Cannabis Nutrients

If you want to grow good buds you are going to need some good quality cannabis nutrients. Don't try grow with Miracle Grow or anything like that. You might get away with it for vegging but if you want good flowers and good taste you want to use nutes that are specifically made for growing marijuana.

HOUSE AND GARDEN AQUA FLAKES REVIEW – MY FLOWER CYCLE

I am running House And Garden Aqua Flakes in my flower cycle for the first time. Over the years I have run many different nutrient lines and most were pretty good. But I never got around to trying H&G Aqua Flakes or the rest of their nutes, although I have used Roots Excelurator with good results. Several growers I know and respect are knocking it out of the park with this line so I thought it was time to give it a try. So here is my honest House And Garden Aqua Flakes Review.

House And Garden Aqua Flakes Background

House And Garden was developed by William Van De Zwaan a Dutch horticulturist who ran greenhouses and has a long time in the horticulture industry in Holland. He helped develop several Dutch nutrient lines including Canna before launching his own company. Today they are made in Humboldt County California.

Aqua Flakes are different in a number of ways from other nutrient lines. It is a 2 part system with specific additives for the different growth cycles and it is cannabis specific nutrient line. The are no separate veg and flower nutes with this system. You use the A & B for both cycles along with specific additives tailored to the growth phase.

They have a fair number of additives but I wont be using them all and in a moment I will tell you what I am using in my flower cycle. But first a word of caution here: You can not judge a product by reading its label. Generally it is required to list the NPK ingredients and not much else. So often someone reads the label and says the product is overpriced and they can mix it up for pennies on the dollar. Dont believe it.

This is a very competitive industry and manufacturers will not disclose their secret ingredients and formulas so the competition can knock them off. House And Garden Nutrients are chock full of aminos, enzymes, vitamins and other good stuff but they are not listed on the label because they don’t have to be.

So about my grow. I grow hydroponically in flood and drain. I use growstones primarily and I recirculate my nutrients. Aqua Flakes was designed for recirculating systems with inert media. Because these media have little to no buffering capacity and don’t provide any nutrients it is important for this mix to provide everything plants need and be pH stable. I run HLG lights in all my grows so I do add extra calmag. I hear people get good results with it in coco too but I cant confirm this.

I am growing Bahama Mama a strain from Solfire Gardens among others. It is a SOG with 15 plants in a 2 x 4 flood tray under a HLG 650R. I did a review of this light here: https://420dotcom.com/hlg-650r-review.html

If you want to follow this grow it is on my sister site at: https://420grower.org/bahama-mama-by-solfire-gardens/

HOUSE AND GARDEN AQUA FLAKES FEED CHART 10 WEEK

This is the feed chart I am following. I am not running all their additives and I am running Power Si Bloom as a silica source. It was designed to be used in bloom so it has less silica than the original Power Si. It contains some NPK and other ingredients like natural plant antioxidants, phyto enzymes, L-amino acids, and low molecular weight humic compounds.

HOUSE AND GARDEN AQUA FLAKES REVIEW MY NUTRIENT LINEUP

Power Si Bloom

You run this at 1-2 ml per gallon throughout flower. Always add it first and be careful not to contaminate the bottle with other nutrients. This stuff can really lower pH so dont forget to adjust it after everything is mixed.

CaliMagic

I am, also running CaliMagic as a calmag supplement. This is the best calmag supplement on the market because it actually has more calcium and magnesium than any other brand along with iron and a bit of nitrate nitrogen. You may not need it. My water is close to RO at 30 ppm so I need it. Also plants grown under LED lights require added calmag. OG strains in particular are heavy calmag feeders. I run this at 3 ml per gallon. A ml is about 100 ppm. If you are in coco you will probably need more.

Root Excelurator

Vitamins, hormones, kelp and beneficial bacteria create an outstanding product to increase root growth. Been using this even before running the House And Garden line especially on my clones. Now I run it until week 4 of flower. Seeing increased roots with nice fat white roots poking out of my net pots. At 1 ml per gallon a little goes a long way.

Aqua Flakes A+B Base Nutrients

This is the heart and soul of the H&G line. Use both bottles in equal parts for both veg and flower. 1 ml of both A and B adds about 100-120 ppms per gallon. I am in hydro so there is no buffer so I use about 70 ml of each for a 20 gallon reservoir. With the added calmag I run about 800-900 ppms in early flower.

This is a hydro formula but I have heard of people using it for coco too. If you do grow in coco, soil or DWC they have specific bases for those grow methods too.

Multi Zen

I received a sample bottle of this and decided to run it the first 3 weeks of flower at 4 ml per gallon. I believe it is mostly an enzyme that helps in the break down of nutrients making them more readily available within the root zone.

Bud XL

Bud XL is used from mid flower on to flush. It helps move sugars through the plant to the buds which helps increase size. I started a bit earlier than the feed chart says at week 4, starting week 2 of flower at 4ml per gallon.

Top Booster

This is a PK booster used only on week 6 like Canna’s PK 13-14. The creator of H&G helped create the Canna line so there are similarities between the 2 companies nutrients.

Top Shooter

I am looking forward to trying this product. It is supposed to be hard on plants so you should only use it on a healthy grow. H&G says: “Top Shooter is designed to stimulate flower growth in the last three weeks of flower. Top shooter is preserved in a lightproof canister to ensure maximum freshness. At only 5 mL/gal, Top Shooter will dramatically bulk and mature your ripening flowers for a heavy yield.”

