Plagron - Sugar Royal

Sugar Royal is Plagron's additive for smell and taste. Two things about it matter more than the rest, and both are on Plagron's own page: it is a nitrogen product, and it is not meant for hydroponic growing.

Not for NFT, DWC or aeroponics

Plagron attach an explicit warning: this product is not suitable for hydroponic growing methods such as nutrient film technique, deep water culture and aeroponics. What they do specify is any peat or coco substrate.

That is a hard limit rather than advice. Sugar Royal is an organic product: its nitrogen is entirely organically bound and the rest of the bottle is amino acids. Organic material in a system that recirculates water for weeks is a different proposition from organic material in a pot. It is food, and in a warm, dark, oxygenated reservoir with a pump in it, food always finds something waiting for it.

If you run soil or coco, none of this applies. If you run recirculating, this is not the bottle you want, and that is Plagron's position rather than ours.

If you feed coco through a drip system, Plagron add one more instruction: flush your lines after use.

9-0-0: nitrogen only, in a bloom product

The declaration is an organic NPK fertiliser at 9-0-0, with 8.5% total nitrogen, all of it organically bound. No phosphorus, no potassium.

That is remarkable on a shelf where almost everything is a PK, and it is why Sugar Royal sits beside a bloom booster rather than competing with one. It does not deliver what a PK delivers.

The rest of the bottle is a list of amino acids: alanine, arginine, asparagine, cysteine, glutamine, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine, in water.

What Plagron claim for it

The aim is the smell and taste of the end product. Plagron write that Sugar Royal contains a substance that pushes the plant toward reproduction, and that the plant responds by producing more resin. That resin is where the taste and smell sit: flavonoids, terpenes and essential oils.

They add that amino acids contribute to the formation of terpenes, and that they feed soil life, which benefits soil structure and the root zone. That last point is a second reason this product belongs with a substrate rather than with a bare nutrient solution.

Plagron also say it shortens the cycle. By how much they do not say, so neither do we.

Dose: note that it has halved

Plagron now hold to a maximum of 1 ml of Sugar Royal per litre of water, meaning 1:1,000, throughout the whole cycle at every watering. Shake well before use.

An older instruction is still in circulation giving 2 ml per litre, so 1:500, applied weekly and only between the growth phase and the start of bloom. It is still on many shops and was on this page until recently. The composition is identical in both cases; only the directions changed. We follow the current one.

Sugar Royal can be given as a root feed and as a foliar feed.

Alongside Green Sensation

Plagron present these two as a combination themselves. Sugar Royal handles smell, taste and cycle length; Green Sensation handles flowering, soil, resistance and yield. Because Sugar Royal brings no phosphorus or potassium and Green Sensation does, they do not stack on your EC.

Available sizes

Technical Specifications:

• Type: organic NPK fertiliser, liquid stimulator for smell and taste
• Manufacturer: Plagron
• NPK: 9-0-0
• Composition: 8.5% total nitrogen, entirely organically bound
• Ingredients: water and eighteen amino acids
• Dose: a maximum of 1 ml per litre of water, 1:1,000
• Frequency: the whole cycle, at every watering
• Suitable for: all peat and coco substrates
• NOT suitable for: hydroponic methods such as NFT, DWC and aeroponics
• Application: as a root feed and as a foliar feed
• With irrigation systems: flush the lines after use
• Storage: upright, dark, between 0 and 30 °C

Frequently asked questions

Can I use it in my DWC or NFT?
No. Plagron explicitly exclude hydroponic growing methods such as NFT, DWC and aeroponics. Peat and coco are fine.

Is it 1 ml or 2 ml per litre?
Plagron now hold to 1 ml per litre, 1:1,000, at every watering. The 2 ml per litre is an older instruction still shown in many places.

Does it replace my PK?
No, the declaration is 9-0-0: nitrogen only, no phosphorus or potassium. It goes beside a bloom booster, not instead of one.

Can I spray it on the leaf?
Plagron state it can be used as a root feed and as a foliar feed.

Do I need to flush my lines?
With an irrigation system, yes; Plagron specify it.