Make your own Sweet for less than 1 dollar a gallon

I posted this elsewhere, but it really belongs here. After seeing Botanicare Sweet at a local grow shop for $64 a gallon, I decided to figure out how it is made and make it myself. Turns out this was easy. It requires Epsom Salt and Cane Sugar. You put them in a pan with water, heat and stir until dissolved, add enough cold water to fill your 1 gallon jug and that's it. Be sure that the Epsom Salt you use is 100% Magnesium Sulfate, not the perfumed bath salts, just the single ingredient.

The label on a jug of Sweet tells the story:


This is the 4 pound bag of Epsom Salt (from walmart, $2)


This is the finished product, I poured it into a clear glass vase to see if there was any precipitate, there wasn't, it stayed clear and a nice clean-clear solution.


If Botanicare was selling this for a more reasonable price or if the company advertised on my favorite website I probably would not have been motivated to research and post this.

[FONT=&quot] Formula to make 1 Gallon of Sweet[/FONT]

1 Teaspoon (4.3 grams) Cane Sugar
9 Tablespoons (151 grams) Epsom Salt (100% Magnesium Sulfate)

Add Cane Sugar and Epsom Salt to 4 cups of water and heat, stirring until completely dissolved. Allow to cool.

[FONT=&quot]Pour solution into a 1 gallon container and add water until it makes 1 gallon. Shake until mixed.

Shake well before using.[/FONT]


I used this solution in the reservoir of my hydro system and the plants are doing fine, they look the same as when I had been adding Sweet.

If you want to see the method I used to derive the amounts, see this thread.

Sweet post!

danm thnx man that shit really does start to add up

Thanks, I will absolutely be giving this a shot! I will note the results in my journal (it'll be a few weeks).

Would be great to see results from growers to validate this formula. After a week in hydro, following the directions on the Sweet jug, my plants are doing fine. Because the label shows the ingredients and amounts I am confident that this is a near-exact replacement. Now that it is available cheap I won't have to be so stingy with using it. The directions are clear, 10ml per gallon for veg, 15-20ml/gallon during flower. Here is the label:


For new growers who are not familiar with this product, it is an additive for your nutrients, not intended to be used by itself. It seems to help the plants grow better and have bigger buds.

What do you use to get the sulphur in there ? Thanx

From Wikipedia:

"In gardening and other agriculture, magnesium sulfate is used to correct a magnesium or sulfur deficiency in soil; magnesium is an essential element in the chlorophyll molecule, and sulfur is another important micronutrient. It is most commonly applied to potted plants, or to magnesium-hungry crops, such as potatoes, roses, tomatoes, lemon trees and peppers The advantage of magnesium sulfate over other magnesium soil amendments (such as dolomitic lime) is its high solubility, which also allows the option of foliar feeding. Solutions of magnesium sulfate are also nearly neutral, as compared to alkaline salts of magnesium, as found in limestone; therefore the use of magnesium sulfate as a magnesium source for soil does not significantly change the soil pH.[SUP][citation needed]"[/SUP]

Thanks for that and for not ridiculing me buddy, Mag SULPHATE :

[video=youtube;Hy5wNeSPzfQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy5wNeSPzfQ[/video]

Got everything I need and will be mixing a batch tonight.

Maybe it's just me... but when a company tries to sell me a sugar and epsom salt solution for $64.. I question the company and the product.

Do these sugar additives really work? Can plants uptake sugar? My understanding was that plants make their own glucose through photosynthesis. Also, that they make and store more than they will actually use.

HeartlandHank said:

Maybe it's just me... but when a company tries to sell me a sugar and epsom salt solution for $64.. I question the company and the product.

Do these sugar additives really work? Can plants uptake sugar? My understanding was that plants make their own glucose through photosynthesis. Also, that they make and store more than they will actually use.

Click to expand...

"Well osmosis is a two way street". if your sugar content is higher in the cell of the root that in the soil or water ions , sugar will migrate from the root to the soil untell a equal balances is reached which is where mycorizia fungi come in the picture . It was once believed and taught that sugar could not enter the osmoses picture but recent science has changed that idea now it common practice to add both sugar and to inculcate the soil so bad fungi and bacterium do not find a home in the sugar erected from plants . Be advised to much sugar can dehydrate a plant to death were talking very small amounts here . the product about is 0.1 cane sugar

OK, heck if I know how sugar works, I just calculated the amounts to add based on the label. There isn't very much. My plants still look fine. I would not change the amounts used to make this additive and would only use it at the application amounts recommended on the label. Because I was able to make this formula I will stop looking into molasses. Using molasses was not a good idea just based on the possibility that it could clog the sprayers, not to mention that it might attract ants.

I think there might be more in that bottle than sugar and epsom salt..
... this article explains why that is..

