Per-element dosing means mixing the nutrient solution from separate salts or single-element stocks, with each element's mg/L (ppm) set on its own, instead of dosing a pre-blended product. It is standard in commercial greenhouse hydroponics and increasingly used by home growers.
In practice
Its main advantage is control. A bottled two-part scales everything together; per-element dosing can lower one element and hold the rest. The GenetixBay approach in late flower is to taper nitrogen towards zero near the finish while keeping P, K, Ca, Mg, S and the micros fed, which means swapping potassium nitrate for potassium sulfate and part of calcium nitrate for calcium chloride or another N-free calcium source. Saloner and Bernstein found lower N in flower can raise cannabinoid and terpene percentage while lowering total yield, a trade-off growers can now choose deliberately. It also lets growers correct for their water report. The cost is more maths and more containers.
Don't confuse with
- A/B nutrient: two fixed blends dosed together.
- Additives: products stacked on a base, which add rather than adjust.
Myth check
Taper nitrogen, don't flush (GenetixBay house position). See the flush debate and per-element tricks.
Gradually cutting nitrogen in late flower, toward zero near the finish, while still feeding phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur and micronutrients; GenetixBay's alternative to flushing.Potassium nitrate (KNO3) is a soluble fertiliser salt supplying about 13% nitrogen as nitrate and 38% potassium, used in both veg and flower feeds.Potassium sulfate (K2SO4) supplies roughly 41-45% potassium and 17-18% sulfur with no nitrogen, useful for adding K while tapering N in late flower.Calcium nitrate is the standard hydroponic calcium source, supplying about 19% calcium and 15.5% nitrogen, mostly as nitrate.Calcium chloride (CaCl2) adds calcium without nitrogen, useful for late-flower nitrogen tapering, but it adds chloride, so doses must stay modest.Terpenes are volatile hydrocarbon compounds built from five-carbon isoprene units; in cannabis they are made in the trichome heads and are a major part of aroma and flavour.An A/B nutrient is a mineral feed split into two concentrates so that calcium (part A) is kept apart from sulfate and phosphate (part B), which would precipitate together.Feeding only plain water for days or weeks before harvest to "clean" the plant; GenetixBay rates it a Myth that harms yield, unlike a root-zone salt flush.A stock solution is a concentrated nutrient mix, often 100x or 200x final strength, diluted into the reservoir; calcium and sulfate/phosphate stocks must stay separate.Ppm of an element means milligrams of that element per litre of solution (mg/L), the unit nutrient recipes use; it is not the ppm shown on an EC meter.
