Making Your Own Nutrient Concentrates

Coolbananas said:
What are your recommendations for first week of veg profile skybound?
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I tried a few different things, macros only, then half the micros and nothing produced fast early growth so I just settled out with making just one regimen for all of veg, and dilute it till I have a couple new nodes, then it's full strength 600+ TDS. Here's my newest Veg routine, but I need to hit with PH Down every day which implies less K, so maybe next week I'll drop that to 140ppm and see how that goes.

Veg.JPG


I've noticed that 65 of P would be borderline deficient otherwise, but since I added the NH4+, I noticed all of the red petioles seemed to have vanished and all new growth looks luscious green.
 
For cloning, I have FANTASTIC results with RO, a little bit of Humic/Fulvic/Kelp and 250-300 TDS of MKP. 11 days till roots at the longest!
 
Skybound said:
since I added the NH4+, I noticed all of the red petioles seemed to have vanished and all new growth looks luscious green.
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That’s good to know. It would be nice to get these leafstems back to a normal colour. Right now my NH4+ is at 4.5 %. I’ll see if I can find any way to raise it, and I’m bumping my K up to 170 from 150.
 
Weaselcracker said:
That’s good to know. It would be nice to get these leafstems back to a normal colour. Right now my NH4+ is at 4.5 %. I’ll see if I can find any way to raise it, and I’m bumping my K up to 170 from 150.
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I've read to be careful with K and NH4 as both (cations) will cause less calcium to be taken up, and especially K will in effect replace calcium to form cells, though the cells are much weaker, hence soft rubery branches. Finding the ideal K:Ca ratio was tough, but now also adding NH4 into the equation will make that search that much more complicated.
 
Hmm. Well after a look through the bottles it appears I don’t have any good options to increase NH4+ anyway- so I’ll see how bumping up the K works first.
 
To add ammonium, you'll need to locate a complex most likely. Monoammonium Phosphate (MAP) is what I'm using, but there are other sources. IDK if you can locate the complex up there in a normal quantity.
 
Skybound said:
For cloning, I have FANTASTIC results with RO, a little bit of Humic/Fulvic/Kelp and 250-300 TDS of MKP. 11 days till roots at the longest!
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My mistake, I meant 6 days till roots, hehe.

6 days.jpg


Here's the green I am liking from adding a bit of ammonium,

ED and GGs.jpg
luscious green.jpg
 
tokeycones said:
Hey guys, Whats a good amount of silica for veg? i understand it has no use for it in flower but heard it's great in veg and i don't see any on the back of my bottles.
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I use 25ppm all throughout my grow till the final week then I drop it to 20ppm. There are many advantages to using it till the end.
 
Skybound said:
I use 25ppm all throughout my grow till the final week then I drop it to 20ppm. There are many advantages to using it till the end.
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Good to know, i just had somebody telling me there are no benefits to using it in flower if anything it could be directing energy elsewhere or something along those lines was a bit scepticle. So if i can't see (si) on the back of any of my bottles should i buy some to suppliment? Saw some "potassium silicate" on the shelf when i was getting my potassium sulphate.
 
One thing to be aware of with silica is that unlike possibly every (?) other nutrient I have in the shelf, it’s very alkaline. It can screw up your ph if you’re not paying attention.
Also I find it tends to react when mixed with the other acidic ingredients, turn into white flakes, and settle out to the bottom. I read somewhere it can’t remain soluble at a ph much below neutral. Obviously this isn't totally true or none of us would be able to use it. I always mix the silica in with the water before adding anything else and this seems to help keep it from precipitating
 
Right this makes total sense and would explain why not many pre bottled nutrients contain it? and the ones that do must have a specific chemical makeup that work well together. The potassium silicate i bought is a liquid form so i think i'll be ok but i'll keep an eye on the ph , always do
 
Might add that i appreciate all the info you guy's have helped me with, It's been 3 days and 6 feedings to runoff since i adjusted my schedule. Majority of my clawing is subsiding one plant is totally fine now. Buds are getting frostier by the day more than i've seen with this strain and just there general body language is much better. YAYYYYY :)
 
Silica is not needed for plants to grow, so right off the bat, for nute sellers to include it into a blend will make the blend cost more to produce. Megacrop is the only blend I know that adds it and IMO, they use so little, it's almost a slap in the face to advertise using it. I use Potassium Silicate for the record. It's the active or only silicon input in GH's Armor Si, but I forget their formulation. There is plenty of info on the web both for and against using silica at all. Some argue that it should be classified as a macro nutrient, but I guess it's one of them things that we each have to make up our own mind about. I'm open minded about everything and I do my diligence, but regarding silica, I've seen no evidence or information that makes me want to stop using it.
 
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