Pentakeep - Pentakeep Super

A liquid nitrogen fertiliser, NPK(Mg) 8-5-3(3), carrying 5-aminolevulinic acid. Sold by weight rather than by volume: 250 grams is about 196 ml.

5-aminolevulinic acid, and why it is the whole product

5-aminolevulinic acid, shortened to 5-ALA, is a small molecule present in every living organism. In a plant it is the precursor of chlorophyll: leaf green is built out of it. No 5-ALA, no chlorophyll, and no photosynthesis.

Plants make it themselves. What limits them is not a shortage of raw material but the speed of their own metabolism. There is a ceiling on how fast they can produce it, and that ceiling sits lower than what the leaf could actually put to work.

Supplying it from outside lifts that ceiling. Pentakeep compare the effect with adding CO2: the conversion of light into sugars keeps running instead of stalling on a shortage, and the plant produces more sugar and more dry matter. That, according to the manufacturer, is what it comes down to, more production and a stronger, more vigorous crop.

The NPK on the label is there for another reason

The bottle reads NPK(Mg) 8-5-3(3), and that figure misleads if you read it the way you read a base feed. The fertilisers are not in there to feed your plant.

They are in there to keep the 5-aminolevulinic acid stable and to help the plant absorb it. Because the product is dosed at very low concentrations, those fertilisers contribute practically nothing to your own feeding schedule. Applied to the leaf they do work as a foliar feed as well, but that is a by-product.

The history of the label makes this explicit. Since October 2006 the NPK sum has been raised to 15 in order to meet the requirements for an EU approved fertiliser. With that change the old name Pentakeep-V was dropped and Pentakeep-S took its place. The amount of 5-aminolevulinic acid stayed exactly the same, so the dose did not need to change.

The number on the label, in other words, moved for a regulatory reason and the product did not.

A dose written per hectare

The published dose reads 0.5 litre, or 635 grams, per hectare per week. The supplier prefers root application, because that is the most accurate way to dose it. Foliar application is possible too.

That is a horticultural figure and it is per area, not per litre of water. To convert it to your own tank you need your weekly watering per square metre, and that varies by grower, by substrate and by pot size. Pentakeep publish no per litre ratio for small scale use, so we will not invent one: follow the dose printed on the bottle in front of you.

What you can read out of it: this is a product from professional horticulture. It is meant to be extremely dilute, which is also the explanation for why the fertilisers it carries add nothing to your feeding schedule in practice.

Why it is sold in grams

It is a liquid, but the packs are named by weight. That is because it is heavier than water: about 1.27 grams per millilitre. A 250 gram pack therefore holds around 196 ml and a 1 kilo pack around 787 ml.

So do not work in millilitres if you bought by weight, or the other way round. The difference is more than a quarter.

What is in it

• Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at 8-5-3, with 3 magnesium
• Boron, copper, DTPA iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc
• 5-aminolevulinic acid

Available sizes

Technical Specifications:

• Type: liquid nitrogen fertiliser with 5-aminolevulinic acid
• Manufacturer: Pentakeep
• Analysis: NPK(Mg) 8-5-3(3)
• Trace elements: boron, copper, DTPA iron, manganese, molybdenum, zinc
• Dosage: 0.5 litre (635 grams) per hectare per week
• Application: root feeding preferred, foliar possible
• Density: about 1.27 grams per millilitre
• Contents: 250 grams is around 196 ml, 1 kilo is around 787 ml
• Substrate: soil, coco, rockwool and hydro systems

Frequently asked questions

Is this a base feed?
No. The NPK is there to keep the 5-aminolevulinic acid stable and improve its uptake, not to feed your plant.

Why is the dose given per hectare?
Because it comes from professional horticulture. For a small space you need your own watering per square metre to convert it, and Pentakeep do not supply that.

Why grams and not millilitres?
The product weighs about 1.27 grams per millilitre. Naming it by weight avoids confusion when weighing out, but it does mean 250 grams is not 250 ml.

What is the difference with Pentakeep-V?
Only the name and the declared NPK. Since 2006 it has been called Pentakeep-S with the NPK sum raised to 15 for EU approval; the 5-aminolevulinic acid and the dose stayed the same.

Can I spray it?
Yes, but the supplier prefers root application because it doses more accurately.