My friend that is the most expensive way to grow MJ, IMO. I cannot even picture the set for just 4 plants. Beside that, you should concern more with water than nutes at this point I think the math is very simple. You are throwing away your money if you are using a 50Gallon Rez for 4 plants. How often do you change the Rez ? My best advice will be this: run in 16 oz cups a couple clones of the strain you are growing and test the shit out of them. Do multiples test with out each additives and takes notes. I already did that with some additives. There is a reason why I do not use any more; Bud Blood, Hammerhead, Sensym and B-52. Me, personally I did not see any noticeable difference in the plants or at least not enough to justify the hefty price. I strongly suggest to use 100% Perlite or Coco/Perlite Mix. Either way you will be fine.
LOL. I guess I didn't make myself clear. I run about 50gal of nutes in my whole system not just the rez. I run Current Culture 4XL13 system like you can see here: Under Current XL 13 : Current Culture Hydroponics, superior hydroponic systems. I was going to build one of these, I would never pay that price for one, when I found a used one for cheaper than I could buy it. I'm still dialing it in but it can produce a lot of bud.
This is a GREAT thread. And it brings up a good point. What if you aren't running a commercial grow? I'm not, and I admit that sometimes, I've looked longingly at the Miracle Grow after looking at my wallet... BUT...then I look at the plants that I get when I use AN. The quality it much higher, the smoke is much better (not that *I* would do anything like that...), and the overall grow is just easier. I hear that folks get confused about how to use AN in their setups, so I'd point out that the growing bundles (I'm running the pH Perfect right now) make things easier. For me, anyway. So great to see cold hard figures on the boards. Much more helpful than 'this sucks' or 'it's the nutrients' fault that I am having troubles' LOL
I want to let to the new growers always try your first grow with just Base Nutrients. That way as you add additives to the grow you will be able to see the effectiveness. So far I have found that does the job for me is very sample combination. Sensi Bloom Bud Candy Big Bud Overdrive I also add another set of additives from other MFC. However I did in the past grows with those 4 fertilizers and had excellent results. The only reason I keep using in it is because I'm a fertilizer whore, lol ! That's a joke, I get a lot of freebies due to my services lol ! But if you can try always to run a small plant on the side with less nutrients that will give a clear view and perception about the additives and effectiveness.
Here's the way I look at it. Are some nutrient lines potentially more complicated than others? Sure. If one company makes 5 things and another company makes 20, it's definitely going to be more easy to get confused by the 20. But here's the thing: if you don't understand what the 5 things are about, you're going to be confused by them as well. If you know enough to understand 5 products you have enough knowledge to understand 20. Look at it like this: complete plant nutrition is a pie. You can chop that pie up into a bunch of different slices. The more slices you cut it up into, the smaller each one is - the more specific job it does. Obviously in the case of very large product lines (like Advanced Nutrients), they have several different "pies". They've got the organic pie, the mineral pie, and so on. They even have some redundancy, yes, within each category. But I don't understand why people get so angry if they don't understand the way everything fits together as though AN were trying to trick them. If AN hears from enough customers that they really wish someone made a cloning gel with flavor enhancers... guess what - they're going to make it. Some companies approach plant nutrition as a "we make something that does that, use it or f-off" philosophy. Others, like AN, ask themselves whether there's a combination of tools they don't offer that, if they did, would appeal to enough people to cover the costs of development and production. Put it another way: Some manufacturers make a hammer, screwdriver, wrench, and pry bar and call themselves a hardware store. Others make all different kinds of hammers, screwdrivers... you get the idea. Point is that for some people, any old hammer does the trick. For other people, it matters whether they have a carpentry hammer or a finishing hammer. The truly awesome thing is that both points of view are correct. When it comes to actual tools, rather than metaphorical ones, I have waaaaay more than most people would think I need. I have at least 10 different hammers. Not counting mallets. Having the right tool for the job matters. Can I put up trim with a claw hammer? Sure, but it's harder to do the job properly. But does someone who only uses a hammer now and then care what kind of hammer they have? Probably not, nor should they really. They just need a hammer that can put a nail in sheetrock. As long as it does