Which bloom booster to take?

[GreenThumbsMcgee]

I have heard bud candy is just molasses and a few other things... so do they enhance flavor at all? I mean, even the slightest bit? I would think they gotta do something!!!

 

[st0wandgrow]

bloombastic improves the quality and yield you will get from your plants but it is very viscous and can cause problems if not used correctly.

bud candy is not a bloom booster and will impart a flavour on your finished product that remains the same no matter what strain you grow ( like a manufactured bubble gum smell) i don't like it.

never used plagron.

anybody that tells you bloombastic is snake oil and will not improve the finished products is either not capable of using it properly or are just a straight up liar, i've used it for four years and i know how to use it to extract the most from your genetics.

There are only 13 mineral nutrients that a plant needs to carry out its metabolic processes. Any 1 or 2 part nutrient worth it's salt (ha!) will contain sufficient levels of these 13 nutrient minerals. You're spending money that you don't have to. It might make YOU feel better to pour that on your plant, but the plant doesn't fare any better..... and the more likely scenario with using "high P" bloom boosters is that you will throw the soil chemistry out of whack and do more harm than good.

 

[Y0da]

There are only 13 mineral nutrients that a plant needs to carry out its metabolic processes. Any 1 or 2 part nutrient worth it's salt (ha!) will contain sufficient levels of these 13 nutrient minerals. You're spending money that you don't have to. It might make YOU feel better to pour that on your plant, but the plant doesn't fare any better..... and the more likely scenario with using "high P" bloom boosters is that you will throw the soil chemistry out of whack and do more harm than good.

Does that include pk13/14?

 

[since1991]

To answer the question directly, the best "bloom booster" is mono potassium phosphate (KH2PO4).

All other bloom boosters are made with that.

Almost all phosphorous is supplied that way in most hydroponic formulas too, not just the "boosters".

No...take it from commercial greenhouse hydroponic veggie and fruit growers. ..they knkw what the fuk they are doing. Have been for decades. Potassium and magnesium sulfate is THEE booster. In very small amounts. Its not needed actually if your base nute is full profile which all the brands pretty much are. But K and Mag sulfate in mid to late flowering in bery small amounts is what you want. Monopotassium phpsphate is what all the hydro brands want you to use. ...because its very inexpensive to buy amd mix with water and slap a cool label on it. Like Homebrewer said...if your using a balanced base feed...no high p or k bud booster is necessary. Amd can actually throw your feed balance off. Thats why all the brand labels tell you to use very little. Ive used em all. Hudroplex...Ionic boost. ..H&G...Cannas pk...Advanced Nutes 5 differst boosters. ..and all the rest. Guess what? I noticed no difference in final cured dried product in weight or quality compared to just a base nute.

 

[churchhaze]

No...take it from commercial greenhouse hydroponic veggie and fruit growers. ..they knkw what the fuk they are doing. Have been for decades. Potassium and magnesium sulfate is THEE booster. In very small amounts. Its not needed actually if your base nute is full profile which all the brands pretty much are. But K and Mag sulfate in mid to late flowering in bery small amounts is what you want. Monopotassium phpsphate is what all the hydro brands want you to use. ...because its very inexpensive to buy amd mix with water and slap a cool label on it. Like Homebrewer said...if your using a balanced base feed...no high p or k bud booster is necessary. Amd can actually throw your feed balance off. Thats why all the brand labels tell you to use very little. Ive used em all. Hudroplex...Ionic boost. ..H&G...Cannas pk...Advanced Nutes 5 differst boosters. ..and all the rest. Guess what? I noticed no difference in final cured dried product in weight or quality compared to just a base nute.

Plants need P and KH2PO4 is how you provide it in hydro. "what they want you to do..." None of my recipes have 0 P. All of my recipes have KH2PO4. Get real. If you don't get P from KH2PO4, where do you think it comes from? (not magnesium sulfate or potassium sulfate). I probably feed less P than 80% of the growers on this forum, but to claim that there's no use for KH2PO4 in hydro is just plain old ignorant. 30-60ppm of P is ideal. Again, plants need P. Why do you think they included it in NPK?

Other people overfeeding P is no reason to overlook the best ingredient for providing P in hydro, which is KH2PO4.

A lot of people here say to ditch the "booster" and stick to the base nutes, but I'd rather throw away the commercial base nutes and use the "booster" as an ingredient in a balanced recipe. The way I see it, you can't go wrong buying a macro nutrient. I go through about a pound of the stuff per year.

 

[churchhaze]

The base nutes you buy contain KH2PO4 anyway. Where do you think they get P from. Read the base nutes bottles... "derived from" (monopotassium phosphate). Throw away the commercial base nutes and get KH2PO4 + CaNO3. (the "boosters")

 

[churchhaze]

Just to be clear, I don't recommend adding KH2PO4 to a balanced mix that already has enough. I was answering the question in general. The best "booster" to buy is KH2PO4. I don't recommend using it as a booster. It's meant to be used as an ingredient in a balanced mix.

 

[jeepster1993]

I am using Canna Boost.
Along with Canna 13/14PK.
Using it for just 2 weeks, only during stretch.

