Just means beneficials, so bacteria, fungi, and organic things that aren’t NPK or micronutrient minerals
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True, I got one of each of these 4lb tubs (2x 2lb packets inside) and it’s a years worth at least for my uses with a couple tents, for around sixty dollars:
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this is great advice, I wish I knew about OG a few years ago so I could’ve avoided some difficult lessons.
So now I got some good options, jacks, floraflex, cultured solutions, and mega crop, do they correct pH or will I need some more pH up/down? any good options for pH solutions? I read a little about how some last longer than others, my waters pH is usually around 8.8-9 and the GH flora nova corrects that pretty perfectly unless its lower
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Since you’re in soil just add solution grade gypsum along with your Epsom salts and that’ll buffer things but living soil doesn’t really worry about PH unless it’s consistently really extreme or fluctuating, the soil food web adapts. I have never PHed (measured or adjusted, either) anything in the three years since I started growing. The only thing I do is check the tap water TDS occasionally to see if it went way up and then I cut back on the calmag a little.
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Same. I have never PhD my water. Except in my clone box. I grow in soil.
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Since this one came out I have been using it as the third stage of a one-part regimen after those first two:
https://www.jacksnutrients.com/online-store/0-12-26-Part-A-p571478747
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ill be using jacks for rest of my growing days. 3 2 1 poof
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Maxibloom…will look into Jack’s though.
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Maxibloom has more Ca, Mg and S…I’ll probably stick with maxibloom…lol
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I stick with solution grade gypsum and maxibloom and that’s it.
Tons of rave reviews on Jack’s here but my veg plants always look deficient on it. Flower usually comes out really good but, I don’t like it. I think they look better all around on the gypsum/maxibloom combo. Maybe throw in a bit of Epsom.
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Athena, super clean
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I’ve had pH problems in the past especially when using the recommendations for early grow/flower. My tap pH changes I’ve seen it go from 8.2-9.4. Occasional recharge helps keep the living soil live so I’ve learned to deal pretty well.
A lot of support for the support for jacks and for that price its worth trying. I have 4 anaphylaxis clones I think I’ll do some back to back testing. That free organics alive is tempting and with all the jacks support I’m sold on trying it. I like that floraflex has a starter kit I’m interested in trying
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Once I went Jack I never went back 
Jacks 321 is so simple,cheap and effective that I don’t think I will ever switch to anything else EVER!!!
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Masterblend comes just as highly recommended as Jacks, this price comparison from Dr Dan is a good article, his whole site is worth a browse even for soil growers:
Also worth a read:
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One thing to check is both the PH and also the TDS (total dissolved solids) in your tap, that second one varies wildly and even at different times in the same water system (mine goes up after rain when our local surface groundwater and reservoir system gets flushed with minerals in runoff). You might be having more issues with the alkalinity of your water than the PH overall, I don’t know what sort of issues you were seeing but if you describe them and post here I bet folks who know more than me could help.
It seems like maybe you’re experiencing too high of an EC in early growth from a high TDS water source boosting your feeds too high, combined with some struggles for the soil food web to handle that swing in PH making uptake suffer as a result, which would just make the EC problem worse and you’d see deficiencies and excesses as a result.
This is from a bulletin out of my local Ag College, they’re awesome, a great resource for publications of all sorts like many of the old land-grant agricultural schools:
“Water Quality: pH and Alkalinity
Recently, some growers have expressed concern about the “high pH” of their irrigation water and its potential adverse effects on plants. The purpose of this article is to allay some of these concerns by pointing out the difference between “high pH” and “high alkalinity”.
Alkalinity and pH are two important factors in determining the suitability of water for irrigating plants. pH is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) in water or other liquids. In general, water for irrigation should have a pH b etween 5.0 and 7.0. Water with pH below 7.0 is termed “acidic” and water with pH above 7.0 is termed “basic”; pH 7.0 is “neutral”. Sometimes the term “alkaline” is used instead of “basic” and often “alkaline” is confused with “alkalinity”. Alkalinity is a measure of the water’s ability to neutralize acidity. An alkalinity test measures the level of bicarbonates, carbonates, and hydroxides in water and test results are generally expressed as “ppm of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)”. The desirable range f or irrigation water is 0 to 100 ppm calcium carbonate. Levels between 30 and 60 ppm are considered optimum for most plants.
Irrigation water tests should always include both pH and alkalinity tests. A pH test by itself is not an indication of alkalinity. Water with high alkalinity (i.e., high levels of bicarbonates or carbonates) always has a pH value ÷7 or above, but water with high pH doesn’t always have high alkalinity. This is important because high alkalinity exerts the most significant effects on growing medium fertility and plant nutrition.”
To address another thing that might help your plants:
Another cheap and easy thing I just started doing, and I think it made my last compost tea really explosive when the plants got it, is this stuff that neutralizes chlorine, chloramines, and ammonia, just a tiny 1/16 teaspoon in five gallons is all you need, I just put it in a bucket of 60F water and stir, wait five minutes then mix my feeds or start the compost tea, it came highly recommended by a bunch of people here for hydro and soil use as a better and cheaper option than running a filter or RO system since chlorine/chloramines were my only concern, it’s called Seachem Safe
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Even if I wanted to switch, I got ~24+ pounds to burn through. I mean, I’m already old. Maybe I’ll will my jacks to someone when I croak.
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You could always use it up by growing more plants per run! 
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Athena pro line. It doesn’t get much easier. Salts wise.
Next time I go organic in my earth boxes I’ll probably go with Gaia Green. Everyone I see that uses their stuff always seem to have such lush healthy plants.
Absolutely agree.
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that’s what my co-workers say I should try, so many options…
I’m happy to hear this, I’m about to give their whole system a try.
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