that, they're happy. I'm not right or wrong, they're not right or wrong. We're each right within our own views and needs, and wrong outside them. I'd be a rude bastard if I saw someone hanging a picture with the "wrong" kind of hammer and haughtily corrected them and told them what kind of hammer I thought they should be using. Their house, their hammer, their rules. Back to the point, Advanced Nutrients isn't actually more confusing, it's just more to learn if you want to learn it all. I actually do recommend it to newbies because they have the pH Perfect nutes now that make it really hard for a newb to screw things up. And whether I recommend just base nutes or base nutes and an additive or two depends on the person I'm talking to. You can't treat them all the same which I think is the same kind of thinking that leads companies like AN to make so many products - not all growers are the same. Is this guy the kind of guy who'll be satisfied by a successful grow or is he going to want more than simple success? If he's the kind of guy who'll consider it a win if he has a worthy harvest, I recommend base nutes all the way. (Especially if I think maybe he doesn't have the strongest grasp of hydroponics and growing.) If on the other hand I judge him to be the kind of guy who could look at a mediocre or average yield and be discouraged, I'll recommend a couple bud builders, maybe the Hobbyist bundle. If he's sharp and a little competitive, that's more likely to get him a harvest he's going to be happy with. And that's really what matters: being happy with what you get.
Just get some dynagro and call it good http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/429438-dyna-gro-vs-advanced-nutrients.html
In response to Areoherbs; Your long post is EXACTLY why I steer newbies, and actually everyone, away from Advance Nutes. New growers do not know what they are doing. Steering them to the Advanced line makes them completely dependent, at first, on their nute supplier. It is really hard to figure out what to use. Many of Advanced's products, although labeled with different names, a much the same. SO MUCH EASIER to start with another brand that has basic good products. AND when the new grower gets more advanced and understands more about what the plant needs, why go to Advanced? No reason at all. There is much cheaper stuff on the market that will grow your plant just as well. WHY are AN and GH so popular? Well GH was one of the first, also they make some decent stuff. Both AN and GH are more than just nute companies, they are also grow equipment distributors. AN even has a distribution center in CO. When you open a grow shop it is a good thing to have a local distributor. Therefore, almost every grow shop you go into will have a large shelf of AN and likely GH. They demand shelf space if you sell their other products and a store only has so much space.
AN is good but their support does have a reputation for rudeness and bad advise. Just search the net, its all over, people everywhere talking shit about their rep's. Their product is decent but their recommendations are very high, and they don't always back their 100% guarantee. When I run AN I use the conni, big bud, and rhino skin. I have used the bud candy, bud factor and over drive, but prefer the first three mentored. Zeroshadow, you should really try out the rhino skin, silica is a awesome additive. Personally, I prefer House & garden. Their reps are way cooler, nicer, and more helpful then any. Their additives are not overlapping and do just what they claim. H&G feeding also has a high dose and low dose feed scheduled, but like with all feeding recommendations they should be started low and monitor the plants intake and adjust as required. Also I find it difficult to compare growing plants to tools or cars. It would be more like comparing the gas your putting into the car or the screw or nail that the hammer is driving and how its driving....comparing the car or whole tool is like comparing ones complete environment. But all the gas is going to drive the car with the same propellant. Its having the gas/air fuel ration right that makes everything run right....All the screw's hold the wood its how you drive it that makes it hold. Hows that for a analogy? LOL maybe this ak x Jack just has me in outer space. Time for another
I'm a newbie (or at least an old hippy returning to the scene for MMJ) and I am using AN pH Perfect in my hydro so I don't have to deal with the pH adjusting. My question is, starting out with the bottle directions low dosage and even later using the forums recommended 3/4 strength, is the pH Perfect effect still going to work with lower than directed concentration? And, is it worth it to go ahead and adjust the pH anyway prior to adding the pH Perfect MGB and just utilize the effect to not have to worry about swinging pH levels in the rez?
The so called ph perfect will work in any concentration. It is in no way immune to ph swings. More so resistant to them. Don't put to much faith in your nutes. Never adjust the ph of your water before adding nutes only after.