Any opinions on Espoma bulb tone

Hello all,
I am about to start my first "organic" grow. I have composted my used soil along with kitchen waste, coffee grounds, trim from last grow etc...
I've seen this ? asked before but never answered. Is anybody using or do you think Espoma bulb tone (4-10-6) would be a good all around fert to add to my mix? I've mixed 1/2 c per gal of compost with 1T of their dolomite lime, in a small test batch. I'll be planting clones in it & going right to 12/12. Feel free to ask questions or just throw in your 2 cents. Thanks for your help.

Gonna use some espoma stuff this go around - that looks like a good NPK rate for flower.

If your gonna grow organic then you want as much benificial organisms as possible to unlock the nutes.

Tactical Farmer said:

Gonna use some espoma stuff this go around - that looks like a good NPK rate for flower.

If your gonna grow organic then you want as much benificial organisms as possible to unlock the nutes.

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Yes, that is why i chose it over the others since i'm going right into flower.
Kinda unsure how much to use to last through flowering. Figured i'd start alittle low and top dress if needed.

Think i'll be allright on the organisms, my compost was getting nice & toasty in the middle.

I have used their products they have many organic amendments built in to the products. will save you storing 20 bags of other stuff.

Hey Farmer Ted, do you have access to Espoma Biotone Starter Plus? I get it a Lowes for $7... Make sure it is the "Plus"

I'm running some preliminary experiments on it right now. It's a 3-4-3 starter with bacteria and mycorrizae which may be a little gentler on those clones... The bacteria is great for veg and mych for flower...

The mycorrizae is a bit slow to bloom- the spores are not as concentrated as some of the hydro mych's out there but if you were to amend the soil with it a couple of weeks before hand- let it get going, I feel it would do better...

Ulysses said:

Hey Farmer Ted, do you have access to Espoma Biotone Starter Plus? I get it a Lowes for $7... Make sure it is the "Plus"

I'm running some preliminary experiments on it right now. It's a 3-4-3 starter with bacteria and mycorrizae which may be a little gentler on those clones... The bacteria is great for veg and mych for flower...

The mycorrizae is a bit slow to bloom- the spores are not as concentrated as some of the hydro mych's out there but if you were to amend the soil with it a couple of weeks before hand- let it get going, I feel it would do better...

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Ulysses, I'm working with Biotone Starter Plus in my soil right now. The beneficial bacteria does seem to accelerate that nice organic earthy smell you get after mixing your ferts into your soil/soiless medium. I have yet to do a side by side comparison (vs. Plant Tone), but the plants that I have growing right now under my 250 hps are doing awesome.

Yes Ulysses, i should be able to get the starter plus. I think they had it where i bought the bulb-tone, if not i can go to Lowes.
When you say it may be a little gentler on my clones do you mean the amount of ferts in the bulb-tone might be alittle strong for them?, or are clones more sensitive than the origonal plant from seed?

bakelite, when you used flower-tone is that all you used & if so, do you just add enough to your soil & your good til harvest? If possible i'd like to add enough ferts to my soil so i can just water and be good til i'm ready to harvest.

This may sound silly but, with so many choices, 3-4-3, 5-3-3, 4-10-6 etc...
how do you know which one is going to be adequate or the best? Is it just trial & error, personal preference? 3-4-3 is about 1/2 the npk of 4-10-6 right? so does that mean you use twice as much of it? I figured i needed more p for flowering & its stronger for the same price so its a better value reasoning.

FarmerTed said:

bakelite, when you used flower-tone is that all you used & if so, do you just add enough to your soil & your good til harvest? If possible i'd like to add enough ferts to my soil so i can just water and be good til i'm ready to harvest.

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FT,
To be honest I'm constantly messing around tweaking my formulas (not very scientific I know, but I am taking notes ).

In an unamended soil/soilless mix (i.e. Promix/EWC/perlite) I have been using the following per gal of soil:

1/4 cup Plant-Tone
1/4 cup bone meal
1 1/2 tsp S of K (sulphate of potash)

The combined N-P-K is ~4-7-4 and the level is about 3%. A letter emailed to Espoma suggested that I use 1 part Plant-tone to 25 parts soil (~4% on volume). I tried using 4% and experienced what I believe was either nute burn -or- some sort of lockout or a combination thereof. I am trying to determine if this was due to the quality of my tap water or not.

Anyway, Espoma suggests using Biotone @ 2.5% on soil (~0.4 cups/gal). I have been using Biotone in combination with Jamaican Guano (P source) and Azomite (K and micros) ~1 tbsp each per gallon in FFOF/coir/perlite. I currently have a White Rhino clone that is doing quite well in the using the following fert mixture:

per gallon of unamended soilless (i.e. Promix/ewc/perlite):

2 tbsp+2 tsp Biotone Plus
2-1/2tsp bone meal
2 tbsp Jamaican Guano
3/4 tsp Sulphate of Potash
2 tbsp Azomite
2-1/2 tsp blood meal

The total comes out to 1/2 cup ferts per 1 gal soil (or ~3%).

This is probably overkill (not to mention a blatant violation of the KISS doctrine ). I am trying to get a balanced mixture of slow and fast release N,P and K that will feed throughout the life cycle of my plants thus allowing me to use just plain water with no additional nutes needed. I could probably get away with simply adding just straight Flowertone or Peace of Mind Fruit & Flower etc. and get good results as well, but for now I'm having fun tweaking my formulas.

As far as seedlings go, I have been using 1-2 tbsp Biotone Plus (~0.4-0.8%) per gal soilless (promix/ewc/perlite 40/20/40) with decent results (no burn).

Hope this helps.
-bakelite

FarmerTed said:

This may sound silly but, with so many choices, 3-4-3, 5-3-3, 4-10-6 etc... how do you know which one is going to be adequate or the best? Is it just trial & error, personal preference? 3-4-3 is about 1/2 the npk of 4-10-6 right? so does that mean you use twice as much of it? I figured i needed more p for flowering & its stronger for the same price so its a better value reasoning.

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There is a general NPK ratio for MJ - it goes like this:

3-1-2 Veg
1-3-2 Flower

Now thats in parts - not totals.

You can crank up the levels (ex. 12-4-8 or higher) for veg but if you see tip burn or get overfert lockout you need to drop it down.

" You may have to consider how hot your base soil mix is to also "

And for trying to hit those precise NPK levels - you will have to use several different products to fine tune.

Ex: POM All Purpose is 5-5-5 & it says to use 1TBS Gal - so if your looking for 2.5-2.5-2.5 just add 1/2 TBS Gal & if your looking for 10-10-10 just add 2 TBS Gal.

Gotta crash out - hope this helps

Thanks for the assistance guys/gals, this has helped me to make a more informed decision on my soil amendments and get me to where i want to be quiker. Already looking forward to my first successful "organic" soil grow.
Thanks again,
FT