AN Carboload Vs Molasses in Hydro

K

karmeron

Active Member
Ive been looking to add some sort of carbs to a DWC grow and have read a lot about some companies using molasses as the base for a lot of Carb additives and a lot of people just say use molasses. However in hydro afaik, molasses isnt a good idea, I've heard it clogs up stuff and causes foamy deposits, its also very messy to use.
Thats why I was thinking about carboload, do they formulate it so that it is more soluable in hydro than other "simple" sugar based products? If that is the case then I might need to try it. Or is it just basically sugar/molasses and water? The bottled Carb products have always appealed to me as they seem like they would dissolve quicker in water. Is this the case? Anyone any experiences with using molasses or carboload in DWC?
 
J

jpill

Well-Known Member
Carboload is more readily available for your plants roots whereas molasses ins't readily available, your plants root system has to break down the molasses before it can accept it. There is more sugars in carboload than molasses. Look on the back of carboload, you'll see a bunch of "ose's" like (glucose) or (sugars).

Plain and simple it has more sugars than molasses and is more readily available.
Keep in mind your going to have to pay more for Carboload than molasses. !!
 
K

karmeron

Active Member
jpill said:
Carboload is more readily available for your plants roots whereas molasses ins't readily available, your plants root system has to break down the molasses before it can accept it. There is more sugars in carboload than molasses. Look on the back of carboload, you'll see a bunch of "ose's" like (glucose) or (sugars).

Plain and simple it has more sugars than molasses and is more readily available.
Keep in mind your going to have to pay more for Carboload than molasses. !!
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I was thinking that until I read this - http://www.cocoponics.co/hydroponics-products/advanced-nutrients-carboload

Which basically is saying that carboload is possibly just corn syrup based - heres a quote "A little common sense detective work by our rooster and hen research team leads us to believe that AN is very likely using some sort of corn syrup as a base for their carboload product, since the sugars present in carboload also are inherent in corn. We don’t believe that corn syrup derived sources of carbohydrates have any advantages over molasses based sweeteners, in fact quite the opposite."

So I'm not sure that it is more readily available than molasses. Maybe carb products just cant be used in a non-organic based hydro setups? Because it has no benifical microbes to feed and breakdown sugars? Is there any formulated carb additive that is sugars already broken down by microbes or something else not simple sugar based? Anyone experience using both molasses and carboload in a non-organic hydro setup?
 
Clown Baby

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
Don't use molasses in hydro. IMHO you shouldn't be using any sugar supplements in hydro, and it's not even a solubility issue.. It's that sugar invites microbes, both the good and the bad. Then you introduce a whole new variable where you gotta start brewing tea or buying beneficial bacteria supplements to try and outcompete the pythium. I don't like slimy water.


It's a lot easier just to run a sterile res. Look into bleach or h202.

Just my .02
 
K

karmeron

Active Member
I run h2o2, thats why im looking for a carb suppliment that doesnt require microbes to break down, one that roots can intake straightaway, if it exists.
 
J

jpill

Well-Known Member
idk, i've never heard of that . It seems almost all products (typically human food) have some type of corn syrup in them these days .. AN likes to do the research and stand by their product. If they find a better product on the shelf, they will acknowledge that there is a better product and AN will try to beat that product out. I don't see why they (AN) would use corn syrup in their carboload (which from your article is not good for plants) and then stand by it ..Now a days you just never know and AN keeps there reciepes so close that you won't ever know..

I've been using molasses for vegg and first 4 weeks of flower (and compost tea!), then switching to an OMRI sweetner for the last 4-5 weeks of flower. Its called "sugaree" by Cutting edge nutrients..I would try something besides molasses since your in hydro for the first 3-4 weeks then switch to something like sweet or sugaree toward the middle or end of your flower cycle.
 
K

karmeron

Active Member
jpill said:
idk, i've never heard of that . It seems almost all products (typically human food) have some type of corn syrup in them these days .. AN likes to do the research and stand by their product. If they find a better product on the shelf, they will acknowledge that there is a better product and AN will try to beat that product out. I don't see why they (AN) would use corn syrup in their carboload (which from your article is not good for plants) and then stand by it ..Now a days you just never know and AN keeps there reciepes so close that you won't ever know..

