Nutrients and Additives (UK)

After we got heavily onto the subject of nutrients and additives in the clone only thread i thought best to start a thread on the subject.

So tell us what you use, why you use it and what you like about it.
We can use this thread for a review base of sorts for nutrients/additives on the UK market..
Lets also take the time to name and shame any nutes/additives that dont do what they say on the tin ( Ronseal lol ) or you just didnt like them for what ever reason.

Currently iv just started using House & Garden Top Booster. Basically just a pk booster, iv never used one before so thought id try it out. We'll see how it goes....
Also lets include any type of soil amender(e.g guano) and beneficial bacteria...Peace

well coco in the media is a must for me for mass root expression perhaps some airpots 11ltr min and I find rhizotonic to be better than regain a root but I don't care the voodoo is good,, just using a 400w min for veg,, I have been using some piranha which in the past has worked well as to has superthrive.. As long as you don't over wet the media all is good IMHO! Water is probably best,, some strains need encouragement,,

bio vega
celmax

I like to mix bio-bizz and canna coco 50/50 to help the plant finish off,
best crop I grew was on water and home made brews from 3 or more guanos, superthrive, Honey?molassas wormcasts, maxicrop, rabbit poo and a few others,,


If I had to buy brands again I'd mix and match,,

Your never gonna make guano tea for a grow too big indoors that's why the brands are here,,


Canna flush is bollocks!!!! That mite controll in the small black bottle with a target on the front.. ( Its waxy and kills the plants in some cases,,) I'm not to fond of it ,,

Most of all I hate Big Mike for changing lots of stuff and having more selection than a strain guide,,

I did like Hesi testers from the expo,, real nice and simple healthy growth with some quality matireals,,

Can't beat a bit of aloe in the spray,,

Proven to myself (using compost)

Canna Terra - Easy does it with the 1 part

Plagron Green sensation (pk boost with amino etc) definitely hardens up the buds and said to add thc but I also use bcuzz bloom stimulator which is said to add thc. The Bcuzz bloom stim is said to be the same stuff as in their bloombastic without the clay or PK sources.... essentially molasses & kelp (sugar and amino acids, micro nutes n other goodies).

House and Garden root excelurator - This one is said to be a bacillus of some type of which the strain slips my memory... Good shit never the less. Nice white fluffy roots which build up quickly.

Molasses we all lurv the sugary goodness as do most nute co's

Maxicrop seaweed extract - I hear cold pressed is the way to go but this stuff works and is easily available to me. I like to foliar it as the girls are vegging and stop @ the 2 week of bloom/ after the stretch. The bcuzz bloom stim is said to also contain kelp so that does the job from there on.

New stuff

Trying bcuzz soil booster, as I had good results with the boost stim I thought I give it a whirl. Said to be used in conjunction with the bloom stim for optimum results lol, we'll see. It conatins aqua bacteria whatever that is couldn't find any resources on that., micro nutes no molasses from what I could smell. Has no discernible smell at all really.

Piranha, well I know trichoderma adds rootmass as does VAM fungi aka mychorizzal to some. My roots have a nice silk like furry addition to them which I assume is tricho or mycho there's been enough written about the boards about the benefits of these 2 fungi so I won't go into a lecture other than to say that they work adding rootmass and preventing nasty fungi from colonizing the rhizosphere, amongst other functions... aka good shit

Nice thread btw Dr.

From a bottle, we sometimes use Alga C.. but these sides its all about home-brewed teas. (see below)

Nutrients we have used in the past with good results include,, Bio Biz Bloom, Rhizotonic, Canna (commercially) and H&G 1part Arde and AN Iguana juice bloom (recreationally)... although the formulas on most of these have since changed.

Edit:

home-brewed tea

- bat guano (Peruvian, Kenya, Jamaica)
- sea bird guano (UK)
- worm cast
- sugar / honey
- urine

added for deficiencies

- nettles and burdock
- mole hill soil
- alga c

the above is fermented at 15-20c for a few weeks using an air-stone in a bucket.
feed is diluted down to 1.4 - 1.8 EC (approx), with the food value taken as higher than the reading.

