Thank you for the kind words guys. I'm back to normal!
Basically I didn't have time to comb back through the posts, so I didn't realise you were in coco mr. muncheez. Sorry about that. However, one thing about organics in coco. If the comparison your friend did between chem and organic nutrients was done in coco there's a very good reason why he will have gotten the results he did. Naturally coco is low in microbial life, meaning organic nutrients are unable to convert into mineral salts which the plant can easily absorb and hence the plants will never reach their full potential compared to the chem fertilizers, which are like mainlining the plant nutrients.
One other thing though, if you can, you must always use
coco-specific nutrients in coco if you can. This is because of coco's unique cation exchange capacity which is different to most other media. Although normal chem fertilizers will work in coco, you will definitely get better results with a good coco-specific feed. Hesi are absolutely renowned for making by far the best coco-specific feed on the market IMO, with only Grower's Ark competing. Hesi coco grow is calle TNT Complex and the Bloom is called just that. The TNT Complex is unique in that the nitrogen is 100% organic, but still completely soluble so that you can treat it like any other coco feed and have it bubbling away (or preferrably flooming rather than bubbling actually!) in a reservoir.
I don't mean to be critical, but this is just an opinion of mine. I really think you are using too many additives. The reason being that you can get really good results (in excess of a gram per watt) with just the basic two or three part nutrient and when the manufacturers design and test their nutrients/additives they don't do so with the intention of multiple other products being used throughout the grow, since they can and do interact. But anyway, that's just your personal preference which your entitled to. I'm just saying I personally would concentrate my money and resources on the basics, such as improving airflow. People seem drawn into the commercial world of the latest flashy additives when in fact the basics suffice.
But if you're getting good results, anyway, please do continue with what you're doing. I just wanted to give an insight into my growing ethos.
I'm happy it's going well for you though. It's fun isn't it? Growing is certainly addictive.
One thing I really would absolutely love for you to try is a new technique that goes against the grain when it comes to flushing. Instead of accepting conventional wisdom as being the only way, take a look at this thread. It was a technique developed by a moderator at UK420 who, instead of just blindly following what everyone else does, experimented and found out a better way to flush that didn't involve starving the plant. Anyway, here it is:
FLUSHING IN HYDRO OWDS WAY
The question on flushing keeps arising on the boards and although each individual has their own way i thought i'd give you my thoughts on it
I used to be under the impression that a two week flush was needed at the end in hydro but have since changed my mind completely.My way of thinking is that starving a plant for any amount of time is detrimental to its progress so for me two weeks is a definate no no
What i now do whether in a hydro system or hand watering in coco is 2 weeks from cropping i start to reduce the phosphorus.I cease using any boost/pk13/14 seeing as these have a large amount in and i start to reduce the ec too seeing as plants dont need as many nutes late on.
I run at an ec of 1.8 max no matter how i grow in hydro so i'll drop my ec to 1.4 with the food being made up of 50/50 grow/bloom for 3-4 days,then i'll drop that to 1.0ec till theres only a week left.
The final week i just feed 1ml/grow up until the last 2 days which i'll use just tap water.
What ive found with me not feeding excessively is that if i feed just water i get yellow leaves after just two days,and if this is a fortnight from the end your plant is stressing for 2 weeks and not reaching its potential.The early yellowing leaves also tells me that if my plants are yellowing after just 2 days they have no excess of nutrient in them and my feeding throughout has been pretty much ideal
Ive tried all different methods over the years and thought i'd try and take a leaf out of the organic pot growers book and reduce phosporous towards the end and just use grow in the make up
Less phosporus means a better burn and smoother smoke,and my bud using this method is as smooth as ive ever had it
Plus I believe that it helps with yield seeing as the plant has a little food to keep going throughout its life
I also believe that folk that insist on using high ec's can address the flushing issue earlier and start to drop their ec's 3 weeks before chop.This will help reduce nutrient levels in the plant without affecting its growth because as i said earlier the plant doesnt need as much food towards the end
And as a final word,if you do use plain water for however long dont ph down it cos all you are doing is putting in exactly what we are trying to get out
Also if I find a better way that suits me i'll have to update this
Owd
Here's the url since there are questions asked and answers given:
Flushing Owd's way
With respect to RO water and hard water, particularly the hardness you described, I actually agree with you, it is better. What I was talking about was much softer water. It really is bizarre when people with water much softer than you go out and buy an RO filter thinking it will improve yields. This was the point I was trying to make as a general thing, despite the fact that your water is bad.
I've just germinated 10 regular SmellyBerry seeds (I always buy regular rather than the hyped of female seeds, or even the dreaded shitty autoflowering strains newbies seem to love!) in rockwool. So far 6/10 have come up and the rest should soon follow. They'll be going into my NFT GT 424 tank, except I won't use a spreader matt in veg and will tuck their roots under the rockwool blocks so the roots actually go back into the rockwool blocks and I've able to sex the plants using the Genefinder method and take out any males I subsequently find. This is a great technique for growing regular seeds in the NFT tank which would otherwise not be possible!
