A concentrated Dutch nutrient line built around a two-part base and a long list of stage-specific additives. It has a reputation for producing results and for being unforgiving of casual measurement. Both come from the same property: how concentrated it is. This is the usage guide. For the brand background, see the overview topic House & Garden®: Premium Nutrients for Professional Cannabis Cultivation (topic 21). This guide covers what the main products in the range are for and when they belong in the cycle, the mixing rules that will ruin a reservoir if you get them wrong, and the pH targets by substrate. It does not reproduce a dosage table (see section 6).
1. The two mixing rules
Before anything else, because getting these wrong wastes a whole reservoir:
Add A to the full water volume, mix thoroughly, then add B.
Never combine the concentrates.
Some published versions of the manufacturer’s chart also say to wait about 15 minutes after adding A. If your chart says so, follow it. Otherwise, treat a short wait after thorough mixing as good practice rather than a fixed rule.
Why this matters chemically. Two-part base nutrients are split for a reason. If you combine concentrated calcium from one part with concentrated phosphates and sulphates from the other, they will react and precipitate. You get a solid deposit and a solution missing the elements that fell out of it. Diluting A fully into the water first, letting it disperse, and only then adding B keeps both below the concentration at which they react.
This applies to every two-part line, not just this one. It is the single most common mixing error in hydroponics.
A third rule from general practice, worth adding: if you are also adjusting pH, dilute pH UP or DOWN in water first. Do not add it neat to a concentrated solution. Neat adjuster creates a local pH spike, and at that spike calcium phosphate, calcium sulphate and iron can precipitate.
2. pH targets by substrate
| System | Target pH |
|---|---|
| Aqua (recirculating hydroponics) | 5.7–5.9 |
| Coco | 5.8–6.3 |
| Soil | 5.8–6.3 |
These ranges are general practice and are not taken from a specific chart version. Check the pH targets on the current chart for your base.
Note the narrower window for recirculating systems. In a reservoir feeding the same solution repeatedly, pH drift compounds. In coco or soil, the substrate provides some buffering.
3. The base nutrients
Soil A + B: the two-part base for soil. If you grow in soil, this is your base, not the coco or hydro one.
Cocos A + B: the two-part base formulated for coco coir substrates, with macronutrient and magnesium ratios adjusted for coco.
Hydro A + B: the two-part base for run-to-waste hydroponics, where the feed passes through the medium once and drains away. This covers rockwool, perlite, clay pebbles and similar inert media in drain-to-waste setups.
Aqua Flakes A + B: the two-part base for recirculating hydroponic systems (NFT, flood and drain, DWC), where the same solution returns to the reservoir. Used throughout the grow cycle.
Pick the base by system first. The feed chart you follow must then match that base.
Why coco needs its own formulation. Raw coconut coir arrives with sodium and potassium occupying its cation-exchange sites. Calcium and magnesium in your feed displace that sodium and are then held on the exchange sites themselves. So coco releases sodium into the root zone and removes calcium and magnesium from solution at the same time. A coco-specific base compensates for that. A hydro base used in coco will typically leave you short of calcium and magnesium. This is why “just use the hydro one in coco” is a mistake, and it is worth understanding rather than just following.
Related practice regardless of base: buy washed and buffered coco, and rinse it yourself anyway. Cheap bulk agricultural coir in this region is often sold unwashed, so a low price is no saving if the coir arrives salty.
4. The additives, and when each belongs
Timings below are approximate. Follow the current chart for your base and cycle length.
| Product | What it does | When |
|---|---|---|
| Roots Excelurator (Gold and Silver versions) | Root stimulator intended to enhance root production and vigour | Early growth onward; most relevant early. Check the chart for when it stops |
| Algen Extract | Concentrated Norwegian sea kelp (Ascophyllum nodosum) extract | Added to the nutrient solution in growth and bloom, per the current chart |
| Amino Treatment | A combination of nitrogen and amino acids, intended to improve mineral absorption | Vegetative stage through into flowering; typically stopped once flowers form |
| Multi Zen | Boosts nutrient uptake and plant vigour | Throughout the cycle |
| Bud-XL | Supports sugar transfer to the flowers, to enhance growth and yield | Mid-flower through to harvest |
| Top Booster | A short-term PK additive supplementing the flowering process | One week only, around week 5 of flowering, per the current chart |
| Shooting Powder | Short-term bloom additive dosed by the sachet, intended to maximise flower growth and yield | Roughly the last three weeks before harvest, at a limited sachet dose, per the current chart |
| Drip Clean | Prevents salt build-up in equipment and in the growing medium | With every feeding |
| Magic Green | A foliar product delivering nutrients directly to the leaves | Vegetative only |
On Roots Excelurator Gold vs Silver: retailer copy describes Gold as the thicker formulation, aimed mainly at soil and coco. Silver is the thinner version, aimed at recirculating hydro and fine-emitter or aeroponic systems. Check the manufacturer’s current product page for your system before choosing.
Four things to take from that table:
Top Booster and Shooting Powder are both short-term products. Neither is a “run it through flower” additive. Treating them as one is a common misuse of this line. Read the chart for the exact week and dose. Product copy also advises against combining Shooting Powder with Top Shooter, its liquid counterpart.
