Hello Friends and community members.
This is going to be my flawed experiment of Jack’s vs Chemgro. Two different nutrients Wich are both three part dry salt based nutrients provided by American hydroponic companies which have been around for a long time, to boot the price of these nutrients is outstanding.
I have used chemgro for a bit over 2 years now as jacks is harder to get into Canada probably due to some ingredients in the main fertilizer that is banned at our border, however I have found a source and after me and @imSICKkid have been recommending jacks for some time it seems to now be a very popular option within our community for many reasons.
Hopefully @imSICKkid @Hellraiser @Myfriendis410 @Not2SureYet and others running it can help ensure I am running jacks correctly from here on out as I may be a bit hazy on some things here and there about the amount to feed in the early stages.
I will be following chemgro’s feed chart but I have my own version with a couple notes and I have changed the PH levels after much of my own research.
The original feed chard here
Followed by my modifications (I’m actually still narrowing in the exact amounts needed per 5 gallons to reach the target ppm, because I haven’t kept good records about that before and just added a dose or diluted to appropriate ppm)
Jack’s has a simple formula of = 3.6/2.4/1.2
That is 3.6g Jack’s 15-12-26, followed by 2.4g of calcium nitrate and finally 1.2g of magnesium sulfate per gallon.
So for me the formula is 18/12/6 per 5 gallons
To my understanding this cna be fed from day one to harvest, however the ppm is quite high in my opinion so I wanted to see what the others have been doing in the first 3 weeks of growth. Chemgro has said 400-650 in the first 3 weeks before shooting up to 1100 but when I mixed a full batch of Jack’s it came in at 1200ppm.
So the very first feed was done at 650 for even sake.
Unfortunately I have had some extremely frustrating bad luck with seeds over the last while so the plants are not all the exact same age but this is close enough to be not an issue as we will worry about final bud quality and yeild for the verdict.
The experiment will be conducted in a 4x5 tent, using a 320xl hlg v2 3000k and a 240w kingbrite 3500k ir/uv/red (currently using only the 3500k with uv/ir/reds turned off until post flower stretch)
The seedlings were planted in nursery bags filled with pre buffed and ph’d coco them mixed with perlite for a 50/50 mix.
They will soon be transplanted into 5 gallon fabric pots of the same medium and when large enough have the autopot system turned on to allow bottom feeding from a reservoir.
Two amnesia haze (AH) freebies from seed city will be going up against two monster Bruce banners (MBB) with one of each on jacks and one of each on chemgro, running two different reservoirs. One of each genetic will be under each light as well so as to try and keep the results as close to accurate as possible (really wish I had another 320xl but I don’t have the $ for that).
I have some other plants that will soon be culled but the jacks will be running a green crack photo in a 3x4 tent in my grow room as well. Yes you heard me correctly Nicky is finally going to grow a photo, so I will have to inspect my tent for light leaks and LED’s soon and patch or black out anything.
I had planned to run completely different genetics but like said above had some serious issues and burned through about 20 auto seeds before getting these, extremely rare for me so not sure what I was doing wrong but moving on.
As always my plan is to fim at the 4th or 5th node for the autos.
I have a light breeze on them as of today and have the temp set to 25.5c with a spac heater on a temp controller. Humidifier is running full blast but humidity is on full blast but will doubtfully keep up with the dry heat from the heater and my dry environment. So not ideal VPD but managing best I can.
This grow is reminding me why I like to start seeds while one of my tents is still flowering, as it keeps my room nice and warm without having to add dry heat.
Yesterday was the first day for the MBB and the GC with leafs open above ground.
While the first day above ground for the AH’s was March 24th, the MBB are growing with much more vigor though so soon they will look similar in size I’m sure.
Both systems will be running Agsil16H potassium silicate and Fishsh!t microbes.
Any input as to what I should be feeding on the jacks side from now until full strength would be ideal. Should I slowly adjust it at the rate of increase as my chemgro or should I feed light for a week or two hen feed full or should. I just give full from the start.
Anyone with any input or suggestions please chime in, this is not a clone large scale experiment but that just isn’t in the cards so I will do this style of grow for two grows in a row (different strains) and see if anything sticks out.
