Up until recently I've been using sugar daddy by technaflora newts. Its a magnesium Sulphur additive with no NPK to it. Unfortunately I ran out and haven't been able to get to the store to get another bottle of the stuff and I'm seeing online all these people talking about molasses. Does anyone here know how to use it what do I do with it how much of it do I put in a gallon of water? If I add more to the water will it do more? What exactly does it do for the plants? Any help would be appreciated I'm venturing into uncharted territory here
If you want to add magnesium and sulfur to your nutrient water, get epsom salt from your grocery store pharmacy section and mix .5-1g/gal as an additive to your regular nutrient regimen. This is a much Much MUCH cheaper way to get the same thing as an expensive water bottle with a sexy label. Mix this separately from any nutes containing calcium and add only to your nutrient reservoir water once all the crystals have dissolved. Molasses is sugar- one taste will tell you that. Only use sugar at flush time, whether you're in soil or hydro. There aren't enough micronutrients in molasses to make it worthwhile as an additional source of them, let alone as a primary source. Save some money and use .5-1g/gal of regular old table sugar at flush. AKA 'Clearex', seriously. For more ways to save a fortune on buying nutes, peep my thread- link in my Sig line- and you'll see very quickly what I think of wet bottled nutrients in general, and Advanced NUT-JOBS in particular!
Molasses can be used at anytime. It is used to feed the microbes in the soil that break down the organics into a form that plants can obsorb. Some claim it the helps taste, others don't. Sent from my fucking phone.
What does flushing accomplish? Are you referring to the prolonged period of starvation that seems to be encouraged in synthetic grows? Before suggesting spending more money on cheap bottled gimmicks I'd advise building your own complete soil mix. No need for extra money dumps like PH pens and no need to buy new media from grow to grow. A healthy soil constructed with [vermi]compost, peat, aeration and select organic material will provide everything you need to finish out a grow just using water. When properly built it actually gets better over time, as the microbiology proliferates and builds pathways and networks throughout the soil; the more experienced growers I know have or do utilize this "no till" method for years on end without disturbing the media. As a coupled benefit, the organic matter we utilize provides secondary benefits such as enzymes, PGR's, SAR (systemic acquired resistance) and ISR (induced systemic resistance) that react with the plant to encourage responses unobtainable by synthetic growers. No acids or waste products to buy from the guy at the hydro store...no need to toss out media after a grow...no need to worry about paying extra for water and it's cheaper to sustain continued usage of, if you plan on doing this for a while. HTH As to the molasses, it's simply a carbohydrate (sugar source) that acts as a direct food source for some of the microbiology, primarily bacteria. I doubt it has any realized benefit outside of the nutritional content, either in a living soil or sterile.