Dyna-Gro vs General Hydroponics (Dumpster Grow)

[homebrewer]

Today is day 42 of 60 and earlier in the week I started to notice some nute burn. Dumpster is a heavier feeder and at the suggested feeding rates from DG, I’ve kinda felt like I’ve been walking the line of leaf-tip burn this whole time. This is ok in my mind as that means I’m feeding my girls everything they need, plus a little more. However, while the buds still smell fruity and skunky, squeezing them and smelling my fingers reveals the slightest aroma of earthy-nutrients. With that being said, I may be cutting the nutes back by 10-20% (except ProTekt). Of course this only makes the nutrient line cheaper so I’m not complaining. The slight overfeeding may even have contributed to the next issue which was one pH adjustment this week. I’ve gotten to the point where I only check the DG pH about every other day and it had dropped to 5.3 on Friday evening. No harm done and a quick adjustment to around 5.8 fixed that. Also, I cut down the amount of grow formula that I was using with the bloom and by doing so, I'm supplying the plants with more phosphorus than possibly needed. This could also be a culprit. Maybe the fix here isn't to dial back, but to go back to my 1/3 grow, 2/3 bloom ratio?

Spider mites? I did find one leaf with mites on it this past week in a res off-camera, but it was also touching a plant fresh from the veg area that had a few mites on it. The dumpster tray continues to be mite-free and I contribute the added resistance to ProTekt.

Resin? I’m still thinking there is a slight resin difference between the 2 nutrient lines. That doesn’t mean I can’t mix-and-match the DG base with some GH additives at some point but it should be noted that products featuring sea kelp or humic/fulvic acids will increase resin production slightly. Does it make a difference in the smoke? We shall see.

Weight? As far as production goes, DG is keeping up with the best of them. The buds are dense as can be and are an appropriate size given their age. As you can see in the picture, they’re starting to lean on one another which is why I have the strings around the tray.

So moving into this next week, I’ll be adjusting the nutes a little and monitoring the leaves and how the buds smell. Hopefully at the end of this I’ll be able to post a generic schedule for DG. This will of course need tweaked since one round with a line of nutes is hardly enough info to get a good schedule. On the other hand, there are only 3 variables which makes it very easy to tweak.





Resin shots

GH Resin (day 41):





DG Resin (day 42):












Cheers guys!

 

[venacular]

Thanks for the update. I already ordered Floralicious.

 

[Mazar i Shariff]

Buds look nice & frosted! From the look of your leaves, they are so dark green that I think your Nitrogen levels are WAY too high for where they need to be, which I think is what's starting to burn your tips too. Def don't want to go through nutrient lockout right now.

What PPM are you feeding right now???

 

[homebrewer]

Buds look nice & frosted! From the look of your leaves, they are so dark green that I think your Nitrogen levels are WAY too high for where they need to be, which I think is what's starting to burn your tips too. Def don't want to go through nutrient lockout right now.

What PPM are you feeding right now???

It's not nitrogen burn. It's phosphorus and I know this because of the other reservoirs where I'm running different ratios of bloom and grow. Right now, my NPK ratio for my bloom/grow mix is 1-3-1.5 (or 3.8-11.4-5.8 ) which is not enough N to burn. In addition, I'm running higher levels of nitrogen in other reservoirs and the plants look fantastic.

I don't have a TDS meter, I just use recommended schedules and tweak from there. But the DG schedule approximates the PPMs at 1435 with a 50ppm base water.

 

[Mazar i Shariff]

Interesting. I'm shocked that at day #42 1435ppm is too much at those ratios. Guess they aren't too heavy of feeders. But I'd have to agree, a 20% cut and seeing how they react would be best. And because you aren't using a PPM meter, don't forget to account for water evaporation in an open reservoir such as yours, incase you are not watering it down here & there already to counter that. While it could be 1435ppm one day, all you need is some evaporation over a 24-48 hour period and next thing ya know it could be closer to the 2,000 range which would be too high, obviously. And the longer the periods are between flushes & fills, the more flux you can see there.

You've really been growing for 10 yrs without a TDS meter? That had to of been the best $200 I spent back in the day. Great multi-function unit.

 

[Medi 1]

not nute burn...lack of nutes. nutes dont burn. usualy its the low ph and makes them lack food that makes burns. suberin on the roots stops them from intaking to many nutes. we solve it by flushing and all that did was raise the ph back to where it needs to be to have all elements at the needed levels. ive flushed with full food when ive had this and it went away so its not food.

 

[Medi 1]

curious what camera you have. colours look funny green to me. never seen plants have that shade of green in real life.

 

[Tiger Woods]

Minor issues to work out, still a great grow over all. 10 years with no TDS meter and results like this huh? Your either one lucky bastard or simply know what the hell your doing(I choose the later). Id still reccommend a meter. There as cheap as 15 bucks man. Eseasonger.com and if you order over $18.95 you get free shipping. Not trying to cross the line here and tell you what you need to do, you obviously know what your doing just a cheap way of knowing your ppm at all times. As Mazar mentioned when water evap. or the plants us it up at different rates the ppm may increase or decrease depending on how much water their drinking, if their drink more water than nutes, vice versa or consuming nutes/water equally. In my experience the ppm usually rises as water is loss and when you top off it lowers it quite a bit. As iam sure you know the only sure fire way of knowing is a meter.