Hope this helps

im using nitrogen prills this time in veg and fuck me are they good, no wonder they banned the taliban from using the stuff. why waste it in a bomb when you can grow trees with it

Awesome thread, sure to be a popular one.
I grow in coco and use Canna A+B, Rizotonic, PK 13-14 as well as B'Cuzz Coco Booster and Coco Bloom Stimulator......i adjust my ph with canna grow ph-(38% nitric acid) and bloom ph- (59% phosphoric acid).
I recently picked up a few of individual bottles that Canna do, N, P & K as well as some Magnesium...gonna grab the whole selection when i can and try tweaking a few strains im very familiar with (i.e Casey Jones & Cheese)....never had any real deficiencies with what im using (extremely happy with my results) but know i can get things even better so am looking into how.
Peace

biobizz fish mix.grow,alg i mic,bloom plant magic bio silicone,granules root boost,an carboload,big bud,molasses bat gauno (rock and powder)

good idea for a thread.

mostly soil amendments for me - not a big fan of fancy bottles.

in the soil mix i use cavemans guano - both N (fresh) and P (rock)
seaweed meal, rock phospate, rock potash and dolomite lime.

just add water (pHed to 6 with citric acid) after that. if they look hungry i use liquid seaweed for veg and biobiz bloom for flower.
also made a big batch of comfrey extract this year and (early days) that seems to work great as a bloom food

VG

For cuttings
- in RWool i use peroxide (17%@1ml/L) with a rooting agent, a veg nute (ec0.8-1.0/ph 5.5-5.8) and a wetting agent. Until this last run i used Rhitzotonic (4ml/L) as the rooting agent alternated with a seaweed extract. So will make up a 2L bottle with Rhitzo-use that for a day or 2 and then make up another using the seaweed extract inplace of the Rhitzo, and so on. The cubes are also primed in this mix for 8hours, or more. Rhitzo takes the ph up an aweful lot so it is necessary to compensate with more ph down (phospheric acid 81%) to get it down. The seaweed extract that i'm using atm is Vitax


I've tried the regular Maxicrop seaweed extract and the extract that they produce specifically for cuttings-both seem good. Tried Nitrozyme-seems good too, as did Bio-Bizz Root Juice.
This run i have been using Plant Magic rooting solution instead of the Rhitzo and the seaweed extract-as the Plant Magic juice is, in part, a seaweed extract (along with amino acids etc). I plan to use the Plant Magic stuff for a while and then make an assessment-but so far so good.
The wetting agent was, until recently, one drop of regular (ie not anti-bacterial) washing up liquid ina 2 to 5L container. FMonkey suggested using Ecover washing up liquid (an Eco-friendly product) instead which is a great idea because normal washing up liquid is a little bit poisonous and harmful to plants.
I have been using that recipe for years-IMO it is futile chopping and changing nutes and additives ALL the time because there is just no way of accuratly evaluating the results. It is, obviously, best to just change one nute/additive at a time-then check it for a few runs before comming to a conclusion. Put simply-if you change more than one item/technique at a time how do you know what is having what effect?

Good info guys,

I agree with that last statement eddie and try to implement as little changes as possible if a regime has been successful. In my case last run was a real near to 1gpw, using what I mentioned above minus the new stuff, although I used rootgrow mychorizzal in place of the piranha. So the only real change for me would be the addition of the bcuzz soil booster which I am not to sure what to think of just yet.

I think alot of the problem with the nute manufacturers is the secrecy of it all when it comes down to ingredients. If you know what in the bottle u know what peer reviewed papers say about it's effect (ok maybe not on cannbis ) but you get a clearer picture of what is supposed to do and how it does it. I like Advanced nutes advancedpedia site for the fact that the go into quite alot of detail on how whatever additive works, with some peer reviewed papers quoted.

I got their piranha as I don't know of any other with thrichoderma in apart from canna's trich so I thought I go for the extra species of fungi @ not much of a difference in cost.

