Bud candy

IMO, Advanced Nutrients are good but overpriced. I grow in soil.

When I was working in licensed grow ops their salespeople were always hawking the next big thing. I do like their base nutes but other than that I stay away from "amendments" from them and others having seen 99% of them do almost nothing in contrast to what the salespeople were spewing.

The conclusion I came to was that most nutes are marketed to hobby growers by touting how "pros" use them. What they don't tell you is that those "pros" are running huge industrial grows where an improvement of 1% -2% in dry yield is a big deal. For tent growers that comes to around a 1/2 gram.....maybe. That's why most amendments, IMO, are better suited to large grow ops rather than small, craft growers. I see more improvement when I optimize the basic parameters of any grow much more than I would from any "amendment"

As far as Big Bud if you look at the ingredients it's basically carbohydrates with some amino acids thrown in for good measure.

Big Bud Ingredients

NPK Ratio: 0-0-1

Ingredients: Soluble Potash (K2O), Potassium Sulfate, 72 trace elements, Organic acids, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Polyphenolic Compounds, Esters, Raw Cane Juice, Sweet Brown Molasses CARBOHYDRATES: Xyclose, Maltose, Glucose, Galactose, Aribinos EXTRACTS: Cranberry Extract, Grape Extract, Malt Extract, Fermented Yeast Extract VITAMINS: B-1, B-2, B-3, B-5, B-6, B-7, B12 AMINO ACIDS: L-Alanine, L-Arganine, L-Asparagine, L-Aspartic Acid, L-Cysteine, L-Cystine, L-Glutamic Acid, L-Glutamine, L-Glycine, L-Histidine, L-Isoleucine, L-Leucine, L-Lysine, L-Methionine, L-Threonine, L-Phenylalanine, L-Proline, L-Serine, L-Tryosine, L-Tryptophan, L-Valine

I don't use molasses or any added carbohydrates other than what comes in the base formulations and I can say I've had pretty decent runs costing me pennies. I realize that the added carbs are not so much for the plant directly but more so to feed the microbial and fungal community that works symbiotically with the root system to improve its performance but I've so far had some pretty successful runs without it.

I've personally done side by sides with Big Bud along with watching Master Growers and Botanists run side by sides and all resulted pretty much the same. Whatever gains you may see are minimal at best. For the MG's and Botanists that small increment was worth it to them as they could multiply that by the number of plants they run and they can see the increase overall whereas a tent grower MIGHT have 12 plants max in a tent and the gains aren't worth the price.
 
Good luck in November. You've got my vote!

I've seen no improvement since using these expensive amendments. In fact, it's been a frikkin' nightmare.

Everything you said makes total sense.

I got my Hydroguard delivered today. I'm hoping to see some nice white roots soon.

Can anyone recommend a really good TDS/EC meter? The one I have is a vivosun generic unit. I thought it was good, but everything that I have purchased from vivosun has failed - pH tester, light, 2 fans. I don't trust it anymore.
 
FishFlavouredTimbit said:
Can anyone recommend a really good TDS/EC meter?
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do you have a ph meter yet ? it's best to have a good one of each in the toolbox.

blue lab is the benchmark. hanna, h/m, and apera are all good and will perform to the same standards. the rest are hit and miss. for the money i use apera 60 series.
 
SmokingWings said:
Both of the Connoisseur Grow and Bloom products are part of the pH Perfect line. Maybe an improvement in some aspect, I don't know.

From the AN website:

What is pH Perfect® Connoisseur® Grow?
Wide range of chelated micronutrients provide optimal conditions to maximize growth
Eliminates the need for constant pH balancing
Safeguards plants from threatening pH acidity or alkalinity during feeding

What is pH Perfect® Connoisseur® Bloom?
Fully available chelated micronutrients support plant performance for maximum bud bulk
pH Perfect® Technology eliminates the need for pH Up or Down biostimulants
Stable pH levels encourage optimal nutrient absorption for heavy harvests

There was more info on the two Connoisseur products but I grabbed the basic info about pH. Just like before when growers were asking for help with the earlier pH Perfect fertilizers it all starts to fall apart if they try to control the pH themselves.

