Manufacturer: General Hydroponics
Alien Bitflipper
August 10, 2020
Verified Purchase
The Flora series allows simple adjustment of nutrients to match the life stage of the plant. Everyone will need to purchase FloraMicro, FloraGro and FloraBloom to get started, but then separate bottles as needed.
It seems costly to spend about forty dollars on a set of nutrients, but it works out fine over time, especially when the growing situation doesn't require large amounts of liquid. A typical batch has between two and three tablespoons (30-45ml) when plants are in their final stages, but less when plants are young. Most plants require a feeding or nutrient change about every ten to fourteen days.
Our tap water, luckily, is between 6.8 and 7.0, which is good, so we don't do anything to it except add nutrients. It's a good idea to test the water, but don't obsess over it after that. A lot of the testing equipment I got was only useful the first little while of growing. Soon, the plants started "talking" in their way. Most vegetables are not very picky.
For hydroponic use, recommended dilutions on the bottle work fine as the only addition to water after any pH adjustments. There is no pH buffering in these nutrients, so they are not quite like the single component Miracle food that comes with AeroGardens.
Pak Choi, mustard spinach and early bush beans all grow fine in FloraGrow, with good yields and deep green foliage.
We use FloraGro successfully to grow vegetables in do-it-yourself hydroponic systems. So far, we've tried deep water culture with an air pump, recirculating deep water culture, ebb-and-flow, nutrient film and Kratky type setups. For economy of nutrients and general flexibility, ebb and flow is a favorite.
Floragro really stands out from many other nutrient systems because it does not settle out of the solution easily. Settling of nutrients is not an issue for recirculating or ebb-and-flow systems, but it is an issue for deep water culture, especially those using the Kratky method.
The big surprise with FloraGro is how it well works with container gardening. We have excellent results growing bush type zucchini in a five gallon bucket filled a conventional soil mixture. We feed the zucchini by watering it with the same concentration of nutrient as it would get in a hydroponic setup, but allow the bucket to drain at the bottom through holes in the sides. A fruit-bearing bush zucchini in warm weather uses about a half-gallon of water per day, sometimes more. Zucchini are heavy feeders that love water. Growing them in a bucket keeps ventilation high under the leaves -- so far we have no white mold growing this way.
Other plants in our soil-based large container gardens were suffering a bit from weak nutrients in spite of starting them in a good compost / sand / topsoil mix. Adding some FloraGro mix really perked them up without burning. Miracle would be less flexible but cost less too.
As much as we like the FloraGro, we use the powdered General Hydroponics MaxiGro for hydroponic jalapeño peppers in a deep water culture. For those, a tablespoon of the dried nutrient per gallon of water and four gallons of nutrient mix works great. I top up the reservoir with water as needed, but add a teaspoon of dry nutrient every two weeks. I stopped changing the water out after a while with no bad results. Leaves are deep green and plants have many beautiful small flowers. Growing leafy green veggies works well with FloraGro as well as MaxiGro. If we were simply growing crops that yield only greens, we might go with MaxiGro becuase it comes in a "Family Size" container. MaxiGro does not mix as easily as the FloraGro, but it does tend to stay mixed and so far, it seems to lower pH when added.
All nutrients should have higher dilutions when starting out, or when first using in an AeroGarden (unless one is using the supplied nutrient with the AeroGarden). Most plants will recover from nutrient burn, but it is better to avoid that stress in the first place.
Timing of nutrient availability means a lot to some plants. Beans for example, have a huge demand for nutrients just before they bloom. Anticipating that need with a bit more nutrient after the mature leaves set on the plant is much better than having the plant rob its lush foliage to produce blooms.
It would be nice to save a bit of money, but overall, the flexibility of this nutrient system is really terrific.
Andy in Washington
February 16, 2015
Verified Purchase
I bought this to use in my Aerogarden, and so far it seems to be working fine. The basil crop is crawling over the top of the light bar, so if anyone is a fan of pizza margarita, stop by.
=== The Good Stuff ===
* A little seems to go a long way. I have been using it at the rate of 1 1/2 TBSP per gallon, and the bottle looks like it will last a long time.
* The herbs (basil and oregano) seem to love the stuff. I haven't tried any other herbs, or any flowering plants.
=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===
* The instructions are a bit unclear. There seem to be two complimentary products, and it is not real clear if I need all three, or if this one is good enough for my herbs. To be honest, there is a website which I haven't bothered to look at, which may explain it better. For now, things seem to be growing fine, and I am a "don't fix it if it ain't broken" kind of gardener.
=== Summary ===
The product seems to be working fine for my application, and it is much cheaper than the Miracle-Gro product.
