never write such a gushing post towards any business unless my results were that insane. I'm excited to hear you had the same experiences as me.

I admit I'm just a dumb little hobby grower, so maybe I am years behind everyone else. However I spent hours upon hours reading everything I could find about Jack's Hydro, DWCs and all this. I didn't find a whole lot out there for what I was specifically looking for. So one of my main reasons for writing all this is so it will archive in Google and other growers like me can hopefully find the information and inspire them to make the switch.

In a lot of ways, it's great I spent so much time learning to grow in Lucas because I can grow any cannabis plant in my sleep now because I've dealt with so many problems. But I now realize Soooooooo many of my problems were coming from using Lucas.

My results with Jack's hydro have been stupid. My plants are literally exploding with growth that is easily doubling and more my best ever previous grow. Granted, I'm not a champion grower (I'm completely self-taught based on stuff I largely learn here) but holy shit, I've never seen anything like this. Which is why I keep feeling compelled to talk about it here.

:plant grow:

<--------this

The final numbers, I cannot wait. A lot of me wonders if the plants can even handle this kind of explosive growth.

Michael_Phelps · Aug 24, 2018

People on this forum really hate on Jack's. Shills for the hydro brands no doubt, preaching the power of "hydro-kushie-blast-liquid-diamond-gold that will grow the dankest loudest, packs 3 gram per watt" BS.

Jack's is good stuff I say. Jack's and the occasional pool shock stock solution can keep DWC very happy.

LBBill · Aug 25, 2018

Can you share your feed schedule?

Can you share your feed schedule?

GuerrillaRed said:
I would never write such a gushing post towards any business unless my results were that insane. I'm excited to hear you had the same experiences as me.

I admit I'm just a dumb little hobby grower, so maybe I am years behind everyone else. However I spent hours upon hours reading everything I could find about Jack's Hydro, DWCs and all this. I didn't find a whole lot out there for what I was specifically looking for. So one of my main reasons for writing all this is so it will archive in Google and other growers like me can hopefully find the information and inspire them to make the switch.

In a lot of ways, it's great I spent so much time learning to grow in Lucas because I can grow any cannabis plant in my sleep now because I've dealt with so many problems. But I now realize Soooooooo many of my problems were coming from using Lucas.

My results with Jack's hydro have been stupid. My plants are literally exploding with growth that is easily doubling and more my best ever previous grow. Granted, I'm not a champion grower (I'm completely self-taught based on stuff I largely learn here) but holy shit, I've never seen anything like this. Which is why I keep feeling compelled to talk about it here.

<--------this

The final numbers, I cannot wait. A lot of me wonders if the plants can even handle this kind of explosive growth.

Can you share your feed schedule? I am currently running the "Useless" formula with GH and have had good results. Always looking to make improvements.

Thanks

RockinRobot · Aug 25, 2018

Thought about switching to Jacks once. As a small hobby grower, it's just not worth it to me. Their packaging is stupid. Smallest you can buy is 4 pounds. And remember that's 4lb each of jacks and CalNit. A 2 lb bag of Maxi-bloom lasts me 3 grows. Having to buy jacks at 4lb of jacks and 4lb of CalNit it will clump and go bad before it most of it gets used. Not to mention my local stores won't carry it as the mfg refuses to send samples to stores. This means high shipping charges as well.

I'm doing better than a gram/watt with Maxi-bloom so not going to waste it on jacks that will go bad on me before I can use it.

Mr Blah · Aug 25, 2018

RockinRobot said:
Thought about switching to Jacks once. As a small hobby grower, it's just not worth it to me. Their packaging is stupid. Smallest you can buy is 4 pounds. And remember that's 4lb each of jacks and CalNit. A 2 lb bag of Maxi-bloom lasts me 3 grows. Having to buy jacks at 4lb of jacks and 4lb of CalNit it will clump and go bad before it most of it gets used. Not to mention my local stores won't carry it as the mfg refuses to send samples to stores. This means high shipping charges as well.

I'm doing better than a gram/watt with Maxi-bloom so not going to waste it on jacks that will go bad on me before I can use it.

Keep it in an air tight container. Wallmart makes a dog food container that is semi tight. Been holding mine for a few yrs now.

Just saying

RockinRobot · Aug 25, 2018

Mr Blah said:
Keep it in an air tight container. Wallmart makes a dog food container that is semi tight. Been holding mine for a few yrs now.

Just saying

In Florida, I have 2 lb bags of Maxi-bloom clump before I use it up. Just can't see having to buy 8 lb of ferts at a time.

Goats · Aug 25, 2018

jacks is good stuff, especially considering the price. i have used it for a few years now in both DWC and flood & drain with good results. it's easy, stable and keeps plants happy. if using in coco, be sure to flush a few times each run to prevent buildup. it seems to stick to coco like glue. everything will seem fine, but halfway through flower you'll start having lockout issues. had plants throw dicks because of it. couple of clearex flushes per run now and everything is perfect.
running veg+bloom in flower for the first time this run. hoping to improve on flavors and terps. if it proves better than the jacks i will continue using the jacks in veg because it is incredibly inexpensive.