HOUSE AND GARDEN AQUA FLAKES REVIEW UPDATES

I will continue to update this review as I get further into it. At this point my plants look really good. The overall growth is some of the best I have ever seen and I have seen a lot. They are a healthy green with no signs of nutrient deficiency and no tip burn. I am really looking forward to a really good grow and cant wait to try the Top Booster and Top Shooter.

Here is what my MAC 1 clones looked like right after transplanting. Pretty sad right? They were rooted in 2 inch pots filled with coco and set into 6 inch net pots.

They were showing deficiencies with my Dutch Master nutes even though being fed at 700 ppms with added calmag and just never really did well from the start.

In fact I was told to throw them away and start over. But I thought they could be saved. So I moved them into my flower closet under my HLG 300 and a dimmed down HLG 550 and switched my nutes over to House And Garden Aqua Flakes.

I ran Power Si Bloom at 2 ml/g then added my Aqua Flakes and 3ml/g of CaliMagic. Next I added H&G Roots Excelurator to the res at 1 ml gallon and adjusted ppms to 750 and pH to 5.8.

Growth was explosive and the plants looked great. They looked like a different strain! After 2 weeks of veg I switched over to flower. These pictures were taken on day 10 of 12/12

Really healthy tops and leaves

Really good branching on these girls. I had to go through and remove a lot of lower branches Below is a young MAC 1 flower on day 10

This is starting to look like it will be my best MAC 1 SOG ever. Everything is looking really good and on point. I have grown this strain several times before with several different nutrient lines but the House And Garden Aqua Flakes along with the additives has beat them all hands down.

H&G TEST MAC 1 DAY 30

Everything is looking very healthy. Buds look larger than normal for day 30, H&G is now my go to nutrient line. Looks like this will be my best MAC 1 grow yet. Some pics:

TOP BOOSTER BLOWING UP THE MAC DAY 42

Plants are looking great and I started adding Top Booster on day 35. The buds have really blown up in size this past week. I am going to run it another week before switching to Top Shooter. Very happy with House and Garden nutrients and I plan on keeping them around.

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Day 42 MAC 1 Bud Shots

POWER SI BLOOM REVIEW AND TEST

Power Si Bloom is a patented silicic acid matrix which is much more bioavailable than the standard potassium silicate products on the market today. Only monosilicic acid is readily absorbed by roots.

Sometimes also used to describe soluble silicates or used as a synonym for soluble silicon. Monosilicic acid (MSA). Synonym: orthosilicic acid (OSA). MSA or Si(OH)₄ is the simplest form of soluble silicic acid. MSA is found universally in seawater, river water and soils at a concentration of a few ppm. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6027496/

Other silica supplements can take months to break down and become available and require biologic bacterial action to do so. Most cannabis is harvested before this can occur and if you are growing in hydroponics these beneficial bacteria are probably lacking.

I have to be honest I have been very skeptical about the benefits of silica supplementation. I have tried numerous silica supplements both in my reservoirs and as foliar sprays and seen very little difference in my plants. That is until I tried Power Si Bloom.

So Power Si is not cheap but at 1 or 2 ml per gallon a little goes a long way. Also unlike other silica products it wont raise your pH. In fact it can drop it quite a bit so be ready to adjust your reservoir.

Like all silica supplements it needs to be added before anything else or it can cause precipitation so always add silica first, then calmag and then your base or any other additives.

They actually make 3 products. Power Si Bloom was designed to be used in flower. It has less silica and a small amount of NPK along with some aminos, fulvics and kelp. The Bloom formula is much cheaper too.

https://amzn.to/37X2QjX

Power Si Regular is designed for young plants and those in veg. They do offer a granular form too.

https://amzn.to/35PFIRV

Grand Master Level had an extensive chat with the creator of Power Si here: https://youtu.be/I2991hkIKKY

POWER SI BLOOM WORKS

On day 33 I added Power Si Bloom to my reservoir at 2 ml per gallon. They claim you will see a result in 24 hours. I did not see anything and was not surprised because I was pretty skeptical about this claim.

On day 35 I decided to try a foliar spray at the same rate even though I normally would not spray anything that late in flower. I had noticed some buds seemed to be stalled and was seeing some hairs turning brown.

On day 37 I noticed new growth and fresh white hairs on all my buds. I cant say whether it was the silicic acid or the other additives in the Power Si Bloom that caused the new growth but it was clear this product worked. I cant tell you whether it was because of root uptake or the foliar spray or the combination of both but I was happy for the fresh new growth.

Here is a picture showing fresh new white hairs growing again on my MAC 1. You can follow this grow at: https://420dotcom.com/mixed-up-moms-is-it-koffees-last-stand.html

DAY 42 POWER SI BLOOM UPDATE

I have continued seeing positive results using the Power Si Bloom inside my grow closet. The first thing I noticed was an increase in smell which tells me it is having a positive effect on terpines.

I am using it in my reservoir at 2 ml per gallon along with the Dutch Master Nutrients line. I replaced their silica supplement with it.

Again please be aware silicic acid lowers pH unlike other silica products that raise it so it is very important to monitor your final pH. Beyond adding it first I have not seen any precipitation in my reservoir.

Normally by day 42 I see significant pistil browning but this time it is not there. I see buds producing fresh hairs instead. This means buds are actively growing and sizing up beyond what I usually see in my grows. If you watch the video you can clearly see this for yourself.

Dutch Master Nutrients Review

Here is my Dutch Master Nutrients review and I will be running a new grow testing these nutrients out. I used their Gold Line with great success when I was growing with aeroponics but they became increasingly hard to find.

