Growing Without Bloom Nutes By Farside05

From an article I found (Source):

Just how much sulfur is necessary to optimize growth of your plants? Plant and animal scientists have shown that plant tissue should contain one part sulfur for roughly each 15 to 20 parts nitrogen. If your ratio in your garden is much higher than 15 to 1, then sulfur fertilization should provide significant benefits to your plant yields.

At 9% N and 1.9% S, the ratio in Mega Crop would be 4.7 to 1. That's 3x the required amount based on the article.
 
farside05 said:
At least for use in my soil-less mix, I find Mega Crop extremely stable. Doesn't seem to matter what additives you throw at it, it likes to settle at 6.5 which is right where I want it to be. Straight Mega in my tap, straight Mega with my RO, Mega with Pro-Tekt and Cal-Mag and my tap, they all settle out around 6.5. When I was using all Dyna Gro products, the Silica/Pro-Tekt would spike the pH upward, but it doesn't seem to do that with the Mega for some reason. I had another member do some trials too and his came back in the 6.5 range. It's almost like their base nute has a pH Perfect type of effect. Don't know how that would all play out if you were doing hydro and wanting to run at 5.8, then there may be issues, but for soil or soil-less, it's great. My pen is getting dusty. I don't use it anymore. So my conclusion is that the pH stability has more to do with your base nute than the additives. May be right, may be wrong, but that's the assumption I'm running with at the moment.

Do you really feel 1.9% is low Sulfur? I know Dave from Dyna Gro has stated that aroma and flavor is attributed to Sulfur, so you're on point with that. The Foliage Pro I used to use was only .05% Sulfur and the Mag Pro supplement was 1.5% Sulfur. I use comparable amounts of Mega compared to Foliage Pro, so the Mega provides far more Sulfur than I ever provided before, even if I was supplementing with Mag Pro (since the Mag Pro was used only 1/4 the amount of Foliage Pro).
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Targeting my Si to 25 brings my PH to around 6.2ish. Potassium silicate is the most common silica, but not the only one. I suspect the ProTekt has a few sources of Si other than only K-silicate which might explain why the basic strength isn't as strong as I would guesstimate when using double what I do. I'm in rockwool so I need to keep my PH near 5.8. That's awesome that 50 brings it to 6.5. I have some Faux mix cooking now for 3 weeks and am so much looking forward to jumping into that. I amended it like the brix kit to see about emulating that, so I added some rock phosphate, a bunch of calcium carbonate and some of my salts to achieve the same or similar numbers. I'm still on the fence of whether or not to use silica. I don't want to deviate too much, at least not right away. Have you tested brix from your Faux plants yet?

When using Hydro Buddy, sulfur is the only element that you can not target. I mean there is an empty field, but if I input any number and use a solution that has sulfur in it, the app will not compute. I can only surmise that it is because there is no such thing as sulfur toxicity. Plus also, sulfur is a common anion that cations are complexed with so will likely find multiple ways into the final solution. I add my sulfur in from 3 different sources, potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate (epsom) and calcium sulfate (gypsum). If memory serves me, GH gets their sulfur to about 50ppm after adding in the Flora Nectar sweeteners. When I started mixing my own formulations I started there and have since increased that generally twofold. By mid bloom I'm slightly above 80ppm and late bloom it's up over 100 ppm of just sulfur. I've had great results @ 50 though and suspect even half of that (25) would also do well. If you are entertaining the thought, I suggest swapping out the calmag with Epsom and Gypsum. You could achieve the same exact targets you now have with the calmag, but you'll be upping the sulfur only.
 
Skybound said:
Targeting my Si to 25 brings my PH to around 6.2ish. Potassium silicate is the most common silica, but not the only one. I suspect the ProTekt has a few sources of Si other than only K-silicate which might explain why the basic strength isn't as strong as I would guesstimate when using double what I do. I'm in rockwool so I need to keep my PH near 5.8. That's awesome that 50 brings it to 6.5. I have some Faux mix cooking now for 3 weeks and am so much looking forward to jumping into that. I amended it like the brix kit to see about emulating that, so I added some rock phosphate, a bunch of calcium carbonate and some of my salts to achieve the same or similar numbers. I'm still on the fence of whether or not to use silica. I don't want to deviate too much, at least not right away. Have you tested brix from your Faux plants yet?

