Hey GC I have been using exclusively Pureblend Pro on my current grow. I used the grow formula during veg, and the bloom formula for flowering. I'm now starting week 5 of flowering and my garden is looking very nice. The only other additive that I've used has been CalMag at every watering. My question comes from the fact that I have seen some different opinions here on whether or not Pureblend Pro is really considered to be organic. I thought it was. So my question really comes down to the need for a flush or not. I'm trying to think a few weeks ahead and be prepared. Any suggestions on how I should finish this up would be much appreciated. Also, I do have a bottle of food-grade blackstrap mollasses that I was considering using. What would be the best way to work this into the schedule, or is that really even necessary? Thanks
I have grown with Botanicare products for the past couple grows and have grown to really love it. No pun intended. LOL I use the directions as is on bottle except I use every other watering instead of every watering and I make my own soil with some ammendments that also add to the nutrients available to the plant. As far as flushing I usually just water them straight water the last couple weeks with a little molasses to finish them out and they come out PRIMO!!! Pure Blend Pro I would say is organic but the purist say it is not because it isn't OMRI listed. Even if it is just 98% organic that is organic enough for me and the product is tasty and clean and the plants always look healthy as fuck. Want to be a Farma use Liquid Karma!! I actually just picked up some silica blast and some blackstrap molasses to replace the grandmas which works well but needs to be retired so the real deal can be used. Can't wait to try it out. Also would like to add that I did aerate my nute mix in the past with the gro or bloom depending on the stage , LK and a little molasses and I would get really foamy crazy good teas so IMO that seems like that would be indicative of organic elements and actual microbiology being present.
PBP Bloom is like 99.5% organic. It isnt because (taken from another member on GC) "The big organic issue with the PBP is in it's minerals (The listed carbonates). The calcium and magnesium carbonates can be found naturally or manufactured. Depending on whether theses were (land or ocean) mined or chemically manufactured, both of these are exceptable organics. The potassium carbonate is not organic. It's made by passing or bubbling carbon gas (which is organic) into potassium hydroxide."
Hey, Thanks for the info. First-time grow for me and this stuff has worked out really well. I was hoping that I could get away with just using water for the last couple of weeks. Nice to hear that this is so. I had also made some soil amendments before started the grow. I started off with Promix HP and I added some blood meal, bone meal, dolomite, kelp meal, and some epsom salts. I went really easy on all of it as I was not exactly sure how much to use. I also added worm castings. Then I wet it down and turned it every couple of days for about 2 weeks before I started using it. I'm sure that helped, but because I went so light on the additives, I used Pureblend throughout the whole grow. The results are really good, especially considering that it's my first attempt. I'll get a couple pics and post them in the next day or so. Thanks again
dont mean to steal the thread (but maybe this would be helpful to OP too), but.. so what are some brands that are infact 100% organic?...im pretty interested biobuzz? foxfarm(the organic stuff)? earthjuice? or do u have to create ur own mix to be 100% organic?
fox farm has only 1 actually organic product, sorry i dont remember which but google it. Did anyone's pure blend melt there bottle?! both me and a friend had leaks seemingly develop out of no where from the bottoms of the jugs.
i was talking to the guy at the local grow store, Organic Botanic its called. He was saying its the companies useing fish as a source of nutes, apperently they give off some minute trace of metals, failing the omri certification. BioCanna is vegan based, derived from veggies so no trace metals. he also said the fish thing is whats failing pureblends omri cert. as for synthetics he said industrial companies would sell the by-product or waste fof their raw matterials which in turn are refined and blended to make fertilizers. in short, Ne thing omri is good to go, biocanna is omri, he still recomends the pureblend pro.
I think if you find something that works for you and the product is to your liking that who cares if it isn't up to a purist's standpoint as to wether it is technically organic or not. Botanicares ingrediants are all organic based so anything that may be inorganic is very minimal IMO. WOrks great and if it ain't broke don't fix it. I would recommend using Liquid Karma along with the PBP it is very beneficial and I am about to try out the silica blast to see how it fairs.
