Indoor Army of Dankness - Bruce's Blueberries

[Mañ'O'Green]

First off all of my numbers are in EC. Elemental PPM is for theoretical work and does not translate easily to EC. I did all of my work with these tools provided by Horiba instruments. They were loaned to me for this project and my data shared with them in return. My numbers are based mostly on EC readings from these meters. I cannot find this kit now but it was over $2k to purchase.




I think your numbers are far enough off to give you grief for autos. Perhaps your target numbers are off. It is my personal experience that Autos need only about 60% of what Photoperiods can use. Anyhow Just looking at N from MC website in Elemental PPM or EPPM which is what I think you are working in 4.3g/gallon of part A and 2.6g/gallon of part B will yield ~223 EPPM of N so your more than 10% off? on the grow formula.

That said and working in EC and you can verify my total numbers by mixing in distilled water 4.3g/gallon of part A and 2.6g/gallon of part B and 1.2g/gallon of Agricultural Epsom Salt will yield:

These numbers are not perfect but they will be close enough to do no harm to the plants. 1600 PPM is too high for Photos and way too much for Autos.

Then you are high in N in Bloom when you should be decreasing it.

Here is a link to my nutrient balance sheet with the 8N. The calculations on N were adjusted mathematically because the New MC version came out after I had returned the Horiba meters. I will be close enough. This is not a feed schedule it helps you design a feed schedule.

2Part MC new 8N complete.xlsx

Shared with Jumpshare

jmp.sh

This is a schedule I used I think I have a newer one but ...............

I am tired Good Morfnoevight.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

First off all of my numbers are in EC. Elemental PPM is for theoretical work and does not translate easily to EC. I did all of my work with these tools provided by Horiba instruments. They were loaned to me for this project and my data shared with them in return. My numbers are based mostly on EC readings from these meters. I cannot find this kit now but it was over $2k to purchase.

Thanks MOG! Don't worry too much about my numbers.

Elemental PPMs are just the weight percent of each element - where ppm is just mg of each element per liter of water - and not directly related to final EC ppm.

I don't know why my N values differ from the MC calculator - but everything else is close enough. I may not be accounting for nitrate N vs. ammonium N vs. urea N correctly. Or, if you enter 1 mg / 1 L Part A into their calculator, they seem to be saying Part A NPK's are actually 10.2-12.5-29.8 vs. the label GA of 8-12-28? Maybe this is their way of telling you actual NPK vs. labelled minimums? Yes - yes, that's it:

Now I remember- that was reason #1 why I didn't like MC and your main motivation for relying on EC ppm instead.

IIR, I think that's where we differed in approach - you're trying to verify / double-check actual product contents. I assume that GA amounts are close enough in practice (or, at least, within an acceptable amount of error for a grow), since that's the best info most growers have. But, that assumption doesn't work when companies are intentionally being inaccurate in order to save a penny per sale by re-using old bags.

I ran these on the old MC Part A (5-12-26), but could only get up to 160 ppm-N before the K:Ca got too unbalanced at higher concentrations. From my notes, I think I usually only measured about 800 EC ppm in the final feed for those grows.

The new Part A (8-12-28) will let me push the N higher while keeping K:Ca in better balance. As long as I start with balanced K:Ca:Mg, I can dilute down from there if I start seeing any issues. There will also be a final adjustment to the numbers before use when I account for pH adjustment, at which point I can check the actual EC ppm of the final combo.

Here's the updated numbers based on the actual Part A NPK's from their calculator. Based on these, I may include sweet candy in my grow mix (Grow B) or tweak my bloom formula a bit more:

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

All guaranteed analysis are minimums for all manufacturers. They all vary from batch to batch not just MC. They are just honest enough to say so. The only way you have of actually measuring is with an EC meter for the total EC, unless you have some expensive tools.

It is the balance of nutrients within the total EC/PPM that I am most concerned with. Most problems growers face in fertilizing is with lock-outs caused by feeding out of balance. The range of in-balance nutrients can be quite variable allowing for combinations based on the plants life cycle. This chart from Harley Smith provides the ranges I use. This is in EC/PPM. The numbers in ( ) are his recommended maximums

So many AFN growers used to add Calmag to a plant all by itself, this is the definition of out of balance. You might get away with it a little bit in soil due to the buffering action of the soil but in other media it just causes a lock-out. I went an a campaign of teaching this and I do not see that issue here like I used to. New growers still do it.

I still think your formulas are too high in nitrogen. It may not kill the plant but N is a luxury nutrient and the plant will take it in even when it does not need it, even at the expense of other nutrients.

All of this said, I will watch your grow closely because I can learn new stuff all the time.

Thank you for all of your hard work.

 

[Entombed]

Dang, some high level nutrient discussion in here. I am going to go have to google some stuff to learn what you guys are talking about.