Do bloom boosters make your bud taste like shit?

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
i only used a bloom booster (koolbloom) on one grow. I had huge colas that produced my largest harvest ever. The buds all tasted like total shit. When a bowl was smoked it crackled, popped, and burned to a hard charcoal like ash that scorched the lungs. I truly hated smoking it. I also failed to perform any flush.

Are bloom boosters just a bad idea in general when it comes to flavor? I don't care if I get more weight if all I'm smoking is buds full of phosphorous and potassium that taste like shit and scorch my lungs.

I'm at week 5 of flower and am considering adding a bloom booster in moderation and completing a 10 day flush. I'm also considering not adding a bloom booster at all.
If your flowers tasted like shit it's either the genetics or operator error. Bloom boosters by themselves wont make a plant taste like shit. Whether they're needed or not is another conversation.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
If your flowers tasted like shit it's either the genetics or operator error. Bloom boosters by themselves wont make a plant taste like shit. Whether they're needed or not is another conversation.
I dried very large flowers too quickly by mistake. Probably 5-6 days dry time. Do you think that could have caused it? My theory is that I locked in chlorophyll or a combination of chlorophyll and excesses of P and K in the plant tissue. The other error I made was failure to flush / leech the medium. I got busy at work and just kept watering from my nutrient reservoir instead of giving plain water. Before I knew it the plants were completely done. I was actually seeing some gland degradation in my scope indicating it may have been slightly over due to chop. Needless to say I chopped immediately, but did not flush or leech at all.

Thoughts?
 

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
I dried very large flowers too quickly by mistake. Probably 5-6 days dry time. Do you think that could have caused it?
Drying things too quickly does not do your herb any favors.

My theory is that I locked in chlorophyll or a combination of chlorophyll and excesses of P and K in the plant tissue.
This statement sort of begs the question: why was there excessive P and K in your plant?

The other error I made was failure to flush / leech the medium. I got busy at work and just kept watering from my nutrient reservoir instead of giving plain water. Before I knew it the plants were completely done. I was actually seeing some gland degradation in my scope indicating it may have been slightly over due to chop. Needless to say I chopped immediately, but did not flush or leech at all.

Thoughts?
Given your statement above about there being excessive P and K in your flowers, no amount of flushing is going to correct the damage of overfeeding. The main issue I see with many growers is that they're feeding too much of the wrong foods and flushing wont help correct those mistakes. Your issue with this crop was likely a combination of a few things. First you'd need to determine if a booster is even beneficial for you. Then you'd need to take a hard look at what and how much you're feeding through flower. Even if you've nailed everything and you screw up the cure, your herb is basically the sum of your process and there isn't a lot of room for error. I'll tell you what though: i'd rather have well grown herb with a shit cure than shit grown herb with a perfect cure.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Drying things too quickly does not do your herb any favors.



This statement sort of begs the question: why was there excessive P and K in your plant?



Given your statement above about there being excessive P and K in your flowers, no amount of flushing is going to correct the damage of overfeeding. The main issue I see with many growers is that they're feeding too much of the wrong foods and flushing wont help correct those mistakes. Your issue with this crop was likely a combination of a few things. First you'd need to determine if a booster is even beneficial for you. Then you'd need to take a hard look at what and how much you're feeding through flower. Even if you've nailed everything and you screw up the cure, your herb is basically the sum of your process and there isn't a lot of room for error. I'll tell you what though: i'd rather have well grown herb with a shit cure than shit grown herb with a perfect cure.
The reason I think there was an excess of P and K is because I added Kool Bloom to my regimen. It's very high in P and K and marketed as a bloom booster. My base was flora micro and bloom with floralicious plus which I had run in all of my previous grows successfully. The only variable that changed in my failed grow is that I added the KB to my regimen and ran the plants in hempy buckets with perlite instead of dirt. I never exceeded 800PPM throughout flower.

I'm at day 38 of flower currently and again running the hempy buckets. This time I'm running Jack's 5-12-26 with calcium nitrate. Floralicous plus as my only extra. GreenGene's garden convinced me to ditch GH and source the 5-12-26 from JR Peters in a 25 LB bag. So far Jack's is doing great for me. I'm just unsure of whether or not I would add a bloom booster at this point. GreenGene has had a lot of success with making his own version of mad farmers mother of all blooms and implementing it into his Jack's regimen during flower. Past the stupid marketing and name it contains Mono-potassium phosphate, Mono-Ammonium phosphate, and Thiamine hydrochloride. Guaranteed analysis is 0-52-32.

