New Mega Crop nothing like old?

[nivek]

MC

• Weaselcracker
• Oct 9, 2020

i see you,, avatar talk,,

i see this weas,, i get it,, maybe,,

what you are talkin about,, stretch the dosage to get optimum but still lacking cal and mag,,

would so explain a few of my issues,, which are so many

i have so many indicators of issues,, but absolutely no idea what they might ever be

i alter, change, adjust, reconfigure, recalcurlate and regurgitate continuously

and i still can't grow a proper plant,, or at least semi close to 'the perfect plant'

i always blame ph,, just cuz, it's easy

oh,, i have been, lately, stretching my nutes,, beyond @bluter s recommended, tho he did once,, and i see better results lately,,

but i want ultimate, ultimate mate

 

[Weaselcracker]

Yeah it seems to me that if you increase the dosage to give more calcium/magnesium - then you’re overdoing the nitrogen and potassium and you upset the whole house of cards.
But that’s the story with most nutrient lines - even with three bottles or more it can be impossible to control the mix exactly how you want. I’m hoping the low nitrogen calmag I ordered will set things straight. Seems like lots of people do fine without it (?)

 

[nivek]

gosh,, the closer i look at yer chart the more i 'see you'

i see the over nitrogen in the chart and i so see it in some of my plants,

i have/had such nitro clawing in some indacish plants

ya know, i sense a step up in my thinking here,, just now,,

cheers y'all

edit,,

i'll tell y'all why too,

cuz i always think it's my fault,, when , just perhaps,, it just really is confusing as all get out,, ha

but,, some folks,, @Norcaliwood for example, comes to mind,, grows the most beautiful plants,, not even thinkin mega,, just plain perfect looking

is that too much to ask??

me wanna

 

[nivek]

oh,, btw,, i just bot my first set of bubble bags,, learnin up on the process

i have so much outdoor stuff,,

holey crap,, ha

 

[mrking]

Hey OldMed nice to see you around.

I am using rainwater. I generally haven’t been using calmag since I switched to MC. Seems like it’s the calmag that’s lacking in my case. I tried crunching the numbers to compare the macronutrients in Mega Crop to your targets Skybound, which are pretty well tried and true at this point. Rounded off a digit here and there. Let me know if I have the figures wrong but I don’t think so.

MC

• Weaselcracker
• Oct 9, 2020

Unless I’m missing something, (probably), it would seem to show why I’ve been having problems. (?)

I am really interested in all this as my next grow will be MC so dumb question if I may. I have V2 I believe, grey with balls.

I see from your chart that calmag always seems to be under target based on the target ppm amount on the left. Now, lets say your pushing 6g of MC, even if you have a 1-0-0 calmag and you feed the recommended 1tsp/gal, it would increase the N by some but not enough for toxicity, and you would get your calmag in. Correct?

I must be missing something, cause it can't be that easy.

 

[OldMedUser]

There's a version for linux, too (I think) - so you should be able to install it on your Raspberry Pi, assuming you're running a linux distro on it.

I'm not using it much but it's got a Linux distro on it. Firefox and I've used it to play online and it works great. Even installed my paid ProtonVPN on it but then got busy with other shit and it sits lonely on my desk. Another of many projects on the back-burner.

Thanks.

 

[bluter]

When I crunch the numbers for MC, using Hydro Buddy, it looks to me like the levels of calcium and magnesium levels are quite low. Don’t you think?

run mc alone on ro under hard driven cob in hempy.

zero chance you can find me a harder set to roll on cal-mag.

i dropped the cal-mag, learned to read with mc alone. all my grows improved. most folk who add to mc have to keep adding to correct the balance they fucked up. run it alone will fly the best.

If I got to turn this into a job then it stops being fun.

peace. give this man a blunt for that one line.

no need to read the rest.

I'd just like to point out that I run MC alone.

bless you ...

The first time I grew using hydro nutes .... It was just bags of the salts. Eight of them if I remember right with one being all the micronutrients.

The guy gave me a photocopied sheet of how to mix it for various plant types and pointed out the tomato section as the one to use for my 'special tomatoes' (nudge nudge wink wink) as you had to be back then at a hydro store.

exactly how i started. they used to just give you baggies with crappy copied - oops xeroxed - instructions stuck inside..

