Flowki
Well-Known Member
Some prices or similar products may be cheaper else where but I have not been able to track them down or they are unavailable on a domestic scale. I won't get into the finer details such as when to reduce or increase varying nutrient strengths due to variables and peoples personal practices. Also bare in mind that the UK options (such as ratios) below may not be the best in the grand scheme of things but are the best and most convenient that I have been able to find. If you find a better combination/price else where then by all means go for it.
5kg of solufeed base is £25 rounded off (comes in 1kg packs)
5 boxes of calcium nitrate £40 rounded off
2 boxes of magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) £15 rounded off
One would feed as follows:
1 gram per liter solufeed
0.75 g/L calcium nitrate (if harder water 0.50 may be possible with no N def)
0.5 g/L epsom salt
The combined above will create 5000L of nutrient feed. Rough ppm is as follows:
Nitrogen - 262
Calcium - 142.5
Phos - 30
Potas - 265
Mag - 69
Sulfur - 65
Total ppm (micro nutes are present but not counted): 833.5
Flower booster Costs £9 and is known as ''mpk'' for short (mono potassium phosphate).
Use at 0.10 building up to 0.20g per liter. Use from week 3 or 4 flower to form a bench mark.
1kg tub at max dose will create 5000L of boost phase nutrient. The Phos ppm above will roughly rise to 75ppm and K/potassium ppm to 322.
A quick estimate on savings
Solufeed+calcium+epsom products above cover all essential elements over 5000L at a total cost of £80.
A typical hydro store liquid base has a typical max feed rate of 5ml per liter. 1 liter will create 200L of nutrient feed. You would require 25 bottles of liquid feed to create 5000L. At a reserved price of £8 per liter this would cost £200. One must also add cal mag to the liquid feed at an average 2ml per liter with a reserved price of £13 per liter. 10 Liter of cal mag would be required to create 5000L costing £130
Solufeed/dry nutes = £80 per 5000L
Hydro store liquids = £330 per 5000L
Saving: £250
Boosters
MPK = £9 per 5000 liter
Hydro store boosters can be more complex but the mpk above is the most important component, although I'll point out an alternative to some of the hydro store boosters additives/benefits.
Typical hydro store booster is 2ml per liter at £50 a liter bottle. 10 bottles to create 5000L = £500
Saving: £491
----------------
Essential secondary products to look into:
Enzyme products. Get down to your local pet store and look at the pond/fish tank enzymes. It's basically the same shit at a far lower price, 1/3 or less.
Microbes & co:
What you should know first is that the microbe involved in P uptake shuts off above 80ppm P (so I've read). If you continue to use the mpk product I pointed out with this product below, use the mpk at 0.10 to 0.15gpL to get a bench mark response. 0.20 should be ok but better too little than too much.
---------
Unfortunately the options in the UK are few and far between with varying quality/reviews or value/shipping fee. The best ''convenient'' product I have been able to find is > Ecothrive (check ebay if not in stock).
250g tub is £45 with 0.5 gram per liter dose rates (1gpl for rooting). This is a lot of money at first glance but you only use it once per week, 1L per plant as an inoculation. It contains kelp, amino acids, microbes, sugars etc. You also use it as a rooting product and for veg/flower/budding growth. This means you can stop buying root products including enzymes. You can also stop using vegging additives and ofc cut out the expensive bloom boosters/additives.
As perspective if you had 10 plants on a 8 week veg then 8 week flower this tub would last 3 cycles (£15 a pop) while eliminating the need for a range of other products. With so many rooting/additive/booster products out there you will have to apply those savings to yourself.
*Personally I think it's better to use 0.75g per liter of ecothrive weekly inoculations start to finish to ensure root health. This product can be done cheaper but weighing up the extra work involved I don't feel it's worth it. If anybody has a better product (aside from brewing) please share.
