PK inhibiting terpene production??

[Spaventa]

A grower in Spain is reporting higher terpene levels WITHOUT PK. He skipped PK this run and says it’s the stickiest, smelliest harvest he’s had!
He says yield is only down by 10%.
He runs Bruce Banner clone and he’s been at this for 30 years so I think he might have a point.

Anyone else ever noticed better resin and terps without PK?? Is it really quality vs quantity?

 

[Creeperpark]

A grower in Spain is reporting higher terpene levels WITHOUT PK. He skipped PK this run and says it’s the stickiest, smelliest harvest he’s had!
He says yield is only down by 10%.
He runs Bruce Banner clone and he’s been at this for 30 years so I think he might have a point.

Anyone else ever noticed better resin and terps without PK?? Is it really quality vs quantity?

That doesn't surprise me, friend. I always had super results without pk boosters. I don't use any additives only macro and micronutrients. I have saved $$$ without additives.

P-K boosters are hydroponic supplements that you feed to your plant on top of a regular base nutrient. A P-K boost is strictly phosphorus and potassium, whereas a base nutrient has both macro and micronutrients. Google

 

[Thesearch]

I have heard of hemp farmers using potassium to lower thc levels, and I imagine it would affect other metabolites as well.

 

[chronosync]

I stopped using PK boost a while ago. Only noticeable diff was healthier plants and better quality end product.

 

[Charles Dankens]

Listening to the Cannabis Science presentations on YouTube I hear that P at 50ppm and K just a little higher is optimal for fertigation under lab chamber experiments. Nik Nikolayev talks about it often too but I am thinking of Bugbee and Bernstein

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6589925/

 

[Boo]

I have used a product called Terpinator and one which was a flower stacker in the past… I believe they’ve done nothing with damage to my crops. I’ve been growing quite a while and I’ve never use those products but when I did, I lost an entire tent because there wasn’t any trichs on any of the plants… I will stick to my typical NPK, silica, Calmag, and mammoth additives…

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Used kool bloom once... and the rest of it sat around for nearly 10 years before I threw it out.

Less is more with cannabis. When you make a mistake with cannabis plants, it's significantly better to underfeed than overfeed.

 

[Spaventa]

Very, very interesting

I have heard of hemp farmers using potassium to lower thc levels, and I imagine it would affect other metabolites as well.

Shit. That’s like finding out a medicine you’ve been giving is actually a poison! I will need to investigate this seriously tomorrow.

 

[goingrey]

Effect of Potassium (K) Supply on Cannabinoids, Terpenoids and Plant Function in Medical Cannabis

We have demonstrated in previous studies that the essential macro-nutrients nitrogen (N) and phosporous (P) have profound effects on the production of cannabinoids and terpenoids in the cannabis plant. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the hypothesis that potassium (K) supply, which...

www.mdpi.com

Select notes:

The concentrations of most cannabinoids and terpenoids declined with the elevation of K supply

and:

60 mg L−1 K is the suggested application level to maintain high function and yield combined with high secondary metabolism

 

[linde]

Used kool bloom once... and the rest of it sat around for nearly 10 years before I threw it out.

Less is more with cannabis. When you make a mistake with cannabis plants, it's significantly better to underfeed than overfeed.

Yup overfeeding is the biggest rookie mistake. The plant only uses so much and the rest builds up in soil and creates lockouts and other issues. Less is definitely more with cannabis. Not sure about the PK terpene theory but I wouldn't doubt it.

 

[Creeperpark]

I have noticed over the past years so many crooks that take advantage of people's lack of information on any subject. If it sounds too good to be true then it is probably misleading motivated out of greed. I pretty much don't believe anything when it comes to corporate greed or what the professionals say.

 

[Spaventa]

I’ve always used pk13/14 in hydro and never doubted it adds density and therefore weight. It makes the nugs hard. I’ve never thought about how it affects anything else but I’ve rarely got feeding wrong. Not because I’m a genius… hydro is cheating lol The plants drink up what I give them with a stable EC and perfect ph swing, without complaint, just heavier, harder buds.
I’m going to skip it for my pheno selection runs.

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

Effect of Potassium (K) Supply on Cannabinoids, Terpenoids and Plant Function in Medical Cannabis

We have demonstrated in previous studies that the essential macro-nutrients nitrogen (N) and phosporous (P) have profound effects on the production of cannabinoids and terpenoids in the cannabis plant. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the hypothesis that potassium (K) supply, which...

www.mdpi.com

Select notes:

The concentrations of most cannabinoids and terpenoids declined with the elevation of K supply

and:

60 mg L−1 K is the suggested application level to maintain high function and yield combined with high secondary metabolism

It's difficult to say what their results are. There are some methodological problems with the paper. They do not report absolute numbers (only graphs and I'm not in the mood to digitize them) and crucially they do not report error bars.

But looking at the graphs it appears to be that the high K treatments had a higher yield. At the same time the cannabinoid concentration declined slightly. Overall it might have yielded more THC but also more biomass which diluted it.
If you grow for extraction or just wanting a nice profit that tradeoff might be worth it while you won't win the next 'highest THC trophy'. But then that is rarely desireable.

 

[goingrey]

It's difficult to say what their results are. There are some methodological problems with the paper. They do not report absolute numbers (only graphs and I'm not in the mood to digitize them) and crucially they do not report error bars.

But looking at the graphs it appears to be that the high K treatments had a higher yield. At the same time the cannabinoid concentration declined slightly. Overall it might have yielded more THC but also more biomass which diluted it.
If you grow for extraction or just wanting a nice profit that tradeoff might be worth it while you won't win the next 'highest THC trophy'. But then that is rarely desireable.

Sure, you can overfeed and it might be worth it financially in non-discerning markets or if it's just biomass for processing. But for percy or customers that appreciate quality, wouldn't do it..

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

Sure, you can overfeed and it might be worth it financially in non-discerning markets or if it's just biomass for processing. But for percy or customers that appreciate quality, wouldn't do it..

The paper does not support that conclusion. It does not talk about taste (and terpenes are solvent, not flavourant). Nor does a 10 % decrease in THC have a meaningful effect. Set and setting have more influence on the high than a slight reduction in dose.

I read it as a definite maybe regarding the value of PK boosters.

 

[IC GLASS]

A grower in Spain is reporting higher terpene levels WITHOUT PK. He skipped PK this run and says it’s the stickiest, smelliest harvest he’s had!
He says yield is only down by 10%.
He runs Bruce Banner clone and he’s been at this for 30 years so I think he might have a point.

Anyone else ever noticed better resin and terps without PK?? Is it really quality vs quantity?

That's really interesting! I've heard some growers say that focusing less on PK can sometimes lead to better terpene profiles and stickiness, as it might allow the plants to concentrate more on flavor and aroma. It does seem like it could be a case of quality over quantity—sometimes the best results come from tweaking your approach. Have any others tried this method?

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Remember, elements and molecules cannabis absorbs and does not need will get painted on the cell walls forever. What goes on the walls does not flush back out. I call it nasty weight. It makes the plant heavier with non-wanted flavors and harshness.

This happens because cannabis is not only a dynamic accumulator, it has multiple pathways to uptake elements/molecules other plants do not. So it WILL absorb more than it can handle, and it will look 'ok' health wise when the quality has already been trashed.

Adding P/K when it's recommended is almost the worst time to be adding nutes to a flowering cannabis plant.

@Spaventa You're going to like the pheno hunt plants much better.