Debunking Nutrient Feeding

As I have followed this forum for several years now. I have noticed people constantly ask about nutrients and feed programs etc. I want to simply explain how feeding your plants works and how most people have a problem of overfeeding. I hope this clears some things up and starts to make sense. People often think to get the best bud you need to add so many different nutrients and that there is a secret recipe for cannabis winning nugs. It's simply not true, the hundreds of nutrient lines are made for humans kinda like pet food. Example: We think omg my cat/dog would love TUNA & SHRIMP RECIPE WITH WILD RICE IN GRAVY.
If you just think about that when in the fuck would a cat/dog in the wild ever get shrimp with rice and gravy?. So when we get things like Advanced Nutrients Big Bud Powder which in the description says "Big Bud Powder provides the essential elements that not only aid in the development of buds but are known to increase both their size and quality - for heavier yields that taste great!" Its all marketing.

Plants need 13 nutrients That's it. Every Bottle on the Shelf is the same stuff some more concentrated than others. So now after my rant, I can explain the importance of nutrients and PPMs as simply as this.

The below information has been retrieved from the following sources
CITATION "The Grow Book" by Nevada Farmer

Think about nutrients like food calories. If you stuck a Hanna meter (ppm meter) into a hamburger it would read about 190 calories. Now, Stick that same meter into your super-sized meal deal and it would read 1500 calories. Small Plants (babies) require fewer calories (think kids meal) than bigger plants (think super-size). Slower growth strains )think couch potato) require fewer calories than faster strains (jocks) and since light is exercise, the lower the light the fewer calories required.

Now That you understand the relationship and unimportance of feeding your plant a lot of salts (fertilizers) when it most likely has salts in its substrate (soil, coco, rockwool) and you most likely have too much light (because more is better right?) or you don't have adequate light (because you want to do this on the cheap). I will explain how profiles work and the proper way of mixing nutrient solutions.

To understand profiles it's really as simple as ratios. "While on the toilet reading through various manufacturer nutrient charts, I had an epiphany. They all adjusted their N-P-K (nutrient) ratios based upon which stage of the rotation the plants were in. Nitrogen (N) is increased during veg and decreased during flower, Phosphorous (P) is increased for rooting and Potassium (K) during flowering. Do you know the difference between Grow and Flower formulas? A little bit of nitrogen. Now let's learn how to mix nutrients and then building profiles.

Mixing nutrients is as simple as the acronym S.N.A.P (S)upplements are added first because supplements solve problems and problems should always be solved first. Not too much of a point adding (N)utrients first if she's too sick to absorb and use them. (A)dditives next because there's no point in wasting (adding) them if everything isn't going well. Finally, the solution is (p)H adjusted.
3 part Nutrients lets start with the original, General Hydroponics 3 part flora series. developed by NASA back in the 70's. With this 3 part nutrient all 3 parts are ALWAYS used, just their ratios are adjusted. Where a vegging plant might use a mix of 3 parts grow, 2 parts micro, and 1 part bloom a flowering plant would require the opposite, 3-parts bloom 2 parts micro and 1 part grow. It also follows for small plants and transitions that a 1-1-1 ratio is best. Notice I didn't mention a specific volume of each part; that's because parts are based on desired PPMs. Where a 3-2-1 ratio could just as easily be measured with a tablespoon, 1oz shot glass or 100cc syringe. Now let's learn about profiles.

Warning: for all these examples for nutrient profiles all water is considered 0ppm RO water.
Before Profiles let me give you a basic outline of desired PPM's for various stages of growth. (based on a 4wk veg 8wk bloom) if you want to extend wks in veg then just repeat wk1 for wk2 and wk3 for wk4 etc.

WK1 250ppm (light is blue spectrum MH 18-6)
Wk2 (Growth Additives) 500ppm (4-2-2 N-P-K high Nitrogen lower P-K
Wk3 750ppm
Wk4 1000ppm (end week 8 flip lights too red spectrum HPS FROM 18-6 to 12-12)
Wk1 1000ppm (2-4-4 N-P-K lower N higher P and K) (start transition bloom nutrient)
Wk2 1000ppm (transition bloom
Wk3 1000ppm (Bud swell additives)
Wk4 1500ppm (Bud swell additives)
Wk5 1500ppm (Bud swell additives)
Wk6 1000ppm (decrease night temp by 10 degrees for color change) (density and finish nutrients)
Wk7 500ppm (forage leaves as they begin to die and pale)
Wk8 0 ppm

Nutrient profiles are very simple as well. This will all be based on a desired 1000 ppm solution this could be easily achieved for any stage of growth a.k.a the desired ppm of say 250 ppm remember it's all about ratios.
Dope Tip: When first learning to mix nutrients, test the water, add a teaspoon of nutrient and test again. Then subtract the original PPM's and mark that final amount on the cap. Later you can reference it when building profiles.

