Nutrients — Starter Kits

A starter kit makes two decisions for you: which bottles you need, and how much of them. In practice the second one matters more, because most nutrients are sold in quantities that will last a single tent for years.

Quantity is the real advantage

What is in a kit is sized for roughly one cycle in one room. So you are not buying five litres of something you will use twice, and along the way you find out which bottles you actually go on to replace. That also makes a kit useful if you have grown for years but want to try an unfamiliar line without committing to it.

Choose by medium

For soil there is the CANNA Terra Starterskit, the Hy-pro Starter pack Terra, and from Plagron the Easy Pack and Top Grow Box in their 100% Terra versions. For hydro the Hy-pro Starter pack Hydro A&B and the Terra Aquatica TriPart starter kit in its hard water version, meant for tap water high in lime. To work organically there is the Biocanna Starterskit and Easybox, the C-Result Bio Start pack and Plagron's 100% Natural versions.

The Aptus sets work differently

The Aptus Tent Set Basic, Tent Set Pro and Believerpack are not base feeds but a run of add-ons in small bottles. They are meant to sit next to a line you already run, not to replace one. If this is your first time feeding, you need a complete line or one of the kits above first.

What is not in the box

Almost no kit contains a pH meter or anything to correct with, and you need both from the very first watering. So budget for something from pH Control and a meter from Measuring & Control. On coco or on reverse osmosis water, add CalMag to that list.

Frequently asked questions

Is a starter kit enough for a whole grow?
For the feeding itself, usually yes, from the first week to harvest. What is missing is the tooling: a pH meter and a pH corrector belong with it and are rarely included.

Can I move to separate bottles after a kit?
Yes, and once you know what you use it is usually cheaper too. You keep the same feed chart and buy the parts separately in whatever size suits your plant count.

Are the Aptus sets starter kits as well?
Not in the same sense. They hold add-ons rather than a base feed, so as a first purchase they will not cover your cycle.