Good info man keep it coming!
I used to use the Maxicrop seaweed and havent used it for ages i nearly grabbed a bottle the other day to try on coco, wish i had now.

Shhh iv been using the rootgrow mycho and it seemed to work well at first but then im sure it dies off. How have you been applying it? I used it when repotting.
Ive got some of the Canna Trichoderm but its expensive at a tenner for ten grams, its really only anygood for adding to cuttings or young plants. I have used it before but didnt really monitor the results so il keep an eye on this time but i do remember the roots liked it, definite change of root structure mainly in the form of the fine hairs.

Peace

Another tip is to get transplanting time correct (if you transplant) and the pot and size of pot shape because sometimes you just waste growth time or lateral roots using narrow pots I find,, people have grown with 11/10 results (SOMA STYLE) in a recycle box with a few water pipes added to the sides for direct root zone application of food and friendly insects.. (I'll post a pic's)
Sativa's especially like week soil loamy and with layers textures some Expanding clay pebbles on the base of pots (ect) and I use NFT tank mesh to stop spoilage..



Roots are key to big plants healthy harvests and better growth rates.. and the plant wants to be as big below as it is above so give them room..... I have seen big plants cut back explode because of the root mass and that technique is now applied to all my mono runs, stops all the popcorn,, and also if you keep snipping them back you get the biggest roots with 0 hight problems.. (I work in a short room so It matters) this gets a thick stem real fast!! (go for 3 tops 1 in each direction),, Also monster cropping is a good high yield technique but not for hight issues I still need to snip them and symmetrical is better its not good practice either,,
Flowering is a doddle if you have big roots,, sometimes you can't keep up!!! Get a wilma!!!! use a bucket of feed and run to waste/reuse!



Soil can be tested every day/week like any media..


Hydrogen peroxide is another one if you can add some, It does kill some stuff if used incorrectly,, it can help germination.. best on bad aeration situations and good for cleaning the room tent whatever after every grow in a 1/10 dilution,

(IBA) is a top product and it will help a re veg too,,

There are some courses you can do in the uk and qualify to obtain some substances that are not over the counter anywhere!! Good for pests and fertilizer..

Flowering feed is different,, If you pick out every aroma and flavour and grow without deficiencies then its hard to look further but you will with what changes can be made to a well formulated regime bit of this and a bit of that,, a seasoned grower knows this,, and what to add when,,

EddieShoestring said:

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hey funny story bought police cars getting towed;
we were doing a new year rave and our rig vans got semi-seized by the police before we could get to the venue... and they bought in 2 trucks to take away our rig vans on the back of... the riot police were drafted and a riot ensued, the police became outnumbered as more ravers turned up and at some point the police vehicles tyres got stabbed. the police after some time admitted defeat, and left with their vehicles on the back of their own recovery trucks!
we partied hard!

(sorry for off topic bussiness and ting)

nice thread guys!
whats the most effective and cheapest enzyme product on the market atm?

Zymase is an enzyme complex ("mixture") that catalyzes the fermentation of sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. As the conversion takes place, the reaction will gradually slow down. They occur naturally in yeasts. (alcohol dehydrogenase.)

Zymase was first isolated from the yeast cell in 1897 by a German chemist named Eduard Buchner who fermented sugar in the laboratory without living cells, leading to 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.


Saliva ang Egg wites are cheep,, or buy super enzyme

"Was it a trick question"

cold pressed isn't always best (I'm good on enzymes for food got a certificate)

Remember if your soil temps are bad then your grow isn't using the enzymes,,

The term “cold pressed oil” is subject to different regulations, depending on the part of the world in which it is made. In the European Union, for example, oil which is labeled as cold pressed must be produced in an environment which never exceeds a certain temperature. The temperature varies, depending on the oil, but is generally around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius). In the United States, oil labeling is not regulated, so “cold pressed oil” may not actually be cold pressed oil at all. Consumers will need to smell, taste, and see the oil to determine whether or not it is truly cold pressed.

