Nutes for noobs?

Hiya noobs and experienced budmasters,
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TL;DR Planting in inert medium, don't know which nutrient line is best for me: Advanced Nutrients, General Hydro, or BioBizz?
In prices: Advanced >> General Hydro > BioBizz
In quality: ??
Factor in the fact that I am nubsauce.
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I am going to start my first grow soon, and I've been wondering what the best nutrients for beginners are.

I will be planting in an inert mix, turf + perlite + coco coir (?). (I need those 3, right? Can't just plant in turf+perlite, can I?)

In my city, we have available General Hydro Flora (Gro,Micro & Bloom) series, BioBizz (an organic line of nutes, BioGrow, BioBloom & BioHeaven 3-packs), and Advanced Nutrients (B52, Voodoo Juice, Nirvana, Overdrive, Rhino Skin, Carboload, sometimes Sensi Grow+Sensi Bloom parts A+B, sometimes Big Bud, and sometimes pH-Connoisseur, and possibly one or two other ones that I can't find online at the moment).

It's going to be my absolute first time growing, and I've been doing sooooo much research (I feel my first bud will be pretty good for a beginner, given all this internet research, my good seed genetics, and my own college-level biology & chemistry knowledge).

I just want to know how much my choice (and investment) in nutrients will affect my yield, potency, and flavor. I know my nutes and bud quality are directly tied to one another, but I don't know what kind of difference I will see between getting the GH Flora series (a more affordable option compared to AN) and the several Advanced Nutrients mixes (I don't even know which ones I absolutely need vs. which are superfluous).

I guess the Advanced Nutrients line is what has really got my confused, seeing as they don't offer convenient 3-packs of the essentials.
I could just ask the clerks/owners of hydro shops for all this advice, but that's just one experienced grower/salesman's opinion, maybe just trying to get me to take the whole Advanced Nutrients line.

Does anyone even recommend/know BioBizz? I don't know if an organic line of nutes would be ideal for an inert growing medium.

I've also read that when you top photoperiod plants that you should feed it stuff like B52 before and afterwards.

All input is welcome and appreciated! Thanks in advance!

You still have time. E-mail the manufacturer of the nutes and ask for samples or discount sample packs
Plus information and go with whatever you get. I use fox farm and bush doctor. But I don't use much because I'm in soil. After I mix my soil it's a while before it can needs anything and then very little.

I would recommend General Hydroponics. I have used the GO Box with a coco coir perlite mix and they worked perfectly together.

If you do go with the GH nutrients, be sure to dilute them a little more than what says on the box. They seem to be really concentrated and a little goes a very long way!

I also use GH Flora Trio with good results.

I mostly follow this schedule, but I adjust as necessary: http://www.growweedeasy.com/sites/growweedeasy.com/files/Drain-to-Waste-Nutrient-Schedule-custom.jpg

I would recommend the fox farms big three to start .....I've grown some killer bud with just those ...GL

High Nic

I've used AN for 15 years and very happy with it. Don't need all the supplements. I just use the 3 - part, Rhino Skin, Big Bud, trying Bud Ignitor this run. Any CalMag, and very little is needed, and sometimes a dash of Epsom Salts. Start with smaller containers of their stuff if money is short. I grow in pots with ProMix and DWC using RO water with both. pH Perfect means you don't have to get a pH pen tho a ppm pen is needed when doing hydro but I don't check ppm for my potted plants.

Being new at it you're probably better off getting a pre-made grow media like the ProMix unless you're set to use coco. More issues with coco than the peat based blends from what I've seen but newer coco blends seem to work much the same as peat. ProMix also makes coco blends tho their HP comes with lots of perlite and works well right out of the bag. Their Vegetable and Herb mix grows plants great in veg for a while before you need to add nutes but needs some added perlite. I mix the two and also use their potting soil mix for a half-assed organic/hydro kind of grow in pots.

You don't need anything special when topping plants. Cannabis is very well adapted to recovering from damage in the wild so a little topping doesn't hurt it a bit. Tho the tops take a week or so to get going energy is also being used to grow out side branches so it seems the plant has slowed a lot in growing but overall it's doing just fine.

