Hydrocrop Hydrosol and other dry-part fertiliser

[seymore_budz]

Hello GR420!

So, I've seen a few members running this product and seem to be liking it. I've had some further analysis done on the Terra Aquatica and I'm about to drop it for something else. I really wanted to move from liquid to dry fertiliser as its cheaper and easier to have shipped to my door.

I would much prefer three parts to give myself some flexibility, but I just threw a quick and dirty calculator together and ran the numbers for hydrosol. Without using their guide I did a quick balance to my recipe for cannabis and using 0.9g/L A and 0.6mg/L B, it's almost perfect for Cannabis vegative using RO water.

How you guys finding the solubility etc? Is it dissipating quickly or are you finding some sediment after mixing?



The only thing that sucks is because it's a two-part, it won't fit my flowering recipe where I need to be able to lower the Ca, N, K and micros while pushing Mg, S, P.

Does anyone know where I can get something that is close to 0-18-36?

I've used the hydrosol and the PK powder but not together.
I buy the 2kg bags and mix up 20 litres at a time.
Use 5 litres of hot nearly boiling water and 15 litres of cold.
Mixes really easy and no floater's or residue.
I'm not as clued up as you on ratio's of NPK but I've had some pretty good results just following a basic feed chart.

Thanks @Treetrunk! Yes, I bet, their recipe is similar to Jacks so is great for Cannabis.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:s ... e3918e57be
Hey @seymore_budz
This might be of some use

Also thanks bud. In the end I decided to start blending my own. I think I'm paying about £1.30 for a litre of A&B concentrate when I calculate costs now :) Dry nutritients are the future!

Hi @seymore_budz @2-Scoops , I have just started using hydrosol and I was wondering if I needed to add additional cal mag throughout , I'm going to be using the shooting powder you recommended 1st and the last 3 weeks during flower, and is there any additional boots needed , also what's the score on the flushing is it 1 week or 2 weeks , my schedule is feed , feed , water with a day dry in between , its my first time using it thanks

Hey @Easygoing, no CalMag required. 130ppm Ca and 40ppm Mg is perfect for Cannabis.

[2-Scoops]

I use the hydrosol and mix it same way as @Treetrunk with hot water, but i mix up a concentrate in my old 5 ltr Canna bottles and i just do my fert mix from that stock solution @seymore_budz . I also use their calmag for rebuffering old coco to use again, it really gets it rocking to brand new, i use 3ml a litre from my mixed stock solution for that jobby, but it gives plants a really good kick start jut like using fresh coco straight from sack does. Cheers guys.

[seymore_budz]

I use the hydrosol and mix it same way as @Treetrunk with hot water, but i mix up a concentrate in my old 5 ltr Canna bottles and i just do my fert mix from that stock solution @seymore_budz . I also use their calmag for rebuffering old coco to use again, it really gets it rocking to brand new, i use 3ml a litre from my mixed stock solution for that jobby, but it gives plants a really good kick start jut like using fresh coco straight from sack does. Cheers guys.

Mixing a stock solution is the way forward. I use a magnetic stirring hot plate and a volumetric flask to mix stock solutions. Makes things a little easier as you can just leave it stirring while you do other things. The flask also keeps things accurate.

I would say watch using straight tap water for mixing as you can end up with some precipitation and make sure you're using a bottle that filters light like an old nutrient bottle to avoid algae outbreaks.

Interesting you're re-buffering your coco. You shouldn't need to do so mate. You can indeed flush it through but, once the Coco has been buffered, it doesn't become unbuffered. The reason being that divalent ions have a stronger bond than monovalent ions due to their higher charge. Once you've run a crop through it, all you really need to do is flush with some half strength base fertiliser to "recondition" the media by removing any residual salts.

[2-Scoops]

Interesting you're re-buffering your coco. You shouldn't need to do so mate. You can indeed flush it through but, once the Coco has been buffered, it doesn't become unbuffered. The reason being that divalent ions have a stronger bond than monovalent ions due to their higher charge. Once you've run a crop through it, all you really need to do is flush with some half strength base fertiliser to "recondition" the media by removing any residual salts.