Forgive and correct any math error or ill info, nothing but good intention. If you decide the microbial product is not for you then good results and savings are still to be had using the dry nutrients discussed+pond enzyme alone. They cover the essentials very cheaply.
Oh and a quick thnx to Uncle Ben, Dr.who and Rm3 who helped with this path.
5kg of solufeed base is £25 rounded off (comes in 1kg packs)
5 boxes of calcium nitrate £40 rounded off
2 boxes of magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) £15 rounded off
One would feed as follows:
1 gram per liter solufeed
0.75 g/L calcium nitrate (if harder water 0.50 may be possible with no N def)
0.5 g/L epsom salt
The combined above will create 5000L of nutrient feed. Rough ppm is as follows:
Nitrogen - 262
Calcium - 142.5
Phos - 30
Potas - 265
Mag - 69
Sulfur - 65
Total ppm (micro nutes are present but not counted): 833.5
Flower booster Costs £9 and is known as ''mpk'' for short (mono potassium phosphate).
Use at 0.10 building up to 0.20g per liter. Use from week 3 or 4 flower to form a bench mark.
1kg tub at max dose will create 5000L of boost phase nutrient. The Phos ppm above will roughly rise to 75ppm and K/potassium ppm to 322.
A quick estimate on savings
Solufeed+calcium+epsom products above cover all essential elements over 5000L at a total cost of £80.
A typical hydro store liquid base has a typical max feed rate of 5ml per liter. 1 liter will create 200L of nutrient feed. You would require 25 bottles of liquid feed to create 5000L. At a reserved price of £8 per liter this would cost £200. One must also add cal mag to the liquid feed at an average 2ml per liter with a reserved price of £13 per liter. 10 Liter of cal mag would be required to create 5000L costing £130
Solufeed/dry nutes = £80 per 5000L
Hydro store liquids = £330 per 5000L
Saving: £250
Boosters
MPK = £9 per 5000 liter
Hydro store boosters can be more complex but the mpk above is the most important component, although I'll point out an alternative to some of the hydro store boosters additives/benefits.
Typical hydro store booster is 2ml per liter at £50 a liter bottle. 10 bottles to create 5000L = £500
Saving: £491
----------------
Essential secondary products to look into:
Enzyme products. Get down to your local pet store and look at the pond/fish tank enzymes. It's basically the same shit at a far lower price, 1/3 or less.
Microbes & co:
What you should know first is that the microbe involved in P uptake shuts off above 80ppm P (so I've read). If you continue to use the mpk product I pointed out with this product below, use the mpk at 0.10 to 0.15gpL to get a bench mark response. 0.20 should be ok but better too little than too much.
---------
Unfortunately the options in the UK are few and far between with varying quality/reviews or value/shipping fee. The best ''convenient'' product I have been able to find is > Ecothrive (check ebay if not in stock).
250g tub is £45 with 0.5 gram per liter dose rates (1gpl for rooting). This is a lot of money at first glance but you only use it once per week, 1L per plant as an inoculation. It contains kelp, amino acids, microbes, sugars etc. You also use it as a rooting product and for veg/flower/budding growth. This means you can stop buying root products including enzymes. You can also stop using vegging additives and ofc cut out the expensive bloom boosters/additives.
As perspective if you had 10 plants on a 8 week veg then 8 week flower this tub would last 3 cycles (£15 a pop) while eliminating the need for a range of other products. With so many rooting/additive/booster products out there you will have to apply those savings to yourself.
*Personally I think it's better to use 0.75g per liter of ecothrive weekly inoculations start to finish to ensure root health. This product can be done cheaper but weighing up the extra work involved I don't feel it's worth it. If anybody has a better product (aside from brewing) please share.
Forgive and correct any math error or ill info, nothing but good intention. If you decide the microbial product is not for you then good results and savings are still to be had using the dry nutrients discussed+pond enzyme alone. They cover the essentials very cheaply.
Oh and a quick thnx to Uncle Ben, Dr.who and Rm3 who helped with this path.
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