Drip Clean is a maintenance product, not a plant product. Its job is keeping emitters, lines and the substrate free of salt accumulation. In a drip system, this is what stops your emitters blocking. In a substrate, it reduces the salt build-up behind many root-zone problems. It runs at a low, constant rate with every feed.
Magic Green is foliar, so it stops when flowers form. Spraying anything onto developing flowers risks residue and creates a moisture-driven mould risk. In a humid climate that risk is not theoretical. The same applies to any foliar use of Algen Extract.
Algen Extract can congeal in the bottle. Shake or mix it well before dosing.
5. Using a concentrated line properly
The line’s own documentation is direct about this: it is very concentrated, and using the fertilisation chart accurately is the key to success.
What “accurately” means in practice:
Measure by volume with a proper syringe or measuring cylinder, not by counting drops or eyeballing a cap. On a concentrated line, a 20% measurement error is a large nutrient error.
Mix in a separate container, then add to the reservoir, rather than dosing concentrate directly into the reservoir. Set concentration first, then adjust pH. pH takes longer to stabilise than EC, so read it only once the reservoir is properly mixed.
Verify with an EC meter. The chart tells you what to add; the meter tells you what you actually have. If those disagree, something is wrong, usually your water’s starting EC.
Know your source water EC before you start. Every chart assumes you begin near zero. If your tap water is already at 0.4 mS/cm, everything you add sits on top of that. In much of Thailand and Southeast Asia, tap and well water carries a meaningful mineral load, and it varies seasonally with rainfall. Measure yours, in both seasons.
And know your meter’s ppm scale. Meters use 500, 640 or 700 conversion factors, so a solution at EC 1.0 mS/cm can read 500, 640 or 700 ppm depending on the brand. Record targets in EC, which has no conversion convention attached.
6. Why there is no dosage table here
Manufacturer charts are revised and differ by system, by cycle length (8- and 10-week versions) and by unit, so a reproduced table goes stale.
- Use the current official chart for your base and cycle, and check its version and date. The aqua and coco charts are not interchangeable.
- Check the units. US gallon = 3.785 L; imperial gallon = 4.546 L. Confusing either with per-litre is a large dosing error on a concentrated line.
- Start below the chart and work up over a week or two.
- Trust the plant over the chart. Tip burn means back off, whatever the week says.
7. Adapting to a tropical room
Four adjustments that matter here and are not in any Dutch feed chart.
Reservoir temperature. The warmer the water, the less dissolved oxygen it can hold. Temperature sets that ceiling. Aeration keeps dissolved oxygen close to the ceiling, but it cannot push it above the limit set by water temperature. So air stones are still worth running, and cooling is still needed. Low dissolved oxygen at the root zone is the condition in which Pythium and root rot establish. The general hydroponic target is 20–22 °C, and a reservoir in an unconditioned Southeast Asian room will not sit there by itself. Reservoir chilling is not optional in this climate. At minimum, insulate the reservoir, keep it off a warm floor and exclude light. This is the single largest difference between running this line here and running it in the Netherlands.
Faster transpiration, therefore faster concentration. Plants in a hot room drink more water relative to the nutrient they take up, so a recirculating reservoir concentrates as it depletes. Check EC daily, top up with plain pH-adjusted water rather than fresh nutrient, and replace the solution on schedule rather than chasing it.
Higher water demand overall. Feed volumes on any chart assume a temperate transpiration rate. Expect to irrigate more often.
Salt accumulation in substrate. More frequent irrigation, plus more minerals in the source water, means faster salt build-up in coco or soil. This is where Drip Clean earns its place, and where a proper runoff percentage matters. Irrigate to genuine runoff rather than to field capacity, so salts leave the pot.
8. Common mistakes
- Mixing A and B together. Precipitation, ruined batch.
- Adding B before A is fully mixed into the full water volume.
- Running Top Booster or Shooting Powder beyond their short windows on the chart.
- Using the wrong base or chart for your system: aqua with coco, hydro in soil, and so on.
- Confusing per-litre and per-gallon dosages, or US and imperial gallons.
- Adding pH adjuster neat into a concentrated solution.
- Measuring EC before all additives are in. Organic additives raise EC only slightly, but take your final EC reading after everything has been added, then adjust pH.
- Ignoring source water EC.
- Foliar spraying into flower.
- Chasing a suspected deficiency by adding more, when the correct response to an unbalanced reservoir is usually to replace the solution.
For those running this line in Thailand or elsewhere in Southeast Asia: what is your reservoir temperature, and did you have to chill it? Every technical discussion of this brand comes from northern Europe, where 20–22 °C in a reservoir is the ambient default rather than something you engineer. That gap is the most important thing this forum could document about running it here.
Related reading on this forum: the House & Garden brand overview (topic 21); the usage guides for Grotek (topic 1109), CANNA (topic 1118) and Advanced Nutrients (topic 1127); and topic 392.
Posted by a member account that distributes these products in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Product formulations and feed charts change; always use the manufacturer’s current documentation for dosages. Cannabis cultivation is regulated differently in every country. In Thailand, cannabis flower is a controlled herb under the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis) B.E. 2568. Cultivation requires notification or licensing under the applicable Ministry of Public Health rules, flower may not be sold or advertised online, and recreational use is not permitted. Nothing here is legal advice.