I thought buffering process was done with calmag, maybe I'm tripping and it isn`t and i have wrong end of stick altogether, but coco pro+ from Canna has a low ec which is calmag in it and all this becomes depleted by time a grow is done, if or when I've used old coco again without buffering or charging it with calmag the growth rate is sluggish as fck man, but when i buffer it with 2 x 24 hour soaks in fresh batch of calmag each time the growth rates are much better and more like fresh pro+ coco from sack. Maybe its not buffering im doing but just charging it with calmag what with coco hogging it and holding on to it slow release style. But that's all I'm doing charging or buffering it up with fresh calmag and i know calcium is needed for healthy growth rates. Think its a double charger ion ca++ too. ?

I do know if i used Canna coco light in past when shops got no pro+ you have to add your own calmag cus its totally inert if you check run off where as pro+ registers a low ec in run off which is calmag i think or was led to believe, from what i read their coco light you charge it or buffer it yourself as your supposed too with their coco bricks/blocks. I read all about this years n years back so its well vague, but yes what is your thoughts am i just charging it up and not buffering it with calmag ? Cheers mate.

[seymore_budz]

Interesting you're re-buffering your coco. You shouldn't need to do so mate. You can indeed flush it through but, once the Coco has been buffered, it doesn't become unbuffered. The reason being that divalent ions have a stronger bond than monovalent ions due to their higher charge. Once you've run a crop through it, all you really need to do is flush with some half strength base fertiliser to "recondition" the media by removing any residual salts.

I thought buffering process was done with calmag, maybe I'm tripping and it isn`t and i have wrong end of stick altogether, but coco pro+ from Canna has a low ec which is calmag in it and all this becomes depleted by time a grow is done, if or when I've used old coco again without buffering or charging it with calmag the growth rate is sluggish as fck man, but when i buffer it with 2 x 24 hour soaks in fresh batch of calmag each time the growth rates are much better and more like fresh pro+ coco from sack. Maybe its not buffering im doing but just charging it with calmag what with coco hogging it and holding on to it slow release style. But that's all I'm doing charging or buffering it up with fresh calmag and i know calcium is needed for healthy growth rates. Think its a double charger ion ca++ too. ?

I do know if i used Canna coco light in past when shops got no pro+ you have to add your own calmag cus its totally inert if you check run off where as pro+ registers a low ec in run off which is calmag i think or was led to believe, from what i read their coco light you charge it or buffer it yourself as your supposed too with their coco bricks/blocks. I read all about this years n years back so its well vague, but yes what is your thoughts am i just charging it up and not buffering it with calmag ? Cheers mate.

So, that's how it works kind of. Coco has When Coco has been washed and retted, it has no nutritional value but, has cation binding sites that hold onto cations. Coconuts grow near the sea so pick up a lot of sodium. Most pith is washed and retted so it's clean but, those binding sites contain sodium or nothing.

If the Coco is unbuffered then you will have many binding sites with nothing bound or a sodium ion bound. As you feed your plants, if unbuffered, these divalent ions will displace the sodium and any other cations bound to that site. This leads to either too much sodium becoming available and/or no Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Copper and other microelents.

Once that process is complete, Coco is relatively stable for many years. There's minimal change to the chemistry once buffered so no need for more CalMag.

What I suspect is happening is the chelates within the CalMag are pulling excess salt out of the media and cleaning any build-up that's occurred during the last cycle. No buffering is occurring in regards to cation exchange sites but, I suppose it's also buffering when you remove crap from the media this way. Confusing I know I'm also referring to these sites as binding sites for a reason. They could also be called cation exchange sites as an exchange can happen forsure but, once a divalent ion has bound to a site, not much will budge it.

PS: ++ = divalent cation. Here's a list of each element and it's valancy

[2-Scoops]

See i was always led to believe that calcium was a double charged cation (ca+2) or is the 2 at end of the plus meaning double charge ?

But for sure one thing i have noticed is doing as i do nowadays the plants have a much speedier growth rate than if its not been done and I've re-used used coco on off for a long time now, but the past 2 or 3 years since charging it up with coco the plants grow much faster initially.

See C.E.C has taxed my head for many years and I only just about can get my head around it nowadays after reading shit over and over from different places for a long time. Either way I'm carrying on the calmag thing and I'd advise anyone using old coco to re-use to do it just cus of my experiences in not doing and in doing this. Cheers man you put shit more understandable than most, top stuff.

[seymore_budz]

See i was always led to believe that calcium was a double charged cation (ca+2) or is the 2 at end of the plus meaning double charge ?

But for sure one thing i have noticed is doing as i do nowadays the plants have a much speedier growth rate than if its not been done and I've re-used used coco on off for a long time now, but the past 2 or 3 years since charging it up with coco the plants grow much faster initially.

