Side-by-Side GDP: Fox Farms vs. Advanced

DISCLAIMER(S): I have no interest or ties (financial, employment or otherwise) with either product manufacturer. I am doing this purely out of personal curiosity and thought others might enjoy watching as well. I will do my best to preserve the integrity of this blind experiment. If I am forced to learn the true identities of the nutrient trios for any reason, I will make note of them in that week's notes. Please take any conclusions from this trial with a grain of salt as this is only a comparison of one plant to another which may be influenced by irrelevant factors such as genetics, sprouting speed, or simply a particularly vigorous seed. In my opinion, you would need a larger sample size to truly draw a definitive conclusion. Now on to the fun stuff. Enjoy! Hello Everyone! Experiment parameters: So for my third grow I decided to do something a little different. In the past I have tried using the Fox Farms (FF) hydro trio but had persistent issues with nutrient burn (even at 1/8 recommended dosage well into veg) and immobility. I decided to flush them for 24 hours and try General Hydro's (GH) trio instead. The results were almost immediate recovery, new growth with no burns, and a much smoother ride for the rest of the grow. I was pretty upset feeling like I had wasted a few bucks so I swore off Fox Farms. Now I want to see if it could have been some other factor than just those base nutrients but instead of GH, I want to try AN's pH perfect trio. I am going to be doing a blind experiment to make sure neither plant is influenced by any biases I might have which means you won't know which is which either! My Fiance has graciously volunteered to play the role of adding the base nutrients to the reservoirs so that I will not know which plant is receiving which trio. After I harvest them (keeping them separate) she will reveal the plants nutrient manufacturer to us. A big thanks to her! Strain: Granddaddy Purps Feminized Breeder: MSNL Number of Plants: 2 (My brother requested GDP #1 be named Dankisha so there you go bud) Lifespan to date: Dropped seeds into water on 4/25/17, put into Rapid Rooter plugs in humidome on 4/29/17, placed in 6" net pods with hydroton and into reservoir on 5/1/17. Grow type: Deep Water Culture (DWC), 4.5 max gallon reservoir size. Nutrients: Each seedling will be receiving either the hydro Fox Farms trio or the Advanced Nutrients (AN), pH Perfect, Grow, Micro, and Bloom. Each plant will be receiving many different supplemental nutrients from the advanced line. See each week for specifics. Feeding strategy: After many over fertilization issues in my first grow, I decided from there on out to take a very conservative approach to feeding schedules. Each trio and the AN additives will be only be added to the reservoir when I notice the plants showing a "hunger" through early stages of visible signs of nutrient deficiency. At that point, each plant will be given a 1/4 of the manufacturers's recommended dosage for each component. The exception to this rule is the B-52 which I added 3 mls (1/10th recommended dosage for week 1) of to each reservoir because it is packed with b-vitamins which help will rigorous vegetative growth and stalk rigidity. When the plants have matured enough, I will increase the dosage to 1/2 for each base nutrient and then as high strength allowed by the plant in flower. Lights: Each plant has a 300W (132W actual) Galaxy Hydro LED positioned directly overhead throughout its life from veg to flower. Light to plant distances will be adjusted as needed, generally decreasing with plant maturity. Water: Home reverse osmosis treated water system beginning once nutrients are added. Update schedule: I will try to send out the updates every Saturday or Sunday when I change the reservoirs out. I am very excited to see how this turns out. My own hypothesis is that the Advanced Nutrient (AN) trio will be able to run at a higher PPM than the Fox Farms (FF) trio without burning the plant, causing deficiencies, or lockout. I am basing this on a shared opinion I have read online that FF causes buildup and blockage of nutrient channels leading to deficiencies or burns. I think that being able to run a more aggressive feeding schedule for a longer period of time will increase the bud weight of the Advanced Nutrient crop. I am also very interested in determining the validity of the "pH Perfect" technology claim by AN. I wonder if the inherent pH buffers in the AN trio will force the pH to stick at a sub-optimal (outside of the range of 5.8-6.2 for my purposes) level. I hope to do documented experiments similar to this one in the future as well. If anyone has any ideas, tips, or tricks they want to share, please feel free to let me know. Enjoy!