A question for the growers using Jacks 5-12-26

[packerfan79]

I dropped my ppms to 850. Seems to be helping.I will add some calmag also. And see what happens

 

[papaduc]

5-12-26 is not a good ratio for vegetating plants. I'm not familiar with this nutrient brand or the results people get with it, but on the jacks website they have a lx feed which looks as close to what you need as they offer. It's 15-5-15

If it's easily available to you, buy the jacks hydro feed and give it to at least one of your plants at 1.0ec and compare that plant to the others. My money says it'll sort your problems right out.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I'm not familiar with this nutrient brand or the results people get with it,

I try not to be a dick on here but given the above statement you should probably dip out this thread...

OR make yourself familiar... it's not the nutes.

 

[papaduc]

Yeah I've edited that last post, because I didn't mean the wrong brand of nutes. I meant the ratio for veg.

 

[LSWM]

5-12-26 is not a good ratio for vegetating plants. I'm not familiar with this nutrient brand or the results people get with it, but on the jacks website they have a lx feed which looks as close to what you need as they offer. It's 15-5-15

If it's easily available to you, buy the jacks hydro feed and give it to at least one of your plants at 1.0ec and compare that plant to the others. My money says it'll sort your problems right out.

Jacks comes in two parts. the CalNit adds needed N and Ca. Depending on how much you add the ratio changes to 15-20 N.

 

[jump /injack]

Jack's is better than popcorn. If you've read Delta 9's long post about his growing and the huge continuous reaping of way over 16 oz's per plant its hard not to say that Jacks used like Delta 9 use's it is the best ever. I've been using it for 3 years with no problems, using just like its supposed to be used, adding nothing because it needs nothing. Seems like people can't believe their good luck in coming across something that works, they have to add to it and screw it up. KISS with this one. Worry about powdery mildew or spider mites or someone ripping all your stuff off, Jack's is a no brainer.

 

[Dr.RedWhite]

Total ppm
Nitrogen (All Nitrate) N 150
Phosphorus P 52
Potassium K 215

using a common denominator of 50 we see that this comes out to

3-1.04-4.3 very close to the 3-1-4 ratio that everyone has been talking about for a while now. AN is close to 3-1-4.

i have been using jacks for about 2 years now and have been growing large, healthy plants with it at 600 to 750 ppm for life. no displays or symptoms whatsoever.

from 8" cutting to huge finished plant. no additives, boosters, or ph adjusters.

this is a very well thought out and complete program from jrpeterslab.

i feel that anyone experiencing problems with this product are using unsuitable tap water, ph adjusters, or additives. all of which should be left out of your reservoir.

This is absolute fact, learn what is in your water! If you have to run more than 1/2 tsp each component you have an off PH or a nasty hard water.

 

[packerfan79]

So u don't adjust your ph? With ro water mine comes out around 5.2. Way too low for Coco from what I have read. Mabey it's time to go gh Lucas formula.I'm going to give jacks one more try. I'm ready to throw the plants I have in flower

 

[Dr.RedWhite]

Actually I don't think the ratio of Jacks is ideal for coco. Too much K. You could try equal parts by weight 2g/2g and see what happens.

 

[LSWM]

So u don't adjust your ph? With ro water mine comes out around 5.2. Way too low for Coco from what I have read. Mabey it's time to go gh Lucas formula.I'm going to give jacks one more try. I'm ready to throw the plants I have in flower

I usually don't. ~18 GAL OF RO + 4TSP JACKS + 3.5 TSP CALCNIT. If I'm feeling fiesty I'll throw in 5-10 ml of Jack's pH adjuster dissolved @ 2tbls per liter. (It doesn't all dissolve at this ratio but I only add a tiny bit anyways)

 

[packerfan79]

So I dropped my ppms to 700 or so. I'm at day 60 and they seem to be coming out of the funk I put them in by feeding way to hot. So I'm going to give jacks another try in next round. But this time I'm going to keep it around 700 and see what happens. Hopefully I'll have another huge pile of xmas flowers. This round was a disappointment.. But I shall redeem my self..

 

[xxxstr8edgexxx]

im running the jacks 3-2-1 nute ratio watered down to 1.2 e.c. ph5.8 4x a day watered in 2 gal in coco with clay on top and bottom inches. with c02 1500 ppms rh 60%(too low) 1k hps. 80 deg ambient 86 canopy. and they look great........

