High-quality synthetic and organic base nutrients provide the nutritional elements your cannabis crop needs for basic growth and metabolism. But there are many organic materials that provide more than just nutrient elements. These materials create healthier cannabis plants, faster growth, tastier and heavier buds, and more cannabinoids and terpenoids than you would ever hope to develop.
These crop-boosting elements come from sea and land plants, as well as from the earth’s crust. If you tried to source and use them all individually in your cannabis grow op, it’d be prohibitively difficult, expensive and time-consuming. And even if you were able to procure these compounds yourself, you’d have a tough time correctly feeding them to your plants.
This is why I was delighted to discover the organic supplement Nirvana. When I first heard about it from other growers, Nirvana was described as a bloom booster. And while it’s true that Nirvana increases the size, crystal, fragrance and potency of buds, that’s only part of the story about all the good things Nirvana can do for your cannabis crop.
Indeed, you can use Nirvana on cannabis seeds, seedlings, clones, grow-phase plants and bloom-phase plants. You can use it as a root feed and a foliar feed. Truly, this is a rare product that offers plant stimulation and enrichment during all phases of growth.
First, let’s take a look at Nirvana’s impressive menu of ingredients:
- Alfalfa meal
- Azomite
- Bat guano
- Krill meal
- Humic acid
- Fulvic acid
- Seaweed meal (including ascophyllum)
- Soy protein (enzymatically hydrolyzed)
- Yeast extract
- Yucca and Chilean soap bark extracts
- Proprietary cofactors that increase production of THC, CBD and terpenoids
Perhaps you already know about the plant-enriching power of some of these ingredients, but let’s go into more detail now.
Alfalfa Meal Stimulates Metabolism, Growth And Yield
Alfalfa (medicago sativa) is a quick-growing, highly stress-tolerant plant that contains many minerals and plant enhancers, most notably a growth-stimulating compound called triacontanol (TRIA).
TRIA is an all-around tonic that increases growth rate, bud weight and potency, while helping your plants absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2), which increases plant metabolic processes and harvest yield. In scientific tests, TRIA has been shown to double the amount of CO2 that plants absorb.
While CO2 fixation is part of photosynthesis (the life-giving pathway plants use to harness light energy and build tissue), TRIA directly increases the activity of enzymes involved in photosynthesis and growth, such as RuBisCO, PEPCase, ATPase, NADH oxidase and malate dehydrogenase.
RuBisCO (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase), perhaps the most abundant protein on earth, is responsible for the fixation of CO2 gas inside plant cells. Carbon fixation occurs when plants take in CO2 gas from the air, change its molecular structure, and store it inside cells. Some plants also fix CO2 using PEPCase, but this enzyme works in a different part of the cell and performs well in the presence of oxygen, while RuBisCO does not.
ATPases break down ATP (adenosine triphosphate, a compound that stores energy in cells), which releases energy for use by the cell. NADH oxidase and malate dehydrogenase are also important for energy flow in the cell. NADH oxidase regenerates NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) from NADH. NAD, an important cellular coenzyme, is similar to ATP in that it provides energy for cellular reactions.
In the most basic sense, malate dehydrogenase is an enzyme that uses energy from NAD to convert the sugar malate to another sugar called oxaloacetate. This is a crucial step in the citric acid cycle, an important metabolic pathway in the breakdown of carbohydrates, fats and proteins into usable energy and precursors for many compounds. Nirvana stimulates many enzymes in this pathway.
With TRIA stimulating these enzymes, plant cells can produce more energy and materials. TRIA also helps relay intracellular messages and brings more supplies into the cell so your cannabis plants maximize their growth potential.
In grow ops that utilize inferior nutrients, if plants have any genetic issues or are under stress from the environment, pests or diseases, then CO2 isn’t being maximally taken in and utilized by RuBisCO or PEPCase, so as a consequence, photosynthesis slows down. This means less energy and fewer materials are produced and your plants and buds will be stunted.
Nirvana counters these problems, helping your plants do better under less than ideal conditions by promoting optimal photosynthesis. Use Nirvana especially if you’re adding CO2 to your grow room air.
Azomite: The Mineral Miracle
Azomite is an organic natural mineral substance mined in Utah from an ancient deposit left by a volcanic eruption that filled a small seabed around 30 million years ago. Listed as an organic material by the Organic Materials Review Institute (better known as OMRI), azomite is an acronym that stands for “A to Z Of Minerals Including Trace Elements.”
Boasting a complex silica ore (hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate) containing the nutrient-rich residue of seawater that was fed by hundreds of rivers rich in minerals, azomite also contains rare minerals present only in volcanic ash.
Azomite’s mineral menu includes calcium oxide, carbon, iron, hydrogen, silica, gold, magnesium, nitrogen, sulfur, magnesium oxide, antimony, chromium, cobalt, boron, molybdenum, copper, phosphorus pentoxide, manganese, indium, silver and zinc.
