gtrvxr Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Alreet everyone. Been running Athena nutrients for a couple cycles now in a 16 pot iws flood and drain 100% clay pebbles. Results are amazing. Ive been running the same environment same lights everything for a while now. Ive used, Mills, Monkey Nutrients, Future Harvest, Emerald Harvest, Plant Magic, Advanced Nutrients, Ionic, Heavy 16, i've ran the lot. Athena is by far the cleanest in my system of hydro and the results and second to none. So anyway, first cycle I ran the heavy programme 1.6 EC through veg, and up 2.6EC in flower, second cycle I spoke to the rep and he's like mate, you need to add 1 EC to that chart throughout the cycle to get the best results. I was a bit late in hearing back from him so I started running my EC 1 over all the way through flower, highest EC was 3.6 EC, yes I know mental. Anyway it was even better than previous. Anyway just spoke to him today and he's telling me start my veg cycle at 3 EC and finish it at 4 EC, flower cycle 4 EC and highest 5 EC, what the actual fuck. I have no reason to discredit what he's saying as rising the EC to 3.6 in flower did the business, but 3-4 EC in veg man, I dinar about that!!!!!!!! Anyone else using it? Would love to hear some feedback on this! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Mix Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 (edited) All the hype looks good online it’s ridiculous high levels to feed at imho. Why does it have to be so high usually purer ingredients require less . Not saying it’s shit I use cheap powders and top out at EC 1.6 Hows you supposed to read EC that high if a truncheon tops out at EC 3.6 ? Why design a program that industry standard meters can’t read. you also used eight different programs so two a year would take 18 years to use all the above nutrients twice . How do you know if they good or bad if not used for say four or five cycles ? Seems a lot to try and keep changing . Edited September 24, 2021 by Arthur Mix 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrvxr Posted September 24, 2021 Author Share Posted September 24, 2021 I agree with you, it is ridiculous levels of feed. I don't no the answers myself mate. Well I've used the bluelabs guardian for years mate goes up to just shy of 5 EC so I'm unaware of the truncheons topping out at 3.6 EC. Ive used the powders with good results too mate. Yeah thats true but luckily I'm running a few every month. I have used them for 4/5 cycles on the same strain on the other listed nutrients, the only one of those that didn't leave horrible biofilm all over the place inside the tank, pipes and brain unit was Ionic and the powders. The other brands listed too massive amounts of cleaning etc every res change and cycle finish, roots covered in nasty stuff. Well I always go for trichome production. Ran the same set up for years although I upgraded to LED's which of course has helped trichome production as well as yield. Ionic and Athena are the cleanest I have used, clear tanks, clear pipes, clear brain, bright white thick roots. The changing of nutrients mainly come from the constant biofilm, so over time running the same strain I have been able to observe the characteristics of the strain etc. Athena has just smashed it, I wish they'd give me some free products Yeah but main question was on the EC though. Guess I'll gradually knock it up to 3EC and see how the plants react. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shumroom Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 I think I might have read something about a process called "crop stearing" @SYZYGY or @GSZZ These people really know their onions. Scary numbers to me Atb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SYZYGY Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 @Shumroom Cheers mate, but if there's one thing I know, it's that I don't know much! AFAIK with crop steering it's more about letting the EC rise naturally through carefully controlled dry-backs. Not going in at 3EC or whatever. Agree with what Arthur says above. Seems like ridiculous levels, and likely designed that way so the company gets more of your hard earned. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSZZ Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 I'm on my phone so can't really commit to the level of answer that I would like. I'm not 100% on the athena thing, its something to do with the kind of nitrogen they use apparently... sounds like marketing to me though. As for the high EC thing, the high EC recommendations of athena aren't linked with crop steering, but in the case of crop steering very high (2.0+) EC levels are used to achieve the high PWEC (pore water ec, substrate ec) in the first instance - in a discussion on another platform when I asked about the high ec levels and quality, I was told that the tissue samples would read the same because its the same amount of nutrients being delivered into a smaller shot of water - but that still doesn't make much sense to me, and