The Official House and Garden Thread

[dividebyzero]

I have used top booster as well, it gives good results but you only use it for one week, so it depends on the flower time of whatever strain your growing....so for a 10-12 week flower I would go with the bloombtastic over the top booster, actually I would go with bloombtastic over top booster either way....

 

[okcomputer]

arent bloombastic and top booster different types of products? Top booster is supposed to trigger the flowering cycle while bloombastic is a late cycle enhancer similar to shooting powder

 

[berkman858]

arent bloombastic and top booster different types of products? Top booster is supposed to trigger the flowering cycle while bloombastic is a late cycle enhancer similar to shooting powder

Yes you are correct, Top Booster is a trigger and is only run for a short amount of time. Then you use Shooting Powder to give the plants the high PK they need. I have heard of other people using Bloombastic or similar products before Shooting Powder but never at the same time.

 

[berkman858]

So I am an asshole for bragging about my low PPM because my PPM meter was fucked up. It is a Bluelab Guardian and the PH probe can be calibrated but the PPM probe cannot be calibrated, for some weird reason. I was really wondering how my PPM was staying so low so I double checked it with my regular Bluelab PPM pen, which can be calibrated, and it was WAY off. The Guardian said it was 430 when the pen said it was 1040.

I brought the unit back to my hydro store and since it cannot be calibrated they gave me a new one, which we tested there and it was spot on. That's one of the benefits of buying from a real store and not online.

Anyways, my PPM is at 950 now and it was probably closer to 800 when I said it was 300. Oh well, live and learn. I should have trusted my instinct when I thought that the PPM was too low for what I was putting in the reservoir.

 

[okcomputer]

Right on man, it takes a big man to admit he was wrong I bought a pretty nice hanna combo ph/EC/ppm/temp meter and its the one investment that will transfer to any type of grow I do. One thing I was reading is that the higher quality meters keep their calibration longer than the inexpensive pens, which I think is true. I check the calibration every 6 months or so and its never more than +/-.01 on ph and +/-1ppm for tds. I can also replace the electrode for about $100 if ever needed and basically have a brand new meter

 

[berkman858]

Right on man, it takes a big man to admit he was wrong I bought a pretty nice hanna combo ph/EC/ppm/temp meter and its the one investment that will transfer to any type of grow I do. One thing I was reading is that the higher quality meters keep their calibration longer than the inexpensive pens, which I think is true. I check the calibration every 6 months or so and its never more than +/-.01 on ph and +/-1ppm for tds. I can also replace the electrode for about $100 if ever needed and basically have a brand new meter

Yeah I don't like being wrong but will always admit when I am. You can't learn and grow your skills unless you realize the mistakes you make, at least that's what I think.

I think you are correct about the better meters holding calibration longer (or forever). The good Bluelab truncheon meter doesn't need calibration either so I guess I just got a faulty unit before. Hopefully this ones stays calibrated.

 

[BUDies]

Yes you are correct, Top Booster is a trigger and is only run for a short amount of time. Then you use Shooting Powder to give the plants the high PK they need. I have heard of other people using Bloombastic or similar products before Shooting Powder but never at the same time.

The guy at my local hydro store told me he uses overdrive with shooting powder and doesn't reduce the base nutes when he uses top booster, so I was wondering if on top of all that I could use bloombtastic as an early flowering.

 

[berkman858]

The guy at my local hydro store told me he uses overdrive with shooting powder and doesn't reduce the base nutes when he uses top booster, so I was wondering if on top of all that I could use bloombtastic as an early flowering.

That dude sounds crazy but go ahead and try it out and let us know what happens.

 

[okcomputer]

you don't need too many nutes in your regimen, I like house & garden because they're not trying to sell you a million things. You have base nutes, roots, amino, algen, multizyme, top booster, bud xl, and shooting powder. For me its an easy way to grow and it provides results

 

[jesburger]

hey guys, on this site it says to use multizen until the end
http://www.house-garden.ca/feed-charts/mix-rates/

but here it says until 3rd week of flower
http://www.house-garden.us/products/additives/multi-zen/

which is it? Should we even be using multizen? I'm not even sure what it does exactly and their own description of it is not helpful in the slightest

edit- on the us site the product calculator does not give the same information as the feeding schedule they have posted on the exact same web site
the us calculator does not match the canadian calculator
what a bunch of bullshit, million dollar company can't fucking run a bunch of static web sites

edit edit- just sent them an email, we will see what they report back.