When oil is made, the nuts, seeds, or fruits being used to make the oil are first ground into an even paste. The paste goes through a malaxation process, a slow stirring which encourages the oil in the paste to clump. To extract the oil, pressure is applied, forcing the oil out of the paste. Heating the paste will increase the yield of oil. Some producers mix the paste with warm water, or heat it before pressing. Others make cold pressed oil by using an oil stone alone to remove the oil. After the oil has been produced, it is graded and bottled.

Some companies manufacture “expeller pressed oil” which is made in a high pressure environment. The high pressure is sometimes necessary with thick nuts and seeds, but it creates heat through friction. Some expeller pressed oil can be termed cold pressed, because the temperature does not rise a great deal. Other expeller pressed oil, however, is made at very high temperatures, and cannot be considered cold pressed oil. Companies may clarify by specifically labeling a product “expeller cold pressed oil.”

The objectives of alchemy during its more proliferated days was to discover the elixir of life. Experiments were done on plants to extract their life force as a first step to discovering more about the force that drives living things.

The extraction of alkaloids from plants was one of the major activities of people studying alchemy. Alkaloids were considered to be the secret of any particular plant. They were commonly used in medicine as well as for recreational uses. Opium extracted from the Opium poppy though very controversial today due to its use in the manufacture of heroin was in an earlier time used to control pain. Digitalis out of the Foxglove plant was used to fight heart disease and reduce the risk of heart attack.

These days the medicinal use of alkaloids from plants is overshadowed by the great media attention given to recreational drugs. Alkaloids were used for recreational purposes for a long time before some of them were classified as illegal. Funnily enough the motives behind their sudden illegal status were not related to the well being of the population. Cannabis/Marijuana was forced into illegal status by the powerful lobby of the owners of plantations who feared that the apparently very versatile and useful hemp plant would be used to force them out of business. Opium was pushed into being illegal by the British who feared that the Chinese part of their population were forcing white women into decadence using Opium.

Nonetheless there are a lot of psychoactive plants that could be used for recreational purposes and the majority of them are completely legal to own. One example of a legal alkaloid is Dimethyl Tryptamine (DMT) which can be extracted from such sources as the Phalaris grass.

How are the recreational alkaloids extracted ? This is done by manipulating the solubility of the alkaloid by switching it from organic base form to inorganic salt and then retrieving the base again by using a powerful solvent such as naphthalene (gas lighter fluid). All this means that by combining the alkaloid with a number of different liquid substances its pure form is extracted from the plant matter that holds it.
The list of alkaloids that can be used for recreational purposes is huge. Alkaloids from plants that are legal to own.

interested in purchasing such plants


Alkaloid extraction theory can be used on the majority of alkaloids. In the document provided below the extraction is done to remove DMT Dimethyl Tryptamine our of Phalaris grass or one of the other carriers of DMT. The number of psychoactives available for extraction is vast, by consulting the psychoactives encyclopedia document a lot of plants can be legally acquired for alkaloid extraction.

To isolate alkaloids from plants, the dried and powdered plant material is extracted with pet ether (or hexane, colemans etc.) first. This removes fats, oils, terpenes, waxes etc. This extract is discarded.

The material is now subjected to an alcohol extraction, eg with methanol or ethanol. The extract is evaporated to leave the crude alkaloids mixture.

This extract is partitioned between an diluted aq. tartaric acid solution and ethyl acetate. Other acids like citric acid can be used, and other solvents may substitute here. The ethyl acetate layer contains neutral and weakly basic alkaloids. Evaporate the solvent to isolate them.

The aq. layer is neutralised with NH3 or Na2CO3 and again extracted with ethyl acetate. The organic layer now contains basic alkaloids, while the aq. layer contains quarternary ammonium ions.

Many alkaloids can be isolated directly from the alkoholic extract by chromatographic methods. This is a separation which works well for tropane alkaloids (atropine, cocaine, scopolamine).

The alcohol extract is fractionated by column chromatography on SiO2, solvent chloroform followed by chloroform with rising methanol content. This separates lipids and terpenes from the crude alkaloid fraction. The alkaloid fraction is again chromatographed (SiO2; CHCl3 : MeOH = 10:1) to isolate the pure alkaloids.

