TLDR: Aqua flakes A+B, Bud-XL, and Top Shooter are the four bottles essential to the line in my experience.
Hello. I wanted to share a little information that I have amassed over some years of growing with House and Garden nutrient products. All information will be applicable to DTW hydroponics using peat/perlite as a medium. I live in Southern California and have been smoking for 20 years, throughout prohibition, medicalization and legalization, and growing for about 10 now.
I began growing with this method 7 years ago. I purchased H&G Aqua Flakes A+B, Roots Excelurator, Amino Treatment and Bud-XL.
Over time, as bottles ran empty, I opted not to replace any of the additives, and slowly my feeding became extremely simple, with my entire nutrient solution consisting of only Aqua Flakes A+B. I did not notice a difference in yield, potency, or overall quality of the finished product. I grew with this simplified method for a few years, with successful perpetual harvests eliminating my need for a dispensary. I was very content with my product.
One day, I was at the hydroponics supply store when a man noticed I was buying a large container of Aqua Flakes and offered me a complete House & Garden starter kit, containing every additive and product they make. I was blown away by the kind gesture. I kept the following products to experiment with for myself: Algen Extract, Nitrogen Boost, Amino Treatment, Roots Excelurator, Multi-Zen, Bud-XL, Top Booster, Top Shooter (shooting powder), Rhizo force.
For several cycles, with two different strains, I implemented the full range of products from House and Garden, and after several harvests, what I have found has surprised me. First of all, overall quality of the flowers did improve. And more than I expected it to. An overall harder, stickier flower lead to higher realized yields in live resin production as well as improved smell and taste. The numbers, while quantifiable, are not as different as the impression you get sticking your nose in the jar.
In successive cycles, I opted not to use many of the products out of sheer convenience as I speculated which products were doing the heavy lifting in the improvements. And I share with you now the products that I have settled on using, and replacing each time bottles run empty. These products are: Aquaflakes A+B, Bud-XL, and Top Shooter. I believe these 4 products used together provide the "sweet spot" between flower quality and convenience of mixing (as 9-10 bottles is just ridiculous to me, 4 is okay.) As I have reduced my solution down to these 4 products, again I do not notice a decline in overall quality. Of course this is subjective, but for better or worse, these are the products I've chosen to stick with long term.
I would be interested in hearing from fellow long-term House and Garden users about which products they use and if they have ever tried truly running them all!
