Terpinator vs. Terp Enhancinator (DIY version)

Schwaggy P

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terp logo.png
I decided to try out Terpinator for a current run and have found that it improves the intensity of the smell. It is something that I would like to incorporate into my nutrient regimen. Unfortunately, the required dosage and relatively steep price has me hesitant to commit.

The label reads:
  • Soluble Potash (K2O)……4.0%, Derived from Potassium Sulfate
  • Add 5-10mL/gal in veg
  • Add 10-30mL/gal in flower

So I have decided to try to replicate this additive by mixing my own Potassium Sulfate solution and testing it on a run of the same cut that has responded well to Terpinator.

I have done some calculations and found that in order to create the same concentration of Soluble Potash derived from Potassium Sulfate, I will need to add 300g of Potassium Sulfate per gallon of water (The math is included below).

?PLEASE NOTE: I will be testing this mixture and making notes of any issues/successes and suggestions for possible further adjustment. Do not try this at home (yet). Neither Schwaggy P, nor any Schwaggy P subsidiaries are responsible for any grower attempting this recipe or the results thereof.

MATERIALS

material.jpg
One gallon distilled water
Potassium Sulfate
Container for the solution
Scale
Gloves
Flask (optional for smaller mixed solutions)


PROCEDURE

diyterp1.jpg

Wearing gloves, mass the Potassium Sulfate (pic 1).

? Make sure to weigh out amounts that your scale can handle. If your scale cannot handle 300g measurements, mass several “batches” of Potassium Sulfate to equal 300g

Carefully transfer the Potassium Sulfate into your container (pic 2).

?A funnel may be helpful

Pour about half of the distilled water into the container (pic3).

?Filling only half way allows room for you to shake the solution and assist the dissolving process

Shake the container vigorously (pic 4), then fill the container with the remaining half of distilled water. At this point you have a one-gallon terpene-enhancing additive for less than 1/10th the cost of the store bought version.


TESTING

diyterp2.jpg

I decided to see what the TDS contribution would be of both solutions. I added 0.5mL of each solution to their own sample of distilled water and measured the increase in TDS. The dosage is equivalent to the median recommended feeding dosage of 20mL/gallon.

In Series A, the Terp Enhancinator contributed an increase of 251.5ppm(0.5 scale)
In series B, the Terpinator contributed an increase of 379.9ppm

The DIY mix is a colorless and odorless solution, while the Terpinator has a yellowish color with a smell. These additions may explain the slight increased TDS contribution of the Terpinator. The take-away for me is that my DIY mix is not an astronomical overshoot of something like 2,600ppm. The relatively closeness of the ppm suggests the solution is not going to severely alter my reservoir chemistry.

diyterp3.jpg
I took a sample of nutrient solution from a reservoir to test possible precipitate formation upon addition of the DIY mix. There was no visible precipitate formation when a 10ml/gal equivalent dosage was applied. The reservoir nutrient solution had a starting concentration of 635ppm (pic 5) and finished with a 730ppm (pic 6) concentration after the DIY mix was added.

Since the final DIY mix had a slightly lower concentration contribution than the Terpinator (expected since there are more non nutritive additions) and there was friendly interaction with nutrient solution, I feel this will be okay to try on my plants. I will use begin using this mix as directed to best replicate the Terpinator and assess the performance. I will update as things progress.

REFERENCE
Potassium Sulfate MSDS

https://n.b5z.net/i/u/10066364/f/Potassium_Sulfate_-_MSDS.pdf
Potassium Sulfate Spec Sheet
https://alphachemicals.com/i/u/10066364/f/Potassium_Sulfate_-_Spec.pdf

MATH
NEWMATH1.jpg math3.png math4.png math5.png
 

Schwaggy P

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So far the Terp Enhancinator as been in the rez for 3 weeks and the Green Crack S1 are putting off more intense smell than runs without any terp additive. The difference I'm observing between the Terpinator vs. Terp E. is that where the Terpinator really augmented the fruit/guava profile first, the Terp Enhancinator has brought out the onion/B.O./astringent terps strong.

The GC terp profile is: Astringent/Sour/Garlic/Guava
The Terpinator crop did finish with the smell profile "rounding out" with the other components of the GC smell, but the Guava aspect seemed more prominent than other GC runs. The Terpinator produced a more pronounced smell to the crop, so it seemed to do what it claimed.

