Mega Crop vs Dyna-Gro comparison grow

Will MegaCrop hit the 19-20oz yield benchmark?

  • Yes

    Votes: 21 63.6%

  • No

    Votes: 7 21.2%

  • This shit is biased as hell!

    Votes: 5 15.2%
  • Total voters
    33
  • Poll closed .
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
This showdown is going to be in the same manner as my (https://www.rollitup.org/t/dyna-gro-vs-advanced-nutrients-connoisseur-ak47-grow.429438/#post5684072) journal in that it won’t be a simultaneous grow-off, but rather a direct comparison of the plants foods offered by Megacrop (MC) and DynaGro (DG). I’ll be comparing things like ease of use, versatility, cost, pH stability, plant performance, plant health, and of course final yield.

The strain we’ll be working with is called Casey Jones, it’s a strain I’ve grown for many years and a strain that I'm very familiar with. Using DynaGro, my average yields are around 19 ounces with this strain so that’ll be the benchmark for Megacrop. I’ve seen yields as high as 28 and as low as 16 but I think a performance of 19-20oz from Megacrop would be very respectable. In regards to the final product, I’ll also be looking for differences or similarities in potency, aroma and flavor, all of which will be 'tested' for in a blind comparison with my testers. In all honesty though, the fertilizers that I’ve used in the past have had minimal effect on potency (if any) but have had a measurable impact on aroma and flavor.

In terms of the grow itself, I have a vested interested in doing as well as I possibly can, regardless of which plant food I'm using. I personally paid for these MegaCrop bags and I am receiving nothing in return for my efforts here. If this thread turns to shit like most threads do on this site then I'll just finish the journal at a private forum with a hefty cost to see the results. So if you don't like how I'm calling it I'd suggest you keep your ignorant mouths shut ;).

My setup is a DIY Ebb & Flow system with 6 inch rockwool cubes and a 600 watt HPS hortilux. I flood two to three times per day for 15 minutes with weekly res changes and a pH in the high 5's. These plants were vegged with DynaGro Foliage Pro and were also topped a few times.
 
pthobson

pthobson

Well-Known Member
Are you testing with clones from your previous grow using Dynagro? If not the results will not as accurate as you’re looking for but I see you said average so should be fine.
 
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
EASE OF USE

The first thing that I want to talk about is ‘ease of use’. Megacrop is a dry food that seems to be made up of ‘balls and sand’ (not literally). Upon opening the bag there is a brown dust that always plumes out of the bag which is one thing that I hate about dry foods; they’re messy to work with. Megacrop is no exception. MC is substantially dustier to work with than say magnesium sulfate or potassium silicate. Luckily I only have to get into these bags once per week. Normally when working with dry salts, I like to make super concentrated liquid solutions and then pull out a few mls at a time. I do not think that is an option with MC. I mean, it’s a no-brainer here, liquids are MUCH easier to deal with than dry salts. I can’t imagine using MC in my container garden as I mix up food in a number of 1 gallon jugs. First I’d have to weigh out MC evenly among all the jugs, then I’d have to carefully pour the ‘balls and sand’ into each jug hoping not to spill any and avoid breathing in the brown dust. I’d imagine the best way to deal with MC in a container garden is to mix it up in say a 5 gallon bucket with a spigot and then fill up my gallon jugs once MC has dissolved. Even then there is the extra step of weighing it out which I don’t love. Mega Crop does however come with a scoop and I’m sure with some proper measuring I could figure out that 1 scoop equals X amount of grams. Personally though I like to be more exact than that. Your tolerance to this inconvenience will likely vary.

Once MC hits the water it dissolves fairly quickly and completely but does take a minute or two. I do not recommend adding the dry food directly to your reservoirs as it takes much longer to get this stuff to dissolve as compared to first mixing it into a bucket with a few gallons of water. Obviously compared to liquid foods, DynaGro in this case, MC is a dusty, pain in the ass to work with which requires extra steps that I normally wouldn’t do. With DynaGro, or any liquid food for that matter, I can mix up a hydro reservoir in less than a minute and it doesn't require the use of mixing buckets or weighing anything out.

 
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
pH

Once the first MegaCrop reservoir was all weighed out, mixed up, and completely dissolved, I was pleasantly surprised to see MegaCrop buffer itself to a pH of 5.77. However, after 4 days the pH has climbed to 6.70 which in my experience is to be expected with foods high in nitrate N (this exact amount of pH rise is what I saw with the General Hydroponics 3-part too). They seem to have an ever-rising pH which tends to require an adjustment every couple/few days. You can actually get away with not adjusting the pH at all and despite what some will say, it won’t result in any deficiencies or ‘lock outs’, but you are likely leaving some yield on the table at the end if you're not more exact about your pH. I like a range of say 5.6 - 6.3 in hydro.

In comparison with DynaGro, I've found the pH of DG's foods to be the best that I've ever tried. More-or-less rock-solid pH stability from start to finish. One thing to note is that DG's base nutrients are acidic (like many other brands) and their Protekt product is alkaline, one can strike a 'base/protekt balance' to balance your reservoir's pH from the get-go. So lets say for example you need 100 mls of DG's bloom in your reservoir, maybe with the pH of your tap water that can be balanced with 50 mls of protekt.? It takes a little trial and error in 1-gallon jugs but once that balanced is achieved you can pretty much throw your pH pen in the trash.
 
