Jacks 321 Hydro discussion, questions, tips, etc

GreenGene discusses running 4:2 in flower in this youtube video. I’d be interested in hearing observations from anyone who has also tried 4:2 or 4:2:1. He suggests 4.25:2 or 4.5:2 would work as well. His last run used 4:2 and he seems pleased with it.

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Bottom line, I like the idea behind a 4:2 ratio because it’s providing more Fe (more overall micros), and more K:N. I’m running what was a 4:2 Jack’s run + MKP and other inputs, and what I see it fantastic so far but I’m also running low N throughout (120 tops at any one point).

Consider that Jack’s recommends a shot of their “Bloom” (high P) in early flower, for one week. Other protocols are similar in this way where a short burst of P is provided in early flower, like Canna:

I’ve also run a hybrid approach where I was aiming to replicate Harley’s RAW nutrient system using Jacks components plus a few inputs like MKP, gypsum, epsom, etc. Turns out that the 4:2 protocol marries up pretty well with Harley’s mid-bloom metrics.

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What app is that for the charts?

It’s just an excel spreadsheet. Here’s the latest look, it always changes over time. Same with the budget sheet!

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Nice spreadsheets. I thought about doing something similar with my soil lab results. I love data. :nerd_face:

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Have one with Athena, jacks, and canna by any chance? That’s some clean work right there, very nice man!

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Man I’m so glad I found this thread again, thanks @North_4th and @LD50 for geeking out some more and discovering that 4:2 ratio. My main concern with Jack’s is how you could tweak for “bloom”.

@lefthandseeds mentioned specifically in Mean Gene’s spreadsheet (under 4:2) that the Calcium looks low, and possibly supplementing with some Calcium Chloride to bring that up.

I was going to go with a full custom mix but found 25lb of 5-12-26 for $70 shipped, and got 2 bags. I should have jacks for the next, oh… 3 years or so.

I’ll report back on the next grow (about to chop here) as I test 4:2.

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Canna no, here’s why LOL:

canna

Check out my other thread for non-Jack’s stuff too I’d be happy to diagnose a few comparisons.

You might add MKP and AgSil if/as desired (AgSil being a quick K boost up to whatever Si elemental you want, ~30 seems common? Jack’s specifically wants you to boost P & K for a week (just like Canna) and not the whole flower run. At the same time we know P is socially-minimized (waterway pollutant) and K is expensive for some odd reason (see Athena prices). If you’re able to ignore your inner Encon officer you might just throw MKP at the flower run, and pull N back at the same time for a slightly smaller, intensely more potent result.

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I used Diamond K “solution grade gypsum” for extra Ca, because I wanted to boost both Ca and S together.

When feeding Jacks 321, the Epsom Salt has more sulfur than it does Mg. Magnesium (MgSO4).

When we drop the Epsom to go 4:2, we also lose a big source of Sulfur. It’s in tap water to some degree usually, so you don’t hear of widespread S deficiencies, but also I have never seen a S toxicity either and I’ve used a lot of gypsum, both as a media amendment, and a feed input. So the window is wide… aim for the stars?

Think also about it like… if it exists in combination together in nature, like S:Ca in Gypsum, and if you could sort of imagine the geology of where that is mined (Gypsum is surface mined all over the place…) Epsom Salt is I think originally a component of certain of spring water. Ok so we’re just adding friggin OG soil components back into our feed water LOL. I’ll still play the game though, Jack.

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Ive been running a 4:2:1 for over a year now almost and im loving the results. Like @LD50, i kept the epsom salt for the sulfur from the mag sulfate. I feed them this from seed to finish, but swapping to plain RO water for the last week or so, usually end with ppms under 250 at chop

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Btw, @Rhai88 read this thread lol

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We still have deficiencies in flower

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Aminos? Vitamins? Fulvic / Humic? Microbes / exudes control the show? World ‘o foliar? LABS??? You aren’t talkin’ pedestrian macros or micros are ya?

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Watching! :wink:

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I also couple my Jacks with Tribus, i really dont have any deficiencies that im aware of. I imagine the tribus is helping with nutrient absorption

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Are you running tribus every feed or??

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I give tribus to seedlings every feeding, and the vegging/flowering plants get it once a week.

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I needed to be on at this exact moment to see this thread!
:heart_eyes:

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Nice!! I feed 1ml Tribus (original) per gal most every water too. I’m about to start using kerfir serum to cover the amino/B-vit/exotic peptide angle on a test plant. I’ve been culturing kefir for something like 4 years now and only recently started to see a groundswell around using LABS.

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