With so many nutrient lines out there you may be asking why I am choosing a lesser known company like Dutch Master? Read on and find out why I am using their line.

Also please know I am an affiliate for Dutch Master. I only promote products I use or strongly believe in. If this product does not perform as expected I will stop promoting it! So expect a honest Dutch Master Nutrients review.

Dutch Master Nutrients are available from the companies website. Therefore if you choose to use them you will need to think ahead a bit and order things before you run out. I am offering 10% off on purchases made through my link: https://dutchmasternutrients.com/?rfsn=4449097.f8ec40 Use discount code 420GROWER10 when ordering.

Why Do A Dutch Master Nutrients Review?

Well the short answer is I want some nutrients that work and no heavy metals or other stuff my plants dont need. I explain more in this video:

A bit of background on Dutch Master. They were an Australian company and seemed to drop off the map for a bit. But now they are back as an American company with the Dutch Master Commercial Edition.

Dutch Master Nutrients – A Bit Of History

Dutch Master® nutrients is a family owned and operated brand of specialty fertilizers originally launched in Adelaide South Australia in 1998 by sole founding owner Craig Gribble. At that time, Craig was also the owner of the worlds largest, hydroponic-specific, drive-thru retail gardening stores (20,000sf each) and also Australia’s largest wholesale distribution operation. After establishing his first North American distribution operation in Vancouver Canada in 2003, Craig began to roll out his Dutch Master® products to excited gardeners across Canada and the United States, followed soon after in 2006 with sales across Europe.

In 2015 Dutch Master® manufacturing was established in Chicago at an ISO 9001, 14001 and 13485 certified medical manufacturing facility, using pharmaceutical grade ingredients finely filtered to 0.5 microns, to provide the cleanest possible fertilizers that are free of unwanted heavy metals, PGR’s and pesticides. Stringent freeze/thaw and long term heat tests of all products were performed guaranteeing growers of absolute consistency in a product resulting in the worlds highest quality, plant-specific fertilizers! This translates across to consumer confidence because they know that Dutch Master® grown plants are the cleanest, healthiest flowers available today! https://dutchmasternutrients.com/about/

Why Dutch Master Nutrients?

Our mission at Dutch Master Nutrients is to provide domestic and commercial growers with the most cost effective, easy to use, cutting edge, plant fertilizer technologies available. Through our in-depth research and development program, our primary scientific focus is on both the health of the plant and the health of the consumer.

Established brand, trusted since 1998

Manufactured in an ISO certified facility

Filtered to 0.5 microns – the cleanest fertilizer on the market

Zero unwanted heavy metals with reports available online

Base nutrients contain carbs, vitamins and aminos

Buy direct online for the best possible prices

Volume discounts, wholesale prices and free discreet shipping

I had great results with their basic A+B line without using any additives and at the time it was clean enough to run without clogging my misters.

Recently I was using another brand of nutes and they changed the formulation of one of their products. It killed 3 of my plants and damaged the rest. It really pissed me off and made me wonder is some of these companies even test their stuff.

So I started researching what goes into our nutrients and I was shocked! I wont mention the company but it was recommended I try this. 1250 ppms of zinc, really? Levels like that will not only give weed an off taste but can cause a commercial grower to fail a test for heavy metals or other contaminants.

Do you want these nutes?

Or Dutch Master Nutrients

Do You Know What Is In Your Nutrients?

Are you into heavy metal? No not the music, but things like arsenic, cadmium and lead? These heavy metals are absorbed by your plants and you cant flush them out. So you are smoking or eating them and absorbing them yourselves or poisoning your customers.

And if you are organic guess what? Heavy metals are present in bat guano, rock powders etc. Dont think because something is organic it is safe. Arsenic is an organic naturally occurring mineral too.

Today they are manufactured in Chicago by Fuji Film in an ISO certified facility. This represents good manufacturing practices at the highest level. More info at on this at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Organization_for_Standardization

The big takeaway from all this is Dutch Master Nutrients are the cleanest available.

Dutch Master Nutrients Product Overview

Dutch Master nutrients are a 3 part nutrient consisting of a micro, grow and bloom. They have 3 formulations. Aqua Feed is for DWC, NFT and Aeroponics. There is a Coir Feed for coco growers and a Media Feed for growstones, hydroton, rockwool, perlite, promix or soil. I will be running their Media Feed.

They state not to use bloom boosters but instead use their aggressive feed chart. The nice thing about a 3 part system is that you can tailor your nutes to your growing situation and you dont need separate veg nutes. They offer a complete line of additives that can be added to your reservoir or and doubles as a foliar spray.

They have a pH Up and down. Also a cal/mag supplement. Sila-Guard, Trich-XL, Saturator and Zone are specialty nutrients that deserve more detailed information. You can order their products in cost saving bundles or individually through my link: https://dutchmasternutrients.com/?rfsn=4449097.f8ec40 Use discount code 420GROWER10 when ordering.

Triangle Kush Cross The Truth New Millennium Nutrients Grow Journal

New Millennium Nutrients are from a fairly new Colorado based company and people using it are saying really good things about yield, quality and taste of the finished product. Many growers haven’t heard of it and even fewer have tried it.

Triangle Kush Cross The Truth

I have decided to test it out on The Truth which is a Triangle Kush crossed with Chem D and SFV OG that was crossed to a Hindu Kush male.