For Veg garden profiles
Basic Grow: This is the basic nutrient ratio used for vegging plants; it's the classic 4-2-2, 50% Nitrogen (500 ppm), 25% Phosphorus(250 ppm), 25% Potassium(250 ppm) for a total of 1000 ppm. This profile contains no supplements, no additives.
Mg Deficiency: So, you noticed the leaf edges curling up and the stalk streaking purple and have decided to add 100 ppms of supplemental magnesium (Mg) to resolve this issue. Base nutrients will have to be decreased from 1000 ppm to 900 ppm (still using 4-2-2 that comes out to 450 N, 225 P, 225 K) to account for the addition of 100 ppm Mg.
Silica: Somewhere you read that silica would blow your shit up and that's exactly what you bought so let's add 100 ppm of it to the profile too and let's reduce base nutrients to 800 ppm (400 N, 200 P, 200 K).
More Mg: you should have known 100 ppm of Mg was not enough (I would say it makes up 40% of my profile). Make a note in the garden journal and let's double it going forward. The base is at 700 ppm now (350 N, 175 P, 175 K) What seemed like 1000 ppms of nutrients is really just 700 ppms because 300 ppms come from supplements.
Increase PPMs: The plant is much bigger now and 500 ppms of base nutrients is not enough anymore and there is no remaining space in the profile. mg can't be decreased, the silica can probably be removed (but you read that 1 ting) so what to do? Time to increase total ppms to 1200 and the base nutrients to 700 ppms. Always important to make notes about changes and record effects. Let your plant tell you I need more base nutrients.
Flower Garden profiles Based again on the desired 1000 ppms to keep the math simple.
Basic Flower: this is the basic nutrient ratio for flowering plants: it's the classic 2-4-4 ratio. (140 N, 280 P 280 K) for a total of 1000 ppm. This profile contains no supplements or additives.
Mg Deficiency: She needed mg in veg, she needs it now too. In fact shes bigger and needs more so let's increase the total Mg to 300 ppm and decrease base nutrients to 700 ppm and truthfully, I'm going easy on you. You've been wrong about everything so far so I figured I would let you off on the Mag. The reality is closer to this 40% of your total PPM's should be coming from Botanicare's Cal-Mag Bottle and that's why its the number one selling nutrient bottle.
Week 3 Flower: Things are going well, flower set looks good and it's time to start adding 200 ppm P-K (100 P, 100k) something like KoolBloom from General Hydroponics look at the bottles N-P-K (0-10-10) to the profile. Base nutrients are reduced to 500 ppm (100 N, 200 P 200K) PAY ATTENTION!, Total nitrogen has been reduced to just 12.5% of total ppms; it may be insufficient watch for yellowing and paling lower leaves next week.
Week 4 flower Subtle Modification:
After reading the back of the sweet bottles (flora nectar General hydroponics) you noticed it contains significant amounts of Mg. Technically you were adding about 350 ppms of Mg, 300 ppm supplemental Mg, and 50 ppm from the bottle of sweet. So, if necessary you could decrease supplemental Mg by 50ppm and apply that that extra space to base nutrients. Watch for purpling and leaves may get darker and start cupping next week. (trust me)
DON'T Do This: Week 4 flower and you have quite the collection gathering on your shelf, you're probably feeling pretty advanced. It's about halfway through flower now; things are looking good so this is the perfect time to start experimenting with new stuff (dumb ass). the most common mistake to make at this point is adding 2-different P-K flower boosting products (the 0-50-30 powders like powdered KoolBloom and RAW or the 0-P-K liquids like Liquid KoolBloom and Hydroplex) These are the flower boosting products that promise to blow your shit up.

The most important tip is always following a F-W-W-W-F program
F=Feed (fertilizer) W= Water (0 ppm) and let you plant tell you the rest.

I hope this clears some things up about nutrients and how to properly feed your plants don't forget about pH as neglecting to do that would result in all this information to be far less affective.

 

Reading is knowledge

 

bump

 

ahhh I got you