The best thing to do is to leave controlling the pH to the company. Their research and development is part of the price paid.
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i've never seen them as part of that line. ph perfect was it's own line last time i bothered with AN. they must have expanded it to ruin their others lol.

edit : after checking their website i see that's exactly what's going on.

the AN stuff i still have around is no longer offered except as a ph product. haven't used them in about 7yrs so the change had to have happened since.
 
bluter said:
i've never seen them as part of that line. ph perfect was it's own line last time i bothered with AN.
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Still is. Based on what I have read on their web site they have three different pH Perfect sets of fertilizers now on the market. At least that is the way I am interpreting what I have read.

I mentioned that I had found a page on their site that explains how the pH Perfect works after some digging and rooting around going deeper than the opening pages. This article explained what was happening when the pH products were being used and why the growers should accept the changes they might see in the pH when they test it.

I started to remember some of what I had read. Basically it has to do with the way the individual nutrients are chelated and released into the solution. Nutrient "A" would be released at a pH of 5.6 and the plant would absorbed the most that was available at the same pH. Then nutrient "B" is released at 5.4 pH and that is optimum for the plant. Then nutrient "C" is available at max when the ph has dropped to 5.2 and so on. There are other nutrients that might start to break the chelated bond and become available at a pH reading of 5.8 or higher.

This is similar to what is supposed to be happening with soil gardens. The water is added at an optimum pH of 6.3 and over the next day or two the pH can swing up, sometimes into the low 7s and eventually makes the various nutrients available.

When the grower is using the pH Perfect fertilizer the availability of any particular nutrient becomes available at the best pH for maximum use or absorption by the plant. If the gardener notices that the pH and starts to change it in an attempt to bring it back to 5.6 they are fighting against what Advanced Nutrients has built into the product. The idea is to put in the water at a particular pH and then sit back while AN takes care of the swings.

Most of the time when I see someone mention problems with the pH Perfect they mention the pH being wrong and then that the plants are not growing at the preferred rate and not looking good.
 
SmokingWings said:
Still is. Based on what I have read on their web site they have three different pH Perfect sets of fertilizers now on the market. At least that is the way I am interpreting what I have read.
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ph perfect started as one 2-part line with just an a and b. now i see there is only one AN line that is not ph adjusted out of something like 6.

i've got the original 3-part in the regular line that is no longer available. it is only available ph adjusted now.

AN is useless for the cost anyway. it looks like they are trying to focus everything on newbies. the majority of the supplements they push aren't ph adjusted which will also throw the balance out when used.

edit : my best advice is if you can't understand and grow within ph rules you have no business growing without lol
 
bluter said:
do you have a ph meter yet ? it's best to have a good one of each in the toolbox.

blue lab is the benchmark. hanna, h/m, and apera are all good and will perform to the same standards. the rest are hit and miss. for the money i use apera 60 series.
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I have an Apera PH60 also. Great meter. It calibrated with no trouble whatsoever, and it showed that the vivosun unit was WAAAAAAAYYYYYY off. When I corrected the pH, using the Apera PH60, my plants showed improvement within just a few days. Like I said, everything I owned, with the vivosun brand, failed or was shown to be way out of calibration. I assume my TDS meter is of the same cheap chinese knock-off quality. Hell, I had a fan that sounded like a hair-dryer. It had roughly the same output too. Noisy and useless. After three weeks, it LITERALLY fell apart in my hands. It came apart at the seam of the two pieces of plastic housing. I was able to see the globs of solder on the wiring connections. No heat shrink insulation - just wrapped with gummy, sticky electrical tape. I bought a 4-pack of thermometers when I set-up my hydro grow to monitor the temps in each bucket and the reservoir. There was a 5 degree difference between them. When I measured them against an industrial (calibrated) thermocouple, the closest one was off by nearly 2 degrees. So, the worst one was off by 7 degrees. That could have had catastrophic results wrt root health. I opened up one of them last week to look at the electronics (I used to be an electronics technologist) and it was much like I expected - poorly soldered crap. Cheap parts with low tolerances contribute to poor circuit performance and varying levels of accuracy. Vivosun gets lots of air-play on Amazon, but it is a total waste of money.