Yeah it seems to me that if you increase the dosage to give more calcium/magnesium - then you’re overdoing the nitrogen and potassium and you upset the whole house of cards.

when and why you are doing it may be relevant to what you are trying to address.

But that’s the story with most nutrient lines - even with three bottles or more it can be impossible to control the mix exactly how you want.

some nute lines fuck it by design. there are loads of scandals in the industry.

others truly try but there is no perfect.

I’m hoping the low nitrogen calmag I ordered will set things straight. Seems like lots of people do fine without it (?)

it's a pucker moment when you finally let it go. amazing freedom after ..

 

[Weaselcracker]

it's a pucker moment when you finally let it go. amazing freedom after

Just to be clear, I never used calmag with it before. Just trying new things to try to deal with the flowering deficiencies I get with it.

 

[bluter]

. just to be clear, I never used calmag with it before. Just trying new things to try to deal with the flowering deficiencies I get with it.

would have to see the deficiency. 9 of 10 times it's a mis-read. things run hot late in mc. if i can bring it home on ro in hempy though anyone should be able to do it. there is no media more neutral than hempy.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Care to share your feeding routine?

 

[bluter]

Care to share your feeding routine?

F/F/F

used to have a water side with calmag alone but dropped it.

i totally go by read. i did before mc though.

most grows i wind up at 6 - 6.5 g at the peak in flower, and dial back to 5 to 5.5 in the last couple to 3 ish weeks. i been as hot as 7 or higher. actually do things metric, but no one gets their head around it here.

my grows run nute hot in flower. really hot. i drive them hard under led too. part of why it runs so hot.

i have blown the ramp down a few times. catching the elevator up is always easier. it pretty much works out though. i don't really flush either.

i'm gonna try run BE on the next run i think. can do a f/f/w or f/f/f/w with BE on the water. won't run as hot and keeps the pk without the n on the water side. most who run it drop the mc about .5 to 1g/gal on the feed side. everyone should wind up a better balance.

 

[Rickstertp]

What you're seeing is correct.
Mega changed it's formulation several months ago.
Balls are gone and it smells better
It still works

Balls are unfortunately NOT gone now. I just bought a new bag specifically to get rid of the balls and greenleaf advertises on their site that the balls are gone, but they are not. I emailed back and forth and this was their answer:

"The formula you received is the newest formula, from August 2020. It has all the benefits of higher Ca/Mg/P but also better solubility.

We were making the ground up powder one from April-July, however that one doesn't have as good solubility because it binds up in the bag, so we stopped making it.

We recommend that you just add your Mega Crop to a blender, and mix it for a few seconds, and that will make it all powder that you were requesting. You are also welcome to return for a refund if you wish."

I personally find this answer unsatisfactory. Megacrop is so hydrophilic that trying to have the contents out in the air for long enough to grind it all up would cause it to become a clumpy mess. However, I am quite certain that Greenleaf could come up with a way to have a homogenous mixture. I think it's more that they don't think it's an issue for commercial growers who mix up many gallons of feed at a time, so they won't put the effort in to satisfy small growers such as ourselves.

 

[Skybound]

We recommend that you just add your Mega Crop to a blender, and mix it for a few seconds, and that will make it all powder that you were requesting. You are also welcome to return for a refund if you wish."

I personally find this answer unsatisfactory. Megacrop is so hydrophilic that trying to have the contents out in the air for long enough to grind it all up would cause it to become a clumpy mess. However, I am quite certain that Greenleaf could come up with a way to have a homogenous mixture. I think it's more that they don't think it's an issue for commercial growers who mix up many gallons of feed at a time, so they won't put the effort in to satisfy small growers such as ourselves.

I mix all my own nutes from salts and it is my personal practice to keep everything separate in their individual containers to prevent chemical reactions between the elements, but even still, in my jars certain salts really actively do their best to suck all the moisture out of the air and coagulate into clumps. I believe that in Megacrop's case, it would be amplified because everything is already mixed together and several elements are trying to bond to other elements in the bag (opposites attract +/-). I suggest that if you like the results of MC in your crop, that you accept that salts are going to be susceptible to moisture until they are dissolved in water. My practice is to dissolve each salt into RO in their own jug, keeping it all separate until I mix my ferts, but MC has to keep it all together in 1 bag which itself is such a major hurdle when considering all of the limiting factors.

