Review: General Hydroponics [Organics] BioThrive Vegan Plant Food

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try out General Organics (same as General Hydroponics) BioThrive Grow plant food. The results were absolutely amazing! The price was about $18.50 after tax from Texas Hydroponics so I recommend buying online from amazon at $12/litter. The growth results I saw after adding BioThrive convinced me to try out some of GH's other plant foods. A review of BioThrive Bloom will be coming soon. The nutrient contains only 2% non-plant foods so you know that you are getting a great value for your buck. I highly recommend BioThrive Grow to anyone that is just starting out in hydroponics and wants to get a good feel for how things should work. For the price, you can't beat it.
Feeding Schedule is provided on GH's website: http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/feeding_charts/GO_MYSF-FeedChart.pdf

This is the same tomato plant after 2 weeks:

(Red Calabash) 

This is the same cherry tomato after 2 weeks: 

Here are some of the tomatoes currently ripening:

 

The same angle shot after 2 weeks on BioThrive Nutrient: 

2 Week Update

It's been a while but I have a 2 week update from the last photos. There are some MAJOR improvements on all of the tomato plants.

 

Some new plants :)

Zucchini!

Sometimes I toss leaves on the surface to shade the soil so 

the transplant can adjust to it's new environment without drying out. 

Strawberries!

I planted these in some large cat litter containers with mostly leaves and grass clippings on the bottom and a top layer of worm castings from Earths Outlet and some kitchen scraps that I composted last year. I use this mixture because I am too cheap to buy potting soil for all the pots I put together. The majority of the mix (leaves) are free because I drove around the neighborhood and pick up loads of bagged leaves off the curbside from people cleaning their lawns. The compost on top allow the plant to settle in to it's new environment easily and the worm castings provide the right microbes to decompose all of the leaves and scraps in the lower section of the pot. Provided there are plenty of drainage holes in the bottom, earthworms will find their way into the pot and breakdown the leaves into basic nutrients for the growing plant to utilize.

Added more buckets + major changes

Photos from 04/08/2010.. will update with new photos and new tomato growth soon!

Top View

Water is pumped into lines that drip onto plants.

Top View

PVC pipe from pump loops in a circle to maximize water pressure for even drip.

Return Lines

 Water drips into bucket, fills up to the exit port height, and excess drains back into reservoir.

To do this - Drill hole in bucket, install a rubber grommet, insert plastic barbed hose fitting into grommet and connect return hose to the return line. I used 1/2" threaded barbed hoses tees that screw into a threaded PVC fitting that pours into the return reservoir (below).

Return Reservoir

Recirculated water drips into first reservoir and filtered before it flows into reservoir that contains the water pump.

Young Tomato Plants

photos taken 04/08/2010

First Red Calabash (heirloom)

A heirloom variety from Seeds of Change

First Red Calabash (heirloom)

top view

First Red Calabash (heirloom)

BrandyWine

Also a heirloom variety from Seeds of Change

Purple Basil

 

Cherry Tomatos

Cherry Tomato Plant