The power to survive prolonged exposure to low temperatures is possessed by various enzymes, including those producing hydrolysis of fats, of carbohydrates, and of proteins, those concerned in biochemical oxidations and reductions, the clotting enzymes and that of alcoholic fermentation. The enzymes retained their catalytic power after exposure, either in situ or in solution in vitro, to temperatures varying from a few degrees above 0° C. to the temperature of liquid air (−180° to −191° C.). The shortest periods of holding, invariably less that one day and usually less than one hour, were at the temperature of liquid air. The longest period of holding was eighty-nine months at a temperature of −9.4° to −12.2° C.

The activity of certain of these enzymes, including rennin, zymase, and those hydrolyzing fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, has been studied at low temperatures, varying from that of an ice-box to one of −9° to −12° C. While the enzymes produced autolytic digestion or acted on artificial media at these temperatures, the velocity of the reaction was always lessened to a considerable degree.

All cannabis enzyme products are a rip-off and very very dilute.

You can buy enzymes in very much more concentrated form for cleaning septic tanks, unblocking sinks and treating pond algae. Advanced Nutrients Voodoo Juice, which is very expensive, is nothing more than rebottled septic tank cleaner they buy in bulk.

One good, cheap source of enzymes is this Hagesan Kitchen Sink & Drain unblocker, it's very strong so use it in tiny amounts, about 6 quid for a 750ml bottle and will last you a long time.

HG kitchen drain unblocker 750 ml (professional enzyme formula )general information : - HG KITCHEN DRAIN UNBLOCKER UNBLOCKS AND PREVENTS VERY STUBBORN BLOCKAGES OF GREASE AND FOOD RESIDUES. - This professional product works on the basis of specially selected natural enzymes and microbes and is therefore fully biodegradable and is absolutely safe for all types of drain and septic tanks. - In fact using HG Hagesan kitchen drain unblocker boosts the bacteria culture in a septic tanks. - HG kitchen drain unblocker used correctly will keep unpleasant Odours at bay for substantial periods of time.

Characteristics : works on the basis of specially selected natural enzymes and microbes. Density : approx. 1 g/ml pH : approx. 7 Active matter : 10% Contains : Anionic surfactants < 5% Preservation agents : - 2-Bromo - 2 nitropropane-1 - 3-diol, enzymes

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I'd never suggest anyone use Advanced Nutrients, they used to have some good products that were effective and not too expensive, but they like to continually reformulate things, every time reducing the concentration and hiking the price. Here is some info I posted in the UK clone only thread that details a clear example of their shady practices:

Take a look at this prime example of the way they rip people off. The old AN Barricade was the best potassium silicate on the market as it was super concentrated, like snot and 16 quid a litre, a single bottle lasted a couple of years, it was great stuff.



Note the app rate of Barricade - 0.1ml per litre

Then they replace it with Rhinoskin which is the same thing watered down by a factor of 20. They hiked the price to 38 quid a bottle so combined with the dilution factor, the 2.5 x increase in price makes Rhinoskin 45 times more expensive than the
product it replaced!



Note the app rate of Rhinoskin - 2ml per litre, 20 times more dilute

Here's my recommendation for the best potassium silicate product currently available, and by best, I mean most concentrated and therefore best value:

Potsil by a small UK company, it's only 6.99 for a 500ml bottle and has a super low app rate of 0.25ml per litre, that makes it 8 times more concentrated that Rhinoskin and as it is 2.7 times cheaper than Rhinoskin it is 22 times more cost effective.