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homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
Cost

I buy DynaGro 1 gallon at a time ($55) and to make this an apples-to-apples comparison I’ll be comparing DG’s 1 gallon to MegaCrop’s 2500g size @ $32.69 (includes shipping). They mix up a similar amount of reservoirs but the gallon of DG will last about 5 weeks longer.

So the first thing that I want to address is the inaccuracy printed on the bags of Megacrop. They claim that 4gs of their product into a gallon of water equals 1.2EC (840 ppm). I measured 4 different times out of 2 different MC bags with a freshly calibrated EC pen. The best I came up with is that 4gs of MegaCrop into a gallon of water equals 0.87EC (610 ppm) which means MegaCrop is over-stating their potency by nearly 38%. I also checked out MC's website some months ago and they had a lot of misleading information about the cost of comparable products on the market. For instance, they calculated their own cost of use at a feeding strength of 1.0 EC but when they calculated the cost of a competitor's product they did so at feeding levels sometimes well over 2.0 EC. That's shady as hell and it's the same thing AN used to pull when attacking their competitors in the market. That bit on their website has since been taken down but used to be here: (https://greenleafnutrients.com/product-comparison/?v=b457452c21b1).

In the defense of MegaCrop, and let me be clear here, they do lie on their bags, however, those recommendations are safe for your average idiot grower who doesn't own a ppm/EC pen and blindly follows the manufacturers recommendations. Even feeding at their high end of 6gs/gal, you're still safe. Compare that to many other feeding charts, DynaGro's included, and following them to a T will absolutely scorch your plants.

So let’s figure out the real cost of MC in my 18 gallon reservoir. I’ll be feeding at around 1.1 EC from start to finish which means MC (90g each week into the reservoir) is going to cost $10.59 for this 9 week flowering period. DynaGro at the same feeding level costs $15.12 (115mls each week into the reservoir). Now this is a difference of $4.53 over a 2 month period. Obviously the difference in price increases with the scale of the grow and at some level the price difference between the two products could outweigh the inconvenience of dealing with dusty dry foods that need pH-adjustments every few days. Yield would be a factor too. If MC is more of a pain to deal with but yields more then obviously that’s something to consider too. Generally speaking in my life, time is the most important commodity so naturally I’d always be leaning towards the liquid foods in any wet vs dry plant food comparison.

Full disclosure here: I do use a couple other additives along with DG. They're not necessary but they are beneficial and I believe these products are already included in the MC dry mix that I'm currently using. So with DG, the money that I'm not spending on pH-up and down could easily be negated by the couple additives that I use.
 
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horribleherk

horribleherk

Well-Known Member
[QUOTiveE="homebrewer, post: 15074702, member: 231911"]pH
Thanks for doing this as I'm using megacrop so I'm sure I will benefit as will probably a host of others , much appreciated
Once the first MegaCrop reservoir was all weighed out, mixed up, and completely dissolved, I was pleasantly surprised to see MegaCrop buffer itself to a pH of 5.77. However, after 4 days the pH has climbed to 6.70 which in my experience is to be expected with foods high in nitrate N (this exact amount of pH rise is to be expected with the General Hydroponics 3-part too). They seem to have an ever-rising pH which tends to require an adjustment every couple/few days. You can actually get away with not adjusting the pH at all and despite what some will say, it won’t result in any deficiencies or ‘lock out’, but you are likely leaving some yield on the table at the end if you're not more exact about your pH. I like a range of say 5.6 - 6.3 in hydro.

In comparison with DynaGro, I've found the pH of DG's foods to be the best that I've ever tried. More-or-less rock-solid pH stability from start to finish. One thing to note is that DG's foods are acidic (like many other brands) and their Protekt product is alkaline, one can strike a 'base-protekt balance' to balance your reservoir's pH from the get-go. So lets say for example you need 100 mls of DG's bloom in your reservoir, maybe with the pH of your tap water that can be balanced with 50 mls of protekt.? It takes a little trial and error in 1-gallon jugs but once that balanced is achieved you can pretty much throw your pH pen in the trash.[/QUOTE]
 
Buck5050

Buck5050

Well-Known Member
homebrewer said:
Cost

I buy DynaGro 1 gallon at a time ($55) and to make this an apples-to-apples comparison I’ll be comparing DG’s 1 gallon to MegaCrop’s 2500g size @ $32.69 (includes shipping). They mix up a similar amount of reservoirs but the gallon of DG will last about 5 weeks longer.

