Just switched to Jack's 5-12-26 with great results

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
I would just throw into the mix that Maxibloom has no detectable levels of arsenic and cadmium, while Jack's does. Sourcing is one thing GH does right. I've been looking for a cost effective nutrient to use for my upgraded grow and looked into both of these formulas/companies. JR Peters, the Jack's company, says right on the front page of their website that their products are heavy metal free, which is a complete lie-that really rubbed me the wrong way, so I'm going with Maxibloom. Look up Jack's products here if you're curious, they're listed under JR Peters https://apps1.cdfa.ca.gov/fertilizerproducts/
wow! good link. and GH has none of those heavy metals?. i haven't looked yet. i only looked at the 12-4-16 that i'm using now.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
@rkymtnman I think I know why you haven't experienced issues with maxi. You're using tap water I believe which means you have no reason to add calcium or magnesium above what the base formula provides. The fallout issue only occurs when maxi is added to RO water with calcium and magnesium added. When I was on tap water I never had a problem with maxi. I've used their brand of cal mag too. It did not stop the precip issue.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
you had this issue with no additives? all i can say is there are probably hundreds here at RIU that use Maxi and you are the only one with the issue (as far as i know) . like i said, maxi, 20 gallons well water and a small waterfall and it was 100% clear. once pH was set, it stayed in range for 14 days if needed.
You still have not indicated how old your stock is. Why is that? And there are several long threads on several forums about this very issue. It isn't just me. No additives in the holding reservoirs.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
You still have not indicated how old your stock is. Why is that? And there are several long threads on several forums about this very issue. It isn't just me. No additives in the holding reservoirs.
my bad. i'd have to look at my ebay history as to when i bought it. is there a date code on the bag?
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
@rkymtnman I think I know why you haven't experienced issues with maxi. You're using tap water I believe which means you have no reason to add calcium or magnesium above what the base formula provides. The fallout issue only occurs when maxi is added to RO water with calcium and magnesium added. When I was on tap water I never had a problem with maxi. I've used their brand of cal mag too. It did not stop the precip issue.
i think i used calimagic very infrequently when i ran maxi. i always added 1 gram of epsom per gallon though.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say op error is not the problem.

it's nice to have a civil discussion w/o name calling. and i'm not smart enough to try to troubleshoot why you had your issues either.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
i think i used calimagic very infrequently when i ran maxi. i always added 1 gram of epsom per gallon though.
I'm thinking my culprit is the calcium no matter what form it's provided in whether it's calcium nitrate or carbonate the same problem occurs when it interacts with the base fertilizer of maxi grow or bloom. Without the presence of either in the res no precipitation is observed. I believe it's not reported as often because most growers aren't using RO water. The majority of growers using maxi would have no reason to add calimagic or any other calcium / mag supplement. Using RO requires me to add calcium and mag back to the water and when used with maxi both of those products are added prior to the base fertilizer being added to the res. It's just a dilly of a pickle man. I'll say this: I have never observed a growth related issue as a result of watering with the cloudy mess. For what it's worth :)

If I observed the same issue with Jack's that would certainly give me pause, but no particulate or fallout is observed for up to 7 days. The GH flora series is solid. Never had a problem and it works great in soio or hydro. I believe GH puts a production date code on the bottom of the 2.2lb packages. I think my 16# tubs are labeled on the bottom. I'll check and report back. Ate 3 hash caps and enjoying a nice epsom salt hot bath soak presently. Doing everything I can to avoid the flower room cleanup and transplant I have to do before the day is over. I fear I can delay no furthet though. Fuck :)
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
i think i used calimagic very infrequently when i ran maxi. i always added 1 gram of epsom per gallon though.
I'm thinking my culprit is the calcium no matter what form it's provided in whether it's calcium nitrate or carbonate the same problem occurs when it interacts with the base fertilizer of maxi grow or bloom. Without the presence of either in the res no precipitation is observed. I believe it's not reported as often because most growers aren't using RO water. The majority of growers using maxi would have no reason to add calimagic or any other calcium / mag supplement. Using RO requires me to add calcium and mag back to the water and when used with maxi both of those products are added prior to the base fertilizer being added to the res. It's just a dilly of a pickle man. I'll say this: I have never observed a growth related issue as a result of watering with the cloudy mess. For what it's worth :)