Potsil has been developed at our apple orchards and farm-based facility in rural Kent and our gradens in Norfolk. It is designed to enhance and maximise the cell-structure of your plants and flowers.
Potsil will provide more stem and leaf strength allowing your plant to maximise sunlight absorption ~ promoting the growth rate through accelerated photosynthesis.
Potsil is a modified horticultural grade liquid Potassium Silicate. It is a safe and easy to use treatment that provides supplemental potassium and silicon. Research proves that plants benefit from supplemental soluble silicon. These benefits include greater tolerances to cold, heat, drought, salinity, mineral toxicity or deficiency, improved growth rates and resistance to insects and fungi.
Soluble silicon promotes natural fungal defence mechanisms in plants, significantly reducing and, in many cases eliminating, the need to use fungicides. Silicon deposited within the plant cell walls makes plants resistant to small sucking insects. This increased strength will enhance leaf presentation and stem strength.
Potsil should be added once a week with your plant feed routine.
Potsil is non-toxic and completely safe

Hydroponics:
Potsil can be added to your nutrient tank as a supplemental additive, usually at an addition rate of 2.5ml per 10 litres of final solution.
Additions of Potsil will effect the PH as it is an alkaline solution, so you may need to drop the final nutrient solution slightly via a 'PH Down' modifier usually in the form of dilute phosphoric or nitric acid.

Watering:
2.5 per 10 litres with your regular watering program.

Soil Treament:
Add 5.0ml per 10 litres of water.

Foliar Spray (fine atomiser):
Add 4.0ml per 10 litres of tepid water.
It is recommended that you carry out spot tests to single leaves proir to initialising full spray routines to check for plant sensitivity.

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AN products are the worst available and they get worse and worse with every reformulation, they just changed Hammerhead from 0-9-18 to 0-4-8 while at the same time hiking the price, they just rip people off shamelessly.

My coco regime:

Amino powder
Humic/Fulvic powder
Kelp extract powder
Horse feed molasses
Liquid silicon (currently using Dutchmaster as I got it for 4 quid a litre)
Ionic Coco Grow/Bloom (I got 5 litres of each for 12 quid in a clearance sale, it's good stuff, plants love it, but any good base nute will do, Hesi, Canna House&Garden, they are all good)
Superthrive



The Molasses is 6.49 for a 5 litre bottle from the local farmer's store, a bottle lasts me a couple of years and I use it in heavy quantities. The humic/fulvic and aminos are very important and are found in most expensive boosters like Canna Boost, Bcuzz Bloom Booster, ATA-XL and Head Masta, I use them because they are the exact same ingredients just I save a fortune because I get them in raw dry form instead of paying through the arse for a fancy bottle. Liquid Silicon is essential in coco, I get rock hard stems and high resistance to moulds and mildews. Potassium Silicate is not easy to find in powdered form and I have enough DM liquid silica to last me another year. Superthrive I only use a couple of drops for the first 4 weeks of flower and it works brilliantly. Kelp extract is another essential, it is roughly 1-1-5 in NPK and has 72 trace elements plus a ton of other goodies, it is found in a ton of expensive bottles, I pay 14 quid for half a kilo of powder, I'm still using the same kilo I bought 4 years ago and I use it every watering in veg and bloom in heavy doses, I think I have about 350g left.

When I start boosting PK I add:

Lecithin granules
Mono potassium phosphate
Sulphate of Potash (potassium sulphate)
Malt Extract
Palm Sugar

The Lecithin is extracted from soy beans and 97% phospholipids, a highly available organic form of phosphorous, adds bulk and density and is found in Canna Boost, Dutchmaster add.27, Biobizz TopMax and a few other expensive bloom boosters.



The mono Pk and Sulphate of potash are the two ingredients in 0-9-18 PK boosters such as AN Hammerhead and Canadian Xpress Superior Potash, I just make up my own stock solution by adding roughly 150g of mono Pk and 50g of sulphate of potash to a litre of de-ionised water which I get from Tescos for 2.29 for 2.5 litres. This makes it an almost exact copy of the original Hammerhead for about one twentieth the price. A 25 kilo sack of mono Pk is 36 quid and will last anyone a lifetime. Sulphate of Potash is 22 quid for a 25 kilo sack.

The Malt Extract and Palm Sugar I only use for the last week of feeding and first week of flush, they enhance flavours and resin, they cost mere pennies, I pay 89p for a 350g jar of malt extract, the palm sugar is about 1.49 for 500g, comes in round cakes or flat bars, I just break off a piece and dissolve it in hot water. A blend of 50% molasses, 25% malt extract and 25% palm sugar outperforms all the fancy carb booster products for a tony fraction of the cost.