GardenCat
October 22, 2015
Verified Purchase
This is working great so far. I got it to go in my 7 pod LED aerogarden. I have basil plants growing and this has been keeping them very happy and tasty with no problems. Now, I didn't use it to start the plants, instead I took cuttings, but they all rooted fine in this and are growing very fast and well. I use 1.5 tablespoons per gallon of water.
It's a big container so I think it will last a long time, and considering the price of fresh basil in the grocery stores in the winter, it seems like a great value to me. The Aerogarden food was so expensive, and I knew basil isn't that picky, so I am glad I took the chance on it.
I haven't tried it with anything else, but if I do, I'll update the review.
2/2/2016 So far I've had great luck with lettuce and basil using this. I do have 2 pepper plants that have only had it too, and they aren't exactly as big as I'd have liked, but they are growing and have good foliage on them.
Jacob
October 02, 2017
Verified Purchase
Bought this for my Miracle grow Aerogarden for some basil and a pepper plant. I put in about .28 fl oz every 2 weeks. It doesn't seem to grow quite as fast and full as the miracle grow brand-- but it still does the job. I am afraid if I put too much I will burn the plant from overfertizilation. However, it's also considerably less money than the name brand. A 3 oz bottle of the aerogarden brand is about 10 dollars.
This brand:
Nitrogen: 2%
phosphate (p2o5): 1%
soluble potash: 6%
calcium: 1%
magnesium (water soluble): 0.5%
Aerogarden fertilizer:
Nitrogen: 4%
phosphate (p2o5): 3%
soluble potash: 6%
calcium: 1%
magnesium (water soluble): 0.5%
Elizabeth
June 23, 2016
Verified Purchase
I bought this to use in my aerogarden. I find it works better than the fertilizer aerogarden provides (and the bottle doesn't leak in shipping, as the aerogarden ones inevitably do) with better plant growth and healthier looking leaves. Basil in particular does well. I don't recall that there were any particular instructions about the dose, so I just squirt between 1-3 ccs in the water reservoir every 2 weeks. No smell, no staining, no mess. And you get a HUGE bottle. Update 3/22/2018: my basil keeps dying when it gets 3" tall, this is the 3rd crop in a row I've lost. I"m wondering if this bottle has a life span. Aerogarden has a new fertilizer formulation, I'm going to give that a try.
Chris
June 11, 2021
Verified Purchase
I gave this to a number of plants around my yard through the spring and they exploded in growth. Our rose bush added tons of new branches, a bush out front added so much I thought another plant was growing through it at first, our cactus grew more in a few months than I've seen it in years. Even being heavy handed on a couple smaller plants it didn't burn them. Dilute properly and this will serve you well, I just got some tobacco seeds and I'm looking forward to the kinds of gains I can get with this! (important to use with their micronutrient solution, too much new growth without more micros and you can see the defects start to come through).
N. rich
August 19, 2016
Verified Purchase
I ordered the Flora-Gro for my tower garden because the heat was taking a toll on everything I tried to grow. This product tripled the number of flowers on my eggplant. My tower garden is under a screen so you would think that I might have problems with pollinating the eggplants. Nope! I have dozens of the mini eggplants in a deep purple color. I put a tablespoon or so in everyday especially when I add water and the plant has gone crazy. I'm convinced it is the Flora-grow because that is the only thing that I am doing different from spring.
STEVEN C. FELDHACKER
August 18, 2015
Verified Purchase
I'VE HAD SOME UNREAL RESULTS WITH THIS PRODUCT ON SOME OF MY OUTDOOR SHRUBS, SHORT STORY I MIXED UP SOME FOOD FOR MY INDOOR PLANTS, THOUGHT IT MAY BE TOO STRONG SO USED IT ON MY TWO WALKWAY ENTRY PLANTS, LAST YEAR THEY WERE SHOWING SIGNS OF MALNURISHMENT ON ANOTHER FOOD, I GAVE EACH PLANT ONLY ONE MIXED GALLON, AND NOW WELL THEY'RE BIG FULL AND BEAUTIFUL,AND NEED A TRIMMING SO YOU CAN USE THE FRONT WALKWAY MY WIFE THANKS YOU TOO!!SCF
DebMc
January 20, 2016
Verified Purchase
I just started using this in my aerogarden and am quite pleased with it! I didn't feel that the fertilizer that comes from aerogarden was really doing that great, so I wanted to try something else. I am glad I choose this one! I use several of this company's products already and have been satisfied. So, I decided to give this a go. I will be purchasing the other products in this line soon. Try it! You don't be sorry!
CoolRunninJA
January 28, 2016
Verified Purchase
Great for hydroponics! I use it with my pepper plants. I mix 5ml of FloraMicro, FloraGro,CaliMagic, and 10ml Florabloom. Drop the PH down to 5.5 and use on both hydro and soil setups.
I have already noticed pods forming on multiple plants. My fatali pepper plant was only flowering with no results... After this.. i now have pods!!! So excited
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