Goats · Aug 25, 2018

Michael_Phelps said:
People on this forum really hate on Jack's. Shills for the hydro brands no doubt, preaching the power of "hydro-kushie-blast-liquid-diamond-gold that will grow the dankest loudest, packs 3 gram per watt" BS.

Jack's is good stuff I say. Jack's and the occasional pool shock stock solution can keep DWC very happy.

really? i have seen multiple threads and posts praising jacks. do you have any links you could provide? the only complaint i could imagine is that it doesn't produce the loudest flowers.

pinkus · Aug 25, 2018

I probably won't have to buy base nutes for another few years. And I doubt that I will EVER have to buy calcium nitrate as I got a 20 lb bag.

BTW, if you are worried about the clumping nutes not giving claimed ppms because of absorbing water, you can use a ppm meter to make accurate stock solutions.

I switched to Jacks after about 5 years using Dynagrow. Also a high quality system, and relatively inexpensive... but not compared to Jacks! Before that I used House and Garden.

Funny thing is that I used Peters (jacks parent company) way back in the late eighties. Back then, there were no weed food marketing strategies.

GuerrillaRed · Aug 25, 2018

If you're having good results, that's terrific. For me, I had below average numbers through my entire career only hitting maybe .5-.6 GPW. Which again, dumb little hobby grower. I had been thinking about switching to Jack's for years. Finally switched after having a grow that was like .25 GPW and realized something was very off.

The main thing I'm trying to say is to other Lucas growers that they should seriously consider upgrading to more modern system or if you're having disappointing numbers like I was. However, if you're having good results definitely keep on keeping on. :dance013:

CaStoner · Aug 25, 2018

I'm looking for something that wont burn my plants so easily during flowering. I can veg like hell but Flowering always gets me. I for one would like to flower once without burn't tips if that's even possible..All it takes is one hot day and evaporation will cause E.C to climb and bam burn't tips..I can run AC but then cost goes up..Maxibloom always burn't tips, good looking buds but horrible looking plant..How's Jack's during flowering easy to burn? or stays nice and green? I looked into Jacks 4 lbs for $50 or 25 lbs for $75?

RockinRobot · Aug 25, 2018

GuerrillaRed said:
If you're having good results, that's terrific. For me, I had below average numbers through my entire career only hitting maybe .5-.6 GPW. Which again, dumb little hobby grower. I had been thinking about switching to Jack's for years. Finally switched after having a grow that was like .25 GPW and realized something was very off.

The main thing I'm trying to say is to other Lucas growers that they should seriously consider upgrading to more modern system or if you're having disappointing numbers like I was. However, if you're having good results definitely keep on keeping on.

You're correct about switching off of Lucas Formula. I started with Lucas and ran it for years. I switched to KISS with Maxi-bloom and got way better results.

I've heard lots of good things about Jacks. As I said before my issue is with them making me buy such large quantities.

One part is also easier for me than having to measure both the Jack's and the CalNit.

Maxi-bloom is much cheaper than Jack's as well since I have to pay shipping for it. I can pick up Maxi-bloom locally. I'm consistently getting above 1g/watt with it.

You'll never hear me talking up the expensive nutrient lines.

Only expensive item I recommend is Mammoth P. Definitely worth the price. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. At least in any Hydro system. Supposed to work great in soil as well but feed levels much higher in soil so may be too costly.

pinkus · Aug 25, 2018

Maxi-bloom is NOT much cheaper than Jacks. You MIGHT find it slightly cheaper, but I even doubt that.

Douglas.Curtis · Aug 25, 2018

Jacks is one line I'd like to try. Still rocking Lucas the last 15+ years, and using Maxibloom when I get lazy.

Plants look like crap using Maxibloom?? Find out how much you're overfeeding your plants, since each one wants something slightly different. I've had a lot of plants in the past which didn't use over about 5g/gal. I see lots of seriously overfed plants from growers using the K.I.S.S. method religiously. 7g/gal is a guideline to start with, not an absolute rule.

Less is more with cannabis.

CaStoner · Aug 26, 2018

Yes I know less is more. I started out good, low but one hot day and evaporation and E.C shot up and she burned I quickly corrected it but the damage been done. If I can run AC all day I would but cost is high. I guess any fertilizer will do the same. I may still give Jacks a try, and try to control temps better next crop will be grown during the fall, Winter time doubt it the temp will change much, but it may be cooler. The weather sucks during the End Times.. :biggrin:

RockinRobot · Aug 26, 2018

Douglas.Curtis said:
Plants look like crap using Maxibloom?? Find out how much you're overfeeding your plants, since each one wants something slightly different. I've had a lot of plants in the past which didn't use over about 5g/gal. I see lots of seriously overfed plants from growers using the K.I.S.S. method religiously. 7g/gal is a guideline to start with, not an absolute rule.

Less is more with cannabis.

Agree 100% 7g/gallon is way too hot for Maxi bloom. I go by EC not 7g/gallon. I Max out at about 2EC peak flower. Same goes for any nutrient line though. Always watch the plants.

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