If you were to tell me bloom boosters were unnecessary and not recommended, I would most likely heed your advice. I've seen your posts over time and you're a knowledgeable dude.
 

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
The reason I think there was an excess of P and K is because I added Kool Bloom to my regimen. It's very high in P and K and marketed as a bloom booster. My base was flora micro and bloom with floralicious plus which I had run in all of my previous grows successfully. The only variable that changed in my failed grow is that I added the KB to my regimen and ran the plants in hempy buckets with perlite instead of dirt. I never exceeded 800PPM throughout flower.

I'm at day 38 of flower currently and again running the hempy buckets. This time I'm running Jack's 5-12-26 with calcium nitrate. Floralicous plus as my only extra. GreenGene's garden convinced me to ditch GH and source the 5-12-26 from JR Peters in a 25 LB bag. So far Jack's is doing great for me. I'm just unsure of whether or not I would add a bloom booster at this point. GreenGene has had a lot of success with making his own version of mad farmers mother of all blooms and implementing it into his Jack's regimen during flower. Past the stupid marketing and name it contains Mono-potassium phosphate, Mono-Ammonium phosphate, and Thiamine hydrochloride. Guaranteed analysis is 0-52-32.

If you were to tell me bloom boosters were unnecessary and not recommended, I would most likely heed your advice. I've seen your posts over time and you're a knowledgeable dude.
It's really all about how said booster matches with your base. So if you're feeding with a 1-1-1 base in hydro/hempy and then add a 0-1-1 booster in flower, that's not a bad mix there. However, if you're feeding with a 1-3-3 base and then add a 0-1-1 booster, you're starting to get out of balance. Understand? I used GH for years. I'm super familiar with the 3 part and am actually using my own 3-part mix right now with GH micro, DG's magpro, and some raw potassium sulfate. The plants look stellar because the elemental balance is...in balance, lol.

To address your specific situation, that jacks formula might actually benefit from maybe a 100ppm/gal boost from koolbloom after the first couple weeks of flower. What is that, 1/2g per gallon? Whatever it is, I wouldn't 'boost' more than 200ppm/gal assuming your total ppm is around 800ppm.

Btw, Floralicious plus is the shiz.
 

JohnDee

Well-Known Member
I do supplement with 2 sulfate compounds to increase terps and trichs (In small amounts of synthetic run plants).
Dr Who...reveal your secrets. Mag sulfate was easy to guess...but what's the second one?

@jonnynobody,
Sounds like it was a combination of things. I once ruined an outdoor plant by giving too much P. I'll bet shit tastes better that that weed I grew.

Now I just use a little bloom booster for right after stretch is over...to kick start bud formation. But for no more then a week. Then Maxi-bloom till the end.
JD
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
The reason I think there was an excess of P and K is because I added Kool Bloom to my regimen. It's very high in P and K and marketed as a bloom booster. My base was flora micro and bloom with floralicious plus which I had run in all of my previous grows successfully. The only variable that changed in my failed grow is that I added the KB to my regimen and ran the plants in hempy buckets with perlite instead of dirt. I never exceeded 800PPM throughout flower.

I'm at day 38 of flower currently and again running the hempy buckets. This time I'm running Jack's 5-12-26 with calcium nitrate. Floralicous plus as my only extra. GreenGene's garden convinced me to ditch GH and source the 5-12-26 from JR Peters in a 25 LB bag. So far Jack's is doing great for me. I'm just unsure of whether or not I would add a bloom booster at this point. GreenGene has had a lot of success with making his own version of mad farmers mother of all blooms and implementing it into his Jack's regimen during flower. Past the stupid marketing and name it contains Mono-potassium phosphate, Mono-Ammonium phosphate, and Thiamine hydrochloride. Guaranteed analysis is 0-52-32.

If you were to tell me bloom boosters were unnecessary and not recommended, I would most likely heed your advice. I've seen your posts over time and you're a knowledgeable dude.
The thing is that if you use the stuff you don't want to follow the damn feed schedules the nutrient companies have. They have you feeding the stuff every watering because they want to sell more. You only need a dose or two midway through flower. Skip the boosters and just dose with some potassium sulfate and maybe some added magnesium sulphate "epsom salts" a couple times and call it good. Any decent nutrient already has everything the plant needs. Adding a little and I mean a little extra at the right time can help. When I say decent nutrients I don't mean the name brand cannabis specific nutrients that are designed for profit rather than grower success.
 

Flowki

Well-Known Member
I must have reduced about 400 total elemental ppm from last time to this time. So far no obvious difference, aside from the savings, same good health. It stands testament to the wide tolerance of the basic elements at-least.

