Hydroponics Nutrients Costs & Benefits Analysis
How do you choose your hydroponics nutrients? 
Do you use hydroponics nutrients? Most of us do, unless we’re growing marijuana outdoors in the richest soil on earth. And even then, hydroponics nutrients and supplements boost growth rate, harvest size and THC percentages…all the things you most want from your marijuana plants.
So how do you choose which hydroponics nutrients to use? Most marijuana growers rely on advice from hydroponics store staff, grower friends, Big Buds, or advertisements.
And how do you decide when to keep on using the hydroponics nutrients you’re using, or when to consider changing to different nutrients?
I answered that question for myself many years ago when I was using General Hydroponics Three-Part base nutrients, a GH bloom booster, and (from time-to-time) a cal-mag booster.
My system was simple drip irrigation and Grodan rockwool slabs in trays, along with light stands holding three 1000-watt lights. I was mainly growing a mostly-stabilized three-way cross comprising Northern Lights, Santa Marta Gold and Skunk #1. This bud produced a soaring psychedelic high that was also somehow relaxing. The General Hydroponics nutrients produced about three-quarters pound of kind bud max, per 1000-watt light.
I was satisfied with my buds and my hydroponics system, except that I worried about roller coaster parts per million (ppm) and pH readings when I mixed new batches of GH 3-Part and after the reservoir water had run through the system for a couple of days. These fluctuations corresponded with symptoms of nutrient deficiencies or over-fertilization.
At the time, I wasn’t networked with other marijuana growers so I didn’t have anything or anyone to compare my results with. As with many growers who use General Hydroponics and other non-marijuana hydroponics nutrients, I had no easy way of knowing that I could do better.
But later on I met Remo, the Canadian marijuana master who does the Urban Grower videos that have hundreds of thousands of views (Remo can build a perfect sealed hydroponics grow room in a couple of days, smoking huge blunts non-stop as he does it). Remo laughed at me, saying that less than a pound per light was a joke.
After I followed his advice and started getting 1.5 pounds or more per light and far more consistent ppm and pH readings using the brand of nutrients he uses and following his advice on hydroponics grow room design and hydroponics protocols, I agreed with him that the joke had been on me. And It was a sad joke: how many ounces of bud had I lost by using General Hydroponics nutrients? Too many!
That experience is one reason I wrote a previous Big Buds article about General Hydroponics, pointing out that general, generic hydroponics nutrients—not tested on or designed for marijuana—are robbing your crop health, growth rates, THC percentages and harvest weight.
I didn’t intend to offend people, but a few growers who are loyal to General Hydroponics nutrients took it the wrong way. I get that. Sometimes growers are so loyal to a particular hydroponics product or method that they feel personally attacked when someone suggests a better way. I apologize for any offense. Rest assured my sole intention is for all of us to get the most grams per watt and per dollar and time we invest in marijuana growing. It’s all about you getting the most and best marijuana for the least investment of time, money and effort.
That’s precisely why I pointed out the fact that General Hydroponics growers who are happy with the General Hydroponics Flora three-part base nutrients get the exact same ingredients for a 40% discount when they switch to a new three-part hydroponics nutrients formula called Jungle Juice. However, I now have new data showing that I made a mistake saying that, and I apologize. Let me explain…
What the new data shows is that the three-part nutrients that cost 40% less than GH three-part are manufactured to higher standards than the GH three-part. So I made a mistake when I said the Jungle Juice is exactly the same as GH three-part. Because the lab testing shows that Jungle Juice is actually a more consistent and properly-manufactured formula.
The guaranteed analysis on labels for GH 3-part and Jungle Juice are exactly the same, but the Jungle Juice is a superior formula...lab testing of several batches of the 40% lower-cost Jungle Juice versus the GH Flora formula show that GH’s individual ingredient amounts and ratios are often way lower or higher than they should be. This is especially true for their micronutrients formula.
When you have inconsistency in hydroponics nutrients, you have a situation ripe for overfeeding or underfeeding that hurts your marijuana plants.
In contrast, the same quality control test for Jungle Juice showed less deviation in ingredient amounts and ratios. It's obvious that lower-priced Jungle Juice has better quality control than its higher-priced competitor.
Another test closely compared the horizontal and vertical growth of a set of multiple clones grown side by side and fed either General Hydroponics three-part or Jungle Juice. GH slightly outpaced Jungle Juice in early growth stages, but by the time the plants were mature and in bloom phase, both sets of plants were identical in size and growth rate.
Are these facts alone—40% lower cost, higher quality, better manufacturing standards, yield and growth equivalent to GH, less chance of overfeeding or underfeeding—worth you switching to Jungle Juice if you have been using GH?
When you get a better-manufactured hydroponics nutrients 3-part formula at 40% less than what you paid for GH, it's well worth it to switch to Jungle Juice. The money you save on hydroponics base nutrients you can spend on upgraded hydroponics lighting, C02 or other hydroponics gear that will increase the yield, value and THC percentages in your marijuana crops.
It's a total win-win!
