Nute differential between strains?

[BaccaRacca]

I'm not all that far, DeadlyFruit, I just read labels and look up ingredients on the web. Eventually something sinks in. This all started when I was figuring my lawn fertilizer requirements for the year. I grow three different mixes of bluegrasses -- one is a low-cut mix for athletic fields and golf fairways that is a real nitrogen hog; a dense, dark-blue "luxury" blend that will thatch up fast if I feed it like the athletic field, and a shade mix that doesn't take much at all. So I wondered if the grass in my lawn takes different nutes, what about the "grass" in my basement?

 

[BaccaRacca]

Thank you everybody for participating in this conversation. I've waited to reply to see if I had anything noticeable to show, and well, the difference has been stark. They just don't agree. If the BD and GG#4 were a married couple, they'd have married in Vegas while drunk, then woke up the following morning, declared WTF?! and divorced.

First up is the Blue Dream always looked kinda yellow. Early there seemed like there was some deep blue in the veins so I thought it just might be the strain. But she grew slowly and got sicker over time.

So here is the Blue Dream progression, from sickness to health:

April 1 Blue Dream looking sick:



Here she is after I changed nutes from 1 tsp of Miracle-Gro Herb & Vegetable to 1/2 tsp Miracle-Gro Herb & Vegetable & 1/2 tsp of Miracle-Gro All purpose.

Here's how the NPK would look. I divided by 3 to show relevance to popular brands made specifically for cannabis:

Standard Grow Mix
100% Miracle-Gro® Vegetables & Herbs

Miracle-Gro® Vegetables & Herbs: 100% 18-18-21 /3= 6-6-7


Big Nitro Mix
50% Miracle-Gro® Vegetables & Herbs + 50% Miracle-Gro® All-Purpose Plant Food

Miracle-Gro® Vegetables & Herbs: 50% x 18-18-21
Miracle-Gro® All-Purpose Plant Food: 50% x 24-8-16
= 21-13-18 /3 = 7-4-6

Note here I call it, "Big Nitro", but there is also a significant decrease in phosphorus and a smaller decrease in potassium. Something else I think is significant, as things went on, is that the All Purpose mix contains ammonia nitrogen, which the Herb & Vegetable did not. That may have affected the chemistry, too. It isn't just about NPK, but all that ion stuff, too.

April 8. Here you can she she is sick, but getting a bit better. This is a week before the initial post.



And here she is on May 3 -- lush, large and two weeks after flip. Due for a trim.



Great recovery, huh?

So I started using that mix on everything, thinking I'd been missing out in other grows, even though I'd never had any problems before.

The GG#4 tells a different story. Here she is on April 9. Happy, growing, just been deci-folded. Something new for me and my lateral anchor stakes.


But, uh-oh. April 11. Did I miss some watering? Was my mix off? What changed? I'm just starting to wonder.



Things weren't getting any better, so I wrote my original post. Got some good feedback from everyone, thank you. Here we are on April 18, the day after the post. Stuff is bad! Time for action! It's never too early to panic!



So on April 23rd, I flushed the darned thing really heavy, trimmed off all the ugliness, and went back to the original nutes.



Three days later, on April 26, the recovery was in session. Things are looking better.



By May 3, she was fully recovered and growing like ... well ... a weed.



What looks like a small change was a big one.

Thank you for reading. I hope this helps others.

BR

 

[bboyfromwayback]

That’s solid training! Great job👍🏻

 

[BaccaRacca]

Thank you bboyfromwayback. I've been following your tutorial and picked up some tips. I take this as a high compliment.

 

[RetiredGuy]

Very educational, thanks for posting. However, I am confused as to why you divided by 3? Aren’t NPK numbers given on all nute brands always in percent by weight of each element?

 

[BaccaRacca]

Good question, @RetiredGuy. I do that to compare what I'm using to the bottled nutes that are popular for cannabis. Most of those mixes are about 1/3 to 1/6 the concentration of the water soluble compounds that I use. By dividing by three I can more easily compare what I use to the nute recommendations I read on this site and in the forums.

One thing that interests me right now, since my perlite/peat mix is essentially hydro basic, is the development of soy hydrolysate fertilizer. It's a part of the Herb & Vegetable mix I use, but I've seen other brands, including some cannabis-specific ones that contain this stuff. I think it helps metabolize nitrogen and other substances more efficiently, hence my basic nutes being sufficient for the GG#4.

For more information about this stuff, here is a link to someplace selling it as a standalone product. I post it because it has some very good, straightforward information.

Organic for hydro, who'd have thunk?

https://customhydronutrients.com/fe..._571_572/fertinitro-plus-one-pound-p-459.html