Reddit reviews MASTERBLEND 4-18-38 Complete Combo Kit Fertilizer Bulk (2.5 Pound Kit)

That is the wrong way to learn about growing. It's costly and slow. Just watch some YouTube videos and go try. It's how I got started. I knew 0 about growing anything 6 months ago. Now I've got a successful crop and have a single tomato plant with over 20 tomatoes on it and many bell peppers growing, okra, pablano peppers, raddish, lettuce, basil, potatoes, kale and brussel sprouts. I've only spent about $200 too.

Most Helpful links/videos:

Intro to NPK: https://youtu.be/-gtFvhEjA3o

This is a great intro to nutrient deficiencies and effects on plants and how to diagnose: https://youtu.be/9SotrCwqfHo

Cheap Vinyl Downspout grow box: https://youtu.be/bYhwJIarjQ0

Pool noodles instead of rockwool, rocks, or cups: https://youtu.be/rFQiDbkjxY4

Common Veggie EC and pH: http://www.homehydrosystems.com/ph_tds_ppm/ph_vegetables_page.html

Easy to use nutrients:
https://www.amazon.com/MASTERBLEND-4-18-38-Complete-Combo-Fertilizer/dp/B072F2BL9D/

Cheap good EC meter (EC is shown in μs/cm instead of the more common ms/cm, as in above link, so the EC shown should be divided by 1000 to get normal EC numbers; it's easy, just remember when it shows 2300 EC, that's an EC of 2.3, or 700 is 0.7. Also note I've found with all these EC meters you need to dip and then swish them around in the solution and then read it, otherwise it will read inaccurate due to tiny air bubbles on the probes) https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01FPG89CE?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Cheap good pH meter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07R4FMYY4?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Easy micro greens, which you use to sprout seeds you want to grow or eat as micro greens:
http://imgur.com/gallery/VARfNoo

ReUse 2 disposable plastic food containers, a cheap poly wicking cloth, and your choice of grow bed (dirt, coco coir, whatever)...

Stack the two containers.

Make 2 long cuts in the bottom of the top container thru the lid of the bottom container, along the 2 longer sides.

Push the cloth thru the 2 slots, such that it's layered across the bottom of the top container and the ends are hanging in the bottom container.

Fill bottom container with water.

Place grow bed material in top container on top of cloth.

The cloth wicks up the water and keeps the grow bed moist. You don't have to water it but maybe once every two weeks and can leave the micro plants there for staging plant growth every couple weeks cause they will grow slow. If you don't use dirt as the grow bed, you will need to replace water with a weak nutrient solution after three or four weeks.

MASTERBLEND 4-18-38 Complete Combo Kit Fertilizer Bulk (2.5 Pound Kit) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072F2BL9D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_E.PsDbVXZ6GS2

For when your tomatoes get bigger. Nightshades love this stuff. It's the dry ingredients so you get a ton of it and just mix a few grams at a time with water. It'll last you a while.

Powder, namely the MasterBlend 4-18-38 fertilizer. With it I have successfully started and fruited 3 variety of Peppers, Cucumbers, Basil, Strawberries, and Tomatoes. Although the tomatoes haven't fruited yet. They have all been alive for ~3 months and are all 1 foot tall.

I ordered this combo of dry ingredients per Jeb's approach on youtube. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072F2BL9D/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So far it's worked great for everything I've tried. It'll last me a looooooooong time too. Saves you shipping cost for all the water weight of the other stuff I would think.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zdi4KM3ewwfYMNo_KnU0A

Oh my, I had bought this $4 Phillips light and it was a plant light... I quickly returned it! It was unbearable and a total misguided decision.
Innovation at its finest my friend! I might have to look into that.
I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072F2BL9D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_yZmPBbJ22W12G
I’m a chem student and do research in a lab so I have access to scales but I couldn’t wait the weekend to weight out the nutes properly, so I just scooped it in by spoons and it works out! I didn’t shock the plants and every now and then I stirred the tote to dissolve the salts and that worked out too. I consider myself lucky that nothing really died on me. My heart would be crushed lol. I don’t know if these nutes are good for other difficult grows but I wouldn’t see why they can be used all around. There might be cheaper prices for greater amounts somewhere on the web!
The lights I use are regular house lights, I just found 2 Phillips LED that have high lumens and high temperature around 5000-6400K.
Thanks for the very much needed luck!

I'll do my best to answer your questions. The plants in the red solo cups are in soil, but once roots come out of the interior cup I start adding a small amount of nutrients. I don't actually water the plants at all. I simply add nutrients to the bottom. I do that almost everyday. Since when I check them in the morning they've downed all the nutrients I put in from the day before.

As for the nutrients I'm using a pack I got off Amazon. Here is the link for that. Not sure if my hyperlink worked so I'll just add the actual URL.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072F2BL9D/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use a half a teaspoon of the Masterblend and Powergrow, and about 1/4th a teaspoon the epsom salt per gallon of water. Both the Ghost plant and the Reaper in the middle are full on Kratky method.

The Ghost pepper plant was actually almost 2 feet tall when I purchased it. I cut it real low and removed it from the soil it was shipped in. Cleaned it off and brought it inside and transferred it to the kratky method. Sooo what do ya think? Any suggestions?

In b4:

• Yes, I know I need to wrap or paint those mason jars. I'm lazy and unmotivated, and the plants seem to do mostly okay despite all the nasty crap in the water.
  
• Yes, I know I need to exchange the water more often. See above.
  
• At some point I plan to add more mylar film to the blank wall areas and around the sides of the tomato stand.
  
• My nutrient mix is the standard MasterBlend mix. I aim for a pH of 6.5 to 7, but I only measure it when I make the mix. I never monitor the water once the seed is started.
  
• Seeds and planted dates are on the paper labels.
  
• Yes, I know that number of chives is basically nothing. I ordered some microgreens stuff (thanks guys!) to grow things like that in larger numbers.
  
  Been doing this for several months now. I use the same nutrient mix and other configurations for all my plants. They seem to do mostly okay.
  
  With this nutrient mix/pH/lighting setup I have been very successful at growing lettuce, basil, cilantro, and dill. I am now expanding to other seeds to see what can survive without needing multiple configurations. That is, I'm not gonna make two different nutrient mixes.
  
  Only the Aerogarden is different because it uses liquid nutrients. Since the roots in different pods tend to mix, I've learned the hard way that transplanting from a mature Aerogarden into a mason jar or bucket is not realistic. So now I basically just let it go until I'm ready to harvest everything in the Aerogarden and start a new crop. This thing is pretty sweet.