Nutrient companies deliberately avoid giving the customers accurate info about the ingredients in all those expensive fancy bottles and as so few ganja growers have ANY horticultural education they get away with it. People spend hundreds of pounds on a grow's worth of nutrients when all those bottles just contain a couple of quid's worth of simple agricultural salts plus some basic additives like molasses, kelp, aminos and humic/fulvic. I can do a whole grow for a couple of quid and there is zero difference in quality of yield as I am feeding the exact same ingredients just my sources are vastly cheaper. I can make a litre of 0-9-18 for under a quid, whereas a litre bottle of 0-9-18 is about 16 quid these days.

If anyone wants to know where I get any of my ingredients, PM me and I'll give ya all the info. I use a teaspoon, an EC meter, a PH meter, a measuring jug, a 2 litre mixing jug, a 10 litre bucket and a plastic spoon for stirring and that's it, it's incredibly simple and anyone can do it, the only reason more people aren't is the nute companies and their fraudulent marketing practices have conditioned ganja growers into believing they need to use extremely overpriced bottles of crap to grow top notch product. I know a lot of pro growers of other crops and they laugh hard at the adverts for cannabis specific nutrients. If i see someone who I know is a great grower such as Herbalizor getting good results with a new product i do my research to find out what's in that product and always find out I can copy it for pennies. I've even started making my own rooting/cloning gel that is many times more effective than Clonex, I mix gelatine powder from the supermarket baking section in hot water then add indole butyric acid, indole acetic acid, napthaleic acid, gibberelic acid and another thing I forget the exact name of now and have the best rooting gel you could hope for, all the ingredients are available from supergrow.biz really cheaply, I made 2 litres for about a tenner.

Top quality horticultural salts and complete fertilisers are really cheap and the same grade as what they put into expensive bottled cannabis specific ferts.



YaraLiva Calcinit

A soluble calcium nitrate glasshouse grade ideal for liquid feeding and fertigation systems. Fully water soluble high purity Nitrate nitrogen for fast growth response. Potassium for quality in high yielding crops N:K ratio for fruits and flowers. Fully soluble calcium to increase quality and shelf life. Perfect in combination with other water soluble Yara Speciality fertilizers.

Krista-K

Potassium nitrate glasshouse grade, ideal for liquid feeding and fertigation . Fully water soluble high purity Nitrate nitrogen for fast growth response. Potassium for quality in high yielding crops N:K ratio for fruits and flowers. Fully soluble calcium to increase quality and shelf life. Perfect in combination with other water soluble Yara Speciality fertilizers.

Krista-MKP

Glasshouse grade mono potassium phosphate. High quality crystaline mono-potassium phosphate for use in hydroponic/liquid feeds. Krista-MKP provides a readily available source of soluble phosphate and potassium.

MagNitra

Magnesium nitrate solution, for use in hydroponic or liquid feed solutions. Simple to use, no dissolving necessary. Adds a nitrate nitrogen and no sulphate.

PG Mix

Powdered NPK plus trace elements which contains the right balance of plant nutrients. Together with easy application with an all in one fertilizer with a range of analysis suitable for formulating potting media. Gives excellent mixing characteristics. Water soluble nutrients readily available for root uptake. Contains all trace elements plus iron in the chelated form. RHP approved. The complete fertilizer for potting soils.

Kristalon

Water soluble NPK plus trace elements. Available in a range of analysis suitable for liquid feeding. A full range of trace elements in the chelated form. High solubility. Contains magensium for increased photosynthesis. Nitrogen in the nitrate form for fast response. Colour coded product and packaging. To give a little extra, to get so much more.

The Krista MKP is mono potassium phosphate which has an NPK of 0-52-34.

Products such as Grotek Monster Bloom and Ton O' Bud are nothing more than mono PK powder. They are very effective but ridiculously, scandalously overpriced. Note that they list their NPK as 0-50-30, that is a big clue that it's just good old mono PK!

