What's your nute ratio?

[Xs121]

Your ppm for P for the tiger bloom seems to be off a little.

N - 5.2
P - 20.8
K - 10.4

That's for 1ml per gallon which seems a little too high in P if you ask me.

Okay...be careful with your calculation specially with P & K

The label says 2N-8P-K4

However this label is misleading because Phosphorous is P205 and Potassium is K20. Which means the elemental Phosphorous is only 43% and the elemental Potassium is only 83%. Which means FFTB has an elemental label of.....

2N-3.44(elemental P)-3.32(elemental K)

So yes, you get 20ppm/gallon in P if you just followed the label
But if you have calculated in its elemental form you get 9ppm/gallon

Here's a link to a calculator
https://manicbotanix.com/calculators/ppm-in-solution-calc.php

Congratulation though, at least you're trying and in your way to mixing your own nute and disregard the hype by name brands.

 

[Xs121]

Here's another calculator with built in elemental adjustment, in 1tsp(5 ml)/gallon. Just NPK though, without the micro nutrients.
http://firstrays.com/free-information/feeding-and-watering/measurement-handling-application-of-fertilizers/fertilizer-tds-calculator/

 

[Chris Edward]

I had a ppm meter but the stupid thing got stuck on the same reading when calibrating it. All I needed to know was the ppm of my tap water to know how much calmag to add anyway. It's useful to see where your at but not necessary.

I agree the meters are just guides. I definitely believe soneone should never gauge their PPM or EC off of someone else's meter, even if it's the same brand, just use it as a guideline etc...
The meter gets me in range and then I let the plants tell me what they like.

I suppose my gripe is with the fertilizer companies feeding charts, they get you hooked on X teaspoons and not X PPM or EC. I suppose this is to keep you coming back, dependent on their product.

 

[Chris Edward]

I use VitaGrow
PPM's in veg are around 700
PPM's in flower are around 850
That's using 3/4 of what the label says to use. I never use full strength.


I used to use a PPM meter but it sits idle now. The measurements I use were always withing 10% anyways. I do however check the PH and calibrate my PH meter regularly. PH is critical when growing in coco. Get that wrong and you will have problems.

But you know what the PPMs are.
If you use the same stuff over and over again, you only have to test a few times anyway.

It just seems like knowing the PPM or EC would help if you ever decide to switch to another fertilizer, this way you can compare PPM numbers with the results.
Not that those are the only variables...

 

[Chris Edward]

Well not necessarily if you like paying for the label and give them control as to how much fertilizer to give to your plant.

On the other hand, if you want to know exactly what you're giving to your plant, in what dosage and have control of the nutrient intake of your plant then yes, ppm and ec is your tool of choice.

Just look at this forum, how many postings do you see asking for help because of deficiency or toxicity problem because the grower is not aware/unsure of what he/she is feeding the plant.

Bottomline, you have to ask yourself...what type of grower are you? You like it easy? Follow their feeding chart. You like to have control? It's harder but the result is rewarding.

Cheers

I couldn't agree more....

If/when something goes wrong, I can usually figure it out PDQ....

Plus depending on what mix you use, dry mixes are so much cheaper and you get the same results.

 

[truentgoon]

Wow, you educated yourself pretty quickly, much respect.
Good on you, stay curious.

FF is fine, I used the FF trio on my first grow. I use those nutes for my houseplants, now. Plumeria loves Tiger Bloom.

I have become to believe ridiculously high P thing for growing cannabis is a bunch of garbage and potentially dangerous. Phosphorus is gnarly stuff, an excess of it your smoke is probably not a great idea.

I think new growers would all benefit from reading Read Spear’s book Marijuana Cultivation Revisited. His growing method suggestions are ok, deeply opinionated and not the best bit of the book. The plant biology and nutrition section is mind blowing and he correctly destroys a lot of myths you’ll encounter.

In the future try to avoid liquid nutes, unless you like paying $100 gallon for water. (Advanced Nutrients is the WORST!) You should just mail that money to me instead.

Thank you, you guys really helped me take my hobby to the next level with all your useful feedback. I never would have found these things out on my own this is pretty detailed information you can't find everywhere.

Yes FF are my first nutes aswell. I recently ordered a gallon of GH micro to replace my FF micro but that was before I got all of this information.

I paid $27 dollars for the gallon which didn't seem like a bad price to me at the time. Now you guys are saying to get powdered nutrients.

Can you guys be specific on what brands of powdered nutes you use and maybe give a link or name the specific product. The only powdered nutes I know of is Jacks formula so I'm kind of new to the realm of powdered nutrients.

GH micro will be the last liquid nute I order I didn't realize it was watered down so much. Haha that's funny, well the AN big bud were freebies when I was buying stuff on eBay but yeah I will stay away and just get powdered for now lol.

Thanks for the book recommendation I'll check it out. The book says liquid nutrients are a myth?