When I purchased the pH meter from Amazon, I checked to see if they sold an Apera TDS meter, but nope! I just checked again, and they now have an EC60 TDS/EC meter for $130. I just ordered it.
 
FishFlavouredTimbit said:
When I purchased the pH meter from Amazon, I checked to see if they sold an Apera TDS meter, but nope! I just checked again, and they now have an EC60 TDS/EC meter for $130. I just ordered it.
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did you get them in the cases ? i thought the cases would be totally unnecessary, but i absolutely recommend them now.

this is the ph60

full




the ec probe comes in an identical case.
 
Yes, the cases are included. I agree. The cases are necessary to keep everything in order. I also ordered lab standard calibration solutions. I learned a hard lesson with that crappy vivosun meter. I was unable to calibrate it. It just wouldn't complete the calibration procedure. It just kept throwing up an error. I calibrate the Apera meter every 2 weeks. When I worked at a power station, I would test the water used in various processes. We calibrated the test equipment every day. 8 ozs of solutions last a long time. Calibrating every two weeks will never use up the solutions before they expire, and it takes only 3 minutes.
 
FishFlavouredTimbit said:
Yes, the cases are included. I agree. The cases are necessary to keep everything in order. I also ordered lab standard calibration solutions. I learned a hard lesson with that crappy vivosun meter. I was unable to calibrate it. It just wouldn't complete the calibration procedure. It just kept throwing up an error. I calibrate the Apera meter every 2 weeks. When I worked at a power station, I would test the water used in various processes. We calibrated the test equipment every day. 8 ozs of solutions last a long time. Calibrating every two weeks will never use up the solutions before they expire, and it takes only 3 minutes.
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you don't have to recalibrate it so long as it tests well against the fluids.
the orginal factory calibration is 3-point. if you recalibrate it is 2-point, which is not as accurate, though it should be close to original.
 
You have the older version of the PH60 meter. I noticed that yours came with only the 4.0 and 7.0 test solutions. The newer ones have three solutions and calibrate to a three-point scale. Mine contained three solutions. Like I said, we used to calibrate our test equipment daily at the power station. Mind you, in an industrial setting, accuracy is far more important. Since I have lots of calibration solution, why not use it? I did go for a few weeks without calibrating it, but I noticed that the 4.0 'calibrated' indicator no longer showed. Since then, I pay far more attention to it and I calibrate before it requires it. I don't see the point of not calibrating when it takes 3 minutes every two weeks. I have the time.
 
FishFlavouredTimbit said:
Yes, the cases are included. I agree. The cases are necessary to keep everything in order. I also ordered lab standard calibration solutions. I learned a hard lesson with that crappy vivosun meter. I was unable to calibrate it. It just wouldn't complete the calibration procedure. It just kept throwing up an error. I calibrate the Apera meter every 2 weeks. When I worked at a power station, I would test the water used in various processes. We calibrated the test equipment every day. 8 ozs of solutions last a long time. Calibrating every two weeks will never use up the solutions before they expire, and it takes only 3 minutes.
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This is the problem with the industry. You have a few players actually innovating and the rest are following behind in their race to the bottom to get their products to look like the higher end ones but fail.

The series one AC Infinity fans were nice but had their issues. Everyone else came out with the same look only to have ACI come out with a series 2 that is much better than the series one. As a consumer I look at these other companies and I realize they are just followers whereas companies like ACI are actually designing and IMPROVING their products. This is why I try and stick with a company like ACI.
 
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