The Terp Enhancinator has really turned up the more offensive parts of the smell. I'd assume the final smell will also round out with the other usual terps. If the pattern of what comes on strong first remains accentuated, then it seems Terp Enhancinator may be a better choice for the more skunky funky terp boost. I put a couple Chocolate Covered Strawberries on the tray to see how fruity/sweeter terps are affected, and they don't seem to be showing as much of a kick in intensity.

The dosage as calculated seems to be just fine, the ppm boost is no problem (as seen in the testing) and the plants are not expressing any nutrient issues. The Terp E. crop still has some time to go, but I'm feeling pretty good about what I'm seeing so far.
terp enhancinator.jpg
 

Schwaggy P

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After growing out a clone in 3 separate runs: No terp additive, Terpinator, and Terp Enhancinator, I have smelled and tasted the resulting buds for comparison.

SMELL COMPARISON
The Terpinator sample had a more intense overall smell. It is as if the smell profile I’m familiar with was turned up a couple notches. There was no noticeably featured notes to the smell, nothing was either augmented or diminished in the smell palette to detract from the usual bouquet. There was a bit of sweetness to the smell that is not usually found in this bud.

The Terp Enhancinator (TE) did not have similar results. The TE sample was only marginally more intense of an overall smell when compared to the sample without any terp additive. The noteworthy effect was that the TE seems to accentuate a pinesol-esque segment of the bouquet. There was a detectable increase in a nostril-stinging astringent note. The sample usually has a solvent-like aspect to her smell, but the TE seems to have highlighted a piney/lemony tone that is usually very subtle if present at all. Also, the TE sample was less sweet than the Terpinator sample. The subtle sweetness of the Terpinator sample was not present with the TE sample, but instead a sharper finish that could be attributed to the accentuated lemon pinesol note. Unfortunately, the TE did not seem to increase the intensity of the smell, only rearrange the priorities of featured aspects to the smell profile.

TASTE COMPARISON
The Terpinator sample had mixed reviews during taste testing that I could attribute to the testers’ taste preferences. One person found the taste to be a slightly muted version of the non-additive sample and preferred the unadulterated control bud. Another person found an increased sweetness to the taste and preferred the Terpinator sample to the control.

The Terp Enhancinator fared better in the taste testing. One tester stated that the taste was a more evenly increased flavor to either the control or Terpinator buds. Another tester found the TE sample to be more flavorful than the control, but only slightly lagging the Terpinator sample.

HONORABLE MENTION
I used the Terp Enhancinator on a round of H.A.OG to see how the additive interacts with a different plant. The lemon pinesol was dramatically increased in the resulting bud. Being that this is an OG and these terp notes are synonymous, this was a fitting addition to the final samples. The H.A.OG tends to the earthy fuel expression without terp additive, but the fuel aspect has been refined to include the hints of lemon and pine to the usual sting. These added notes are by no means drowning out the usual flavor, but have accented the underlying bouquet in a very pleasing way. I would say that I enjoy the Terp Enhancinator buds more than those without.

CONCLUSION
While the Terpinator did what it claims, namely, intensify the terpene content; the increase was not wildly dramatic. If I could put a value to the increase, I would say the smell was increased about 20-30%. While this is a noticeable increase in the terps, the price tag of the Terpinator still seems to make the decision to incorporate this additive into my nutrient regimen a toss-up. If I were doing a small single-tent grow, I would probably include Terpinator with each grow, but if you are doing multi-room commercial runs, this is going to be a hefty increase in production cost that may not see enough return depending on your market’s ability to absorb price increase. If I were to grow for a competition entry, I would consider including Terpinator for that cycle.

The Terp Enhancinator did not perform as well overall as the Terpinator, but the very low cost of incorporating the additive may allow some budget growers access to a terp enhancer. Terp Enhancinator had a more pronounced influence in the taste than the smell. It seems clear that the TE is missing something in the recipe that the Terpinator includes.

