What's new
  • ICMag with help from Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest in November! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!

Canna Boost V Molasses - side by side comparison.

Hazy Lady

Hazy Lady

Prom Night Dumpster Baby
ICMag Donor
Veteran
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
picture.php

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
picture.php

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

picture.php

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


 
jackiee

jackiee

Member
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

Hazy Lady

Prom Night Dumpster Baby
ICMag Donor
Veteran
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....
picture.php

Bit hard to see anything so i pulled one out

picture.php
 
G

guest

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

Hazy Lady

Prom Night Dumpster Baby
ICMag Donor
Veteran
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 :)
 
M

*mistress*

Member
Veteran
Hazy Lady said:
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
picture.php

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
picture.php

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

picture.php

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

Hazy Lady

Prom Night Dumpster Baby
ICMag Donor
Veteran
@ *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.
 
S

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.
 
D

dongle69

Hazy Lady said:
As part of my latest grow I plan to do a 'side by side' test to compare Canna Boost with Blackstrap Molasses.
Click to expand...

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

Hazy Lady

Prom Night Dumpster Baby
ICMag Donor
Veteran
@ 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
 
D

darookie2000

Member
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

Hazy Lady

Prom Night Dumpster Baby
ICMag Donor
Veteran
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.
 
Hazy Lady

Hazy Lady

Prom Night Dumpster Baby
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Coco! Nuts!

Coco! Nuts!

Anyone used this coir?, Growell don't stock Canna Coco now just this. It looks very nice though, not a hint of any smell.
picture.php
 
D

darookie2000

Member
Hazy Lady said:
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.
Click to expand...
That makes sense, it's always good to evaluate products to make sure they're working. I'll be looking forward to your results. Something that you might also try, if you're inclined is using the boost as a foliar feed and watering with molasses. I would water first to limit PM possibilities (or avoid it altogether if you can't foliar during flower without mold or PM), but it would be an interesting test and a way to save a lot on boost because you'd be able to use a lot less. I am trying a combination of the two. I did one foliar and a couple of waterings with it just to see.
 
S

sundays child

Hazy Lady,

Just to be clear, I've never used this stuff in growing but I do use it regularly as a sweentener in my coffee!
 
cornflake

cornflake

better'n coco pops any ol' day o da week
Veteran
hi Hazy Lady, no haven't used that particular brand of coir ;)

I haven't used molasses, was about to do a search after checking to see anything on coco forum and so here I am :)

I use canna coco coir, a+b, pk13/14, cannazyme, epsom salts, and rhizo. Unfortunately for me boost is out of reach, so I also will be watching but more importantly I will find some blackstrap in my country, and add to my feeds.

A question about ppms. I'll need to be taking the increase in ppms into consideration and scaling back something else? What did we say molasses is, a sugar? I am not up on NPK ratios and changing things like this might affect other levels and such......but like you, I'm thinking how to get a better yield for less cash out.

Also interested in adding more natural things, like making a worm farm and adding worm casting tea? Hmmm, wanna go organic but no time to learn new methods right now. so...

Does it affect ppms?

BTW, your mango haze, looks real nice. I smoked a haze a couple weekends ago at a friend's and the aftertaste was so fruity, so mango I loved it. until I saw the BBQ then I was off forgetting about those subtle flavors as the music gets my attention =)
 
jackiee

jackiee

Member
hi hazy lady yes im using it on a couple of plants as i ran out of canna coco its a bit to early to say much about it apart from i cant see any difference in the plants
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top