General Hydroponics Question

Ok so from what my local hydro store owner told me and he really seems to know his shit. Every pice of advice hes given me personally has turned my 12 plant ebb and flow system 10x10x8 FIRST (progress pics attached)grow room ever into a pretty fascinating experience. not to mention the free nutes and additives hes been giving me. I chose General Hydroponics because they were pretty affordable and he said it would be my best bet starting out or sticking with them. So GH it was. Soo... i went back in to reup on some micro and bloom gallons just because i dont like to run out of anything.. and grabbed the Floragrow gallon for the next cycle and he said "hey man just a piece of advice...you really dont need the Floragrow as much as you think you do. Your micro and bloom have enough nitrogen you will need if you get the measurements correct. i know allot of customers that have stopped buying grow all together."

FloraGrow 2 1 6
FloraMicro 5 0 1
FloraBloom 0 5 4

So in theory i see what hes saying about the nitrogen. micro has plenty apposed to the grow. But to explain what hes trying to tell me is using micro as your base then doing smaller amounts of bloom to adjust for the 1-(P) Phos and 6-(K) potassium your missing from the FloraGrow? Now im sure there may be some substitutions you can add to fill the void. but for someone who seems to be pretty well known in this area to give me that advice...im not really understanding it too well as far as either a "simplicity" move, "logical" move, or "frugal" attempt to save money? Money is of no object to get my ladies as good as possible since i already have a knack for growing, first room and few problems after lots of research....and expensive equipment. (cant you tell im hooked?)

Pros Cons? Save money? Why is he suggesting this?
Im using the full line of GH Expert Recirculating BTW. 18 site ebb and flow. Thanks to any advice ladies and gentlebuds!

Some advice for you... i ran normal ebb n flow for over a year, just recently i got rid of all my insert pots and growing medium and now i use a 6" netpot with lid and whole bucket fills with water for 1hour and 3 hours off. Put an air stone in every bucket... added some h202 weekly in small dose and my growth literally quadroupled.

I also use GH nutes, i use micro/bloom only with cal-mag and thats all until flowering when ill take away SOME cal-mag and add a booster.

ricky6991 said:

Some advice for you... i ran normal ebb n flow for over a year, just recently i got rid of all my insert pots and growing medium and now i use a 6" netpot with lid and whole bucket fills with water for 1hour and 3 hours off. Put an air stone in every bucket... added some h202 weekly in small dose and my growth literally quadroupled.

I also use GH nutes, i use micro/bloom only with cal-mag and thats all until flowering when ill take away SOME cal-mag and add a booster.

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yeah right now i top off with cal mag florolicious and bloom/micro. but the recommendations your suggesting. is that more like a mix of ebb and flow and dwc? i like the sounds of it tho. i actually was considering a system of those sorts with my buddy. getting the best of all scenarios.

Yeah it makes it a bootleg bubble setup BUT the upside is it drains out often into a rez which is chilled and fresh nutes... so very easy for water to stay clean and fresh. And automated lol... i could not belive the growth difference.

ya you dont need the "grow". you can use just micro and bloom in the right amounts and get by just fine. its called the lucas formula. good luck!

not to mention the free nutes and additives hes been giving me.

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the first one is always free. you should know that in this business

I find myself using less and less "growth stage" nutes these dayz. I reveg my girls after flower but notice they are always telling me they need more P than N (red/purple stems). Seems like one could probably get away using very little or no early stage nutes especially if growing a lot of clones. The plants need way less crap than the nutrient makers would have you believe. I never use as much nutrient as recommended & have seen very little difference in yields. Less is more IMO...lighting, spacing, and other factors have more influence over your overall yield than nutes do although it's important to introduce them to the full range of micronutrients.

I'm kind of surprised that he'd give you that advice without really explaining it properly. It's the Lucas Formula that he's talking about (named after the grower that created it). Not mentioning that could lead someone to think he's not giving proper credit for the idea. I'm not saying that's the case - I'm just saying people usually call it the Lucas Formula because A: that's what it's called and B: it gives credit where due.

Anyway, if you're interested in it just do a Google search for "Lucas Formula" and you'll find a ton of information better written than I could do here.

Some people, myself included, have had a little trouble with it. Nothing major in my case, I just didn't get the size and yield I'm used to seeing so I discontinued it. I tried it again later on using Advanced Nutrients GMB three part (it works just as well with their products) and had better success, but I just prefer to play it safe and run all three parts. YMMV.

I been using just micro,bloom rapid start,& kool bloom for a few grows,don't notice any difference.
I keep hearing florolicious?) Anybody know if it's worth using?

Blah blah blah grow weed

I used Lucas with flood & drain in early 2000's but since have gone to a plant count state and thus need trees. Larger plants will end up not liking Lucas in late veg / eatly flower.

I now advocate use of 8 mL micro / 10 mL grow / 6 mL bloom / 5 mL CalMag for adult veg and first 3 - 4 weeks of flower then go to lucas plus 2.5 mL CalMag until flush / finish. All above is with RO H2O.

SnapsProvolone said:

I used Lucas with flood & drain in early 2000's but since have gone to a plant count state and thus need trees. Larger plants will end up not liking Lucas in late veg / eatly flower.

I now advocate use of 8 mL micro / 10 mL grow / 6 mL bloom / 5 mL CalMag for adult veg and first 3 - 4 weeks of flower then go to lucas plus 2.5 mL CalMag until flush / finish. All above is with RO H2O.

Click to expand...

I agree I wasn't too impressed with lucas formula during veg. I love it during flower I just add bloombastic in last 3-4 weeks works great very simple.

Read the Micro "ingredients" and see the difference between those and both the bloom and grow. Then figure out what kind of nutes you really need knowing that the micro portion of the GH formula is the most essential portion. If your plants have access to the nutes it needs faster because they are more readily available you should experiment with getting nutes that have everything readily available, especially using something like ebb and flow. Hope you figure it out...

Hey guys my first DWC grow is a few weeks into flower but I don't have access to any flower formula only have growth technology optimum grow A B is there anything I can do??? There are no hydro shops and no way to order online

Miracle grow??? You gotta be able to get your hands on something even if it isn't ideal.

I have liquid potash 4% P 20% K

This is all you need from GH. Just get Maxigrow, Maxibloom and Micro(equal parts). That's it. It will last you a long time for around $50 for all 3 and done.

You do know that Cal/Mag is just an overpriced Epsom Salt right? You can go down to CVS and get a bag of Epsom salt for around $3 and you have your magnesium sulfate and no need for a $30 bottle of Cal/MAG. The calcium is already in the GH series.