This is my 1st grow using these "boosters". It added to the expense of the grow as these are not cheap. Already am growing good weight, but always open to "better".

Looking for that magic juice... "Add me and grow the dank"... That stuff.

 

[churchhaze]

You shouldn't use it in quotes the way you're using it... Hook line and sinker... Only in the weed world will people pay big bucks for bottles of cannabis specific diluted MKP and not realize why it's dumb. Of course it's expensive. The whole point is to get your money.

 

[jeepster1993]

You shouldn't use it in quotes the way you're using it... Hook line and sinker... Only in the weed world will people pay big bucks for bottles of cannabis specific diluted MKP and not realize why it's dumb. Of course it's expensive. The whole point is to get your money.

I agree about what the cost of the grow can be.
BUT...
Choose the crop, carrots...
Carrots do not sell for dollars a gram, where an extra gram or 2 per carrot is several more dollars for the farmer.
If carrots sold for 5 bucks a gram, I guarantee the farmer would add products to get extra weight.

 

[since1991]

I agree about what the cost of the grow can be.
BUT...
Choose the crop, carrots...
Carrots do not sell for dollars a gram, where an extra gram or 2 per carrot is several more dollars for the farmer.
If carrots sold for 5 bucks a gram, I guarantee the farmer would add products to get extra weight.

Pretty soon with full out legalization...cannabis will not sell for the crazy prices it fetches also. And no one will pay big bucks for ANY bottled nutrient for it. Hell...most wont even grow it by then.

 

[churchhaze]

I agree about what the cost of the grow can be.
BUT...
Choose the crop, carrots...
Carrots do not sell for dollars a gram, where an extra gram or 2 per carrot is several more dollars for the farmer.
If carrots sold for 5 bucks a gram, I guarantee the farmer would add products to get extra weight.

generic monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4) is dirt cheap and better. Have you heard of MOAB? That's nearly pure KH2PO4 at a huge markup. You can get a pound of the generic version for about 3.50 USD or a 82.50USD for a 50lb bag (endless supply for closet growers.).

I wouldn't even consider switching from generic to "carrot specific" even if the price of carrots was 100 dollars a gram. That'd be like replacing your solid table salt with a "sodium booster" derived from sodium chloride.

A high crop price doesn't incentivize me to make irrational decisions. DIY nutes with generic salts is more straight forward than cartoon bottles, and thus better for people who know what to do with it.

 

[since1991]

Ive considered diy nute salts. I know we arw getting ripped at the hydro store. If i was any bigger i would but i like the convenience and am willing to pay for it.

 

[jeepster1993]

I'm not making my own nutes either...
I'm happy with Canna. It grows wonderful stuff easily and is not(other than Boost) costly. I just go buy those pretty bottles and mix it up an harvest the results.
Good to go.

 

[boilingoil]

If you're using quality nutrients you should only have to worry about lowering you're N levels in late bloom instead of adding extra MKP or boosters. The only thing I do is replace 30ppm of N with 30ppm of MKP but I grow in coir DTW at low nutrient strengths ( 350-400ppm @ a .5 conversion)
Day 18 of flower @ 360ppm.

 

[jeepster1993]

I am just about to harvest.
Got 3 types of girls, Headband 707, Dogbud, and Blue fire.
All grown on Canna Aqua. With some generic cal/mag.

The 707 was a filler, just to make sure the tent was full, was in a corner, and was under the canopy of the others. It was also free. The yield will be low.
The dogbud is massive.
The blue fire will be yummy, the smell...

The 707, it even turned purple for me.

The Fire.

The dogbud.

 

[since1991]

Nice buds. Canna is a good line. I use the Canna Coco nute and brick coco. Switch it up between that and Ionic. I like thier Silicate...Nitrozime...and Fossil Fuel humic acid. I also like General Organics BioRoot. Its cheap and effective for early roots. My Rhizotonic alternative.

 

[KhanTheOG]

What about just using enough P to raise the level to more even, as in Jacks hydroponic/calnit the P is pretty low compared to N and K.....so what about adding just enough to raise P to 18 during flower to get a npk of 15-18-26 rather than 15-12-26? Would that be more beneficial than leaving the P low or raising P to insane BOOSTER levels?

 

[dtracy11191978]

Technaflora makes some good products. I just started using B.C. Bloom, SugarDaddy and awesome blossoms

 

[Rurumo]

What about just using enough P to raise the level to more even, as in Jacks hydroponic/calnit the P is pretty low compared to N and K.....so what about adding just enough to raise P to 18 during flower to get a npk of 15-18-26 rather than 15-12-26? Would that be more beneficial than leaving the P low or raising P to insane BOOSTER levels?

No, adding lots of extra P during flower isn't necessary, it's one of those old stoner myths that keep getting repeated. Good old Uncle Ben covered this years back and even though this info is out there, people keep getting hosed by the folks selling "bloom boosters" and people who don't know any better. https://www.rollitup.org/t/the-never-ending-abuse-of-phosphorous-bloom-foods-to-enhance-flowering.158144/

Same thing with reducing nitrogen to almost nothing during flower, it's just not necessary and will actually hinder your yields. A complete one or two part formula like Jacks is going to give you the best results once you tune in the concentration for you particular environment.