But, I remember a while back seeing an article on cana removing harmful elements from the soil, I'm sure this was related to Chernobyl. After thinking about that, I don't smoke weed from anybody else. It made me wonder what feeds people were using, a lot of company's don't label everything I'm told. Who is to know the compound/effects that are formed once burned.

Maybe I being paranoid, not sure if the uptake of harmful substances makes it to the buds?. Who knows for sure I guess, feels safer using only the basic salt based elements needed for health. Synthetics wise I mean.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I'm at week 5 of flower and am considering adding a bloom booster in moderation and completing a 10 day flush. I'm also considering not adding a bloom booster at all.
There's your problem right there. For an 8-9 week plant the last of any boosters and most of the nutes should stop no later than the end of week 5 flowering counted from the flip. Epsom salts with it's Mg and S will work just as good or better than any finishing product in a bottle.

I grow in soilless or hydro so I feed some extra bloom nutes and a half dose of Big Bud a week before flipping so have lots of buds going big by the end of the stretch. In a good soil grow almost everything the plant needs is in there all along so some teas with P and K in them is often enough.

Try it on one plant and do the rest the way you have and see if it doesn't make a noticeable difference. I did and I'll keep doing it.

Flushing will not remove anything from the plants so if you've overfed to the point of toxic salts buildup by cropping time you will be smoking extra salts. Probably have burnt, crispy leaves happening by the end of week five if overfed all the time. Minerals in tap water make it worse.

A long slow dry time and equally long cure time, about 2 months total, will make any pot taste and burn better. Hanging to dry fast leaves a harsh smoking product green with chlorophyll and nasty with unconverted starches. I take from 3 to 5 weeks to get my fully trimmed buds to dry enough to put into jars and carefully burp for another few weeks before almost dry enough to smoke. The pot does most of it's curing in the initial drying and must be kept evenly moist as any that goes bone dry just isn't breaking down the chlorophyll and starches any more even if rehydrated. My buds go into doubled or tripled paper bags and stay in my cool, 50F, basement while they dry.

Freshly trimmed off the plant.

OG18HarvestPreCure.jpg

Still a couple weeks to go in a jar/can. I use those empty tobacco cans instead of jars as they have smooth sides so when the buds form a big clump early on it slides right out onto a tray to be carefully broken apart and allowed to breathe a bit before going back in.

OG18BudzWellCured.jpg

:peace:
 

PhatNuggz

Well-Known Member
To Flush, or not to Flush. Well most people don't know what Flushing means exactly. Take a look at Emerald Harvest nutrient chart, which breaks down feeding on a weekly basis. Maybe, hopefully, you will be able to read the tea leafs, so to speak

And as for drying, OldMed has it right: 2 months MINIMUM
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
I say synthetic produces better tasting and smelling Cannabis than organic.

How do we go about figuring out who is right?
First off. Your just trying to start an argument! Not going to play with trolls!

Next. The way I put it is well known FACT. I suggest you read up on the subject..
I'll break down and give you a simple, well known example.

How does the taste of a hydroponic tomato compare to one grown in the ground? Now try an organic vs. a synthetic grown....
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
Incorrect.
I'll drop the big, straight forward word...

WRONG! The miracle's of modern chemistry will not compare with mother nature, as far as taste and scent.....period. It is a long known FACT that living soil will produce more and more complete terp profiles in not just cannabis but, all plants.....

#1: My father loved his Rose's. He knew from decades and decades of growing them, breeding them, showing them and winning Rose shows. That the most fragrant Rose's came from his organic garden work. He tried synthetic feeds. He was always saying that while synthetic grew some lovely plants and blooms. He could never get the same scent profiles from the synthetic that he could from organic grows.


#2: Go back to the tomato example! Boom, DONE! Not only is this common knowledge but, I'll give you this. Mom always could taste the difference....synthetic vs. organic..... This was by simply eating them. NO previous knowing of how they were grown. (tomato's that were gifts from neighbors, and grown with synthetic nutrients). These would get mixed up with those in the sink to be washed...She was never "looking" for a difference, just would squirrel up her face and blurt out, "Lacks taste - synthetic feed tomato!! I have to agree. I can to this day myself....


I find your one word answer as rather dubious anyway. How come all you folks with this view. Expect us to give you why?

