DIY Snowstorm Ultra type potassium boost - increase trichome production

Advanced Techniques
#1

Snowstorm Ultra is a commercial product that has been used by many growers with great success. It contains potassium to increase essential oil as well as resin and terpene production in plants, and can be used along with your regular nutrients. It contains only potassium, and no nitrogen or phosphorous.

It is nothing more than 3% potassium hydroxide aka caustic potash, and can be made for micropennies a gallon. Food grade potassium hydroxide is around $15 for 2 pounds on Amazon, and cheaper elsewhere. This recipe calls for around 5 teaspoons in a liter, which is a half a cup per gallon, so 2 pounds could technically make 32 gallons of this stuff, and that rate of usage is a teaspoon per gallon of water, so this solution could treat 24,226.6 gallons of water which would be enough for 5 tankers full of water, which is enough for your entire town to use lol. Considering that 5 gallons of this stuff will run you approx $400 bucks if you buy it premade, that’s quite an impressive markup for some cool looking graphics and plastic bottles.

RECIPE:
30ml of food-grade potassium hydroxide
1 quart of distilled water

DIRECTIONS FOR USE:
Soil: Use 5 ml (1 tsp.) per gallon of water and apply every watering, or every other watering. The first dose is usually applied when lights are switched from veg to flowering. During peak flower development the dosage can be slowly increased, and can be used right up to harvest.

Hydroponics: Use 2 ml/gallon and run continuously. Always be cautious if running nutrients over 800 ppm.

Foliar: Use 2-5 ml/gallon and apply once a week. Stop foliar feeding once flowers start to bulk up.

Clones: Helps to increase the rate of growth of developed roots of clones, and works well with EZ-clone type setups. Add 2.5 ml/gallon to your watering schedule. It can also be used as a foliar spray at the same rate, 2 to 4 times/week.

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Why is it so hard to adjust the PH?
#2

Would potassium sulfate work the same way?
If so how much of that would I need to add to a gallon or how would I make a concentrate mix and what rate would I use that?

Sorry I just have a few pounds of potassium sulfate and could never find a reliable application/dilution rate to use it even if it is a common ingredient in ferts.

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#3

Snow Storm works so well because it (at least used to) contain PGRs.

If you need K, potassium sulfate is awesome (I use it) and it isn’t as alkaline.

J-icky, dissolve potassium sulfate in hot water until it won’t dissolve anymore, and use 2 tsp per 5 gallons of nutrient water. When it cools, a little should precipitate out of solution, that’s how you know it’s saturated. It’s usually about a cup in a quart of hot water. I use 50/50 MKP/potassium sulfate but it’s the same preparation.

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#4

it still works, and doesn’t contain any PGR’s in it now - this recipe is the current incarnation

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#5

not really - it is a different chemical and the plants react to each one differently. Potassium sulfate aka epsom salts are awesome though, and can be used to make Hammerhead. Potassium sulfate is an excellent source of potassium as it provides potassium in a stable condition at neutral pH.

Not all potassium is the same. Potash fertilizers are 2 main types in which potassium is combined with either chloride or sulfate. Potassium sulfate and potassium chloride differ in their effects on plants. The potassium in a fertilizer exists as a neutral, acid, or alkaline salt in which the cation K+ is combined with an anion: CI or SO 4. Surplus of potash doesn’t produce positive effects - too much of it will obstruct other minerals such as calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and zinc.

There is also potassium silicate aka silica, which is also helpful in the plants production of trichomes, but is still very different from potassium sulfate and potassium chloride.

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#6

Outstanding information. Thanks!

#7

I’ve used this with good results

image

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#8

I know it’s an old thread…

Cool topic. And I like your other topics too. DIY stuff. Nice.
Anyway, Magnesium Sulfate is aka “Epsom Salts”, right? Not “Potassium Sulfate”.

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