Mega Crop vs Dyna-Gro comparison grow

[Keesje]

When you underwater, salinity in the grow medium increases. This can cause stress and leaf damage. Over-watering decreases the salinity and can be bad, but is hard to do once things are growing fast.

If you underwater, then overwater, your roots that died off are now very moist possibly causing a bit of root rot . Some people don't water their pots evenly and can experience this, and it shows up on your leaves.

That is one of the advantages of hydro-system like DWC, E&F, waterfalls... it is much harder to underwater or overwater.
What people call overwatering is almost always 'lack of oxygen for the roots".
Underwatering is 'lack of water for the roots'.

 

[Keesje]

In all fairness, and the results are coming soon, MegaCrop crushed it this round which just goes to show there are many good options out there.

Come on! Don't keep us waiting!

 

[BDGrows]

Any updates @homebrewer?

 

[OneHitDone]

I've been growing for 9 years. I started with GH, then tried some Heavy 16 and liked the results, but before I could switch over, I got put on an out-of-town work assignment, and only get to see my girls every other weekend, so I wasn't about to deal with the Heavy 16 soup in my dwc when I only do maintenance every 14 days. So I got garbage cans, float valves and timers, and set up clean-water reservoirs to replace used water. In a system of about 15 gal that feeds 4 plants/buckets, I use 150 ml micro, 300 ml bloom, 60 ml Liquid Koolbloom, and 40 ml calmag. I use a little less at the beginning of veg hydro (my early veg is in dirt), and a little less at the end of flower, also switching to 20g of the powder Koolbloom and eliminate cal/mag at the end of flower. I never measure any EC or pH unless I think I made a mistake, then I'll check EC. I still grow what people tell me is some of the best they've ever seen, but part of that is my trimming. Now the laws are changing and I'm starting to do research again, and I found the Dyna Gro vs. AN thread, and now this one. I want to switch to DG, but obviously I can't watch and react to my plants needs very often, so I want to follow the exact receipe for hydro in terms of grow/bloom, additives, and EC that Homebrewer uses. From reading until my eyes got foggy, I gather it is about 1-1.2 EC max, starting bloom at about 50/50 ratio and then leaning out to 1:4 grow/bloom, then eliminating bloom and adding Floralicious additive at the end, with no flush. Is that about right?

If your on a system your getting solid repeatable results and are comfortable with I wouldn't change a thing

 

[ghbond]

Laws are changing in Michigan, so it's time to change from casual to commercial. To survive commercial you need to have a cost advantage, meaning faster/better/cheaper. I'm now close to completing a one-week masters course in aeroponics. The technogy is daunting, but the control, speed, efficiency, and environmental friendliness is outstanding. I'm certain that I will formulate my own nutrients, but for now Dyna Gro will do. Of course, the final product has to satisfy my existing fanatics who have become used to quality beyond the level available at dispo's. Waiting patiently on HB to drop his results here, because I've got a very interesting on-topic post already written.

 

[Nizza]

be sure if going the commercial route and aeroponics you have some sort of back up idea in case you lose power!

 

[Herb & Suds]

be sure if going the commercial route and aeroponics you have some sort of back up idea in case you lose power!

Generator for pumps
Lights aren't needed up to 3 days or so

 

[kinnyg1234]

I like DynaGro's Foliage pro and bloom because they're very concentrated and don't need supplementation. Those two bottles give me the versatility and ease of use that I want for peat and hydro. As others have stated though, brands don't matter. What really matters is the ratio and amounts of the elements contained within the bottles. As Uncle Ben would say, you can get unbelievable results from plant foods sold at WalMart as long as you know what to buy and how to use it.

As I mentioned though, I like DynaGro. They make complete one-part foods that are definitely on the cheaper end of the spectrum. You can't beat their ease of use and when used properly they're one of the best performing foods on the market. I'll suggest them to new growers because they're complete. If they're seeing plant issues they can rule out the food as the culprit. I'd also recommend DG to advanced growers too. In all fairness, and the results are coming soon, MegaCrop crushed it this round which just goes to show there are many good options out there.

Here's a quick story to reiterate the fact that brands don't matter: About 6 months ago I ran out of DynaGro bloom as I was just starting a flowering cycle in my hydro trays. Local stores don't carry DynaGro which means ordering bottles would have delayed flowering by a week. So I looked at what I had sitting around, mentally adding up and checking off the elements supplied in the different products that I had on the shelf. I wound up using GenHydro's Micro (5-0-1) for nitrogen and most of the micro nutrients, DG's Magpro (2-15-4) for the phosphorous and magnesium, and some dry potassium sulfate for exactly those two elements. And when I ran out of DG's Magpro at week 6 I then switched to Botanicare's Hydroplex (0-10-6). All added up and tweaked based on concentrations, I had all the essentials needed for healthy growth. That round was flawless, as expected, because the plants were getting all the essentials in the ratios that I know work.

Hey Dude,

I have read your posts for a very long time and really enjoy them, even if I don't always agree I really appreciate you taking the time to put your views out there.

As a longtime fan of Greenleaf I thought I might give you my 2 cents.

I get the idea of wanting to keep it simple, just base. -Did that for my first round few rounds back in 04 (gh -duh), Excellent results... However noticed HUGE Benefits when I added some additives, back then big bud, seaweed and bennies.

Years go by was using advanced for sake of simplicity.. ph perfect....

Started replacing Advanced with GL Additives... WAY Cheaper and got better results *my experience.

When Mega came out I was so lazy with the ph perfect... but then I did try it...

What I actually like most about it is not only the pricepoint and all included...

-But actually the fact that it has NO Edta or other somewhat concerning chelates (EDDTA, DPTA etc)... that do end up in the plant.

Mega has Amino Chelates, which from what I understand are actually organic compliant, even though Mega is not.

So Save money, Good Bang for Buck and CLEANER... That's my view..

I would be surprised if you didn't find higher quality simply because of all the extras in there.. Seaweed, Chitosan, Silica, Enzyme...

BTW I add a TON of shit, and I enjoy spending money on this even though I could get by with WAY less haha.. Biomarine, KoolBloom (liquid), RedLine (GL Version of Overdrive), FL Plus, Sweet Candy (GL Version of Bud Candy -Way better ingrediants), Carboload, OGBiowar Root and Nute Packs... other shit!

Fun for me but I get why many like to keep it simple.

-Question, if Foliage works well for you in Flower and Veg, why do Dyna make the other products? Just wondering.

Cheers! K

 

[homebrewer]

The results should be posted in a couple of days. The flowers are dried, cured, and the final numbers are in....

 

[Wastei]

-Question, if Foliage works well for you in Flower and Veg, why do Dyna make the other products? Just wondering.

This has been answered a lot of times. It's a result of marketing and different type of growing. From my experience you want to be able to lower nitrogen levels in late flower in hydro. In containers FP alone absolutely kills it! Pro-tekt is used to get stable pH and higher resistance to pm, pests and environmental stress.

People say otherwise but they have probably not run same cuttings in a side by side situation with different formulas.

 

[kinnyg1234]

This has been answered a lot of times. It's a result of marketing and different type of growing. From my experience you want to be able to lower nitrogen levels in late flower in hydro. In containers FP alone absolutely kills it! Pro-tekt is used to get stable pH and higher resistance to pm, pests and environmental stress.

People say otherwise but they have probably not run same cuttings in a side by side situation with different formulas.

Ok Thanks

 

[tob5461]

Hey homebrewer what happened to your pics in the dynagro AN comparison thread. The pics are great for the comparison. I hate when im looking for information on these forums and almost all the pics in older threads are missing. I have run megacrop and GH and Botainacare had decent results but thinking about switching to dynagro for the completeness of the formula.

 

[BleedsGreen]

Ran MC for a little over a year, it was good. My last 2 rails I went back to botainacare and the leaf sugar is noticeably increased and the taste profiles are stronger. That said I just used MC no additives, I am sure would have added to the overall output. With botainacare I am using many of their products, (not as simple as MC and much more costly). Since I grow only for me and the wife I think I will stick with botainacare for now.

 

[kinnyg1234]

Ran MC for a little over a year, it was good. My last 2 rails I went back to botainacare and the leaf sugar is noticeably increased and the taste profiles are stronger. That said I just used MC no additives, I am sure would have added to the overall output. With botainacare I am using many of their products, (not as simple as MC and much more costly). Since I grow only for me and the wife I think I will stick with botainacare for now.

You could try mega with all the additives you are using with Botanicare. Still probably cheaper and maybe more apples to apples. There is no humic or fulvic in mega for example.

 

[swedsteven]

The results should be posted in a couple of days. The flowers are dried, cured, and the final numbers are in....

cant give us are gift for christmas

 

[homebrewer]

cant give us are gift for christmas

My write up is done, I just need to take some photos. If I'm being honest, I'm slammed right now and this is at the bottom of my list of things to do. It's the holidays. It just is what it is.

 

[homebrewer]

Thank you for your patience! Life has been non-stop for a while now but I finally made some time for the review.

Mega Crop vs Dyna Gro final write-up.....

As I mentioned in the first post of this thread, I was going to be looking at different aspects of Mega Crop and comparing it to the food that I use regularly, which is DynaGro. I’ve already gone over ease of use, versatility, cost, pH stability, plant performance, plant health, etc., so my plan here is to just wrap this up with some closing thoughts.

The final yield for these plants was 805 grams (roughly 28.4 ounces) which is actually a personal best by 1 gram. My previous personal best occurred during my previous run with DynaGro just a couple months before this comparison grow. My goal in regards to yield coming into this comparison was 19-20oz because that’s been my average for years now in this corner tray with a 600 HPS. The thing about these last two runs, which have been personal bests, is that they’ve been powered by a brand new ballast. My previous ballast was a 600w Quantum and while that piece of sh*t did last a couple of years, it popped during the first week of my previous run with DynaGro and it took out a bulb with it. So I went to my local hydro store and promptly replaced the bulb and bought a new 600w single-ended Sun System 1. So the problem with these yield numbers is that it seems like this new ballast is vastly superior to my old Quantum and my old baseline for average yields is now antiquated. Before I can draw any final conclusions I’ll need to do another run with DG just to get an idea of what an ‘average’ yield might be. Regardless of the outcome of those future grows, 1.34 grams/watt from a static overhead system in a 3’x4’ space is pretty damn good. Hats off to Mega Crop.

Also something to consider, these MegaCrop plants were quite a bit larger than the DG plants that were pictured in this thread and they were also getting help from a neighboring light as seen below. How much of a difference did the extra height and light make? Probably not more than 15-20% but that’s maybe impossible to determine. Regardless, MC certainly proved to be a very capable plant food.

As I mentioned a number of times, I really didn’t like working with MC. It was a little dusty, dirty, and time consuming to use. On the flipside it was the cheapest food that I’ve ever tested in hydro but it really wasn’t that much cheaper than what I already use. We’re talking at most a $5 savings per two-month cycle in a 20+ gallon reservoir (basically $12 vs DynaGro’s $16.50). Does this savings add up on a larger scale? Certainly. Does the extra time required also scale up? Of course!. Time is my most precious commodity so personally I’d gladly pay a bit more for the sake of ease and efficiency. The bottom line is this: MC could save you $5 per light per harvest and that is a savings that one might actually notice. That's also a savings over one of the most inexpensive liquid foods on the market; DynaGro. So when comparing MC to other liquid foods the cost savings may be even more noticeable.

Speaking of time and efficiency, MC’s higher nitrogen content (as compared to DG’s bloom) did grow leafier, branchier plants which required much more maintenance than I’m used to. Had I not known what to expect in terms of the growth I probably would have yielded a ton of airy, wispy flowers. These plants also required a bit more trimming because they were a little more leafy – maybe 10-20% more leaf? I’ve also noticed that the overall density of the flowers is lower than normal but by no means is the overall density low. The flowers are a tad more fox-tailed that normal - essentially I think the extra N caused the seed bracts to stack more than I'm used to. For the record, I’m a sativa guy, I don’t really care about density. However, if a strain is supposed to produce flowers on the dense side of the spectrum then I don't think the plant food should alter that. In regards to the extra leaf and slightly lower density, I do think that these two ‘issues’ could easily be rectified by the addition of a bloom booster such as MKP. It’s not necessarily the higher P and K that would increase density but the diluted nitrogen content. Because MC supplies more calcium and magnesium than needed, I actually think MC formulated this food to be used with a booster.

As far as the actual quality of the product goes, it’s essentially indistinguishable from other nutrient brands. Aroma and resin production are possibly down a bit on this MC run but I’m sure the difference could be mitigated had I been using the same supplements as I do when running DynaGro. I actually did hear an unsolicited comment about how this round of Casey was really frosty so take that for what it’s worth.

So other than my complaints about the time involved (canopy maintenance, added trim time, weighing, mixing, and dissolving) and the little dusty messes MC makes, it’s a pretty solid performer and it doesn’t break the bank! Well done, Mega Crop.


MegaCrop tray growing into a neighboring light....



Dried flowers under natural lighting (Mega Crop)...



More Mega Crop...



DynaGro Flower....

 

[swedsteven]

Thank you for your patience! It's been non-stop for a while now but alas....

Mega Crop vs Dyna Gro final write-up.....

As I mentioned in the first post of this thread, I was going to be looking at different aspects of Mega Crop and comparing it to the food that I use regularly, which is DynaGro. I’ve already gone over ease of use, versatility, cost, pH stability, plant performance, plant health, etc., so my plan here is to just wrap this up with some closing thoughts.

The final yield for these plants was 805 grams (roughly 28.4 ounces) which is actually a personal best by 1 gram. My previous personal best occurred during my previous run with DynaGro just a couple months before this comparison grow. My goal in regards to yield coming into this comparison was 19-20oz because that’s been my average for years now in this corner tray with a 600 HPS. The thing about these last two runs, which have been personal bests, is that they’ve been powered by a brand new ballast. My previous ballast was a 600w Quantum and while that piece of sh*t did last a couple of years, it popped during the first week of my previous run with DynaGro and it took out a bulb with it. So I went to my local hydro store and promptly replaced the bulb and bought a new 600w single-ended Sun System 1. So the problem with these yield numbers is that it seems like this new ballast is vastly superior to my old Quantum and my old baseline for average yields is now antiquated. Before I can draw any final conclusions I’ll need to do another run with DG just to get an idea of what an ‘average’ yield might be. Regardless of the outcome of those future grows, 1.34 grams/watt from a static overhead system in a 3’x4’ space is pretty damn good. Hats off to Mega Crop.

Also something to consider, these MegaCrop plants were quite a bit larger than the DG plants that were pictured in this thread and they were also getting help from a neighboring light as seen below. How much of a difference did the extra height and light make? Probably not more than 15-20% but that’s maybe impossible to determine. Regardless, MC certainly proved to be a very capable plant food.

As I mentioned a number of times, I really didn’t like working with MC. It was a little dusty, dirty, and time consuming to use. On the flipside it was the cheapest food that I’ve ever tested in hydro but it really wasn’t that much cheaper than what I already use. We’re talking at most a $5 savings per two-month cycle in a 20+ gallon reservoir (basically $12 vs DynaGro’s $16.50). Does this savings add up on a larger scale? Certainly. Does the extra time required also scale up? Of course!. Time is my most precious commodity so personally I’d gladly pay a bit more for the sake of ease and efficiency. The bottom line is this: MC could save you $5 per light per harvest and that is a savings that one might actually notice. That's also a savings over one of the most inexpensive liquid foods on the market; DynaGro. So when comparing MC to other liquid foods the cost savings may be even more noticeable.

Speaking of time and efficiency, MC’s higher nitrogen content (as compared to DG’s bloom) did grow leafier, branchier plants which required much more maintenance than I’m used to. Had I not known what to expect in terms of the growth I probably would have yielded a ton of airy, wispy flowers. These plants also required a bit more trimming because they were a little more leafy – maybe 10-20% more leaf? I’ve also noticed that the overall density of the flowers is lower than normal but by no means is the overall density low. The flowers are a tad more fox-tailed that normal - essentially I think the extra N caused the seed bracts to stack more than I'm used to. For the record, I’m a sativa guy, I don’t really care about density. However, if a strain is supposed to produce flowers on the dense side of the spectrum then I don't think the plant food should alter that. In regards to the extra leaf and slightly lower density, I do think that these two ‘issues’ could easily be rectified by the addition of a bloom booster such as MKP. It’s not necessarily the higher P and K that would increase density but the diluted nitrogen content. Because MC supplies more calcium and magnesium than needed, I actually think MC formulated this food to be used with a booster.

As far as the actual quality of the product goes, it’s essentially indistinguishable from other nutrient brands. Aroma and resin production are possibly down a bit on this MC run but I’m sure the difference could be mitigated had I been using the same supplements as I do when running DynaGro. I actually did hear an unsolicited comment about how this round of Casey was really frosty so take that for what it’s worth.

So other than my complaints about the time involved (canopy maintenance, added trim time, weighing, mixing, and dissolving) and the little dusty messes MC makes, it’s a pretty solid performer and it doesn’t break the bank! Well done, Mega Crop.


MegaCrop tray growing into a neighboring light....

View attachment 4450970

Dried flowers under natural lighting (Mega Crop)...

View attachment 4450964

More Mega Crop...

View attachment 4450967

DynaGro Flower....

View attachment 4450969

Thank you very much for the honest review.

Both off these product are the best fertelizer in my book for wath we are doing !

Nice buds as always ...

 

[FlakeyFoont]

Thanks for that @homebrewer... and nicely grown!

 

[Wastei]

Thank you for this. Always very honest and informative. I've been reading all your journals since the AN vs Dyna Gro and Dumpster days! Congrats on the yield!