How about YOU tell us why YOUR right? I really want to know that.....
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
Interesting. The best pot I've ever grown was in Fox Farm Ocean Forest with GH's Flora Trio and floralicous plus on a water, water, feed, water, water, feed regimen. The flavor and potency was incredible and it burned to a clean gray ash on all 5 grow cycles I used that regimen on. I think you're speaking from atop a soap box rather than a science based perspective. Also, organic growers add high P and K amendments to their compost teas routinely to boost P and K during flower to promote healthy blooms. You can call it a nutrient change at the proper time or you can call it a P and K boost - whatever floats your boat. The practice is utilized in both organic and non organic gardens.

I "boost" nothing as far as doing anything like a P&K booster like PK13 or ANYTHING like it.
This is an organic run GG#4! The scents and flavors simply explode. Patients, with out ever being told. Could tell the difference, right off and just by smelling it. That something was different when I gave them the synthetic grown material. Many said it tasted different and they would ask why. Those who did, get nothing but the organic now.....
20161102_095818.jpg


I do some S supplementing in the form of sulfates (with synthetic use in a small room for fun and experimenting). This goes a long, long way to help terp profiles. Thing is you have to come up with how much of each source of sulfate to use because each will change the terp profile in either a citrus way or a berry way......Part of this synthetic room is work I'm doing, is to find how to increase the alfa pinene and beta pinene profiles......I gopt the other major ones. Now working on these...

I do some minor lowering of certain nutrients at some points in bloom. Near the end I increase the P a small amount, drop the N some more and decrease K a bit also. This is done in amounts that have NO relationship to "boosting"!
I do not ever "boost" anything in organic use. Some soils may begin a bit of decline in availability of some nutrient I may want to continue at a minor higher availability. THAT would be when I MIGHT use some light nutrient tea's to carry it out......

Let me be very clear here! I have several different soil bloom formula's for different strains feeding. These are all organic, hand built, water only soil's. The one's that end up needing a little supplementing to carry them out? 16 week+ Sativa's.....I'll add a little Age Old nutrient or do the tea thing.

To say that all organic growers have to add or increase P&K in bloom at some point....Is ignorant of true organic growing of any kind!

Your issue with the way the koolbloom plant material smoked.....Was YOUR fault! It was improperly dried and cured!
 
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Johnny Lawrence

Well-Known Member
I'll drop the big, straight forward word...

WRONG! The miracle's of modern chemistry will not compare with mother nature, as far as taste and scent.....period. It is a long known FACT that living soil will produce more and more complete terp profiles in not just cannabis but, all plants.....

#1: My father loved his Rose's. He knew from decades and decades of growing them, breeding them, showing them and winning Rose shows. That the most fragrant Rose's came from his organic garden work. He tried synthetic feeds. He was always saying that while synthetic grew some lovely plants and blooms. He could never get the same scent profiles from the synthetic that he could from organic grows.


#2: Go back to the tomato example! Boom, DONE! Not only is this common knowledge but, I'll give you this. Mom always could taste the difference....synthetic vs. organic..... This was by simply eating them. NO previous knowing of how they were grown. (tomato's that were gifts from neighbors, and grown with synthetic nutrients). These would get mixed up with those in the sink to be washed...She was never "looking" for a difference, just would squirrel up her face and blurt out, "Lacks taste - synthetic feed tomato!! I have to agree. I can to this day myself....

Nope.
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
Dr Who...reveal your secrets. Mag sulfate was easy to guess...but what's the second one?

@jonnynobody,
Sounds like it was a combination of things. I once ruined an outdoor plant by giving too much P. I'll bet shit tastes better that that weed I grew.

Now I just use a little bloom booster for right after stretch is over...to kick start bud formation. But for no more then a week. Then Maxi-bloom till the end.
JD
Potassium sulfate at 227 grams per gallon for a 6% solution (with 1.5 tsp of dark brown sugar - this is the cab source that adds a little pep to the living bio's that will aid with conversion to plant availability)....at about 8ml per gallon of feed.....

I have been refining this ideal for some years now....
I do accurate measuring of my nutrient and supplement additions by weight....I measure on a scale that goes to hundredths and in fluid ml by weight...
 
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Dunbar Santiago

Well-Known Member
Example: Chem Dawg from Cali Connection will be genetically different from Chem Dawg from California Breeders Association and genetically different from my Chem Dawg (Early clone only from SFV himself) that I sure as hell am not going to part with!
REAL 89 Chemdawg......From an original cutting.....Wowser!
Grown and cloned by myself for years. One of my patients most requested.
This is a kinda rare pheno of the Ghost cut. High sativa expression - called the "Magic Carpet" pheno.
Hmmm. Who would listen to a guy that makes up bullshit stories for internet cred? 89 Chem? Chem from "sfv himself". "Magic carpet pheno of Ghost OG". LMAO.. Liars can't be trusted.
 
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