Whatever rocks your boat, I like the organic approach, I believe good old-fashioned shit makes a far superior bud compared to barren dust treated with factory chemicals. BUT it is harder work - I mix my own and this year it will be pretty back-breaking stuff - for an old git like me, anyway.
I got the pure blend pro on hadn but I went with the bio bizz in fox farm and also some rite aid organic soil for a few. I am using Bio Bizz omri and sunleaves batguano omri also I have some fish emulsion that is omri. I am going omri so I can brag to myself I am all organic. A also got BMO super plant tonic. It is myco and huic and stuff. I was wondering if Liquid karma is 100 percent organic. It looks like it. Also is more than one source of humic acid too much I wonder. My ph was low!
Whatever rocks your boat, I like the organic approach, I believe good old-fashioned shit makes a far superior bud compared to barren dust treated with factory chemicals. I wouldn't apply that comment to botanicare it is not factory chemicals by any means it is organic based ingredients and has plenty of shit from various sources within. I have smoked bud grown 100% organic with just amendments and smoked my botanicare buds and the botanicare didn't really taste any different and in fact actually thought it tasted a bit better. One day I will start vermicomposting so I don't have to buy my EWC all the time and get more into adding the soil amendments from the beginning so I won't have to add as much in my waterings maybe just stick to a compost tea once or twice in each stage. But for right now for ease of use and performance the botanicare does exactly what I need and then some.
there is a new mix out by American Agritech called Organicare. Have not read too much into it though.
No matter what you use, you always want to flush. I use the pureblend pro as well but I still flush with plain water for 10-14 days. Your plants need time to use up all the nutrients that are still built up inside them. I use the higher recommed dose and do a mini flush for a few days every 7-14 days depending on how your strain uses the nutes. I grew some bag seed with the full pureblend pro line plus all the additives. I got buds that were vastly superior to the buds that the seed came from. They were also incredibly smooth smoking and great taste due to the flush. Also remember that drying and curing is the most important part of growing top quality bud. Poor drying and curing can make what could have been great buds, just good. It will also take good buds and make them crap.
I did use bushmaster and gravity from humbolt nutes, and beastie bloom and cha-ching from fox farm during flowering on my second grow of the same seed and was even better. The bushmaster and gravity produced some of the fattest and dense buds I had every felt. After they were totally dried and cured they sounded like rocks when you dropped them on the table. I think as long as you watch your plants and flush regularly, you can give them as much nutes and additives they can handle. I honestly think my bud was better on my second grow of bag seed than the name brand stuff I get from so called "pro". Just cause they have grown for 10 or 20 years doesn't neccisarily mean they use the bast method or produce the best crops. I have found a lot, not all, old school growers are set in their ways and call new additives and nutes "hype" because they don't want to admit they are wrong and their buds are inferieor. Again, not all old school grower are like this, it just seems like a common occurance with multiple growers I know. I say get the bible by Jorge Cervantes, it has sound tested advice. Also, don't let someone tell you that you are doing something wrong, if you have never seen their finished product. Do your own comparison tests and go with what works the best for you.
THe PBP is good stuff, and is mostly organic. You have to remember that the OMRI listing does not always mean it is a better product. Getting an OMRI certification is expensive - that is basically what you are paying from when you buy OMRI. There are plenty of good quality organic products out there that do not have the OMRI listing. You need to be objective about what you are doing and using - just because something is organic it does NOT mean that it is a good product. Sometimes the organic products can actually be more toxic and hazardous than their non-organic counter-parts or even be bad for the plants. Another thing to remember is that when you see "organic" produce in the stores, it does not mean it is 100% organic. Almost all certifications allow some use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides so most of the "organic" stuff you buy is like 90%-95% organic. As far as I know about the only organic certification that is 100% organic is the Demeter certification and you do not see that too often. So even though PBP is not 100% organic, it is organic enough to be considered organic by most standards. Like 420seattle was saying just because someone has been growing a long time it does not mean they are good at it. Often people become stuck in their ways and do not learn or improve what they are doing. In fact more often than not the long time old school growers produce the worst stuff. The crappiest bud I've ever seen here in CA was produced by someone who had been growing for almost 40 years. The problem was that they were still growing the same way they had learned back in the 60's and had never bothered to keep up on the new developments.