 

[dividebyzero]

For me, I use bloombtastic when I start using bud xl on the 10 week flower cycle. I use it for the duration of flower, but I run half strength bud xl and half strength bloombtastic to balance out the ppms. I still use the shooting powder at the recommended dosage and top booster as well. I think for my next grow I will use solely bloombtastic on one plant and just use bud xl on another so that I can do a side by side to see if one is better than the other.

However, if you haven't tried it already, the amino treatment from H&G is the bees knees! I've used it this whole cycle and this stuff is like steroids!

 

[berkman858]

For me, I use bloombtastic when I start using bud xl on the 10 week flower cycle. I use it for the duration of flower, but I run half strength bud xl and half strength bloombtastic to balance out the ppms. I still use the shooting powder at the recommended dosage and top booster as well. I think for my next grow I will use solely bloombtastic on one plant and just use bud xl on another so that I can do a side by side to see if one is better than the other.

However, if you haven't tried it already, the amino treatment from H&G is the bees knees! I've used it this whole cycle and this stuff is like steroids!

BudXL is not a high PK additive like Bloombastic. Shooting Powder and Top Booster are the high PK additives from H&G so it sounds to me like your plan is backwards. You should be running half strength Shooting Powder when using half strength Bloombastic.

 

[berkman858]

Taken from Bloombastic's website:

Important Bloombastic Notes!

1	During the bloom stage add Bloombastic every time you renew the reservoir. Flush before beginning to use Bloombastic in the 4th to 6th weeks.
2	Bloombastic is compatible with any base nutrient. For best results we recommend Atami / B’cuzz nutrients.
3	Bloombastic can be used in combination with a carbohydrate product as long as the product’s P-K is low.
4	Using another high P-K product in combination with Bloombastic will result in overdose plants.
5	Bloombastic can be used on all substrates: Soil, Soilless mixes, Coco or Rockwool
6	Bloombastic can be used in combination with all irrigation systems: NFT, Ebb and Flow, Drippers, Bubblers, Aeroponics*

 

[dividebyzero]

I didn't have any problems with that configuration in my last run, but that is handy to know nonetheless....I will try feeding a plant or two with the lowered dose of shooting powder and bumping up the bloombtastic when I set the girls to flower in a few weeks and see if there is any difference with results

 

[berkman858]

I didn't have any problems with that configuration in my last run, but that is handy to know nonetheless....I will try feeding a plant or two with the lowered dose of shooting powder and bumping up the bloombtastic when I set the girls to flower in a few weeks and see if there is any difference with results

Cool, I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were giving your plants.

 

[okcomputer]

regardless of knowing or not, that would be a lot of PK to give the plants at once. I'd be willing to substitute bloombastic for shooting powder though, just to try another late flowering booster

 

[dividebyzero]

Cool, I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were giving your plants.

Yeah thanks man, really appreciate the heads up, if something had gone wrong with it I probably would've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what was wrong haha

But yeah, the atami is some good stuff and is one of the few non H&G products that I will use....it smells horrible too, which for whatever reason, is always a good sign for nutrients haha

 

[Nightmarecreature]

How come I can find every single one of their products except for PH up and PH down? I went to 6 hydro store WTF.

 

[jesburger]

do you guys use roots excelurator with the shooting powder? Some official feed charts from H&G say to use it, and others don't. Does it change anything?

 

[berkman858]

How come I can find every single one of their products except for PH up and PH down? I went to 6 hydro store WTF.

I haven't seen their PH up or down either, I use Mad Farmer PH adjusters and they work well with H&G nutes. I dilute my PH adjusters before adding to my reservoir because I am using compost tea and don't want to create a hot spot that will kill beneficial bacteria and the like.

Where did you hear about H&G PH up and down?