question about lucas formula

[Strawberrycough]

is the lucas/mel formula the optimum or minimum requirements for MJ plants? there are alot of products on the market like koolbloom, monster bloom, big bud, overdrive that give are PK boosters. Should these be added to the lucas formula? Or are they overkill?.

[Carpet Muncher]

just guessing.. but when Lucas gets here he'll probably say it's all they 'need' to fulfill their genetic expression.. +/- a few freak phenos.. and from my experience, the boy is right. (thought he might say something about adding floraliscious <5ml per gal> for flavor/aroma.)

the only thing i have to say in opposition is regarding vege.. though it might not equate increased yields, i'm sure there are other products out there that perform better.. which to me means a shorter vege time.

[Lucas]

the NPK levels of the Lucas Formula is biased towards blooming, and I believe there is sufficient P and K without adding more.

I agree with CM that the plants will use more N than the formula contains, if offered, especially in veg.

otoh, I did some tests, and though it is true that a veg formula will grow "faster" it also produces hollow stems and increased stretch. Im talking about vegging with FloraNovaGrow, and blooming with FloraNovaBloom

I dont have any experience with Floraliscious, Liquid Karma, or other additives.

to the basic question of, there are so many additives out there, am I missing out if I dont use them? my answer is, I dont think the additives are needed.

my suggestion is to find a gardener whose results you respect, then copy what they do, including their feeding strategy.

One word of warning, nutes are the first place a grower looks in an attempt to enhance yield, but usually they end up fighting pH issues, deficiencies and overdoses, when they embark on the path of discovering the magic bullet nutrient combination.

I suggest you consider nutes as a secondary, not primary determinant of yield, and focus your energy on providing the best atmosphere you can for the plants. By atmosphere I mean the gasses, Oxygen to the roots, CO2 to the canopy..

otoh, most gardens do well if they get the right gasses, despite the many different products some people try to force feed their plants with.

I tend to see nutes as "packages" based on manufacturer, so if you want to play with Liquid Karma, made by Botanicare, then I would use it in combination with their other product line, Pure Blend Pro, but I would not mix and match brands, so I would not use Cal Mag for example, also a bottanicare product with GH nutes. otoh, I think Cal Mag is a great product to combine with Pure Blend Pro.

after all the years Ive spent analyzing nutes formulas and comparing them, I find there is a range of values that the plants dont seem to care about one way or the other. High N, low N, high P, low P, high K, low K, high Mg, low Mg, Ive seen combinations of all those possibilities, and the plants dont care.

Most of the problems people have with plant health are not nutes based, they are problems with delivering oxygen to the roots or CO2 to the canopy.

The Lucas Formula is just one example of a feeding program that works well, if the rest of the environment is functional. It is a way to eliminate nutes as a focus of the gardeners energy, so the more important and subtle factors can be dialed in.

hth
Lucas

[hydrorascal]

Just about any nute regime will work. If followed.

The beauty of the now famous Lucas formula is not only simplicity but repeatability. Its nice to have a 'dialed-in' res so that all the other factors
can be tweeked to the max !! 1000's have proven just how 'dialed-in' his formula is.

I will sure confirm Lucas's statement "I suggest you consider nutes as a secondary, not primary determinant of yield..."

A properly run Lucas formula res with a well attended plant set will out yield about anything else out there. Keep the PH, the temps, the levels where they are supposed to be, prune them unmecifully with the light kept close and just enjoy.

A certain med user who on occasion is here yielded ~9z under a 250w HPS. Do the math. Not one with yrs of experience either... just one who is willing to learn and to follow suggestions.