If you want more info on the strain and the veg go to https://420dotcom.com/the-truth-triangle-kush-x-sfv-og-x-chemdog-d-true-canna-genetics.html

New Millennium Nutrients

These ladies are quite large for my flower room. New Millennium has a product called [amazon_textlink asin=’B06X9Z7BZP’ text=’Decision’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=”] that I plan to use right from the start because it limits stretch and encourages flower sites at the start of 12/12.

This product is used as a stand alone nutrient for about the first week of flower. It depends what media you are growing in though. It can cause some yellowing which means it is time to change it out. It can take a week in coco or soil but in rockwool or hydro like DWC it can happen much faster, within a few days. So you will want to monitor your plants when using it.

Here is some information about New Millennium Nutrients Decision. The image is linked to their website and I suggest you check out their products.

When I first checked out the New Millennium website I have to admit I found it pretty confusing at first but actually it is pretty easy to understand. It is basically a 2 or 3 part system and some additives. The main base is Equinox and part 2 changes depending on the growth cycle the plant is in. In addition Ruby Ful#$% is recommended throughout the grow which would be the 3rd part if you use it. It is supposed to enhance nutrient uptake and I believe it is a fulvic acid product.

So there is Spring Green for early veg and Summer Shift for larger plants ready to flower. Then there is Autumn Gold for flowering. What I like about this is the ability to easily match your nutes to your growth phase.

Yes you can do it by trial and error with other 2 part nutrient lines by changing the ratio of your A and B mix but you really dont know exactly what you have and different manufacturers separate things differently too.

New Millennium Nutrients Reviews

So since this is a new nutrient line for me and because I haven’t grown The Truth before I wont be using the full line. These plants have been vegged for 2 months already and are ready to flower which is why I am starting them on the Decision. Then I will be using the Equinox and Autumn Gold to flower and I plan on finishing them with New Millennium’s Winter Frost.

I have used the Winter Frost before and it does give some amazing results. In fact it worked so well I decided to try the rest of the line. You use it about a week to 10 days before flush and it definitely brings on the fall colors in a matter of days along with increased smell.[amazon_link asins=’B06XB3LN2M’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’99d36ed6-2ec7-11e8-aba1-d92a8e6c5487′]

So What’s In New Millennium Nutrients?

To be honest I dont really know. What I do know is you cant go by the label. Winter Frost just looks like a weak bloom booster on the label but it is certainly much more than that.

All nute companies only disclose the most basic ingredients. The rest is a proprietary secret. If they disclosed it their research and work would get knocked off by competitors.

[amazon_link asins=’B06WWQPGX5′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b2997a2d-2f03-11e8-86a1-19ab5c606205′]For example Ruby Ful#$% is listed as a molybdenum fertilizer. It does contain molybdenum but I am sure there are other ingredients in it that help nutrient uptake.

What New Millennium talks about is their advanced chelation which makes nutrients readily more available for uptake by your plants.

The chemist that designed New Millennium worked for General Hydro for many years and holds numerous patents on his work. So with copycats lurking everywhere I really cant blame him for not giving away the farm.

Users claim that they use a lot less nutrients as compared to other nutrient lines so I can only speculate that this is due to the advanced chelation methods used.

I think all nutrients are about the same but it is the delivery system and how they are formulated together that makes one nutrient line or product better than another.

A master grower could probably produce decent crops with Miracle Grow but they certainly wouldn’t be able to achieve optimal results with it.

There is a user thread here and it shows some really nice bud grown with the New Millennium line and some users are saying it crushes Heavy 16 or whatever nute line they were previously using.

Personally I really dont care that much what is in it. All I care about is if it works as promised.

So stay tuned as I test out New Millennium Nutrients and I will do my best to separate the marketing BS from reality and see if they can deliver on their promises.

Starting New Millennium Decision As The Truth goes 12/12

So I am going to switch The Truth over to 12/12 flowering schedule. I have started adding[amazon_textlink asin=’B06X9Z7BZP’ text=’ New Millennium Decision’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’86587477-3511-11e8-af42-678fcab25f89′] to my plants at the recommended 15 ml per gallon. I tested a gallon mix and it came to 250 ppm and pH 5.8

I have not added it to my reservoir. Instead I top fed one gallon of this mix to my 10 plants. I am planning on repeating this for 3 days. These ladies were not fed or watered much the last 2 weeks because they were already overgrowing their space. So I think the extra feeds are needed.

Then I will wait and see if there is a reaction. They do say it can cause leaf yellowing and at that point it should be flushed out and normal feeding resumed. They recommend feeding with [amazon_textlink asin=’B06WWQPGX5′ text=’Ruby Ful ‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’05127898-3512-11e8-b420-4ff22d571a08′]for best results but I ordered it late and wont have it until the 3rd feeding.

Grow Room Details

There are 10 plants in this grow. There are 9 Triangle Kush crosses called The Truth and one Black Banana Cookie plant.

They are under about 750w of 3500k COB LED lights. Two fixtures are from Pacific Light Concepts and draw 250+ watts each and one fixture is a 200w homemade kit from Timber.

I have installed a floating trellis system. I didn’t like a fixed screen. I had legs in the corners of my flood tray and they got in they way. So I flipped it upside down and hung it with 4 light hanger ratchets.

Now I can move it up or down. I also added a 2nd screen to the top. I may not need it normally but I expect these girls to stretch pretty hard and I may need it to keep height down. I am hoping the Decision will help control stretch like people say it does. So here are a few pics taken the day before flipping.