Research shows that azomite mineralizes root zones by adding trace elements that aren’t always present in even the finest of fertilizers. It helps your cannabis grow stronger and faster, with larger buds and more cannabinoids and terpenoids, while also providing nutrition for beneficial soil microbes.
Bat Guano: Sweet Poop
When bats poop, guano is the result. Bats primarily eat insects, a rich source of chitin, which is an immune-boosting, cellular-strengthening compound. Chitin stimulates immune response so your plants are more resilient when fighting off attackers including aphids, thrips, spider mites, broad mites, powdery mildew and gray mold. Bat guano is also a quality source of amino acids, nucleic acids, proteins and minerals, and is superior to seabird guano that you often see listed in other gardening products.
Bat guano comes in two general categories: high nitrogen and high phosphorus. The scientists who designed Nirvana sourced both types and carefully refined and configured them in the proper ratios to ensure Nirvana can be used in grow and bloom phase, without creating an excess of nitrogen or phosphorus that interferes with N-P-K ratios.
Krill Meal Helps Plants Resist Attack
Krill are tiny aquatic organisms and one of the ocean’s most important food chain components. A primary part of their protective outer shell, or exoskeleton, is the compound chitin, which is also a major part of insect exoskeletons and the cell walls of fungi.
When using Nirvana as a foliar spray, the chitin contained within triggers systemic resistance to pathogens and pests. It works similarly to vaccination, in that a small, safe amount of a dangerous organism helps a host prepare and defend itself against future exposure to the complete pathogen.
Chitin, just one of many immune-boosting compounds found in Nirvana, brings about systemic resistance by stimulating the plant to produce chitinase enzymes and store them in the spaces between cells. These enzymes break down chitin and help the plant digest and destroy invading insects and fungi.
Humic And Fulvic Acids: Natural Chelates
Quality humic acid is extracted from a rare vein of a rich ore called leonardite and acts as a natural chelator that facilitates entry of Nirvana’s nutrients into plant cells via root and foliar feeding.
Fulvic acid is another humate, derived from humic acid and with a different molecular weight than humic acid, thus enabling it to offer different chelation benefits that further stabilize Nirvana’s nutritional ingredients, transferring them into plants.
Yet another benefit of fulvic acid is that it quarantines some dangerous compounds and inactivates them so they can no longer harm your plants.
You can get a more concentrated form of humic and fulvic acids by using the organic product Ancient Earth together with Nirvana to more than double the benefits of these formulas than when used separately.
Seaweed Meal Increases Bud Size
Nirvana’s special seaweed extract blend is derived from the algae ascophyllum nodosum and a blend of kelp extracts that include auxins to increase flower size. A wide range of beneficial effects have been reported from the use of liquid seaweed extracts, including increased yields; resistance to frost, extreme heat and distress conditions such as drought; and increased longevity of cannabinoids and terpenoids in stored buds and cannabis concentrates.
Nirvana utilizes a liquid extract from ascophyllum nodosum and kelp. The extract contains naturally occurring cytokinins, betaines and nutrients that increase growth rate, resilience and leaf health in cannabis.
Ascophyllum’s betaines function as osmoprotectants that mitigate damage caused by over fertilizing, bad root-zone pH, and compromised water. Further, the seaweed meal’s auxins increase the rate and onset of bud development, accelerating bloom phase and saving you time due to earlier harvest, allowing you to run more crop cycles per year.
Yeast Extract For B Vitamins
Yeast is used in many nutritional supplements for plants and humans alike, in part because it’s a rich source of all 22 essential L-amino acids as well as proteins, minerals and B vitamins. Nirvana’s yeast extract is especially useful as a source of vitamins B1 and B6. B1 is an important component of cellular biosynthesis reactions, while B6 is required to form amino acid and carbohydrates. It is also a powerful defense to stress caused by intense light, drought and pollution.
Many cannabis plants are found to have vitamin B deficiencies. Plants that exhibit B6 deficiencies are smaller, yellowed, more sensitive to stress, and are not solid producers of energy. The yeast extract in Nirvana provides much-needed B vitamins, so your cannabis will grow bigger and healthier than they otherwise would.
Enzymatically Hydrolyzed Soy Protein Amino Acids
Soy protein is a rich source of the 22 essential L-amino acids required to build cellular proteins. It also supplies carbohydrates, lipids and small proteins for easy synthesis of more complex compounds. The soybean protein utilized in Nirvana is in the form hydrolyzed enzymes. Superior enzyme hydrolyzation ensures that essential amino acids cysteine and tryptophan aren’t degraded and that all amino acids are made soluble in the bioactive L form. In contrast, acid hydrolysis process used by competing products to Nirvana destroy tryptophan and cysteine, and converts many amino acids into their bio-inactive D form.
