[Hazy Lady]

As part of my latest grow I plan to do a 'side by side' test to compare Canna Boost with Blackstrap Molasses.
I have never done this type of thing before and would love any advice to make this as worthwhile as possible, so, please don't hesitate to point out any errors that would negate the results.
I finish plants in 6.5lt pots, under a 600W HPS with Grolux lamp.
I grow in Canna Coir and use Canna nutrients mainly. The separate feeds will begin 1 week after I flip to 12/12 on 01/09/09
I will use 6 similar sized/shaped. clones from the same Mango Haze X Skunk Haze mum.
Pic of mum

I planned 2 plants for the control, 2 for Canna Boost and 2 for the Molesbottoms.
The control will recieve the basic nutrients consisting of (per 10 Litres) @ 5.8 PH :-
20mls Canna coco A+B
PK13/14 weeks 2 to 5 @ 5.0mls, weeks 6 & 7 @ 15.0mls, week 8 @ 5.0mls. ( Weeks 9, 10, 11 onwards flushing)
20mls Maxi Crop liquid seaweed
1 x teaspoon Epsom Salts

Canna Boost @£19.00 for 250 ml - enough for 16 plants 12/14 week flowering.


Molasses @ £1.50 for 740gms - enough for 16 plants 12/14 week flowering.

[jackiee]

ive heard alot about blackstrap molasses ive never used it but im sitting in on this grow, good comparison as well best of luck

[Hazy Lady]

2 will receive basic nutes plus Canna Boost @ 20mls weeks 2 to 5, 40mls weeks 6 & 7, 20mls week 8.
2 get basic nutes plus Molasses @ 1xTablespoon(TBL) weeks 2 to 5, 2 x TBL's weeks 6 & 7, 1 xTBL week 8.
I do have a couple more of the same cut which will receive basic nutes plus Canna Boost and Molasses along with the rest of the grow so we can see if there is any point using both additives on a 4th pair.

After 5 nights 12/12 they look like this....

Bit hard to see anything so i pulled one out

[Hazy Lady]

Here are some of the mum's buds on the stick, ready for curing and after a 2 month cure.



Thanks for looking in, updates soon.

[opm45]

Hazy Lady.............I'll be watching. When you say "basic nutes" are you referring to the Canna line or something else? Just wondering

[Hazy Lady]

Hi opm' I mean basic Canna coco nutes, A+B, and PK 13/14, with liquid seaweed and Epsom salts, the tests will get this plus Boost or Molasses, thank-you for dropping by
Thanks jackiee, good to see you here

[*mistress*]

Originally Posted by Hazy Lady

As part of my latest grow I plan to do a 'side by side' test to compare Canna Boost with Blackstrap Molasses.
I have never done this type of thing before and would love any advice to make this as worthwhile as possible, so, please don't hesitate to point out any errors that would negate the results.
I finish plants in 6.5lt pots, under a 600W HPS with Grolux lamp.
I grow in Canna Coir and use Canna nutrients mainly. The separate feeds will begin 1 week after I flip to 12/12 on 01/09/09
I will use 6 similar sized/shaped. clones from the same Mango Haze X Skunk Haze mum.
Pic of mum

I planned 2 plants for the control, 2 for Canna Boost and 2 for the Molesbottoms.
The control will recieve the basic nutrients consisting of (per 10 Litres) @ 5.8 PH :-
20mls Canna coco A+B
PK13/14 weeks 2 to 5 @ 5.0mls, weeks 6 & 7 @ 15.0mls, week 8 @ 5.0mls. ( Weeks 9, 10, 11 onwards flushing)
20mls Maxi Crop liquid seaweed
1 x teaspoon Epsom Salts

Canna Boost @£19.00 for 250 ml - enough for 16 plants 12/14 week flowering.


Molasses @ £1.50 for 740gms - enough for 16 plants 12/14 week flowering.

excellent test...

would also run a plant or 2 using only molasses; no npk nutes... in imagination, have fed molasses-only w/ comparable results.

@ roughly 1 tablespoon (~15ml) per gal/3.85 liters. blackstrap molasses usually includes iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and many trace elements that may not be reported on bottle. #'s on bottle are not npk, but usually daily values of a 2,000-2,500 calorie diet.

so, if a molasses states that it has 20% potassium, or ~700 mg of potassium per serving (tbsp). 20% of 3,500 mg (daily potassium need of humans) is 700 mg.

may be surprised @ how well molasses-only does in comparison to standard regimes. is both providing direct chelated nutes + feeding simple sugars to microbes in media.

enjoy your garden!

[Hazy Lady]

@ *mistress* comparable results in your imagination indeed, you nut! , OK, I can do a Molasses only but will have to use another couple of clones but they will have sisters to compare with, I will sort that later on tonight, thanks for your input.

[Owl Mirror]

Awesome thread, I'll be taking a seat for this one.

[Hazy Lady]

Originally Posted by Owl Mirror

Awesome thread, I'll be taking a seat for this one.

It's good to see you here my friend

[sundays child]

This is going to be interesting. I've been taking a couple of spoons of this myself the last couple of years. Are all those dosage measurement mls per liter?

Subscribed.

[dongle69]

Originally Posted by Hazy Lady

As part of my latest grow I plan to do a 'side by side' test to compare Canna Boost with Blackstrap Molasses.

Why did you decide to compare these products, since they have different uses in the garden?

[Hazy Lady]

@ Sundays child, all measurements are per 10 lts

@ dongle 69, I used to use Molasses for the same reason I now use Boost, I know and have read many growers who also swapped to Boost ( but could not really say which was better at this job) from Zoolander to sundays child. So I thought I would have a look and see what's what?. Which way do you use it dongle, assuming you do, thank you very much for your input guy's
Edit, I have not used Molasses as a food so on *mistress*'s suggestion I will run a few and feed only Molasses no Canna A+B NPK's

[darookie2000]

Just FYI, boost is only really used for a couple of weeks during the flowering period. It's an oligosaccharide (carbohydrate) which, when produced naturally by a plant lets it know that it is under stress, so it ramps up sugar production, etc etc etc. It is basically a way to stimulate the stress reaction without stress, which increases fragrance, color, potency, etc. I am quite sure that you'll get better results with the two used in tandem (boost only through the first couple weeks of flowering, molasses throughout, it's very expensive otherwise and not effective). This information came from one of the technical Canna reps in the US, so as long as I did not screw up my explanation, I have no reason to doubt its validity. Apparently it takes them 6 months to brew the stuff in giant vats, which is why it costs so much. The difference between the bioboost and regular is that the regular boost has a few mineral salts which stabilize it and make it work more effectively, but for all intents and purposes it's organic (the regular boost actually costs more).

I'm using the canna boost right now and I'm about to start supplementing with molasses (just got some last night - I used bud candy throughout my last run and was not impressed).

[Hazy Lady]

Hi darookie, thanks for your input, I do use both Boost and Molasses as part of my normal feed and do get great results, but I used to get great results with Molasses, and before Molasses I had good results. I started using Boost because I believed the Canna hype (and a few growers I respect), now I use out of habit and to be honest my situation changed dramatically last year and any expense I can cut out would be very handy, I am not starving by any means but why waste money? BTW, I used Canna's calculator and they advised me to use Boost for 6 weeks and that is what i have done for a while, mind you, they also advised PK only for one week and I ignore that! , please come by again if you can.