 

[MPL]

I'm wanting to give Jack's pro hydro a try and had a question about strength...

I run my EC around a 2.7 during flowering using GH MaxiBloom. That's around 9.5g per gallon in RO water.

If I switch to Jack's should I stick to about the same strength?

I have to go this high with the maxibloom because I run C02 and high temps and anything less than an EC of ~2.0 and I start to see deficiencies. Plants seem happiest around 2.6.

 

[DeceiverZ]

Been playing with Jacks, Cal Nitrate and Epsom

Been playing with Jacks, Cal Nitrate and Epsom

Great thread guys!!!

I was playing with Hydrobuddy nute calculator and am hoping someone with more experience can chime in.

Put the following products into HydroBuddy Calc:
Jacks Hydro 5-12-26
Peters Cal Nitrate 15.5-0-0
Epsom Salts


However, I don't measure out these by volume or weight. I've been making stock solutions of each by dissolving 3lbs of the Jacks and Cal Nitrate into 1 gallon of RO water.

I've found this to be much easier and simpler to use rather than needing to measure out the weight of the dry ferts in grams or by volume in tablespoons.

By keeping stock solutions I don't need to worry about how much water I am working with. I simply add by PPMs.

So in a typical 1/.667 (3parts to 2/3parts) of Jacks/CalNit I would start with reaching the desired PPMs for the Jacks, then add the CalNit PPMs for a final feed solution. For example, if I wanted to feed a 750 ppm total solution. I measure out 450 PPM of Jacks and then follow by adding 300 PPM of Cal to reach the total of 750. (credit delta9nxs)

So I would like to understand what ppm levels I should be adding of each product to achieve my desired profile. Playing with the three aforementioned products, HydroBuddy calculated the values for my preparations at

12.82 mL Jacks Hydro 5-12-26
7.13 mL Peters CalNitrate
2.62 mL Epsom Sal

I attempted to figure it out via percentages of the total and then correlating these percentages to the individual product PPMs. This "might" be the correct way of doing this but I am unsure. My math gives me:

12.82 (56.8%) Jacks Hydro
7.13 (31.6%) Peters CalNit
2.62 (11.6%) Epsom Salt
22.564 (100%)

Applying these percentages to E.C of 1.5 or 750 PPM (.5 scale) gives me:

426 PPM (56.8%) Jacks Hydro
237 PPM (31.6%) Peters CalNit
87 PPM (11.6%) Epsom Salt
750 PPM (100%) Target E.C 1.5 derived from HydroBuddy.

This would provide me with a basic profile of 2.6-1-4.12 (NPK) which is close to the 3-1-4 ratio but lowered N since I am in my 6th week of a 9 week strain.

Using stock solutions and dialing in nutrient strengths at various stages is the goal here. Using "stock" solutions being the simplest way of mixing these nutrients IMO. Just add water to create the highly concentrated stock with already dissolved salts!

Has anyone here attempted formulating custom solutions using Jacks/CalNit/Epsom through HydroBuddy without simply resorting to weighing out their salts and then mixing?

I thank you in advance.

 

[DeceiverZ]

One more note..

I also dissolve 40oz (2.5lbs) of Epsom salt (MgSO4 aka Magnesium Sulfate) into 1 gallon of RO water for a concentrated stock solution.

I've found this to be much simpler to use than weighing things out when combining feed solutions.

 

[LSWM]

As much as I want to agree with you Deceiver, I feel that Jack's need little to zero Mag/Sulf.

I have found that during flower it is easy enough to measure out slightly less from the CalNit bin and it works out just fine. For small amounts like 5 gal, your method may work well, but with 20 gal+ I feel that dry measuring by volume works perfectly, and easily allows you to adjust ratios as you see fit.

I measure very haphazardly by volume, and have seen no issues.

 

[DeceiverZ]

As much as I want to agree with you Deceiver, I feel that Jack's need little to zero Mag/Sulf.

I have found that during flower it is easy enough to measure out slightly less from the CalNit bin and it works out just fine. For small amounts like 5 gal, your method may work well, but with 20 gal+ I feel that dry measuring by volume works perfectly, and easily allows you to adjust ratios as you see fit.

I measure very haphazardly by volume, and have seen no issues.

Hi LSWM,

While I understand where you are coming from, I STILL believe measuring out by PPM's (or EC) is a much easier task than having to deal with tablespoons or scales.