GH/GO nutes and Botanicare are owned by Scotts Miracle-Gro/Monsanto now so I wouldn't buy anything of theirs if I had nothing but my own piss to feed my plants. Not that I ever did buy anything from that hypocritical company that denies they make nutes for growing pot. Those GO Boxes are supposedly organic and I have most of one left here as it gave half the yield of the hydro nutes when I did a side-by-side grow with it using clones from the same mother a few years ago.

What other plans have you got for growing? Lights, ventilation, tent or spare space under the stairs, climate controls? Things that should be all ready before you pop a bean.

Indacouch said:

I would recommend the fox farms big three to start .....I've grown some killer bud with just those ...GL

Click to expand...

If you were to go this route I'd suggest getting the grow big, tiger bloom and a Bottle of botanicare cal mag.

I use Canna.
Equal parts of a and b...done. There are thing one can add, but a and b grows it just fine. (I add cal/mag. And 13/14PK during flower.)
Canna has a line for the "soil" you use(rockwool, hydrocorn, dirt, coco).

Coco coir and perlite , flora trio series is good.


The nute game is filled with companies spending heavy money on marketing schemes. Just stick with a 2 part or the GH flora series is good.

Look up Lucas formula or heads formula

Thanks for the input everyone!

OldMedUser said:

High Nic

I've used AN for 15 years and very happy with it. Don't need all the supplements. I just use the 3 - part, Rhino Skin, Big Bud, trying Bud Ignitor this run. Any CalMag, and very little is needed, and sometimes a dash of Epsom Salts. Start with smaller containers of their stuff if money is short. I grow in pots with ProMix and DWC using RO water with both. pH Perfect means you don't have to get a pH pen tho a ppm pen is needed when doing hydro but I don't check ppm for my potted plants.

Being new at it you're probably better off getting a pre-made grow media like the ProMix unless you're set to use coco. More issues with coco than the peat based blends from what I've seen but newer coco blends seem to work much the same as peat. ProMix also makes coco blends tho their HP comes with lots of perlite and works well right out of the bag. Their Vegetable and Herb mix grows plants great in veg for a while before you need to add nutes but needs some added perlite. I mix the two and also use their potting soil mix for a half-assed organic/hydro kind of grow in pots.

You don't need anything special when topping plants. Cannabis is very well adapted to recovering from damage in the wild so a little topping doesn't hurt it a bit. Tho the tops take a week or so to get going energy is also being used to grow out side branches so it seems the plant has slowed a lot in growing but overall it's doing just fine.

GH/GO nutes and Botanicare are owned by Scotts Miracle-Gro/Monsanto now so I wouldn't buy anything of theirs if I had nothing but my own piss to feed my plants. Not that I ever did buy anything from that hypocritical company that denies they make nutes for growing pot. Those GO Boxes are supposedly organic and I have most of one left here as it gave half the yield of the hydro nutes when I did a side-by-side grow with it using clones from the same mother a few years ago.

What other plans have you got for growing? Lights, ventilation, tent or spare space under the stairs, climate controls? Things that should be all ready before you pop a bean.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the very comprehensive response, OldMed!

Yeah, money is short, so the 2.8 Fl oz AN containers would be my only option. All of these ferts I've mentioned are the ones that can be found where I live and they all have to be imported, so sometimes we go through shortages, according to the guys at the hydro shop.
That said, I've noticed that, online at least, Big Bud is out of stock (would have to call each shop I to which haven't been to know for sure, though).
I'm not sure if there is a Big Bud equivalent by AN themselves (why would there be?), but if it wouldn't be worth pursuing without the Big Bud, I'd probably have to go with GH, despite also being aware of their hypocritical ways (Bayer buying them up is just one more thing in this world that scares me...).

Okay, good to know I can top them without having to worry about extra feeding.