I've been using molasses for vegg and first 4 weeks of flower (and compost tea!), then switching to an OMRI sweetner for the last 4-5 weeks of flower. Its called "sugaree" by Cutting edge nutrients..I would try something besides molasses since your in hydro for the first 3-4 weeks then switch to something like sweet or sugaree toward the middle or end of your flower cycle.
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i got some carboload and put it in about 1/2 strength, no negative effects yet and its been 2 days, i'll know if it improves anything in 1-2 weeks i suppose.
 
eDude

eDude

Well-Known Member
karmeron said:
Ive never read any of their stuff before, just found it through google, who are they?
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Looks like they are the guys that wrote that.

They were a group of (three) growers more or less that posted on a lot of forums as one handle. 3LB or three little birds. They had some really good post with good info. On of them was on molasses. You can tell it's them by the bird innuendos and puns. We we're friends back then. Haven't seen them around in years.

What's funny is back then they claimed that AN's Carbo Load WAS molasses and I was the one telling them it wasn't. But, even when they thought it was molasses they didn't like AN. Now that point out that it's not, they still don't like AN. :-P


E
 
J

jpill

Well-Known Member
karmeron said:
i got some carboload and put it in about 1/2 strength, no negative effects yet and its been 2 days, i'll know if it improves anything in 1-2 weeks i suppose.
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dude , your not going to see any negative effects using molasses. Its sugars/carbohydrates. The molasses feeds the micro organisms in the soil/roots. Also, Find a store that brew's compost teas and feed compost tea mixed with molasses in between nutrient feeding. You will win !
 
K

karmeron

Active Member
jpill said:
dude , your not going to see any negative effects using molasses. Its sugars/carbohydrates. The molasses feeds the micro organisms in the soil/roots. Also, Find a store that brew's compost teas and feed compost tea mixed with molasses in between nutrient feeding. You will win !
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Im running chem Nutes so i wont be running teas etc also that should technically mean no benificial microbes. Im just using it as an experiment as i have been reading a lot on carbs in hydro and some people are saying that some of the sugars in carboload dont need to be broken down first to be used by the plant. Im guessing if the plants cant take in the sugars then i should notice root slime or rot as the bad bacteria will eat it and take over, no ill effects yet, just fed another 1/2 strength dose today. Are you supposed to use it every time u add water/ nutes to a tub?

I know molasses is great for soil, ive used it in soil grows, but from all ive read, it is a no-no in chem nute hydro grows because it wont dissolve properly, but carboload is made with hydro in mind and it does seem to dissolve well.
 
J

jpill

Well-Known Member
I can't honestly say as I use soil.

I think you can use compost tea's though. All you would need to do is use a cheese cloth or a fine strainer and strain the tea before you put it in the res. By straining you wont get any particles from the compost and it wont clog your sprayers ! If using beneficial microbes is a no no in hydro, that fucking sucks balls !!
 
K

karmeron

Active Member
jpill said:
I can't honestly say as I use soil.

I think you can use compost tea's though. All you would need to do is use a cheese cloth or a fine strainer and strain the tea before you put it in the res. By straining you wont get any particles from the compost and it wont clog your sprayers ! If using beneficial microbes is a no no in hydro, that fucking sucks balls !!
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Do you add molasses every watering in flower?
 
J

jpill

Well-Known Member
since i'm in soil, absolutely but around week four of flower i switch to something like "Sugaree" from Cutting Edge its OMRI rated. Just be careful not to create a slimmy res as the guy last page posted. monitor that res close
 
K

karmeron

Active Member
jpill said:
since i'm in soil, absolutely but around week four of flower i switch to something like "Sugaree" from Cutting Edge its OMRI rated. Just be careful not to create a slimmy res as the guy last page posted. monitor that res close
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yeh i check it everyday ;) its been ok for 5 days since first using it and i'l be dumping the res in about 15days to start flushing.
 
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