Purple Punch Day 21

I have one Purple Punch plant off to the side. It is about 2 weeks ahead of The Truth so day 21. Heard good things about it and had a large clone of it so decided to flip it last grow to get a peek at it.

So far I like what I am seeing. It is a cross of Larry OG and Granddaddy Purple. Frost is starting to show and flowers look nice for this early on. It is a stocky plant and seems to be very indica dominant with short nodes. Here are a few pics:

Day 7 Stacking And Flowers Already – Thanks New Millenium Decision

So it’s day 7 and pistils are showing and stacking is very good. New Millenium Decision is supposed to limit stretch and initiate bud set.

Triangle Kush is a very stretchy strain and the Decision definitely limited stretch and I am seeing flowers earlier than normal by at least several days.

I used the product for 3 feedings and stretch was definitely limited. On day 5 I transitioned to regular feeding and stretch started picking up again especially on a few of the taller girls.

My regular feed is 4ml Equinox, 12 ml Autumn Gold and 5 ml Rubyful and 2 ml CaliMagic giving me about 700 ppms and a pH of 5.7 and so far it looks like the girls are loving it.

[amazon_link asins=’B06WWQPGX5,B06XBYX38X,B06X9ZDCRZ,B06X9Z7BZP’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’ba4f19c9-3b3d-11e8-8780-4f0440b89e82′]

The Autumn Gold is definitely a different product from any base I have ever seen. It looks and smells like unfiltered apple cider to me. I can see some very small particles suspended in the solution too. I am guessing there might be a sweetener in there but cant say for sure.

Here are some day 7 pictures:

The Truth Day 14 – Learning From Past Mistakes

It’s day 14 for The Truth and this TK cross is doing extremely well. In part this is from the New Millenium Nutrients and their [amazon_textlink asin=’B06X9Z7BZP’ text=’Decision’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a8e63154-40d5-11e8-96e3-c7fabab02788′] in particular.

I experiment a lot and that means sometimes I make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them. I have often said less is more and you can kill your plants with kindness. I admit I am guilty of this. I have been trying to adapt from aeroponics over to flood and drain and I have been overwatering my plants.

Changing My Ways On Watering

So I have turned off my timer and am now lifting my pots to see if they need to be watered instead of force watering them on a schedule. Duh! Nothing new here except not being stupid for a change, although I am sure at some point it will return!

Right now I have pretty large plants in 2 gallon smart pots with straight [amazon_textlink asin=’B010OG1MVA’ text=’Canna Coco’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’ca694c10-40d5-11e8-83ea-91e290e687b8′]. I use the bricks because they are less likely to have gnats and are much easier to transport.[amazon_link asins=’B010OG1MVA’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e4e2a42a-40d5-11e8-bb25-c98446d2e125′] Still I don’t see roots coming out the sides anywhere. I have been trying to keep things drier to encourage the roots to spread more.

I dont let my girls get bone dry though. I just wait until the pots are fairly light but still have a fair amount of moisture. Currently this means watering every 3 days although as plants continue flowering I expect to have to do this more often.

So until they need daily watering I will be flooding manually, turning the pump on for about 10 minutes every 3 days.

They say you can’t over water coco and to some extent this is true, but you can definitely water coco too often. Guilty as charged!

So once again less is more. My girls are happier for it. Stacking beautifully and looking great. I probably should have mixed coco 50 50 with perlite if I want more frequent waterings but this time I didn’t.

Leaf Stripping On Day 15

On day 15 I defoliated The Truth. I started by removing some suckers and small branches that didn’t quite reach the screen and also removed some really small shoots that did come through. I think all this growth pulls energy away from my larger buds.

I did remove a lot of leaves but did not totally strip the plants. I wanted to improve air circulation in the canopy and help remove shading the lower buds.

The plants are stacking very well and node spacing is short for an OG. Buds are growing larger and plants are eating and drinking well. I was flooding every 3 days but now plants are drying out in 2 days and soon I expect they will be ready for daily feedings. Here are some day 15 pics:

The Truth TK Cross Day 21

The Truth is now at day 21 and looking very nice. Trichomes are starting to show up and she is starting to smell.

I put on a 2nd layer of trellis netting this week. Not all tops made it through the 2nd net. Stretch should be just about over so I am not sure they will. It doesn’t really matter though as they are still in the primary light zone.

Still using New Millenium Nutrients at about 770 ppms today and pH is 5.9. Very impressed with them so far. Plants look great and there are no signs of any deficiencies. Here are some day 21 pics:

The Truth Day 28 On New Millennium Nutrients

Week 4 for The Truth has brought some changes. The stretch is over and bud size is increasing along with increased trichomes development.

I leaf stripped these ladies on day 24 to get more light down to the 2nd layer of the trellis. They didn’t seem to skip a beat from this and buds were noticeably larger after 2 days.

The Truth On Day 35 – Half Way There

Today is day 35 for The Truth. Being OG dominant I expect it will likely go 10 weeks, perhaps a bit sooner or later but I consider this the half way point for this grow.

My girls are doing well. Buds are starting to size up and swell and trichomes continue to increase. I am starting to see some nice frost rails develop on the sides of the leaves. Smell is not strong at this point but is OG without doubt.

The [amazon_textlink asin=’B072PQXNRF’ text=’New Millenium nutrients’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=”] are working really well and will probably become my new nutrient line. I have been searching for a while, ever since Dutch Master discontinued its Gold Line. My plants are not showing any signs of deficiency, growth is excellent and it is stable in my reservoir too.