As for my growing plans so far:
>I'm going to run a 250W MH/HPS with a 125mm (4.92") cooltube reflector, 3'x3'x6' Secret Jardin DR90 tent, 120/5mm inline exhaust, maybe one 100-120mm (3.9" - 4.7") intake fan, a 20cm (7.8") clip-fan for circulation
>I plan on growing up to 3 (single phenotype) ladies in final smartpots of 10L (2.64 gal) or 15L (3.96 gal) (I don't think they sell 11.4L (3 gal) smartpots. There are 11L (2.9 gal) simple plastic pots, however.
>As for substrates, we have available here

I get to choose one of these girls to grow first: Honey Cream (Fast flower)(RQS), Royal Moby [Dick] (RQS), Critical (RQS), Purple Bud (White Label), and Pineapple Express Auto (Barney's).
I have 3 of each, so I'll probably just grow all 3 at once (and no other strains), so I don't have to deal with different nutrient needs or flowering times (I feel it might be overwhelming for a greenhorn). Although I'd sure like some variety come harvest...
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Bareback said:

You still have time. E-mail the manufacturer of the nutes and ask for samples or discount sample packs
Plus information and go with whatever you get. I use fox farm and bush doctor. But I don't use much because I'm in soil. After I mix my soil it's a while before it can needs anything and then very little.

Click to expand...

Good tip, bareback! However.. I don't think the manufacturers of these better known nutes have factories/branches where I live, seeing as these very nutes are imported. And all the domestic "nutes" (most are just substrate or organic nutes) are generic AF. I wouldn't go that route unless I was growing bagseed in a dinky haphazard closet grow.

So I probably wouldn't get any such discounts or sample packs, but it can't hurt to check their website.
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tusseltussel said:

If you were to go this route I'd suggest getting the grow big, tiger bloom and a Bottle of botanicare cal mag.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, tussel.
Yeah, no Tiger Bloom/Grow Big or Botanicare where I live.
There is CalMag, though, idk what brand though.
There is also GH Liquid and Dry Koolbloom, which I forgot to mention.

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jeepster1993 said:

I use Canna.
Equal parts of a and b...done. There are thing one can add, but a and b grows it just fine. (I add cal/mag. And 13/14PK during flower.)
Canna has a line for the "soil" you use(rockwool, hydrocorn, dirt, coco).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, jeepster.
Unfortunately no Canna option for me here. :/

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GreenBoxGrown said:

I would recommend General Hydroponics. I have used the GO Box with a coco coir perlite mix and they worked perfectly together.

If you do go with the GH nutrients, be sure to dilute them a little more than what says on the box. They seem to be really concentrated and a little goes a very long way!

Click to expand...

Thanks for your input, GreenBox.
I'll be sure to dilute whatever nutes I get because I hear all of them give you way overestimated recommended doses.

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714steadyeddie said:

Coco coir and perlite , flora trio series is good.


The nute game is filled with companies spending heavy money on marketing schemes. Just stick with a 2 part or the GH flora series is good.

Look up Lucas formula or heads formula

Click to expand...

Thanks, eddie, good to know (from you and everyone else here who swears by GH) that even though the parent company is a moral piece of shit, their product still works pretty well.

Yeah, dastardly marketing is omnipresent in life, so why not in cannabis?
I will check out this Lucas formula of which you speak. Thanks!

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ismann said:

I also use GH Flora Trio with good results.

I mostly follow this schedule, but I adjust as necessary: http://www.growweedeasy.com/sites/growweedeasy.com/files/Drain-to-Waste-Nutrient-Schedule-custom.jpg

I would recommend the fox farms big three to start .....I've grown some killer bud with just those ...GL

Click to expand...

Thanks for your input, ismann!

Yeah, I've seen that schedule before while reading practically everything on growweedeasy, but I was still too far from beginning my grow to really put it all together.
Good to know GH Flora trio will get the job done.

Unfortunately, we definitely don't have fox farms where I live. If anything not GH, AN, or BioBizz is hard to come by (and even AN is scarce at times), big ol' bags of substrate are definitely gonna have a hard time getting here at an affordable price.