If I observed the same issue with Jack's that would certainly give me pause, but no particulate or fallout is observed for up to 7 days. The GH flora series is solid. Never had a problem and it works great in soio or hydro. I believe GH puts a production date code on the bottom of the 2.2lb packages. I think my 16# tubs are labeled on the bottom. I'll check and report back. Ate 3 hash caps and enjoying a nice epsom salt hot bath soak presently. Doing everything I can to avoid the flower room cleanup and transplant I have to do before the day is over. I fear I can delay no furthet though. Fuck
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
you got LED bulbs in your bathroom giving you a Mg deficiency?? lmao
Eases the sore muscles. 1 16 oz cup to a hot bath will wobble your legs on the way out. Very sedating and soothing. Still bitch all day long, but it does feel good. Only place in the world peope in my house leavee the fuck alone :)
 

1212ham

Well-Known Member
I've only use Mega Crop v1 and want to try Jack's. Any Opinions on this 6 LB kit of Jack's 5-12-26, YaraLiva calcinit and mag for $36 including shipping? I never heard of YaraLiva but the kit seems like a good deal for a small quantity.

 
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Bakersfield

Well-Known Member
I don't have any problems with cloudiness using Maxi Bloom, not sure how old my stock is, bought a tub this last summer.
It looks like the same pink powder from the last 10 years.
I use well water, but my well water is very pure except for some Fe and PH is around 6.3 out the tap.
I'm currently doing ebb and flow and change my rez every 2 weeks.
I have to add ph up during the initial mix to bring it up to 5.4 from around 4.9
After about 24 hours the ph stabilizes at about 5.8 and will stay there more or less.
As the solution becomes more concentrated from the plants drinking, the ph will begin to lower.
When I top off the rez with water only, the solution will climb closer to 6.0 as the solution becomes more watered down.

Seems to be consistent for now, however, I'd be willing to try other products.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I've only use Mega Crop v1 and want to try Jack's. Any Opinions on this 6 LB kit of Jack's 5-12-26, YaraLiva calcinit and mag for $36 including shipping? I never heard of YaraLiva but the kit seems like a good deal for a small quantity.

That's actually not a bad little deal. I already had a large amount of epsom salt and calcium nitrate on hand so I just bought the 25# bag for $56 from grow green mi with free shipping. It was $59 if I remember right, however if I needed calcium nitrate and epsom salt I'd pull the trigger on that $35.99 deal any day. You'll get tons of res fills out of that little kit. And you don't need anything else. I mean nothing.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I don't have any problems with cloudiness using Maxi Bloom, not sure how old my stock is, bought a tub this last summer.
It looks like the same pink powder from the last 10 years.
I use well water, but my well water is very pure except for some Fe and PH is around 6.3 out the tap.
I'm currently doing ebb and flow and change my rez every 2 weeks.
I have to add ph up during the initial mix to bring it up to 5.4 from around 4.9
After about 24 hours the ph stabilizes at about 5.8 and will stay there more or less.
As the solution becomes more concentrated from the plants drinking, the ph will begin to lower.
When I top off the rez with water only, the solution will climb closer to 6.0 as the solution becomes more watered down.

Seems to be consistent for now, however, I'd be willing to try other products.
I'm happy to hear you're having success with the maxi. Well water. That's interesting. My house had an old well. The former home owner's hooked up to municipal water at some point thankfully. However, they just left a hole in the concrete. I could put my hand in the hole and grab earth which is comprised of mostly sand where I live. Mixed up some cement a month or so ago and sealed it up. Just pissed me off every time I mopped in the closet the hole was in and got tired of looking at it. I'm thinking this precipitation issue is only affecting those using RO water when an additional calcium source is added to the base fertilizer mix in an effort to compensate for the loss of calcium carbonate after RO filtration. I used maxi for about a year before I switched to RO filtered water and I never had a problem. As soon as I switched to RO and began adding calimagic is when I first observed the precipitation. If no additional calcium source is added to the mix no precipitation forms. I'm sure the answer is probably simple as to why it's occurring, but I've since moved on to Jack's. I've considered emailing a university's agricultural department to fire off an inquiry to see if I can find out which elements are interacting causing the precipitation. If I get a viable response I'll share it here.
 