THE TRUTH TRIANGLE KUSH CROSS DAY 42

It’s day 42 for my Triangle Kush cross called The Truth. During this week the Purple Punch was harvested on day 56 and a Biker Kush was put in her place.

Everything has been going well. Running about 900 ppms and a pH range of of 5.6 – 6.1 I like to let it drift a bit, starting low and bringing it back down once it hits 6.1.

The New Millenium nutes continue to be rock solid with no signs of deficiencies or lock outs. I have been using their Apatite as a bloom booster and also [amazon_textlink asin=’B01EQDJ8WM’ text=’Plagron Green Sensation’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’50b549eb-56ce-11e8-8057-15aeb61e6249′]
[amazon_link asins=’B06X9M143R,B008BI0HN8′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e0ae0563-56cf-11e8-8fce-df44537f364d’] Here are this weeks pictures:

THE TRUTH TRIANGLE KUSH CROSS DAY 49

The Truth has hit the 7 week mark and is maturing fast. I expected this to be a 10 week strain but I think it will finish earlier. Meanwhile the Black Banana Cookies #4 is pretty much done and I am starting to flush it.

I have added some Terpinator at 30 ml gallon to my reservoir of New Millenium/Green Sensation mix earlier this week. My nutes are at 1200 and pH is 5.8 and I will probably run this mix for about a week total.

I am not sure if the Terpinator made a significant difference. There does seem to be a slight increase in smell and trichome development but it has only been in the mix 3 days so far and may need longer to do its stuff.

Next week I will mix a res with only Winter Frost to help things finish and from there I will begin flushing these ladies. Meanwhile here are some day 49 pictues for you. The last 3 pics are Black Banana Cookies #4, the rest are all The Truth.

FLUSHING THE TRUTH ON DAY 56

So today is day 56 and The Truth has had about a week in preflush with New Millenium Winter Frost. Not all the girls started to fade from it this time. I had run much higher nute levels this grow and I think it affected uptake.

Starting at 500 ppm I was quickly up to almost 1000 in no time. I think a prefush with plain water would have helped. Some plants really started to fade while others stayed green.

I spent the whole day yesterday top flushing these girls. I have a 27 gallon res and I lost count but it took at least 10 res changes and I finally got it down to 40 ppm which is where my tap water is at. So each 2 gallon smart pot got at least 2 gallons poured through it. I think the smart pots hold on to salt because they are cloth like and porous where as plastic pots dont hold anything in.

Any way if everything goes according to plan these ladies will get harvested in a week on day 63. Here are some grow pics from day 56:

Triangle Kush Cross The Truth New Millennium Nutrients Grow Journal

THE TRUTH FINAL HARVEST RESULTS

So The Truth was harvested on day 60. Pheno #4 was my keeper and top producer at 70 grams. Several other phenos hit 65 grams and the range was 45-70 with one low yielder at 30g but with insane terps.

I was surprised by #4 because it looked like a smaller plant than some of the others. It had very hard nugs from top to bottom and was well frosted. It was super potent and very long lasting with a heavy sour resin that coated the mouth. Smells and tastes are not my strong point though.

All phenos were very potent and some varied from more indica dom to a more cerebral head buzz and nice body high.

So should you grow The Truth?

There was a fair amount of variation between phenos so there should be something there for everyone. All phenos were strong smoke and tastes varied somewhat.

Yield was decent for an OG and total yield was 505 grams or 18 ounces which is not bad for a 2 x 4 tray.

The one caveat to this strain is that it has Chem D in the genetics and it is hermie prone. It is a survival trait some strains have. When they realize they haven’t been pollinated they do it themselves.

Remember the plants goal is to reproduce seeds and not grow sensimilla for you. It can happen even under perfect growing conditions too.

I have no light leaks and everything is on point but even still I had one plant make seeds and nanners late on in the grow and fortunately it did not spread much but I have found a few seeds here and there. Luckily the tops were pretty much done before this happened so the effects were minimal. So if you are comfortable with that or dont mind a seed or two here or there you will be happy growing The Truth.

Cyco Nutrients – Cyco Platinum Series Pro Kit Review

Not many people have heard of Cyco nutrients here in the US, and there aren’t a lot of reviews for it either.

I am going to be testing Cyco nutes out and just bought the Cyco Platinum Pro Kit because I think it is important to run a company’s whole line to make a valid judgement about it.

Why Cyco Nutrients?

Well my go to nutes were Dutch Master Gold although I never ran the full line. Dutch master no longer makes it though. I heard they were bought out but at any rate they now have a new 3 part line and I cant source it locally.

I tried the whole line of Canna Nutes and honestly I wasn’t that impressed. PH was very stable but the plants just did not look that good to me. So I am looking for a replacement.

Cyco is an Australian company and their Australian version has PGRs in it. But the US version does not have any PGRs in it at all. There was some bad press in the past about this and some products were pulled from the shelves here but that is no longer an issue.

I have heard good things from growers that have used Cyco and some say it is better than Canna and cheaper too.

So I bought the Cyco Platinum Pro Starter Kit and should have it in a day or 2. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Cyco launched a few new products that are not in this kit. They are Cyco Suga Rush and Cyco Platinum Series Supa Stiky. This actually completes the line with a solid bud sweetner and booster.

I will be testing this nute lineup on some Dark Plasma from Ocean Grown Seeds so the results should be interesting. Dark Plasma is a cross of Forum Girl Scout Cookies x Obi Wan OG Kush.

