growtech
success formula THE 2:1 LUCAS RATIO OF PLANT NUTRIENTS YIELDS BETTER BUDS WHILE TAKING THE GUESSWORK OUT OF YOUR GARDEN! BY DR. SCANDERSON FOR NORTHWEST LEAF
F
eeding plants is one of the areas that has possibly the largest number of variables and one of the most challenging areas of expertise to master in gardening. Not only are there many theories on what to give and when, but these opinions can change dramatically from strain to strain, method to method, room to room and even person to person. Add the mind numbing variety of different companies manufacturing agricultural nutrients, supplements, enhancers and the alike, and it’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. To that end, there is a simple, cost-effective and popular synthetic feeding method known as the Lucas Formula. When it comes to feeding schedules, I recommend starting with something simple and effective. Learn it exactly as prescribed. After you feel you have a handle on what the default method looks like, and how your system reacts, you
can start making adjustments to suit your garden’s specific characteristics and personal preferences. I know with the strains I run, I prefer to keep nitrogen higher through a later stage in bloom than prescribed by most manufacture’s default feeding schedules. In my opinion, I was only able to gain confidence in this method after doing several threshold experiments, which made it easier to determine the best amount of nitrogen for that strain, in that garden. Of the three formulas used in General Hydroponics, grow, micro and bloom, the Lucas formula uses only the micro and the bloom formulas in the specific ratios described below and does not use the grow formula (the green bottle) at all. The other nice part about the Lucas formula is that it uses consistent and simple 2:1 ratios that are easy to mix and remember, even for the avid gardener ;-). Lucas
you simply use 5 ml of the micro formula and 10 ml of the bloom formula for each gallon of water used in your reservoir. EX: A 20 galLON tray NEEDS 100 ML OF MICRO.
42/feb. 2012 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
provides two formulas depending on whether you use fluorescent growing lamps or HID growing lamps. Any time you use fluorescent growing lamps (T5, T8 etc.) regardless of the stages of growth, you simply use 5 ml of the Micro formula (brown bottle) and 10 ml of the Bloom formula (red bottle), for every one gal. of water used in your system and reservoir. For example, if you have an ebb and flow table with a 20 gal. reservoir used to fill and drain the tray, you would use 100 ml of Micro formula (5 ml/gal x 20 gallons = 100 ml) and 200 ml of
Bloom formula (10 ml/ gallon x 20 gallons = 200ml). Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected water. This is water which you have pH-adjusted to your preferred range, usually between 5.65.8 in hydro as required to maintain a full reservoir level. After adding back an amount of water equal to the total amount of your reservoir capacity, you should change the reservoir and put in fresh solution. For example in the same system when you have finished adding 20 gallons of water total in topping off your reservoir daily, it’s time to