I mix approx 50-60 gallons on a daily basis which is why I'm not fond of mixing the feed solutions on the spot. I don't care to know exactly how many gallons I am working with. Doing the feed ratios by PPM affords me this luxury. Also, I'm entirely too anal retentive to have any discrepancies in my feed solution. So taking guesses or working "haphazardly" doesn't work for me. I suppose that is part of the "dialing it in" process with our gardens.

The speed at which I can prepare my feed solutions, measuring by PPMs, is far faster than anyone who wishes to weigh their salts and have accurate measurements of how many gallons they are working with. This I can virtually guarantee to be true.

 

[LSWM]

Hi LSWM,

While I understand where you are coming from, I STILL believe measuring out by PPM's (or EC) is a much easier task than having to deal with tablespoons or scales.

I mix approx 50-60 gallons on a daily basis which is why I'm not fond of mixing the feed solutions on the spot. I don't care to know exactly how many gallons I am working with. Doing the feed ratios by PPM affords me this luxury. Also, I'm entirely too anal retentive to have any discrepancies in my feed solution. So taking guesses or working "haphazardly" doesn't work for me. I suppose that is part of the "dialing it in" process with our gardens.

The speed at which I can prepare my feed solutions, measuring by PPMs, is far faster than anyone who wishes to weigh their salts and have accurate measurements of how many gallons they are working with. This I can virtually guarantee to be true.

First off, I just want to point out I meant no disrespect. Simply showing that other methods can work as well with little to no extra thought/measuring/work involved.

I do not weigh my salts, and I don't think this is an accurate way of measure in most situations. Salts acquire moisture over time thus making weights differ, and mucking up the process. Measuring EC/PPM of solution is a much better way to handle things. Volume would be the second best in my opinion, and it works great for me!

If you feel the need to dial things in that tightly, more power to you, but in my experience feeding between 1.0 and 1.2 EC of Jack's/CalNit, in varying ratios throughout flower has presented no issues. Whether Mg is needed or not could be up for debate, but I personally haven't seen the need.

All my tanks are on float valves ensuring that the same amount is in the tank each time I mix. Makes things easy. The plants don't seem to mind my haphazard mixing either.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I appreciate your detailed input, as I'm sure others do as well. Just putting my $.02 in there as well.

 

[DeceiverZ]

First off, I just want to point out I meant no disrespect. Simply showing that other methods can work as well with little to no extra thought/measuring/work involved.

I do not weigh my salts, and I don't think this is an accurate way of measure in most situations. Salts acquire moisture over time thus making weights differ, and mucking up the process. Measuring EC/PPM of solution is a much better way to handle things. Volume would be the second best in my opinion, and it works great for me!

If you feel the need to dial things in that tightly, more power to you, but in my experience feeding between 1.0 and 1.2 EC of Jack's/CalNit, in varying ratios throughout flower has presented no issues. Whether Mg is needed or not could be up for debate, but I personally haven't seen the need.

All my tanks are on float valves ensuring that the same amount is in the tank each time I mix. Makes things easy. The plants don't seem to mind my haphazard mixing either.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I appreciate your detailed input, as I'm sure others do as well. Just putting my $.02 in there as well.

I meant no disrespect either friend. I agree with you that Jacks+CalNit contains ample amounts of Mg for the majority of strains out there. With certain strains however, I've noticed that supplementing Mg through Epsom salts greatly enhances their overall health. As with any strain, it is our responsibility to read the plant and act accordingly.

Of the 14 or so strains that I've grown with Jacks+CalNit, I've only had to supplement MgSO4 to perhaps 4 or 5 of them. Mostly Indica dominant hybrids from my experience.

One extra thing to note is that the additional Sulfur from Epsom appears to increase aromas in the garden. Every run where I've had to add extra MgSO4, there has been a noticeable increase in smell. I can't quantify this, except to say that it has been a common enough occurrence that I attribute to the additional Sulfur.

LSWM, If you're ever looking to change things up a bit. I'd highly recommend 3lbs of each dissolved into 1 gal of RO water. Use these as stock solutions and measure out final feed by PPMs. Perhaps you'll see a difference, perhaps not. Either way, I guarantee it will simplify your feed solution experience.

 

[apollojmr]

This is a great thread! Keep it up please so I can continue to stack knowledge