It’s Here

So my Cyco nutes arrived today and I mixed up a bunch for my Dark Plasma girls. The nutes are easy to pour from the container which I like. I was struck by how clean they are. Veg A&B are mostly clear with one bottle having a slightly greenish tint so not much dye is being added.

Cyco Platinum Pro Starter Kit — Cyco Nutrients

I am still working on fine tuning the mix. Just recalibrated my TDS meter which was about 60 ppm low. I was shooting for 11- 1300 ppm but came up with 960. So it seems following directions wont make a mix that is too hot.

I think if I use 4 liters to the gallon when I mix instead of the actual 3.79 I should be right on the money.

Cyco Nutes PPM Readings

I did some research on Cyco nutes ppm readings and it looks like they are using the truncheon scale and not the .5 scale for their ppm readings which explains why they seem so high.

Here is an EC and PPM conversion chart I found online.

I always used the Hanna scale but I actually found using EC eliminates a lot of confusion.

With my system I should never go above 1.4 EC or 700 PPM and only during peak flower. 600 – 650 ppm is just about ideal.

When I take the numbers into account their feed chart is just about spot on at 1.4 EC or 700 ppm on .5 conversion scale while the truncheon scale shows 980 ppm.

It is actually about 1.1 or 550 ppm without the Grow XL which is added at the end of veg.

For a while I was thinking that either my nutes were watered down or their numbers were artificially high so they would sell more nutes.

Just ordered the Suga Rush and Supa Sticky so I am ready to rock. The girls were flushed earlier and just got their first feeding. Its probably my imagination but they seem a bit greener to me. They were starting to get pale and show some yellowing/interveinal chlorosis. Here they are about 6 hours after being fed:

I have had to reveg these clones and a few have a ways to go to catch up. I am going to veg them about 2 more weeks and then flip. I added the Grow XL this week because it is supposed to cause stretch and some of these girls will benefit while others will get pinched back a bit.

First Week Of Cyco Veg Nutes

My Dark Plasma has been on the Cyco nutrient line for a full week now. They have been run at 800 ppm and pH of 5.9.

I am happy with the results so far. The pH has stayed stable at about 5.8 -5.9 and there are no signs of any deficiencies.

This is the first time in a long time that I have not needed to add any cal/mag. Growth has been very good. I have 2 small DP girls that I wanted to give a chance to catch up. The other girls have been topped and trimmed to keep their size down in the meantime.

I am still undecided if I will run the smaller ones but I should know during the next week of veg. Some of these girls could be flipped right now and I am tempted to do it because they have very good branching.

You can see the smaller girls on the left. They are healthy but way behind because they took longer to reveg. They are in double rows and numbered 1-4 from left to right.

The branching is very good on most of these girls and I think they could be flipped right now. They would be twice the size if they were not trained and deleafed. I want a lot of light in the centers to encourage branching and any leaves below 2 feet will be removed in flower.

So why grow something you are going to cut off anyway? I think the plant is better off putting its energy into growing tops that will flower.

Last Week Of Veg

Heading into my final week of veg things are looking very good and I am very happy with how Cyco is performing. No burn, lockout or deficiencies anywhere, just healthy vigorous plants. PH has remained pretty stable this week starting at 5.8 and ending at 6.0 which is a great range for coco.

I will be adjusting my feeding levels so that flower starts off at about 1.0ec/500ppm or 1.1ec/550ppm, gradually ramping it up to 1.4ec/700ppm at bud set. Then I will keep there for 1 or 2 weeks depending on if it’s a 8 or 10 week strain. Then the last 4 weeks I will start to drop it down to plain water for the last 2 weeks .

At least that’s my plan. So right now I am at 750 ppm and I will drop it a bit before starting to flower. I already made the mistake of running too high last grow with Canna nutes. I was feeding like I was in hydro and coco needs a gentler hand for best results.

I don’t like making the same mistake twice. My plants look much better than my grows with Canna so I am really looking forward to seeing what these Cyco nutes can do in flower.

Flowering With Cyco Nutrients

So I am now flowering with Cyco Nutrients and so far everything is looking on point. Here is a picture of first flowers starting at the beginning of day 14:

There are a lot of young flowers and they are stacking together closely so there should be good cola development and a nice yield.

I am feeding at 800 ppm and will continue at that level until week 4 or 5 and then begin to drop off from there to about 300 just before flush.

My only issue has been keeping the pH adjusted. It is stable but it wants to stay at 6.2 – 6.3 which is really too high for coco.

There are several reasons for this problem. My tap water is only 30 ppm but the pH is almost 9.0. If I used my RO water it tests at 7.0 and this problem would disappear most likely but it takes so long to make that I just use tap.

The other main reason is I am not feeding full strength because this is a continuous recirculating drip system so I am only running at half strength so the nutes are less acidic.

The fact the nutrients are being recirculated may also be a factor as well as the fact that silica and Recharge both have high natural pH.

Either way it is not a major concern because I am in the habit of checking pH daily anyway and it only takes a few minutes to correct the situation.

Cyco Nutrients Full Feed

I have decided to change my feeding schedule midway through week 2 of flowering. I have been running at about 800 ppm until now and have upped it to 1300 ppm.

Plants were looking good with no deficiencies but looked a bit hungry to me. I also noticed that with a lighter feeding schedule some of my buds were not filling out like they should. This is true regardless of the nutes I used.

I thought a lighter feed would be better in flood and drain and result in less salt build up. I continued it with my drip system thinking constant feeding would work better with lower ppms.