 

[InTheShed]

I think it's more that they don't think it's an issue for commercial growers who mix up many gallons of feed at a time

After trying the grinder route in the beginning and finding the clumping issue you found, I decided that mixing larger batches and storing it in gallon plastic milk jugs was the best way to insure an even distribution of balls and powder. I mix 3 gallons minimum at my highest g/gallon need and dilute down for the smaller plants.

That way the bag is only open for a few seconds and then sealed. Even at my high RH I don't have a clumping problem.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I keep the main batch in a dry bucket and make up a bunch of small bags or containers of it- to be mixed with five gallons of water. So for example- a 30 gram bag would make a 6gr/gallon mix, and I mark a big 6 on the bag. After that I don’t care so much if the small batches get damp- I still know what amount they are. The stuff is a bit nasty to work with for sure.

I am really interested in all this as my next grow will be MC so dumb question if I may. I have V2 I believe, grey with balls.

I see from your chart that calmag always seems to be under target based on the target ppm amount on the left. Now, lets say your pushing 6g of MC, even if you have a 1-0-0 calmag and you feed the recommended 1tsp/gal, it would increase the N by some but not enough for toxicity, and you would get your calmag in. Correct?

I must be missing something, cause it can't be that easy.

Yes, as far as the math goes, it’s that easy. With 6 grams of MC and 5 ml of 1-0-0 calmag per gallon I’m getting a lot closer to those targets. Not perfect but much more comfortable looking, so I’m going to try it out and compare results.

As far as everything else goes, it’s never that easy. Bluter’s description of his feeding routine is basically identical to mine, but we are getting different results.
There are always variables. A hempy grow uses perlite which is an inert substance. Peat moss isn’t though we wish it was. Water sources vary. PH is a neverending source of fun and games. Strains vary. Some plants want extra calcium, or whatever, or are just generally bitchy. Seems like there’s usually a gremlin or two around.

This plant can take a wide range of conditions though. Look at a dozen different nutrient lines and you’ll find a dozen quite different mixes Each one will have some people growing perfectly good dope with it and swearing it’s the best thing ever, while other people will be having issues.

Anyway, I’m going to go with the calmag for a while. So far the results of the last ten days or so look very promising, and Hydro Buddy hasn’t steered me wrong in the past.

 

[Rickstertp]

After trying the grinder route in the beginning and finding the clumping issue you found, I decided that mixing larger batches and storing it in gallon plastic milk jugs was the best way to insure an even distribution of balls and powder. I mix 3 gallons minimum at my highest g/gallon need and dilute down for the smaller plants.

That way the bag is only open for a few seconds and then sealed. Even at my high RH I don't have a clumping problem.

That's a good idea. I'm going to have to start doing it that way.

 

[nivek]

just my opinion,, but i would think a company like greenleaf nutrients, mega crop, that wishes to sell to the masses,, would understand their need to 'dumb down' the product a bit,, for those afore mentioned masses

i would think that certain growers on this forum, without mentioning the names , @Weaselcracker , and his scientist buddy @Skybound , and many others whom i will not mention either

i would think they might be able to improve on the formula in their laboratories

a 'feel' for this stuff is absolutely the kicker

i also use a touch of cal/mg, a cupfull each night before feeding day,, tho i have no idea if it helps cuz my plants mostly look deficient from either ph, feeding, light issues, powdery mildew, bugs, cats, heat, and other issues unknown

sure fun trying tho,,

oh, cuz,, i grow identical to @bluter , hempy and mega crop,, dosage higher than recommended by mega crop,, just a bit higher

but because of afore mentioned issues,, his plants are so pretty

 

[Weaselcracker]

The whole nutrient balancing thing seems like a bit of a game of whack a mole...

Nivek I’ll take my mega crop issues over to my journal and post there, when I get time, and if you feel like it we can toss ideas around more over there? When I grew hempy my biggest issue was root problems.

 

[multiVortex]

I’ve been contemplating on priming my RO with 20% tap, and dropping the calmag. Might be something there.

 

[InTheShed]

cats

I’ve been contemplating on priming my RO with 20% tap, and dropping the calmag. Might be something there.

I'm sure that @West Hippie did a mix for a while. Check in with him for his results.