Didn't mean to rant either,honest,lol.

Peace and good vibes

 

[homebrewer]

not nute burn...lack of nutes. nutes dont burn. usualy its the low ph and makes them lack food that makes burns. suberin on the roots stops them from intaking to many nutes. we solve it by flushing and all that did was raise the ph back to where it needs to be to have all elements at the needed levels. ive flushed with full food when ive had this and it went away so its not food.

Nutes can burn. pH is fine.

curious what camera you have. colours look funny green to me. never seen plants have that shade of green in real life.

Upper-end Nikon dSLR with professional glass.

Minor issues to work out, still a great grow over all. 10 years with no TDS meter and results like this huh? Your either one lucky bastard or simply know what the hell your doing(I choose the later). Id still reccommend a meter. There as cheap as 15 bucks man. Eseasonger.com and if you order over $18.95 you get free shipping. Not trying to cross the line here and tell you what you need to do, you obviously know what your doing just a cheap way of knowing your ppm at all times. As Mazar mentioned when water evap. or the plants us it up at different rates the ppm may increase or decrease depending on how much water their drinking, if their drink more water than nutes, vice versa or consuming nutes/water equally. In my experience the ppm usually rises as water is loss and when you top off it lowers it quite a bit. As iam sure you know the only sure fire way of knowing is a meter.

Didn't mean to rant either,honest,lol.
Peace and good vibes

I change my res once per week and top off with fresh water each day. A TDS meter gives me a total number but doesn't let me know exactly what nutes are being over-used. In this case, I believe it to be phosphorus based on my notes and other DG reservoirs that I'm experimenting with. A TDS meter certainly has a place in hydroponics but I don't see how that would help any more than good notes and reading plants (or attempting to ). Thanks for the link, I'll keep that in mind for the future.

 

[Medi 1]

like nikons here as well.
and no, nutes dont burn. look up suberin. how if they cant take in more than they need as this works.

 

[surphin]

Does MJ even have suberin? I thought it was just in trees like cork?

 

[surphin]

Oh, and the plants are looking great HB.

With the PH drop, you wouldn't happen to have found yourself topping off with more than usual this last week?

 

[homebrewer]

like nikons here as well.
and no, nutes dont burn. look up suberin. how if they cant take in more than they need as this works.

I don't know if you're an organic guy or synthetic guy, but synthetic nutrients don't need broken down by microbes in the soil to be taken in by the plant. The plant can absolutely take in too much synthetic nutrient creating tip burn, nutrient smell in the buds, or crispy brown leaves top-to-bottom in severe cases. If you think the suberin somehow regulates the intake of synthetic nutrients, dump a whole bottle of nutes into your reservoir or into your pot. If you don't burn the plant, then I'll buy you a new bottle of the nutrient of your choice.

With the PH drop, you wouldn't happen to have found yourself topping off with more than usual this last week?

The water consumption seemed normal and I topped off as normal. I think it was a situation where the plant was taking in the amount of water and nutrient that it needed (and then some), leaving an excess of acidic nutrient in the reservoir. As far as plant health goes, I'm not even concerned and am glad I hit the 'ceiling' as this will allow me to tweak the schedule and gets me one step closer to a winning nute schedule. I was going with a total of 15 mls per gallon of a grow and bloom mix, I'm now at about 13 mls/gallon.

 

[RastaMonsta]

damnn your almost done bro! ive been following since day 1,helping me build that confidence i need to grow some dank marijuana!

i really cant tell the difference in resin between both nute lines, only difference i notice is the dg has some orange hairs and the GH is str8 up white.

 

[RastaMonsta]

hold up, i see a difference on the fan leaves now.Gh definatlly has more resin

 

[homebrewer]

hold up, i see a difference on the fan leaves now.Gh definatlly has more resin

Well the good news is that I can use the DG line for the rock solid pH and the GH additives for resin together which is what I'm doing in a res off camera. Hopefully blending the best of both worlds for an all around cake-walk grow that produces showcase looks. I'll be sure to let you know if any difference in appearance translates to potency or smoke quality.

 

[Tiger Woods]

If it ain't broke......

Edit: eseasongear.com

 

[nixusr]

Man I can not wait to see the generic nutes list! This is an awesome comparison thread. I just put my order in for the DG Gro, Bloom, ProTek, Mag and K-L-N!

 

[Stonercool]

While I still don't think folks will drag me away from Advanced Nutrients, this has been a fascinating journal to follow.

Thanks for posting all these details - I love seeing facts and pictures. So much more interesting than whining and arguing.

 

[venacular]

Well the good news is that I can use the DG line for the rock solid pH and the GH additives for resin together which is what I'm doing in a res off camera. Hopefully blending the best of both worlds for an all around cake-walk grow that produces showcase looks. I'll be sure to let you know if any difference in appearance translates to potency or smoke quality.

Just added some Dyna-Gro to my soil plants and to be honest I have noticed a difference in shade and shine. I have yet to see how they perform for a complete grow but that's why I thank you for this thread i will be starting a hydro flood/drain table tomorrow with my Ice clones. My medium will be Hydroton with Dyna nutes. I was considering GH as my nute line as I have prior experience with it but this thread made me change my mind. So far I'm comfortable but the coming weeks should help me feel certain I made the right choice.