When I buy 1000 gram of fertilizer I want 1000g of fertilizer for my money.
Not 7g of fertilizer stuffed into a liter bottle... sure it will kill your plants if you use it just like that.
But the bottom line is you are being overcharged for what you get.

It does seem like powdered nutes would go a long way. What powedered nutes do you use? Does it have to do with buying the N-P-K separately? What's a good base nute formula for powedered nutes and what's a good brand.

 

[truentgoon]

Five or six years of dry chemical nutrients cost me about $88, for my small scale personal grow.

What are you getting for $88? What about calmag and are you getting the complete formula like the fox farm or GH trio.

I get a like a 2kg bag of 3 part dry ferts for $8

That's a good deal what nutes are those.

 

[rkymtnman]

GH Maxibloom. all you need.

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

Ionic Bloom. 3-2-6 from start to finish.

 

[truentgoon]

Okay...be careful with your calculation specially with P & K

The label says 2N-8P-K4

However this label is misleading because Phosphorous is P205 and Potassium is K20. Which means the elemental Phosphorous is only 43% and the elemental Potassium is only 83%. Which means FFTB has an elemental label of.....

2N-3.44(elemental P)-3.32(elemental K)

So yes, you get 20ppm/gallon in P if you just followed the label
But if you have calculated in its elemental form you get 9ppm/gallon

Here's a link to a calculator
https://manicbotanix.com/calculators/ppm-in-solution-calc.php

Congratulation though, at least you're trying and in your way to mixing your own nute and disregard the hype by name brands.

Thanks dude I had no idea, that changes everything.

I see what your saying now I put the 20P into the calculator and it came out to 9 so your right. 9P is the final number of P in tiger bloom to apply to the Lucas formula.

Good stuff, seems like tiger bloom isn't as high in P as I thought and I have to add another fertilizer like you said. I'll put all those numbers in the calculator and then see how I can apply the Lucas formula.

 

[rkymtnman]

Ionic Bloom. 3-2-6 from start to finish.

only thing i didn't like was it crystallized after awhile.

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

only thing i didn't like was it crystallized after awhile.

I go through the 5 gallon jugs so fast I never seem to get much. Wish they made 55 gallon drums.

 

[truentgoon]

only thing i didn't like was it crystallized after awhile.

Interesting I'll check those both out. Can you still do Lucas formula with a keg of powder or do you have to get supplements.

 

[rkymtnman]

Interesting I'll check those both out. Can you still do Lucas formula with a keg of powder or do you have to get supplements.

gh maxibloom at 7grams /gallon is the Lucas formula.

i use silica (armor Si by GH) too and have a bottle of cal/mg on hand just in case.

 

[truentgoon]

gh maxibloom at 7grams /gallon is the Lucas formula.

i use silica (armor Si by GH) too and have a bottle of cal/mg on hand just in case.

Really? Sounds like GH maxibloom is the way to go then and it's pretty cheap especially if that's all you need along with calmag.

Do you think the silica is really needed?

 

[rkymtnman]

Really? Sounds like GH maxibloom is the way to go then and it's pretty cheap especially if that's all you need along with calmag.

Do you think the silica is really needed?

i have the cal/mg but hardly ever use it. just in case.

and definitely use silica. helps with cell division, as a pH up, strenghtens stems, etc

 

[truentgoon]

i have the cal/mg but hardly ever use it. just in case.

and definitely use silica. helps with cell division, as a pH up, strenghtens stems, etc

Interesting, I do end up using ph up every time. So basically you add 7 grams per gallon of maxibloom to get to the Lucas formula ratio then add silica. How much silica do you add.

For me I think I'll be using calmag everytime with my soft tap water (60ppm) do you think that's right. Should calmag be reduced for the second half of flower or dropped completely.

 

[Stink Bug]

Ionic Bloom. 3-2-6 from start to finish.

Made in Michigan. Sweet ratio for cannabis start too finish.

High P bloom Nute's like FF Tiger Bloom were originally designed for outdoor grows in mineralized soils. Where P easily leaches away. With coco and peat based mediums is can cause more problems than good.

 

[Michael Huntherz]

I get a like a 2kg bag of 3 part dry ferts for $8

What are you getting for $88? What about calmag and are you getting the complete formula like the fox farm or GH trio.



That's a good deal what nutes are those.

25lb of Oasis Hydro Feed 4-1-4 is about $80, and 5lb of MKP for $8.
I used to mess with cal mag but I don’t need it so I stopped. My tapwater has enough calcium, and the hydro feed has enough magnesium, so I dropped it.

 

[rkymtnman]

Interesting, I do end up using ph up every time. So basically you add 7 grams per gallon of maxibloom to get to the Lucas formula ratio then add silica. How much silica do you add.

For me I think I'll be using calmag everytime with my soft tap water (60ppm) do you think that's right. Should calmag be reduced for the second half of flower or dropped completely.

i use RO and still don't need cal/mg

for the armor Si, i think it's 2.5mL/gallon.