Creature1969

Well-Known Member
I've only use Mega Crop v1 and want to try Jack's. Any Opinions on this 6 LB kit of Jack's 5-12-26, YaraLiva calcinit and mag for $36 including shipping? I never heard of YaraLiva but the kit seems like a good deal for a small quantity.

I bought that kit to try Jacks. No regrets. From my research that brand calci nit is just less expensive than buying from JR Peters.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I did some reading and I think I have figured out what's been happening with my maxi grow and bloom precipitation issues. GH's calimagic uses calcium carbonate and magnesium sulfate to supply calcium and magnesium. They use calcium carbonate because calcium nitrate is incompatible with maxi grow and bloom. I've been using calcium nitrate for the last 6 months and I used a gallon of botanicaire's cal-mag before that. Calcium nitrate is the calcium source in cal-mag. If I had used GH's calimagic no precipitation would have formed. It appears I have been precipitating calcium phosphate. Long story short if you're using a brand of fertilizer use only their products. @rkymtnman you sir were absolutely correct. Operator error. Son-bitch. I really screwed the pooch on that one.


Scenario 1. A grower is using 20-20-20, a complete fertilizer to fertigate tomatoes. To prevent blossom end rot, he decided to add calcium nitrate in his fertigation program. However, problems may be caused by the application of these two fertilizers. The reason is that calcium from calcium nitrate and phosphate from ammonium phosphate in the complete fertilizer may form calcium phosphate, which is insoluble in water.

Both ammonium and phosphate are present in maxi grow and bloom. Adding calcium nitrate precipitated calcium phosphate. Operator error at it's finest. However, I am very happy with my decision to move back to jack's. My plants have never looked greener or healthier and the cost savings is outstanding compared to maxi. I feel complete now that I've figured out what the issue has been. Calcium nitrate is not compatible with maxi grow or bloom.
 
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DougsNugggs

Member
my closing argument is the same as yours to this guy:


I've never had a problem with it. Operator error on your end is the likely culprit.

that being said, i think Jack's RO or Tap formula is giving me better results than Maxi. many say that 3-1-4 is too much N in bloom but my last 2 grows have shown differently. they stay nice and green til chop.
you don’t want green leaves before chop......a good flush brings all the colors to show on fan leaves.
 

HydroKid239

Well-Known Member
I've been running GH's maxi grow and bloom for about a year and a half. I was mixing my fertilizer on demand the day of watering up until recently when it became advantageous and highly convenient to keep holding reservoirs of premixed solution on hand. Within 48 hours the reservoir would go cloudy forming white precipitate. By 72 hours the res was completely trashed. I've tried multiple solutions to remedy the issue and have since given up. I need a fertilizer that's stable. With that in mind I made the switch to Jack's 5-12-26. I was able to hold my veg reservoir for 7 days without a single issue. The PH was stable at 5.9 in the res for all 7 days. Zero drift. My plants are healthy and happy, I'm able to hold a reservoir all week long without it going bad, and I'm not beating my head against the wall anymore constantly dumping reservoirs. I would encourage anyone trying to find a better quality fertilizer to check out Jack's. It's pretty dope. I paid $58 with sales tax for 25# shipped to my front door. My last order of maxi bloom was 16# for $92. I paid almost twice as much for almost half as much Maxi as Jack's and had nothing but headaches as my reward for the extra expense. I switched to maxi because I thought I was missing out on something with the "cannabis specific fertilizers" and wanted to see if my yield increased dramatically. It was nothing but a huge waste of time, money, and RO water. I'm sticking with Jack's. Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it :)
That’s awesome man. Saving cash , AND keeping the plants happy? Sounds like a solid future :bigjoint:
 
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