Advanced Nutrients

If you want cheaper, and better. Go organics my friend

 

If you really want to do chemical then fox farm is cheaper then an

 

Funny isnt it no one has actually answered the question!

Yes the NPK rating is on all nutrients and if you buy one that isnt branded but is 20 20 20 then it will have the same amount of NPK as the expensive one. however it may not contain other essential trace elements. but you can usually get these cheaper as well.

 

Well there's the answer to the question, and then there's the right answer to the question.

Does one 20-20-20 fertilizer contain the same amount of nutrients as another 20-20-20 fertilizer?

Yes and not necessarily.

See here's the thing: there are dozens if not hundreds of different ways of getting every single macro and micro nutrient plants need into a liquid solution they can actually have a chance of absorbing. Whether you're buying a dry fertilizer or a liquid one it doesn't matter - the plants can't use what they can't drink. It has to be in liquid form. Dry fertilizers simply get dissolved when you give the plants water and they drink it up that way.

Now not every method of putting Potassium, Nitrogen, and so on into a bottle works the same. You can scrape that white crap that forms around bathroom fixtures if you have hard water and put that in a bottle and you'll get a lot of calcium in there that way. HOWEVER, that form of calcium is almost completely useless to plants because it's not soluble (as evidenced by the fact that you can spray water on it all day long and doesn't dissolve.)

So it's not simply a question of whether or not that 20-20-20 has the same amount of Nitrogen or whatever, but what they used to get that Nitrogen into solution. Generally speaking the more soluble a fertilizer is, the more it costs because the more soluble chemicals are more desirable.

Plus you have to consider whether or not there's any pH buffers or chelates. Both are extremely valuable not just in terms of being great to have, but in actual dollars and cents. A top brand nutrient will have both buffers and chelates and the most important nutrients will usually be double or triple chelated (chelates basically help keep those nutrients dissolved in solution and makes them easier for the plants to absorb.)

Then you've got brands like Advanced Nutrients that will go to the extreme and buffer/chelate way beyond what anyone else does. I think they actually triple chelate every macro and micro nutrient in many of their nutes but I'm not sure so don't hold me to that. But they go so far that their new pH Perfect line is basically impossible to screw up. The pH stays right where it's supposed to be without any intervention and even if it gets outside the ideal range the chelation is so above and beyond what's necessary that the nutrients stay available anyway. I've seen plants growing merrily along without a single sign of lock-up or deficiency at over pH 7 on their nutes.


So yes, if two fertilizers have the same % numbers for their ingredients it is POSSIBLE that they are basically the same.

However, it's not very likely that they actually are. Just because something costs more doesn't always mean it is better, but the adage "you get what you pay for" is commonplace for a reason.

 

My understanding is that the blend of Advanced Nutrients is specially designed to work together. I mean, I guess you can always try your theory, but it's not for me.

Report back what happens, tho. Never hurts to learn something new!

 

Meh. Sometimes, I think this route is just too hard for me. I mean, I applaud folks who make their own nutrients, but I just can't.

I'll stick to my pH Perfect Sensi Grow & Bloom. And all the other stuff that comes along with it.

 

[quote name='"Sensibowl35"']

Meh. Sometimes, I think this route is just too hard for me. I mean, I applaud folks who make their own nutrients, but I just can't.

I'll stick to my pH Perfect Sensi Grow & Bloom. And all the other stuff that comes along with it. [/quote]

To be honest its easier, mix your soil and feed plain water the entire time, you can make teas and stuff but its not needed if your mix is complete

 

you can go with cheap nutes you just wont get great results, it will grow and yes you will yield but it wont grow to full potential. if its all you have or can afford you gotta do what u gotta do, ive done it before

 

I use only flora nova grow and bloom. Then I finish in the last 4 watterings or so with kool bloom dry powder. Really cheap and a bag kool bloom will last you forever.
So only 3 nutrient products from start to finish, and you will be hard pressed to find better looking outdoor than mine.

 

Regarding your last sentence, that was a pretentious thing to say.

 

Not really. If I have the pics to back it up. Not saying there is not better, but I use few products and get fantastic results. See my sig for the pics.

 

stupidstuff, your plants are definitely nice but I wouldn't go throwing down the gauntlet just yet. They're not THAT impressive for outdoor plants.

Someone that remembers MrCouchlok's videos can back me up on this. Unfortunately he took them all down or I'd provide a link to them.

Those were some impressive plants. Twelve of his bigger plants wouldn't even fit in your back yard. He grew them on Advanced Nutrients IIRC which kinda disputes your whole "cheaper = better" argument.

Again, I'm not saying you're not growing great plants. I'm just saying I wouldn't be so quick to challenge anyone to point out a better outdoor grow if I were you, that's all.

 

Flora nova has edta in it yuck and its a dangerous chemical I would rather not ingest. Kool bloom is OK in small amounts but organics is really the way to go my plants show what a good custom soil mix can do for these fast growing annuals along with compost teas which are killer never seen anything work better.

 

Hate advanced as they are overpriced and mostly chemical based but their ph down is the bees knees as my water is 9.5 here so its the best as far as how little I have to use compared to other brands such as gh.

 

Hes right! I was really strapped for cash so i bought some cheap starter kit, and i bearly got 1oz, so i spent money electricity, water, bought exotic seeds and time. And i only got about 1.5 oz i thought thats all u could yeild till i started reading, so got sensy grow n bloom, bud candy, bud ignightor, and then i started to notice tha diffrence, bigger fatter and tastier buds, my last harvest i thought they were all gonna be close to a pound but only got 4-5 oz after drying! But still beats 1oz

 

big bud is a bit expensive but works and doesnt raise ppms as much as the others.
I think it is well worth the price.
other cheaper alternatives i like are kool bloom, big swell (soul synthetics), awesome blossoms technaflora

 

So what if Advanced Nutrients is mostly chemical based? Organic compounds are made of chemicals. Usually by plants.

Huh. It's almost like Nature intended plants to do that... absorb chemicals and use them to build more complicated chemical compounds to be absorbed by other living things...

Remember, we didn't just magically POOF as organic life. Once upon a time everything was chemical, nothing was organic, and none of it was living.