I used to have several sagging shelves in my grow op supplies closet stacked with bottles of hydroponics base nutrients and supplements, along with so-called organic and natural fertilizers and supplements.

One reason I had dozens of fertilizer bottles is I was competing different brands against each other in test grows so I could write about what works best for you.

Another reason is I naively believed hydroponics nutrients and fertilizer company hype about the need for all these products.

I spent way too much time studying manufacturer feed charts and carefully adjusting pH while monitoring parts per million and EC.

I spent a huge amount of money on every new product that came out, seeking the miraculous potion that would make my harvests worth gold.

But after years of testing every nutrients brand I could get my hands on, I hadn’t seen any significant difference in growth rate, yield, or potency between identical clone crops using different brands of fertilizer, except in cases when a brand was crap so it ruined my plants.

When cannabis prices dropped due to legalization and I was earning less money selling, I cut grow op costs by scaling back on the number of hydroponic nutrients and other fertilizer products I was using.

I had been so programmed by manufacturer advertising that I anticipated an acute crash in plant health, productivity and yield as I cut out all but the essentials.

What I mean by “essentials” is that I cut back to using only base nutrients, a root zone beneficial microbe product, one P-K bloom booster, a resin booster, and a little molasses.

I grow in soil, coco coir, rockwool, perlite, soilless mix, and deep water culture, depending on season and my goals, and there are minor adjustments needed to maximize root feeding in each of those root media.

For example, soil and peat-based soilless mix tend to store nutrients elements, so I had to feed way less than the manufacturer’s feed charts recommend, and had to flush frequently. If I failed to do that, nutrients overload burns plants and locks out some nutrient elements.

With deep water culture and other pure hydroponics such as rockwool, it’s easy to overfeed because those systems are so efficient at transferring nutrients into roots, so I work off a reduced concentration feed program for those plants too.

When I tested so-called organic and natural fertilizers, they were often smelly sludge that clogged my fertigation systems, fouled my root zone, and made fungus gnats very happy. I also used an organic fert system that featured minerals and other plant food powders and pucks. That approach created serious nutrients-related issues and I had to abandon it and go back to hydroponics nutrients.

I kept seeing the same results over and over: crops grown with only base nutrients, beneficial microbes, molasses and a bloom booster performed as well if not better than crops grown with all of those extra components that hydroponics nutrients companies and organic fertilizer companies push on growers.

The reason I kept doing the testing is I didn’t want to admit I’d been brainwashed by advertising and marketing all those years, that I’d wasted at least $250 per season on bottles I didn’t need to use.

I was sure that eventually a crop test would prove that using all those extra bottles translated into way more than $250 worth of increased harvest weight and potency…but I was wrong.

The other members of the Growing Marijuana Perfectly team did the same experiments and got the same results.

Our formerly sagging fertilizer and hydroponic nutrients shelves are now a lot lighter.

The multi-product, complicated, painstaking, time-consuming, costly fertigation programs we used to use are used no more.

It’s such a great feeling to use a one-part base product and that’s all I feed during grow phase other than beneficial microbes.

It’s a great feeling to use a one-part bloom base product, add a PK booster after week two of bloom, and apply beneficial microbes root zone product.

It only takes me a minute or two to mix the feed program, the program works perfectly, I rarely if ever have to flush, leaf tip burn indicating overfeeding has disappeared.

I don’t have calcium/magnesium problems, I save money and time, I get fantastic yield per watt of tasty, sticky, potent buds.

By far, the most useful hydroponic nutrients company we’ve tested is TPS Nutrients.

Be aware that as with the grow lights industry, many nutrients and fertilizer companies selling to the marijuana growing community are scammers.

Growers who embark on the same fertigation downsizing as I have first use up their existing feed program, then convert to the simpler program, and are rewarded for making the switch.

Also of note is the growing trend towards “living soil,” and organic soil amendments, such as Gaia Green products. We’re trying to get more information about them, and some samples, so we can test them versus TPS.

To paraphrase the legendary Bob Marley from his heartbreaking “Redemption Song,”

“Emancipate yourself from nutrients slavery.”