So the first thing that I want to address is the inaccuracy printed on the bags of Megacrop. They claim that 4gs of their product into a gallon of water equals 1.2EC (840 ppm). I measured 4 different times out of 2 different MC bags with a freshly calibrated EC pen. The best I came up with is that 4gs of MegaCrop into a gallon of water equals 0.87EC (610 ppm) which means MegaCrop is over-stating their potency by nearly 38%. I also checked out MC's website some months ago and they had a lot of misleading information about the cost of comparable products on the market. For instance, they calculated their own cost of use at a feeding strength of 1.0 EC but when they calculated the cost of a competitor's product they did so at feeding levels sometimes well over 2.0 EC. That's shady as hell and it's the same thing AN used to pull when attacking their competitors in the market. That bit on their website has since been taken down but used to be here: (https://greenleafnutrients.com/product-comparison/?v=b457452c21b1).

In the defense of MegaCrop, and let me be clear here, they do lie on their bags, however, those recommendations are safe for your average idiot grower who doesn't own a ppm/EC pen and blindly follows the manufacturers recommendations. Even feeding at their high end of 6gs/gal, you're still safe. Compare that to many other feeding charts, DynaGro's included, and following them to a T will absolutely scorch your plants.

So let’s figure out the real cost of MC in my 18 gallon reservoir. I’ll be feeding at around 1.1 EC from start to finish which means MC (90g each week into the reservoir) is going to cost $10.59 for this 9 week flowering period. DynaGro at the same feeding level costs $15.12 (115mls each week into the reservoir). Now this is a difference of $4.53 over a 2 month period. Obviously the difference in price increases with the scale of the grow and at some level the price difference between the two products could outweigh the inconvenience of dealing with dusty dry foods that need pH-adjustments every few days. Yield would be a factor too. If MC is more of a pain to deal with but yields more then obviously that’s something to consider too. Generally speaking in my life, time is the most important commodity so naturally I’d always be leaning towards the liquid foods in any wet vs dry plant food comparison.

Full disclosure here: I do use a couple other additives along with DG. They're not necessary but they are beneficial and I believe these products are already included in the MC dry mix that I'm currently using. So with DG, the money that I'm not spending on pH-up and down could easily be negated by the couple additives that I use.
Click to expand...
Is this what your referring too?
back1.png
This also states that a EC 1.0 = 500ppm
1.2 x 500 = 600ppm

I do see where your coming from with how this reads. I personally don't look at this and think 4 grams equals 1.2 EC.
 
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homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
Buck5050 said:
Is this what your referring too?
View attachment 4392578
Click to expand...
Yes. It clearly states that 4gs/gal=1.2 EC and 5gs/gal=1.5EC and 6gs/gal=1.7EC

This also states that a EC 1.0 = 500ppm
1.2 x 500 = 600ppm

I do see where your coming from with how this reads. I personally don't look at this and think 4 grams equals 1.2 EC.
Click to expand...
My apologies if this wasn't obvious in my post as I thought everyone already knew this. When converting EC to ppm there are different scales. MC is on the 500 scale as it clearly states on their bag. My pen reads on the 700 scale which I thought was obvious when I stated EC and ppm together. EC is universal, ppm is not.

https://manicbotanix.com/ec-to-ppm-conversion-chart-2/
 
V

vertnugs

Well-Known Member
Why not make a concentrate solution with the MC?This way it can be used as a liquid nute and get rid of any hassle of weighing things out with a scale.

I completely understand what you are saying about mixing different gl jugs using the MC as i went through the same thing.
 
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
vertnugs said:
Why not make a concentrate solution with the MC?This way it can be used as a liquid nute and get rid of any hassle of weighing things out with a scale.

I completely understand what you are saying about mixing different gl jugs using the MC as i went through the same thing.
Click to expand...
There is a saturation point if-you-will with water soluble salts and it's very difficult to dissolve certain salts together at high concentrations without them bonding and falling out of solution. That's one reason why so many companies split up their foods into 2 parts. I have a limited amount of MC here, just enough for about 10 weeks of flowering. If someone would like to run a test and let us know how many pounds they can dissolve into a gallon of water before the elements precipitate, I'm all ears.
 
Keesje

Keesje

Well-Known Member
Rising pH sucks!
I had that years ago. It drove me crazy.
If this is the case with MegaCrop then it is almost already a no go for me.

@homebrewer Will it be always the case with MegaCrop, or would there be a chance that with my tapwater it would be (more) stable.
I am a total nitwit in all this pH and nutrients business.
 
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
Keesje said:
Rising pH sucks!
I had that years ago. It drove me crazy.
If this is the case with MegaCrop then it is almost already a no go for me.

@homebrewer Will it be always the case with MegaCrop, or would there be a chance that with my tapwater it would be (more) stable.
I am a total nitwit in all this pH and nutrients business.
Click to expand...
Sometimes your tap water will buffer the pH, usually upward, so using RO water instead may minimize those upward swings. In the defense of MC, every food that I've ever run in hydro drifted upward, except for DG. That upward drift is to be expected. I added hydro tables to the garden about a decade ago and pH isn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be. If you were getting anal with MC then you'd likely want to adjust the pH 2x per week but I bet you could easily get by with an adjustment 1x per week. Seeing that (based on one reservoir) MC buffered itself to 5.77 on day 1, letting it drift upward is not a bad idea. Once it hits 6.4 or so, adjust it back to 5.6 and let it rise again. By the time you need to change your res I'm sure the pH will still be in an acceptable range.
 
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