Athena "Fade"

Athena just released “Fade” a nitrogen free substitute for Core, to be used in the last couple weeks of flower. For those currently running Athena, how have you been dropping nitrogen at the end of flower without use of fade? Has anyone cut Core completely and just ran Bloom at the end of flower?

1 Like

I just n tip burn everything :sweat_smile:

2 Likes

Lol same here, leafs ain’t pretty but the buds are. Think I’m gonna experiment with ditching core, and adding calmag late bloom

2 Likes

Looks like it’s just calcium chloride with micros.

5 Likes

We cut core the last week on a 8 week harvests and for 10 days on 9 weekers.

1 Like

You still run 3.0ec when you cut Core? Or take the drop and net ~1.5?

@acreativeusername might be worth adding this info to the athena nutrient analysis thread - [Athena nutrients analysis - #419 by danielfp], then it keeps all the recent recomended changes by athena all in one place for future reference.

1 Like

Are you sure there isn’t more nitrogen in your calmag then in just core or straight CalNit? Remember it’s a guaranteed minimum analysis on the label. It’s totally fine for it to have way more.

Looks what it is derived from. Calcium NITRATE, Calcium Chloride, Magnesium NITRATE, Iron

2 Likes

Nitrogen and nitrite are not equal. Nitrogen is an element and nitrite is an anion, it is partially responsible for the creation and destruction of nitrogen.

4 Likes

NO2 or NO3, which are you talking about?

Care to explain a little more what you are really even trying to say? Soil nitrogen cycle?

Either way, core is derived from calcium nitrate, not nitrite, and so is many calmag products. Calmag also include magnesium nitrate, not nitrite, which also will contribute to the total nitrogen.

Not to be “that guy”, but why would you need to buy another ingredient to take the nitrogen out for you?

3 Likes

Nitrites != nitrates. Ammonia → nitrite → nitrates thanks to bacteria.

Nitrates are directly usable by plants.

2 Likes

I use jacks A/B. I just started cutting part B completely in flower. B is calcium nitrate, 15-0-0. There’s no calcium in A but I use well water so I’m sure there’s calcium carbonate in the water. Never tested it. Another run, another half baked ‘experiment’ :slight_smile:

1 Like

Because Athena Core isn’t straight nitrogen, but I only want to remove the nitrogen

2 Likes

I acknowledge that this is a new product that has a function, but this is very much a hydro store attitude to buy more stuff to grow better product.

That said, I have zero interest in buying more stuff when it can be done better with zero dollars extra being spent.

2 Likes

I guess that’s what I’m really asking here. Athena just released “Flush” which is essentially (from my understanding) their “Core” base nutrient, without nitrogen. I really don’t want to buy another Athena product if I can avoid it, and achieve the same results.

If there’s an agronomist out there feeling generous, the main question i’d have for them is could I drop Ca, Mg, and micros in late flower without detrimental results?

1 Like

I have used Athena quite a bit. It has taken me 25 years to get my nute lineup down to 5 salts (including micro complex), fulvic/amino/organic acid supplement for drench/foliar, kelp extract and calcium acetate at transition, alcohol, oil and castile soap for IPM.

Armchair agronomist here. Here is a tissue culture analysis from Agricen. I use micros (in the fulvic/amino/organic acid Complex) all the way through flush to maintain osmotic pressure to retain weight and terps.



7 Likes

Lol if you’re an armchair agronomist, I’m a ‘sidewalk outside the bodega’ agronomist, but to me that looks like I could get away with dropping CaMg in late flower, but should still probably supplement potassium and micros (mainly iron)

I’m definitely interested in trying agt50, would it play nice in a foliar spray combined with PowerSi and Athena Stack? I imagine I could probably replace Athena Stack with it

1 Like

Yup, armchair agronomist here. There are some of the smartest people in the world that hang out here on Future, and I don’t pretend to be one.

K and Fe are most important late flower. Your fertilizer lineup is your personal recipe for success. It’s definitely up to you to make it work.

That said, I didn’t drop the name of my day gig product in this like an ad. If you want to try it, I will send you some no-charge. Organic inputs like kelp and fulvic don’t play well with cleanse which may cause biofilm, but you will be very happy using it as a foliar in conjunction with Athena.

EDIT: Getting back to the initial question: you could omit Ca, N, but I believe Core part A does have the micros in it, which is a limitation in their initial fertilizer design.

5 Likes

I’m quite puzzled by that graph. Flower tip requires K up to 500 ppm, but only 150 calcium. If we run that thing in coco won’t it cause antagonism? Or am I mistaken, is it that plants store food