When using Hydro Buddy, sulfur is the only element that you can not target. I mean there is an empty field, but if I input any number and use a solution that has sulfur in it, the app will not compute. I can only surmise that it is because there is no such thing as sulfur toxicity. Plus also, sulfur is a common anion that cations are complexed with so will likely find multiple ways into the final solution. I add my sulfur in from 3 different sources, potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate (epsom) and calcium sulfate (gypsum). If memory serves me, GH gets their sulfur to about 50ppm after adding in the Flora Nectar sweeteners. When I started mixing my own formulations I started there and have since increased that generally twofold. By mid bloom I'm slightly above 80ppm and late bloom it's up over 100 ppm of just sulfur. I've had great results @ 50 though and suspect even half of that (25) would also do well. If you are entertaining the thought, I suggest swapping out the calmag with Epsom and Gypsum. You could achieve the same exact targets you now have with the calmag, but you'll be upping the sulfur only.
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ArmorSI is 10% Potassium Silicate, Pro-Tekt is 7.8% Potassium Silicate, so same ingredient, just 20% more diluted.

I've never tested the brix. That whole concept is foreign to me. As much as I can geek out on certain things and research them till I my head is ready to explode, its something that just hasn't been able to hold my interest. I've opened Doc's thread a couple times, made it a paragraph or two in, and closed it down. Maybe it's because the whole brix and organic thing seems so labor intensive to me. Spray this, cook that, brew teas, drenches, etc. Up until I mixed up the Faux Mix, it was cut open a bag of Pro Mix, fill pot, water with fertilizer in it. And I've even tried to simplify my nute program as much as possible. I suppose if I really wanted to simplify it even further I wouldn't even add the Pro-Tekt or Cal-Mag. @InTheShed seems to be doing just fine without those two additives. Maybe someday I'll do a side by side to see if there is any difference with and without.
 
Day 48/8

Fed the girls this AM (6g MC, 5ml PT, 5ml CM). Gave them a little solo photo shoot in the tent since its hard to make out where one ends, and the other begins, with both of them in there. When you see them individually its hard to imagine they co-exist in the same space. SMOOSH!

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farside05 said:
ArmorSI is 10% Potassium Silicate, Pro-Tekt is 7.8% Potassium Silicate, so same ingredient, just 20% more diluted.

I've never tested the brix. That whole concept if foreign to me. As much as I can geek out on certain things and research them till I my head is ready to explode, its something that just hasn't been able to hold my interest. I've opened Doc's thread a couple times, made it a paragraph or two in, and closed it down. Maybe it's because the whole brix and organic thing seems so labor intensive to me. Spray this, cook that, brew teas, drenches, etc. Up until I mixed up the Faux Mix, it was cut open a bag of Pro Mix, fill pot, water with fertilizer in it. And I've even tried to simplify my nute program as much as possible. I suppose if I really wanted to simplify it even further I wouldn't even add the Pro-Tekt or Cal-Mag. @InTheShed seems to be doing just fine without those two additives. Maybe someday I'll do a side by side to see if there is any difference with and without.
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I never used Doc's kit either, but I tried to emulate those results in hydro. I failed of course for various reasons, but I did learn an awful lot from reading posts as well analyzing the contents of each of the many products to better understand how the whole program works the elements into the soil. It was around this time that I stumbled onto your Fax mix that I realized I might be able to try high brix on the cheap while also helping me to solve a weight problem as I expand my grow x3. So I took your mix and did my best to amend it to Doc's numbers. From there, I can make all of the drenches and sprays from all of the salts I have on hand at a fraction of the cost of course. My amendment is fairly different than Doc's due to not having the same rock phosphate, I had to adjust the amount of salts I used to achieve the same numbers.

