what should i realistically expect

az2000

Well-Known Member
By the cartoon stuff r u talking the nutes
Yes. A lot of the boutique "lineups" are overpriced and designed to lock you into a proprietary "schedule." Instead of thinking in terms of N, P and K (the way the plant does), they guide you into a world of "5ml Dirty Sanchez," "10ml Rhino Sweat." It's gimmicky. You're buying an experience, not nutrients.

Whatever you use, I strongly advise you to enter the information from bottles into this spreadsheet, and keep a log of what you're *actually* feeding. This will give you two advantages:

1. After a couple grows, you'll know what NPK ratios you've been using throughout various stages of growth. You'll be able to compare what you *know* to other "lineups" -- or exit the "lineup" nonsense completely, feeding something simple and inexpensive, like Jack's Classic or Grow More Sea Grow (which is what I use).

2. If you have problems during your grow and there's any question about whether a particular nutrient is too low, you'll know exactly whether that was caused by some cartoon-labeled addon. For example, it's common for people to use Bloom Boosters in flower. (I don't think it does anything. But, whatever.). This, as well as reducing P too much too early, can lead to signs of N deficiency. If you know your numbers (such as: that you went from 1-1.2-2 (NPK ratio) to 1-4-3, that would be useful information to assess why your plant is falling apart.).

The boutique "lineups" work. And, having a schedule laid out for you removes the guesswork. But, they're worse than that because they hide what you're actually doing. You can't make objective choices (except that everyone else using the same "lineup" says "Monkey Snot in late flower is awesome."

If you keep track of what you're actually producing via those Mad Magazine bottles, you'll be glad you did in a year or two. You'll be better able to "read your plants," and compare other products, develop your own ratios, etc.
 

az2000

Well-Known Member
This might add some context to what I said above. I'm growing a plant in MiracleGro Tomato right now. A simple 1-1-1 ratio. 30 cents per plant, per grow. It's doing as well as my more elaborately tuned ratios with Sea Grow. (which costs $1 per plant, per grow).

I don't necessarily recommend MiracleGro. I'm just doing that one to see how it works, and give new growers something inexpensive and easy to repeat. You know, sometimes a new grower wants to see if they can grow a plant before diving into more expenses. $6 for MG at the hardware store. That's useful.

But, it also proves the point that nutrients don't need to be opaque, proprietary and cartoonish. If you think in terms of NPK ratios, you can plug-n-play to get your own system (and be aware of how adjusting your ratios and sources of nutrition affect the plant. I.e., "read your plant.").
 
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