Wow a lot has changed in 4 years.. Can't believe it's been that long since I wrote this thread
.. I opened a Hydroponics store in 2010 and have learned quite a bit since which I'll share with everyone.
I've spent many hours learning and educating myself on plants & plant nutrients including h&g and others. I still believe h&g is a unique line & was one of the pioneers in modern day plant nutrients. H&G was originally formulated for roses. Van De Zwaan and his crew were some of Hollands largest commercial producers of roses. I think they quickly realized what crop was their bread and butter and have tweaked the line accordingly. Since my original post they have created several new products & changed several of the names & compositions of their products. I have no experience (in fact have never touched) a bottle of the Hydro nutrient or the Aarde organic line. My experience is based strictly off the US versions of aqua flakes, cocos & soil bases. I'll give a quick run down on each product as I see it.
Of the 3 bases I would certainly say Aqua Flakes is the standout. For recirculating hydro systems you'd be hard pressed to find a cleaner, more stable & effective base. It was designed to be recirculated with pumps that draw mineral element from the water so you won't have any cal/mag issues that are present with some other nutrients when using mag drive pumps. It works INCREDIBLY well in Coco coir also, maybe even better than Cocos a&b. Soil & Coco work great as well but Aqua Flakes is certainly the flagship base for h&g.
Amino treatment was not around when I started this thread. Let me tell you.. This product is worth every penny and you can justify the cost in any feeding regimen. Composed of Amino acids, Silica & other proprietary ingredients, Amino WILL make a noticeable difference on your crop. Plants are all around larger, more resistant to stress and the internodes are stacked much tighter. Amino paves the way for enormous buds period. Please refrain from other silica products when using Amino as it becomes redundant. Buy only what you'll use for one run as this stuff will get a little gross if you leave it sitting for prolonged periods of time.
As for roots excel, the product that brought me to h&g, it has been modified and sold in a new gold bottle. Insiders say it was due to one of the ingredients and US labeling issues. The consistency has changed, it is much more liquidy now as opposed to gooey which is nice for DWC & hydro systems. Unfortunately I think, while it still has a cult following & sells by the boatload, the change actually resulted in a slightly lesser quality product. The jury is still out on this one. We're running extensive testing, will let you know. Many of our customers use GH rapid start successfully as a cheaper substitution.
Algen extract is a kelp extract veg additive. It's extremely thick & dark, do not suggest it for hydro. Even h&g recommends it at 10% strength in hydro systems. Keeps plants extremely lush & green in coco/dirt. Only buy what you'll need for a run as it will goo up on you after time.
Nitrogen boost is another new one. Made specifically for markets like America where we grow large plants due to plant count restrictions. All of h&g bases are low nitrogen. They were designed for growers in Holland who grow short plants on tray tables with very little veg time that require very little nitrogen. The bases are geared towards the blooming phase of a plants life which is why nitrogen boost was created. Supplement with 1-4ml/gal throughout veg if needed.
Drip clean still rocks. .4ml/gal so this product goes a Long way. USE THIS PRODUCT FROM DAY ONE. DO NOT START USING MID WAY. If you have any type of residual salt build up already and begin using it, it will release all of the salts from your drip lines & growing media and wreak havoc ESPECIALLY IN A RECIRCULATING SYSTEM.
Multizen, which was called Multizyme when I originally wrote this post is pretty similar to most enzyme products. Eats dead old root mass & keeps your root zone clean & in check.
Bud XL is an interesting product. If you notice, you stop using multizen once you start using bud XL. This is because the bud XL contains enzymes as well as a proprietary ingredient that transfers the sugar from the leaf to the actual bud. Basically multizen with some extras is my understanding.
Top booster is a mid stage pk bloom booster. The cheapest of all the additives yet probably the single most effective & noticeable product of them all. Pretty much common knowledge & practice for all growers to use a mid stage pk. Definetely a must have.
Shooting powder (and now Top Shooter which is a liquid shooting powder) are still unique to h&g for the most part. Many companies (Advanced Nutrients Overdrive, Aptus breakout powder etc) have created late stage bloom boosters similar to Shooting Powder/Top Shooter. Still they all pale in comparison IMO. These products create a second burst of flowering late into the bloom stage. After adding them you'll notice fresh layers of white pistols shooting up all over. This will result in significantly more weight but the down side is I would recommend prolonging your harvest an extra week to allow the fresh growth to fill in and get the finished color & texture growers are looking for.
Magic green still works ok I guess. I'm ho hum about foliar sprays so my opinion is probably a bit biased.
H&G also Recently released coco coir onto the market. IT IS CAL-MAG INFUSED, DO NOT SUPPLEMENT WITH CALMAG OR YOU WILL HAVE BUILDUP ISSUES!!!!! I still prefer a good, clean non buffered coco like Nutriplus, Nutrilife or Cyco. Also, suggest cutting with atleast 20% perlite or Growstones.
Lastly, I do feel h&g is lacking in a few areas. B vitamins, which I would supplement with AN b52 or Superthrive. We also use Xtreme Gardening products for our beneficials & teas. USE XTREME AZOS, MYKOS & TEA ALWAYS. These products are EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE & CONCENTRATED compared to other comparable products. I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW WELL THESE PRODUCTS WORK WITH HG AND ALL OTHER LINES FOR THAT MATTER. We also use Supercharger RX tablets as an "enzyme supercharger" in all of our grows. IMO h&g should create some sort of early stage bloom booster/bloom trigger. We suggest Advanced Nutrients Bud Ignitor. For growers on a budget Blossom Blaster (Grotek), Bud Blood liquid or powder (Advanced Nutrients) or Blossom Blood all work well. Sea green Also compliments h&g well. It takes care of any residual build up that the drip clean can't handle. Make sure you get the additive stuff (from same manufacturer) that stops the foaming and weirdness of sea green if you're using it in a hydro system. Shout out to Rock Resinator & Bloombastic too. If you're not using the Shooting Powder/Top shooter try these out because they are awesome. DO NOT USE IN CONJUNCTION WITH HG.
Anyhow, there's my 2c rant for the day. Hit me up, purrrrple out!