See C.E.C has taxed my head for many years and I only just about can get my head around it nowadays after reading shit over and over from different places for a long time. Either way I'm carrying on the calmag thing and I'd advise anyone using old coco to re-use to do it just cus of my experiences in not doing and in doing this. Cheers man you put shit more understandable than most, top stuff.

That's correct the + or - represents the charge and the number represents the valancy. Calcium is a divalent ions like Magnesium.

100% wash old Coco to avoid issues. If you would like to do an experiment if you get bored, try one with CalMag and another with just nutrients. My guess is that both will do just fine. Washing with just water won't be as effective as you don't have chelates present. They help to pull old crap out of the media. CalMag will do this nicely. It's just the mode of action is slightly different than thought :)

I've only just recently discovered all of this. Just last year I thought it worked as you described.

[2-Scoops]

That's correct the + or - represents the charge and the number represents the valancy. Calcium is a divalent ions like Magnesium.

See i thought C.E.C of coco became depleted of Ca+2 ions over time so then C.E.C of coco re-charges with other cations/ions/whatever that we give it from the ferts and as plants uses the Ca+2 up over time its much easier for the coco to replenish the Ca+2 ions with single charged ions than it is for it to do so with the double charged cations in this case Ca+2. So my thinking was by doing what i do i replace those cations with Ca+2 for using in a new grow.

Tis why coco struggles with calcium deficiencies from time to time usually around 3 weeks into bloom after that crazy stretch, cus its been hammering down Ca+2 and the coco finds it harder to replenish itself with same stuff as other ions are vying to fill the coco`c C.E.C back up,

Basically cus coco is nearly empty of fert ions what with doing the 2 week water thing and plant using most of them up by chop time, the the coco C.E.C is ready for a refill and this is ideal time to top it back up with the calcium ions cus thats all you giving it or am i tripping talking shite ?

Fuck i hope that's summink like understandable for ya`s, man it took like 50 edits after reading it back loads of times & it took bloody ages to put my thoughts into words. Cheers mate.

[seymore_budz]

That's correct the + or - represents the charge and the number represents the valancy. Calcium is a divalent ions like Magnesium.

See i thought C.E.C of coco became depleted of Ca+2 ions over time so then C.E.C of coco re-charges with other cations/ions/whatever that we give it from the ferts and as plants uses the Ca+2 up over time its much easier for the coco to replenish the Ca+2 ions with single charged ions than it is for it to do so with the double charged cations in this case Ca+2. So my thinking was by doing what i do i replace those cations with Ca+2 for using in a new grow.

Tis why coco struggles with calcium deficiencies from time to time usually around 3 weeks into bloom after that crazy stretch, cus its been hammering down Ca+2 and the coco finds it harder to replenish itself with same stuff as other ions are vying to fill the coco`c C.E.C back up,

Basically cus coco is nearly empty of fert ions what with doing the 2 week water thing and plant using most of them up by chop time, the the coco C.E.C is ready for a refill and this is ideal time to top it back up with the calcium ions cus thats all you giving it or am i tripping talking shite ?

Fuck i hope that's summink like understandable for ya`s, man it took like 50 edits after reading it back loads of times & it took bloody ages to put my thoughts into words. Cheers mate.

Very understandable mate and you're definitely on the right track. The only real difference is the ionic bond is strong enough to not fluctuate too much. Sometimes another ion will displace another but, it's not as fluid as you imagine. Once those sites are fully loaded, it doesn't change much at all.

The plants cannot break that bond and use those cations because the bond is too strong. The only thing that might move them is some very heavy leeching or maybe a complexing agent. Much like the chelating agents they use in CalMag to stop precipitation.

Imagine a graph where the X axis is time and the Y axis is stability. The curve would be exponential.

[2-Scoops]

Very understandable mate and you're definitely on the right track. The only real difference is the ionic bond is strong enough to not fluctuate too much. Sometimes another ion will displace another but, it's not as fluid as you imagine. Once those sites are fully loaded, it doesn't change much at all.

The plants cannot break that bond and use those cations because the bond is too strong. The only thing that might move them is some very heavy leeching or maybe a complexing agent. Much like the chelating agents they use in CalMag to stop precipitation.

Imagine a graph where the X axis is time and the Y axis is stability. The curve would be exponential.

So basically im not rebuffering the medium but charging it up with calcium . You`ll do for me mate cheers.