I don't know what to believe anymore with nute companies claims... labels being not accurate or incomplete due to regulation. What a fucking headache..

lame.

http://www.rosebudmag.com/hydroponics-industry/you-are-being-robbed-states-are-not-telling-truth

That article is remarkable, I had no idea that they hydro industry was being controlled by a few cutthroats. Reminds me of the cable tv business in the 80s. I wish AN the best of success against the headwinds of cheaters and government manipulation and over regulation.

Regarding the Sweet formula, this may be incomplete, but it certainly does contain the basic foundation. Simply adding Epsom Salt in a solution to a hydro system should help the plants to grow if the nutrients and other factors are correct. It would be great is one of the PHDs from inside the industry would comment on making some of this stuff at home. The important thing from the grower's perspective is not the profits of a company, but simply the heath of the plants, and making that more affordable is a good thing.

If a nutrient company comes up with something amazing, like it sounds like AN is working on, then it should be brought to market. Would almost be funny if an underground market developed to get these products to growers. There certainly is a history of underground markets in this field. Perhaps a good tactic to fight back would be to publish some of the formulas for the bad actors' products.

Thanks for the link!

If you use Big Bud, you probably shouldn't use Sweet at the same time because they both contain Magnesium Sulfate and too much of a good thing may not be good. Wonder if any of the "extra ingredients" in Big Bud are also in Sweet. I'll see if I can find a source for those ingredients without buying a truckload, there are some pretty obscure things listed there.

420circuit said:

That article is remarkable, I had no idea that they hydro industry was being controlled by a few cutthroats.
::snipped
::

Click to expand...

I linked it... i read it... i was intrigued as well... Is it true though? I don't know..At the moment, I trust hydro nute companies just as little as I trust a committee of Industry Giants and Politicians.. very little.
One thing is for sure Big Mike seems pretty passionate about the subject. I'm sure at least some of it is $$, but also, being on the edge of taking hydro farming to the next level, only to be held back by a bureaucracy.. that would be infuriating.

I wonder if that is one side of the argument or it really is like that?

In 5 years, any investigative journalist in the US (or in their reach) will be at Guantanamo or living in an Ecuadorian Embassy... haha. So we'll prbly never know... Ah, the information age... it was sweet while it lasted.

Perhaps that article would make a good thread. Maybe a distributor or someone would chime in..

Thanks for the tips on Big Bud and Sweet. Good bit of info.I wanna play with some additives. In the past, with what I have tried, I have seen no real benefits. But, I'm open minded to there being good additives out there. I've been doing base only for a bit now.

Yeah... seeing as that anything on the label is stuff that is on the AAwhateverthefuckitisO list of nutrient ingredients... then it would seem like they are the most active ingredients that have been proven and used for quite some time. I guess when you mix it yourself, you're cutting through all that regulatory bullshit ($), research.. and cutting out the other $63 of that gallon. Nice.

It is true AN was singled out by wholesalers and Hydro shops were given an ultimatum to either stop selling AN or lose Sun Systems distributions. With that said, I would take all information concerning AN products with a grain of salt. Here is a link to the Europe AN site where all the old AN propaganda literature is. CLICK HERE

Big Bud is probably AN's most popular supplement. People swear that it improves yields (those that have used it) But you, the grower should be the final judge. I don't use it because the new PH-Perfect Sensi formula has the L-Aminos and such in it, so the use of BiG Bud, as is recommended in the Hobbyist bundle, is redundant. That is why I like the Sensi. Nobody, UB,HB, or any other B can tell me I am getting ripped when I can produce as well or better bud with Sensi BAse instead of Dyna Grow. With a product that provides L-Amino's,fulvics,humics and a surfactant in 1, for 60-70/gal, how is that a rip? It's like AN's jungle Juice. It was made as a "stick it in your ear" to General Hydroponics. It is cheaper and cleaner. GH 3-part is hard to find for under $100. THEY are the thieves. Sorry, ranting on. In any case , do consider the source when you read this stuff and judge by your research.

I would have never guessed that simply trying to save money on fertilizer would open such a can of worms. The way science is supposed to work, when something new is discovered, is peer review and lots of new research efforts. Apparently there are people trying to keep that from happening, in the mistaken notion that it will help their profits if they can keep secret how a process like how plant growth works. Well fuck that, let's see how many of the commercial products can be made at home and bring this whole industry back down to earth. Not hard to imagine a new thread for each nutrient product with enough information to make the majority of your own products or at least enough to cut the expense down.

I do know that my change to Jack's has been surprisingly effective. Adding Sweet or Big Bud is probably a waste if I can get the correct application of the basics dialed in. But whatever works best is where growers should be.

Thanks for this, I made up a batch today and started using it. I will let you know how it goes.