Yucca And Chilean Soap Bark Extracts = Surfactants
Surfactants reduce the surface tension of water, increasing the liquid’s ability to enter leaves and roots. Yucca extract is one of two natural surfactants in Nirvana, thus helping the other ingredients penetrate faster and further into your cannabis. In addition, yucca extract increases membrane permeability to facilitate increased internal transfer of nutrients and stronger plant metabolism.
Chilean soap bark (quillaja saponaria) extract is the other natural surfactant used in Nirvana. Like yucca, it increases nutrient mobility and membrane permeability, which helps Nirvana’s plant-enhancing materials get where they’re most needed to be quickly absorbed. Research shows that Chilean soap bark promotes plant resistance to pathogens and fights viral infection in animal cells.
Yucca and Chilean soap bark are potent, natural, safe surfactants that break the surface tension barrier and make Nirvana useful as a foliar spray and surfactant adjunct to create complex foliar feed programs.
Nirvana makes plants healthier, more resistant to pests and diseases, faster growing, and earlier blooming and maturing.
Here’s How You Use Nirvana
Nirvana contains a comprehensive, higher quality set of plant-boosting ingredients when compared to any other supplement in the cannabis marketplace. As I’ve used Nirvana, I’ve seen increased plant health, bud size, bud quality and harvest value, while also appreciating its usefulness as a foliar spray and root feed, even in aeroponics and deep water culture — hydroponic systems where organic supplements can cause clogging.
Here are the best uses of Nirvana:
- Pre-soak for rockwool cubes, peat pots, root shooters and any media you’ll use for germinating seeds or rooting clones: Mix 1/2 ml per liter of reverse osmosis water, do a pH adjust, and soak the materials before placing seeds or cuttings into them.
- As a foliar spray: Nirvana contains surfactants that make it a great foliar spray by itself, or a base for combination foliar sprays. Use 1/2 ml per liter of Nirvana in reverse osmosis water, pH adjusted, as a foliar spray 1–3 times a week on cuttings and seedlings until they’re two weeks old. Increase to 1 ml per liter of Nirvana as a pH-adjusted foliar spray throughout grow phase and into the third week of bloom phase. In grow phase, I’ll add in B-52 vitamin booster and/or Rhino Skin potassium silicate. In the first three weeks of bloom phase, I combine Nirvana with Bud Ignitor, B-52 and Rhino Skin. Note that you’ll want your foliar spray at 5.7 pH; never exceed 230 parts per million. Foliar spray a half hour to an hour before lights on (or before the sun comes up) to give the spray a chance to absorb into the plants before the light dries it and bakes it onto leaves. Don’t foliar spray after your buds are in peak bloom, because compounds will store in the buds and resin glands, affecting the taste and safety of your product.
- Aa a root feed: Apply Nirvana from start to finish of crop cycles. Starting at week two for seedlings and clones, add Nirvana at 1/2 ml per liter every other feeding. At week three in grow phase, increase that to 1 ml per liter every other feeding and continue this schedule and dosage through week three of bloom phase. Starting in week three of bloom phase, use 2 ml per liter every other feeding until it’s time for flushing crops before harvest. Because Nirvana contains a significant amount of potassium, I don’t use it during the same feeding that I use Ancient Earth or Rhino Skin, which also provide potassium.
Recently, I was cultivating 16 outdoor cannabis plants of the same strain in a place where gray mold almost always appears in bloom phase, due to high humidity in that region. Normally, I don’t spray anything on my buds after the third week of bloom phase, but because Nirvana is known to repel molds, mildews and fungi, I sprayed 12 of the plants with this product, but omitted spraying the other four. I wanted to see if Nirvana really does make a difference.
The four that weren’t sprayed developed gray mold on stems and in some buds, even before humidity hit 70–85 percent. The 12 plants that were sprayed were free of mold. I removed moldy parts from the four affected plants, and sprayed all 16 with Nirvana into the sixth week of bloom phase, making sure to foliar spray only on the hottest days, when I knew the sun would quickly evaporate foliar moisture, so as not to add to gray mold risk.
Nirvana’s efforts to repel gray mold continued throughout bloom phase, until I lightly misted the buds with pure water a week before harvest to wash away residues, so that they wouldn’t be present on the buds when consumed.
After I spray-washed Nirvana off the buds, small patches of gray mold began to appear on the plants that had been protected by Nirvana, and I knew it was time to harvest before I lost my entire crop to mold. This suggested that Nirvana’s chitin and other compounds do indeed protect plants from attackers.
No doubt about it, Nirvana gives you a variety of protections for your plants, whether growing in organic soil both indoors and out, in hydroponic cultivation using deep water culture, aeroponics, soilless mix, coco coir and rockwool, as a root feed or as a foliar spray. Nirvana makes plants healthier, more resistant to pests and diseases, faster growing, and earlier blooming and maturing, with a notable increase in cannabinoid and terpenoid production. Use Nirvana to get more value from your cannabis crop today.
