What are the best Nutes for Ebb and Flow?

Daniel Stanzione

Active Member
Trying my first hyrdo grow. I am using a Flo-N-Grow system. Obviously there is no for sure best nutrient line and a lot of it has to do with preference, but I am curious what some experienced growers would suggest.

I am going to be using RO water and filling my buckets with just hydroton clay pebbles. Guy at the hydro shop suggested i try techna flora line and just use their products exclusively. He said when you start mixing brands it can be dicey. Obviously I want a high quality product.

Also when I was growing in soil i learned you almost never apply the nutrients at the full strength written on the bottle, is the same true of adding nutrients to the hydro res? The first week of veg you must go pretty light?

Thanks in advance
 

adower

Well-Known Member
Same thing with hydro. Start at 1/4 strength and see how your plants react. Dont mix brands. I use gh and like them. If you're using ro water make sure you supplement with calmag.
 

tommy217xxx

Well-Known Member
I just switched from dirt and octopots to exclusively ebb and flow. I've been using botanicare kind and like it. If u use there full line of nutes its 10 or 11 different products. I just started using all of the products and it makes a big difference. I also just switched from ro to tap and my plants seem to be doin better with the tap.

Just my 2 cents.
 

oilfield bud

Well-Known Member
I was told I can get great results with tap water and maxibloom, maby a lil cool bloomat the end, ill be ttrying this next grow. Gh maxibloom is suposed to be the equivalent to the lucas formula
 

PerpetualNovice

New Member
Hey guys. First post here.
Im starting my first ebb/flow 3kw custom made 11' x 2' table in 12' x 3' room. Im going to do somewhere around 15 plants under each light in 4 inch rockwool on top of a sheet of coco. I also plan to voer the top of the table with mylar or something similar.
I have a few years of experience with coco in 2-5 gal smart pots... Ive gone small in my bedroom (single 1k hps) and Ive gone bigger in a garage (five 1k hps lamps.) So while I call myself a perpetual novice, Ive got a bit of experience.
For the past few runs Ive gone with the cyco line because I got a really cheap starter kit (half off at $100) from a friend and Ive just continued to restock nutes as they run out. Ive been happy with the results from cyco but I'd like to switch to something a bit more simple for my first (true) hydro run. After doing a bit of research online, I find myself leaning towards GH FloraNova. I like that I dont have to worry about adding nutes from 37 different bottles when im not draining to waste. My biggest fear with a non drain-to-waste setup is seeing my ppm go down and wondering which of the 37 bottles I should add from. I also like that (from what Ive seen) FloraNova will do fine with additional supplements (bloombastic etc.)

Can somebody please tell me that Im headed int he right direction? Ive always sort of thought that basically any nute line will work fine for a novice, but its still always nice to hear someone say "great decision, youre going to kill it with that (whatever it is.)"
 

jayjay777

Well-Known Member
Again, please try maxi series, its powder, just add water, same thing as the liquid essentially but your not buying water... Lol

Its ph balanced, just add a little ph down. Its stable, my ph barely raises in resivior. Also its dirt cheap! I can run 3 lights on one bag, $15. Start to finish.

Maxigro (not always nessecary)
Maxi bloom
Kool bloom (pk buster)
Ph down.

I use to run maxibloom and calmag plus, its very close to lucas form

Please just try it. Youll never go back
 

jkwrestling13

Well-Known Member
Hey guys. First post here.
Im starting my first ebb/flow 3kw custom made 11' x 2' table in 12' x 3' room. Im going to do somewhere around 15 plants under each light in 4 inch rockwool on top of a sheet of coco. I also plan to voer the top of the table with mylar or something similar.
I have a few years of experience with coco in 2-5 gal smart pots... Ive gone small in my bedroom (single 1k hps) and Ive gone bigger in a garage (five 1k hps lamps.) So while I call myself a perpetual novice, Ive got a bit of experience.
For the past few runs Ive gone with the cyco line because I got a really cheap starter kit (half off at $100) from a friend and Ive just continued to restock nutes as they run out. Ive been happy with the results from cyco but I'd like to switch to something a bit more simple for my first (true) hydro run. After doing a bit of research online, I find myself leaning towards GH FloraNova. I like that I dont have to worry about adding nutes from 37 different bottles when im not draining to waste. My biggest fear with a non drain-to-waste setup is seeing my ppm go down and wondering which of the 37 bottles I should add from. I also like that (from what Ive seen) FloraNova will do fine with additional supplements (bloombastic etc.)

Can somebody please tell me that Im headed int he right direction? Ive always sort of thought that basically any nute line will work fine for a novice, but its still always nice to hear someone say "great decision, youre going to kill it with that (whatever it is.)"
Keep in mind floranova is very very thick. Always mix well. And if growing in some aeroponic method, the sprayers will likely get clogged.
 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
Keep in mind floranova is very very thick. Always mix well. And if growing in some aeroponic method, the sprayers will likely get clogged.
Floranova blocked my drippers :(. Used it for one run and said fuck it. I do run aqua flakes now and it works great. Its pricey but I can get through a run for $45 appr. so not a ball breaker.
 

PerpetualNovice

New Member
Thanks for all of the responses. I'm looking forward to spending far too many hours on this site. Haha

I can't imagine flora nova being too thick for ebb/flow as those tubes are much thicker than drippers or aero sprayers. But I have heard that mentioned. Terrible idea for aero in particular. I'm currently vegging with roots organic and I could easily see how a thick solution could clog drippers. It clogs my spray bottles. But I've seen people use FloraNova in ebb/flow systems before so I'm not really concerned on that end.

I'm going to give advanced another look. I thought their line was multi-part like cyco etc. If they have a simple grow/bloom system that can be supplemented it's definitely worth researching.

I've been curious about the powdered stuff for a while now but don't want to try it on my first hydro run.
 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
You could try the flora series as well its not quite as thick lol. I have also used botanicare but PH went all weird using it with my water. Lots of hate on for AN but I've never tried it, to many bottles for my liking lol.
 
I prefer the most expensive lineup available at my local hydro shop, with the most bottles available, and the most clever colorful cartoons and names on the fronts of the bottles. It's just so wonderful paying $40 for a bloom booster that's nothing more than a few grams of MPK, available for $5/lb, mixed with a quart of water. And I need a root accelerator, a flushing agent, something to bring out the terps, a bud fattener, some rhizo and tonic, benes, mycos, vitamins a-z, amino acids, and anything else you can peddle to me. Makes the buds just POP adding all this to my res!

Pick up a commercially available hydroponic dry nutrient with all necessary micronutrients at roughly 1-2-5 NPK ratio, adjust your N to desired levels during veg and flower with CaNO3 and add MgSO4 to take care of mag, add MPK halfway through flower. Costs about $100 for 70 lb of salts and would probably last 5-10 years and its simpler to use than bottles. Your wallet will thank you, your plants will love you, and you won't feel like such a sucker.
 
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