This is Dark Plasma on day 20 about 24 hours after changing feeding levels. She is stretching and working up through the trellis.

Not the best pic but she is stacking nice and nodes are fairly tight.There are a lot of buds and I want to make sure they have enough nutrients to size up well.

Once I mixed everything at full feed levels (12ml each A+B) and added the rest of the line my ppms and pH were spot on with the feed chart at 1300 ppm and pH was at 5.7. Today it was down to 1240 ppm and pH was 5.9. That ppm drop tells me I had some hungry girls!

I always say less is more but there is such a thing as not enough. I was talking to and old experienced grower who told me he always runs at 12-1500 to be sure the plants are getting everything they need. I was basically running the same nute strength that I was in aeroponics.

I know there are some growers who never run above 800 ppm but it did not work for me. My plants are greening up and vigor has increased. My pH is where it should be and only rises when nutes are used up. Before it really stayed pretty much the same and pH was always rising. So I am a happy camper and I think my plants are happier too.

Dark Plasma Day 32 Lowering Cyco Nutrient Levels

Growth has been good and the stretch is over. Things are stacking up pretty well. Node spacing varies between phenos a bit but overall it is fairly tight.

There have been no signs of tip burn or nutrient deficiencies. One plant did show some clawing and was probably a lighter feeding pheno. I gave her a flush and have lowered my ppms to 750 this week and will continue to drop them over the next 2 weeks and then it should be time to start flushing.

My guess is these will go 60 to 65 days. I have heard of some growers taking them at 56 days but I doubt mine will have fully matured that early.

Here are some lights out pictures at day 32:

Cyco Nutes And Dark Plasma Reset On Day 37

The Cyco Nutrients have been doing a great job. Trichome development an stickiness are off the chart and the smells are fantastic! Unfortunately I am having issues with the Dark Plasma that are not nute related.

Still not sure but these girls may have hermied on me. This is something Girl Scout Cookies is known for and it is half of Dark Plasma’s genetics.

Bud development and stacking were going along great when I started to notice browning pistils on some of my phenos and there was no stretch, just rock hard little nugs with brown hairs.

I did some research and found that is a sign they seeded. No seeds showing yet but its early. So I decided to move all but 1 plant out and brought 4 new ones in.

I have a nice Cookie leaner that I left because it is stacking and growing. The Jawa Kush also seemed OK so it stayed. So I reset the rest of the room with the same Dark Plasma females.

The only real change is there are 6 plants now instead of 8 and the 4 dark plasma are at day 17 instead of day 37. They are still on Cyco nutes and my evaluation will continue.

I am still fine tuning my feeding. I overfed these girls for sure. When you look at the color difference between the new plants and the older ones it’s unmistakable. So I will be feeding a lot less than before.

Currently feeding is at 640 ppm and pH 5.8 and wont go any higher. Drip feeding is 15 seconds on every 2 hours with lights on. Hopefully plants will not hermie this time.

While overfeeding may have played a factor, it might just be genetics because I have heard finding seeds in GSC is fairly common. At any rate I don’t blame the Cyco for this and those plants were loaded with well stacked buds and had some of the best, dankest smells I have ever run across.

You can clearly see the color difference between these 2 identical plants. Wont be feeding as much from now on.

Cyco Nutrients Day 47 Everything Is Finally Stable

My rest Dark Plasma is doing well and everything is finally stable. The Cyco nutrients are working just fine and have been all along. It was just a question of dialing my system in.

The sweet spot for me was setting my drip system to 15 sec on and 2 hours off and only running during lights on. I am also recirculating in coco instead of running drain to waste and I think that definitely changes things.

So my reservoir was set to 600 ppm and a pH of 6.0. And it has remained stable at that level for over a week. I just add back about a gallon of water each day to replace what the plants use.

Dark Plasma may not have been the ideal strain to test these nutes. It makes small buds and is not a heavy feeder. If 600 ppm seems low to you remember that plants are being fed continuously. The smart pots fill the container with roots and so everything a plant needs is right there on the roots. No need for them to forage and not much of a buffer once the pot is full. Here are a some pictures:

You can see some tip burn and much darker green color on the older plant. If you decide to run Cyco nutrients I would only run it half strength or maybe a bit less.

Here is a pic of a 25 day old Dark Plasma bud being fed Cyco nutrients at 600 ppm. You can see how healthy it looks. No need to feed more.

Here is my Girl Scout Cookie pheno on day 52 fed on Cyco nutrients. She will be chopped in a few days. She was overfed so been flushing her out and she’s starting to fade. New nutes, new system, new strain = learning curve. But still awesome buds. The ones moved out are plumping up to but this strain makes small, hard nuggets for buds.

dark plasma @52 days fed on Cyco nutrients

Dark Plasma Harvest And Beyond With Cyco Nutrients

My first batch of Dark Plasma was harvested and the rest will be harvested in 2 weeks. Everything is dialed in now and there have been no deficiencies, lock outs or other problems. My pH has also been stable.

Harvested buds are good quality. Sticky and hard. Taste and smells are good. Bud size was pretty small and yield was nothing to write home about.

This was probably not the best strain to showcase Cyco nutes with if you were looking for big colas and chunky buds. Will probably not grow this strain again because of its low yield.

I had one Jawa Kush stuck in back where it was hard to get at. It was neglected and it was short and never made it to the trellis. It was the stickiest plant in the room and it made some pretty decent buds even though it was not taken care of properly. Here is a mix of pics from this grow: