Botanicare vs. botanicare?

hello. im new to this site, dont really use the internet much for weed related things, but anywho.

I've been growing outdoor and indoor for about 5 years, and have had some great success, and great failure. but over the last year ive been researching all the new nutes they have come out with now. and botanicare is one that really seems to do better than others.

and heres the problem.... They have almost a dozen products (all soil suitable) and it seems they can all be used in conjunction with eachother. so which ones do i use? or would you use? i was thinking of singling out 5 or 6 of there nutes and supplements and trying to dose them with a LITTLE of each type every day. (for example: standard fert one day, cal-mag the next day, silicate blast the day after and so on and so forth. any thoughts or recommendations? Im really looking forward to seeing what combinations work best.

Pure blend pro grow
pure blend pro bloom soil

hydroplex (bloom maximizer 0-10-6)
liquid karma (I've heard theres better similar products for less $ but I havent found one)
aqua shield
silica blast (I recently switched to grotek, not sure how it is yet)
sweet (I use raw unflavored but may be switching to humbolt honey ES)
Clearex (not nec.)

I also use hygrozyme and some extra myco products as well as a humic acid product, if thats the right thing to do I dont know, but I'm working on finding out.

Personally I would like to use non bottled organic products but I'm not an experienced enough gardener yet. Also being worked on....


The biggest thing I have to say I dont like about the botanicare, my plants require large doses of it and it goes like water. I'm going on week 4 bloom with 9 plants and I've already gone through a quart of bloom, I am figuring the quart bottles are good for 4 plants for a 8-9 week grow some of the lower dose products like hydroplex and silica may last a bit longer. I've since started replacing quart bottles as they go with gallons. But I gotta say so far so good, definitely better than the techniflora product I used for my first grow, my girls are already sporting a nice coating of resin and smelling nice and dank, as far as how the end product is, I am dying to find out as its looking pretty good so far but I havent heard to much bad about botanicares base products but I'm sure the supplements are easily replaced with better/cheaper products.

Good luck

i use pureblend pro never had any problems with it .. some say you need all the additives, some dont ... i personally dont add the extra stuff, but if you have them .. why not lol .. you should be adding the calmag everytime you water so you dont suffer from any unforseen lockout probs . instead of the extras i use compost tea and such ... seems to work for me but you have to find your own way with nutes lol

happy growin

Im using the da tri pack of pro grow/bloom/karma and a sample bottle of hydroplex and snowstorm
with the botanicare soilless mix and looks great

More bottles don't = better.....I recommend pureblend pro grow, pureblend pro bloom and liquid karma ........cal mag + if using RO water.......and I don't recommend using any supplement every day.....even if it is a different supplement....you will surely have issues.....

thanks for all the feedback!!!

are you happy recently?

dont need all that from botanicare. basic would be the pro soil line. use the veg/bloom. pro cal and liquid karma is a full feed line. ive used in past for years with good results. its about same level as the gh 3 part is. its an average general plant food for most types of plant. not relay a canna specific food, but does just fine. especialy if your new to nutes more pricey is a waste
i recomend cal even without the RO water as it helps build and strengthen cell walls and makes for tougher plant and more disease resitant especialy being out door
not sure why someone said cal stops lock out..

Cannabisworks said:

dont need all that from botanicare. basic would be the pro soil line. use the veg/bloom. pro cal and liquid karma is a full feed line. ive used in past for years with good results. its about same level as the gh 3 part is. its an average general plant food for most types of plant. not relay a canna specific food, but does just fine. especialy if your new to nutes more pricey is a waste
i recomend cal even without the RO water as it helps build and strengthen cell walls and makes for tougher plant and more disease resitant especialy being out door
not sure why someone said cal stops lock out..

Click to expand...

I really depends on the quality of water you have....I don't recommend anybody use cal/mag unless they are using ro water of have a cal/mag deficiency.....if your tap has enough calcium and magnesium you can and chances are you will get calcium or magnesium toxicity sometime in the plant(s) life cycle.....I add 80-120 ppm @.5 conversion of cal/mag through out the entire life cycle of any strains I grow....

you ever seen a cal tox...or any tox. they cant take in more than they need or can use so i dont get the idea of to much if it isnt possible.
the cal in tap water is a bad source and a plant cant uptake it as well. and calcium helps the splitting and building of cells to make the need for more food to grow. yes all water has dfiff amounts but it wont have to much. ive done for 30 years and not once seen any tox of any nute. do you have a pic of something with to much food in a plant???

Cannabisworks said:

you ever seen a cal tox...or any tox. they cant take in more than they need or can use so i dont get the idea of to much if it isnt possible.
the cal in tap water is a bad source and a plant cant uptake it as well. and calcium helps the splitting and building of cells to make the need for more food to grow. yes all water has dfiff amounts but it wont have to much. ive done for 30 years and not once seen any tox of any nute. do you have a pic of something with to much food in a plant???

Click to expand...

It really depends on the source and quality of the water you are using......but yes adding too much calcium or magnesium can and will cause problems.......too much of anything can be bad......

Excessive levels of magnesium in your plants will exhibit a buildup of toxic salts that will kill the leaves and lock out other nutrients like Calcium (Ca). Mg can get locked out by having too much Calcium

Too much Calcium will lead to other micronutrient deficiencies. Calcium fixation is caused by many types of mediums such as: clay soils, unbuffered coco and humus. The lime tends to bond to these soils very easily. The stems of the plant will not be able to hold the plant up and will exhibit a white brown in between the veins of the leaves when having too much calcium. Also having to much potassium and or nitrogen will cause a calcium lockout.

i know how it all relates to blocking and so on. but some seem to think the plant will actualy eat to much. .toxicities show as a deff., is why i was asking for a pic of what a toxic level of a nute looked like.
but if we water right we should never have a food element block another. the point to all this i think was using cal is a bennefit. over the tap source. as long as its watered right you wont have any issues. if its not watered right it will have issues with or without added calcium

Nutrient toxicity doesnt exist again?! You're like a broken record...

dpends what you call tox. soil can but a plant cant, how if it only eats what it has used and needs to replace. deffinalty to much food isnt good but hwat it does isnt as you guys think. there can be a million and 1 reasons to a deff or a burn. and food isnt it. lack of food is and that is the million and 1 reasons how food can becaome deff to the plant. to much food drops ph. when ph drops inmedium the plant cxant eat then burns. also the jhi acid in the medium causesa it. but not the actual food. if you get enough run off and use the food right it wont burn. ive had burns suing only water. so how did food burn if there wasnt any...try it. use water for couple week and see what you get. how quick it burns or goes bad tells me what the cause was..or at leastt the erigtht general direction toi look at. if the deff and burn was quick then i say ph. if slow then lack of food dose for its needs.
and you dont sound like one to saying it dopes over and over but nothing scientific saying it does. food is food. it dosent change in the soil. it starts as a salt and ends as a salt. when the term salt build up is sued it dosent mean something has changed. means food build up because food is the salt. this is where the online has missinterpreted info give in fact based info. yes to much can also bind up food. but again. this just makes it not available. causing burns of deff`s

I wish this forum came with a Dislike button for posts like that...

finaly we agree on something.

So if you overfeed you won't get scorch on your leaves?

i dont get them.. this isnt like dump any amount of food in the soil or medium and just ignore and it will self fix nor did i say it was an easy or the right way to grow. i totaly dont recomend just using any amount of food. yes it can do ahrm if not done right or understand what happens. if we can keep the pH right as we use when we feed then the actual food shouldnt burn.
you dont agree that a plant cant be force fed? if we cant make food go in the plant at a faster rate than it needs it or is used then im kind of lost to how a plant may get toxic levels within it. we sure can make a medium toxic. but with proper watering this should never happen. its sort of along same lines as nute co saying to flush now and then to wash out built up salts. thats not needed either, but its because all bottle recipes tell us to use more than is needed, then we will get that build up and cause medium to be toxic.
when our medium is toxic and isnt washed out right then pH drops. when pH drops it gets to acidic and can burn roots fine hairts but morew what makes the burn is the lack of food as now its out of pH range
if food binds within the medium then it is no longer available and again, the plant wont or cant eat it so again the actual plant becomes hungry and can burn

i have also ran at 3000tds and no burns. and again, dont do it. i was just testing salanity levcels...didnt burn

3000tds and no burn?! I know for a definitive fact now you are completely full of shit.

think what ya want dood. till some of you guys try youll always be guessing and assuming. i used to call bs to dood. then i opened my mind and tried. im so glad i dont grow like i used to in the 70`s. would suck. glad i learned new ideas....and im not saying do this and run a full grow. again it just shows this over feeding dosent work as most think...over feed does cause issues and eventualyt will burn if not done right but not in a way most think or for why they think it does..acid burns not food