As complex as that system may be, I cannot visually deny the results people are getting out the other end. I want to smoke high brix weed just to verify if it does taste that much better. My hydro tastes a lot better than I ever imagined hydro could taste, but still, to date, I've never smoked good organic buds and I want to try it out. Aside from the amendments in the soil that the microbes in the EWC liberate over time, the drenches and sprays are fairly straight forward. The soil is loaded with a lot of calcium, some P and some N. Micros are added at transplant, N and Ca are added every other feeding and a very mild NPK is added every other feeding. One spray is a supplement, the other adds K when it turns out that the one drench isn't giving enough. I figure I can recreate all of these scenarios and if after all of my efforts I am not, I know I can strip it down to just Faux mix and feed it hydro nutes like you're doing which might turn out to be a better option for me as I have all of the salts needed to make any feed regimen.
 
farside05 said:
@InTheShed seems to be doing just fine without those two additives.
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I wonder though if the plants might support the buds better with some silica in the mix, but if I went that route I would have to go with the cal-mag like you are to stay balanced against the K. Only time I tried adding silica to the MC was with the Candidas and ended up locking out the N so I dialed it way back.

Of course if we needed to add sulfur there's always a bit of Terpinator on hand... ;)
 
InTheShed said:
Of course if we needed to add sulfur there's always a bit of Terpinator on hand... ;)
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:rofl::rofl::rofl:

"a bit".... more like "a friggin' barrel full"
 
Smokiemcpot19 said:
Looking fucking killer man! 6grams of mega is how many tsp per gallon? I guess I could Google it but ehh your the man.
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3/4 tsp. Since my measuring spoon set doesn't have a 3/4, it's a 1/2 plus a 1/4. Not really something you can Google since how much volume vs how much weight depends on the density of the substance. 3/4 tsp of lead powder would weigh a lot more than 3/4 tsp of talcum.
 
smokers420 said:
Looking lush my friend!
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Our Urkle seeds cleared customs and left New York this AM. Not too bad to go 7 days from order to get across the pond and through customs. Should be here in under 10.
 
farside05 said:
Our Urkle seeds cleared customs and left New York this AM. Not too bad to go 7 days from order to get across the pond and through customs. Should be here in under 10.
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Looking forward to them Urkel beans bud. Can't wait to see what they produce. Just hope it's the Urkel i had back in the day, If so it's the dank!
 
Day 52/12

Getting their stretch on. Sure hope this PC doesn't stretch too much more, but u fear it will. I've only got about an inch more to raise the light without reconfiguring the filter. I'll need to defoliate them some in the next week.

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Damn look at those monsters, they are thriving and looking good✌️
 
Well it's Friday. Doing some work in the garden today and decided to come in and take a break from working and do a few rips Of the GGS by @farside05 Well i did that and i have to admit it's been a hour and still setting here buzzed not wanting to go back out to work in the garden..LOL Since this stuff has cured out more the taste is getting way better along with the buzz.. Giving Props to my man Farside for doing a fantasic job on that GSC.. Nug that i took a few rips off of :bongrip:
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Day 55

My cell phone decided to quit working, so I've spent much of the last two days fussing with a new one to get it like I want. I fed the girls today, 6/5/5, 2 gallons each. Monday I'm off and plan on cleaning up the bottoms and doing some other defoliation. They need it. Pics from the new phone. It doesn't have a manual mode where I can set for the 3500k lighting, so they are all slightly different tints. Need to play with this camera more to see if I can get better pics.

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Day 58/18

Thinned the girls yesterday and gave them each a 3 gallon drink of 6/5/5. They are starting to stack buds. Missing my old phone and its camera. It had truer color with the manual white balance I could set for 3500k lighting. I've tried a couple camera apps that have manual adjustments but haven't found one I like.

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Plants look amazing farside, and the were definitely due for a thinning. If they get too tall you have room to supercrop in two directions!
 
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