Advanced Nutrients Bloom Booster Pro is just mono PK with a wee bit of added vitamins, it's over 50 UK pounds for a kilo tub!



Ton O Bud is ever more of a ripoff at almost 80 UK pounds for a 500g tub!



Grotek Monster Bloom is the most reasonably priced but even that is still a quite ridiculous 30 UK pounds for a 500g tub!




However, you can buy mono PK powder of the very highest quality in a 25 kilo sack, the most common brand in the UK is Yara's Krista MKP, I have a friend who works at a local agricultural supply place so I can just walk in and buy a sack, it's just round the corner from where I live.


Krista MKP - Soluble grade mono potassium phosphate




Benefits

Krista-MKP is a clean, fully water soluble phosphorus and potassium fertiliser, making it particularly suited to a wide range of horticultural crops. It is a free-flowing, fine crystalline powder which dissolves quickly in water.

Krista-MKP is suited to application through all fertigation systems - hydroponics, drip systems, low throw sprinklers, centre pivots, spray units, misters

Nitrogen free

Krista-MKP contains no nitrogen, making it an ideal source of phosphorus and potassium for late applications to fruiting plants when nitrogen applications need to be controlled.

Krista-MKP is also an ideal source to use in conjunction with nitrogen fertilisers such as calcium nitrate (in separate stock tanks), or potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate or urea.

Ammonia free

Krista-MKP is ideally suited for applications in hydroponics as it is free of ammonium.

Compatibility

Krista-MKP can be mixed with all water soluble fertilisers, except soluble calcium fertilisers, and concentrated magnesium solutions.


Disease

Foliar applications of Krista-MKP may help suppress leaf diseases such as powdery mildew, when infection pressure is low.

High purity

Krista-MKP is free of chlorine, sodium and heavy metals.

Low EC

Krista-MKP in solution has a low EC at 0.7 mS/cm. This means it is a relatively safe fertiliser to use for foliar application as the risk of burning or scorching foliage is minimal.

pH buffer

The phosphorus component in Krista- MKP buffers fertigation solutions, keeping the pH stable at around 4.5. Krista-MKP also buffers chemical solutions, increasing the effectiveness of pesticide sprays.

Guidelines for application

Crop specific recipes for 2 tank 'A & B tank' systems available from your local advisor.

Soluble grade mono potassium phosphate

Phosphate P2O5
52%

Solubility (20� C)
230kg/l water

Phosphate P
22.7%

EC 1g/l at 25� C
0.7mS/cm

Potassium K2O
34%

pH (10% solution)
4.5

Potassium K
28.2%

Here are a couple of DIY formulas I've dug out for anyone who wants to save themselves some money. All the components can be bought today quite cheaply on everyone's favourite auction site or in 25 and 50 kilo sacks from horticultural suppliers and many garden centres.



These formulas must be amended with a full spectrum commercial micronute such as Chempak Trace Element Mix or GHE Micro.

Vegetative Formula (100 litres)

-Epsom Salt MgSO4.7H2O = 50.7 g
-Mono Potassium Phosphate KH2PO4 = 22 g
-Saltpeter KNO3 = 9.6 g
-Calcinit Ca(NO3)2/Ammonium Nitrate double salt = 94.3 g

(this formula closely equates to a ppm N:K:Mg ratio of 150:50:100:50)

Bloom Formula (100 litres)

-Epsom Salt MgSO4.7H2O = 60.9 g
-Mono Potassium Phosphate KH2PO4 = 43.9 g
-Saltpeter KNO3 = 19.2 g
-Calcinit Ca(NO3)2/Ammonium Nitrate double salt = 50.6 g

(this formula closely equates to a ppm N:K:Mg ratio of 100:100:200:60)

You can take a calculator to these numbers for varieties that are known fussy feeders.

For a zero nitrogen finishing formula something like:

-MgSO4.7H20 = 60.9 g
-KH2PO4 = 44 g
-K2SO4 = 16.6 g
-CaCl2 = 30 g

(per 100 litres) would work well.