It seems to me that the directions for it’s use could be a little bit more precise - because even with the chart from online what you will read concerning portions of each kind to use are very general.
The chart that describes weekly feedings for each stage may be more accurate for HYDRO growing, but I grow in SOIL and because of that a chart which tells me how many grams or teaspoons per gallon of water is perhaps interesting but not very informative. It does not tell me how much of the plant food each individual plant should be given. Below is the chart to which I am referring re-done so as to make it display well as a desktop background:
It suddenly occurred to me that if the set of plant food packets I got were for FIVE plants, and I were growing FIVE at a time (or however many) what I should probably do is to use a sensitive scale such as a kitchen scale that reads in grams to divide each packet of nutrients (AKA: “Nutes”) into however many parts were needed for the number of weeks the plants were to be fed. If growing fewer plants, I reasoned, I could sub-divide these amounts by five, and use each resulting measure for ONE PLANT EACH. Make sense so far?
Okay - when I set about this I noticed something else, and I checked it to be sure. Each of the separate packets in the set of four types of plant food have printed on the back the contents in grams and ounces that is the MINIMUM amount each packet must contain, but what I noticed was that each packet was in fact generously filled! By that I mean that at least by weight, they contain significantly more than what is required in order to completely ensure customer satisfaction. The packets containing Seedling Fertilizer, and Plant Boost (respectively) for example are marked as having a content of TEN Grams - but what I found when I carefully weighed them out was that there were EIGHTEEN grams in each approximately (Like I’m going to complain, ya know?)
*What I was doing was setting up small containers with measured doses ahead of time so I did not have to measure it out later
But what this means is that in measuring the exact quantity to give each plant or group of plants - it is necessary to first set up the scale and zero it for the container or paper you are measuring into and then carefuly and exactly measure an amount that matches what is printed on the back of the packet. This will result in extra 'Nutes that you can save to use next time, or later on in an extended grow, or whatever you want to do. Maybe use it with Clones, who knows?
The Flowertime Fertilizer is rated (on the packet) as 200 grams, or 7.05 oz, so what you want to do is measure that amount (and you will have a lot extra) into a container that you will divide into EIGHT portions - because of the eight weeks shown on the chart. By this means you arrive at the ideal amount for five plants once per week (at least in theory) without being thrown off by the generosity of ILGM/Robert Bergman. You can divide each of these portions by five if you need to get right down to the amount for an individual single plant.
The math here is simple: 200 grams divided by 8 equals 25 grams.
If you are putting it on only one plants - 25 grams divided by five is five grams…
The “Plant Boost” is used twice, contains (the packet says) 10 grams, so dividing by two you get 5 grams - therefore each plant ought to be fed ONE GRAM on the day of the week they are fed
REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH WATER IS MIXED WITH IT!!!
Understand that, when growing in soil an amount per gallon is just about useless. What we want to know is how much each plant must have in total… Do you see it?
So a scale that reads in grams (which most of us have anyway) is your best friend there - you don’t need any measuring cups, just a sheet of paper to lay on the scale and some containers to put the measured amounts in or you can do the math each time and figure the precise grams of each Nute that you are working with at the moment, and keep the rest in the packets they came in
If you truly want accuracy, this is the best way to go
As shown, for seedlings divide by two, for veg phase divide by four, flower stage divide by eight, and for the booster by two.
Then factor in how many plants you’ve got
