Aptus brings to us the finest professional Dutch organic plant boosters
Aptus Plant Tech are a Dutch company that pride themselves in specialising in the design and development of very high quality plant growth boosters that really make a difference. Now there's a lot of boosters and additives out there. Virtually every nutrient manufacturer has at least one in their own line-up, most often a PK booster. However, Aptus Plant Tech's research led them to some very interesting conclusions about what a plant needs and when. This, in turn, led them to a very different approach to nutrition supplementation.
What Aptus Discovered!
Aptus Plant Tech's research indicated to them that the nutritional profile required by plants is more complex than can be satisfied properly by just adding a PK booster for the peak weeks of flowering / fruiting. In fact, it showed that a plant's requirements change on pretty much a weekly, if not a continual basis:
We all know that plants need increasing amounts of Nitrogen (N) during Veg. This requirement continues on through to the end of early fruiting before it begins to go down in mid-fruiting. During the flowering/fruiting stage, you might notice that a plant's requirement for additional Phosphorous (P) does not really start until week 2 or 3 and then tails off as late bloom approaches. The most surprising thing they discovered is that supplemented Potassium (K) is not really required until mid to late bloom for ripening and maturation purposes.
The problem with PK Boosters
Boosters that contain combined P and K (PK Boosters) increase the presence of both P and K at the same time, and PK Boosters are often used throughout the whole fruiting period.
Aptus realised that this type of booster can create problems. They found it was better to allow the grower to tailor the supplements individually to the point in the grow according to the chart above:
There's also a great young plant nutrient and a concentrated silicon additive:
Nutrient Lockouts
First of all, the presence of unnecessarily large amounts of a nutrient in the root-zone can cause other nutrients that the plant needs to become "locked out". In the case of Potassium, large amounts of it in the root-zone can cause a large reduction in the availability of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and Boron (B). This means that the plant can't get enough of the elements that it does need:
During the crucial period of early to mid bloom when the fruits are forming this will mean less fruits will be actually formed, and the plant can't build them in the way that it would like to, unlike when everything they want is available. Leibig's Law of the Minimum states that a plant's growth will be limited by the availability of the scarcest nutrient that is in short supply. This means that any lockout of Phosphorous during the vital mid-bloom phase would be tragic. The plant simply cannot bloom optimally. This will lead to an eventual hit on final yields and and almost certainly the final crop quality. It is also likely that deficiencies will be detrimental to the plant's immune system and will also reduce overall plant health. Any drop in plant health or its immune system makes it more vulnerable to attacks from pests and diseases.
The problem of overfeeding unneeded nutrients
Secondly, raising the availability of a nutrient that a plant does not require in large amounts at a particular time can often result in more of that nutrient being pushed into the plant than it actually needs or can use. This can easily be seen in the case of when too much Nitrogen is provided. The plant sucks it up, and the excess N causes deformed leaves that curl downwards and the leaf tips become "burned" and go brown. Even if the particular excess nutrient does not seem to be causing visible problems, the additional nutrient hanging around in the plant not being used creates a less than favourable state of affairs for the it.
The Solution!
Now, in addition to your favourite base nutrient, you can supplement with only the extra macro nutrients that the plant actually needs at each particular stage of its development. The result? If used wisely, the Aptus boosters will help growers to avoid lock-outs and deficiencies which will hurt plant health, yields and final harvest quality.
The ingredients in Aptus N-Boost, P-Boost and K-Boost are 100% organic and they support, not hinder, biological gardening. They are also remarkably concentrated. The addition of just 0.3 to 0.5 ml per litre (of the right ones, at the right times) on top of your usual base nutrient will provide all the supplementation that plants need for optimal blooming/fruiting, all while allowing you to tweak and fine-tune your supplementation schedule for excellent plant health, yields and final quality.