I aired that in the discussion. I've seen since, loads of anti crop steering memes online and how its all garbage bud - which would make sense when it might as well have been grown with saline solution 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen-ken Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Ive been wanting to ask this question myself......not sure how everyone was going to react. There is a potcast where he explains why you can feed his products at such high levels (take with the necessary amount of US sales crap involved....reduced nitrate levels etc.. @GSZZ beat me to it) This is no where near the ceiling of whats being tried......oh the luxury of CO2 controlled rooms 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrvxr Posted September 25, 2021 Author Share Posted September 25, 2021 (edited) Great information guys, very informative. The issue iv got with dry backs is the flood and drain system. They're getting fed four times in 24 hours, I'm reluctant to knock the feeding schedule to dry incase they wilt and start using the nutrients sorted in the leaves. We all know how that goes. Yeah I've seen the podcast with the Athena owners, and Jungle boys are involved with it, they go straight in at 3 EC with no dry backs, they mention the dry backs cause the salts to stay to saturated in the grow media and burn, where as if they dripped constantly all day they take up every last drop of nutrients. I cant remember the exact terminology for this but its mainly to do with rockwool. Theres facilities in the states running 8 EC with Athena but as mentioned above massively monitored CO2 rooms. I've knocked it up to 2.2 EC will let them take this for a week then push the mill to 3 EC see what happens, trail and error right. See how the strain reacts to this, maybe my environment will need adjusting but only time will tell. Edited September 25, 2021 by gtrvxr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Mix Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 @gtrvxr Do you remember when the Jungle boys said Veg+bloom was the dogs bollocks ? They hyped and hyped about it I tried it and used loads more than I did with Maxigro Maxibloom. Turned out loads of fillers in it. Jungle boys prob don’t pay for Athena like they didn’t with veg+bloom beware the hype train from USA. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrvxr Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 Quick update everyone.... Running 3EC in last week veg, just changed the res that was at 2.5EC, no nutrient burn at all, everything happy as Larry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen-ken Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 39 minutes ago, gtrvxr said: Quick update everyone.... Running 3EC in last week veg, just changed the res that was at 2.5EC, no nutrient burn at all, everything happy as Larry Got any pics ? Are you running the Pro or Blended line ? Dry backs - Your running four times a day now in veg....In flower you're gonna have to bump that up ? Are you running CO2 ? What kind of PAR are you drawing ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrvxr Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, zen-ken said: Got any pics ? Are you running the Pro or Blended line ? Dry backs - Your running four times a day now in veg....In flower you're gonna have to bump that up ? Are you running CO2 ? What kind of PAR are you drawing ? I mate, I've attached them on here quality is terrible but you can see the leaves. (not sure they attached?) I'm running the blended line mate, spoke with the rep good few times always drop a message in weekly atm, but basically he was saying that the Pro line is mainly for drip fed systems. Told me to use the Blended. Yeah man, I'm gonna go up to 6-8 floods in flower. Running at 1000 ppm in veg, will knock that up to around 1200-1400 ppm in flower. I have no idea on par, its the only piece of equipment I don't have . Running maxibright 1030w Pro's and a maxibright 660w, 660s no more than a ft away and the 1030s 2 ft Edited October 13, 2021 by gtrvxr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shumroom Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 58 minutes ago, gtrvxr said: I've attached them on here quality is terrible but you can see the leaves. (not sure they attached?) You'll need to upload your photos directly to your gallery. Once in your gallery you can then insert image into your posts Atb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen-ken Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Ty....please keep us posted as to your progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen-ken Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Im trying to see the difference between their products and and TA/GHE. The Ammoniacal nitrogen content difference is massive as well as Cal/mag not being oxides. Therefore easier for hydro growing ? May be something to this 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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