Ultimately, it seems the two terpene additives worked to bring out different sections of the smell profile. Terpinator had a nice across the board increase in intensity with some accentuated sweetness and Terp Enhancinator had lackluster intensity increase, but pronounced increase in lemon/pine notes seen in two different plants. These additives seem situational to me: if you have a plant with lemon/pine and want them exaggerated in smell/taste, use the Terp Enhancinator. If you have a plant that is a bit muted in smell and has sweet notes you’d like to highlight, reach for the Terpinator. While this test could have been better including many types of plants, I was not blown away by either additive to the point of feeling cheated by any grow that did not include them.
 

stiickygreen

In Bloom
Yo Schwaggy. Nice write up.

When I tried the Terpinator and smelled it.....I dunno man.....but I'd swear it smells like fuckin apple juice to me........

Sound at all in the zone? Makes me wonder......... could it be a $65 jug of apple juice with some K tossed in? Am I nuts? (OK...we all know that answer)

Stranger things have happened/not the first smoke and mirror product. I mean...look at "Clearex". Wow.
 

Schwaggy P

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Yo Schwaggy. Nice write up.

When I tried the Terpinator and smelled it.....I dunno man.....but I'd swear it smells like fuckin apple juice to me........

Sound at all in the zone? Makes me wonder......... could it be a $65 jug of apple juice with some K tossed in? Am I nuts? (OK...we all know that answer)

Stranger things have happened/not the first smoke and mirror product. I mean...look at "Clearex". Wow.
Thank you. I thought the smell was like bananas, but I could see where you got apple juice. It would be great to find out it's only apple juice with a K boost, much easier.
 

JL2G

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Awesome write up @Schwaggy P
I may have to do a small batch of that to use on my Jenny. She's real heavy astringent lemon terps, a fave of mine, and I think it'd be pretty dang neat to see what happens.
Where my question comes up is that I'm all soil, so what kind of dosing /gal would I be wanting to use?
And would it be for every watering?
Be neat to see what it does with a soil grow for sure.
It'd be my rols she'd be in. In most cases it's a no or minimal feed grow.
 

JL2G

Jesse Loves 2 Grow
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Yo Schwaggy. Nice write up.

When I tried the Terpinator and smelled it.....I dunno man.....but I'd swear it smells like fuckin apple juice to me........

Sound at all in the zone? Makes me wonder......... could it be a $65 jug of apple juice with some K tossed in? Am I nuts? (OK...we all know that answer)

Stranger things have happened/not the first smoke and mirror product. I mean...look at "Clearex". Wow.
Do you happen to remember what effects it had on your grow by chance? I know your soil too so curious if there was similar effects for you.
 

GCG

CHOOSE YOUR TITLE
Awesome write up @Schwaggy P
I may have to do a small batch of that to use on my Jenny. She's real heavy astringent lemon terps, a fave of mine, and I think it'd be pretty dang neat to see what happens.
Where my question comes up is that I'm all soil, so what kind of dosing /gal would I be wanting to use?
And would it be for every watering?
Be neat to see what it does with a soil grow for sure.
It'd be my rols she'd be in. In most cases it's a no or minimal feed grow.
Just for reference the Terpenez is 5-10ml per gallon during flush. Or 3 -8ml per gallon throughout flower.
 

JL2G

Jesse Loves 2 Grow
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Just for reference the Terpenez is 5-10ml per gallon during flush. Or 3 -8ml per gallon throughout flower.
Right on, thanks mang.
I don't do any flushing though, lol, I really don't feed em though either. All in the rols for them with an exception for certain plants that are extra hungry, or just plain picky. Lol. Then I feed em Earth Juice or a top dress of something depending on what I'm doing with them.
 

Schwaggy P

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Awesome write up @Schwaggy P
I may have to do a small batch of that to use on my Jenny. She's real heavy astringent lemon terps, a fave of mine, and I think it'd be pretty dang neat to see what happens.
Where my question comes up is that I'm all soil, so what kind of dosing /gal would I be wanting to use?
And would it be for every watering?
Be neat to see what it does with a soil grow for sure.
It'd be my rols she'd be in. In most cases it's a no or minimal feed grow.
Thanks. The dosage depends on the strength of the DIY you mix up vs. the Terpinator mix. I tried to replicate the Terpinator concentration (at the time of the experiment) and use their directions as a guide. I've read that they revised their formula so the directions may be different. Here's the current feed chart from their website:

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JL2G

Jesse Loves 2 Grow
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Thanks. The dosage depends on the strength of the DIY you mix up vs. the Terpinator mix. I tried to replicate the Terpinator concentration (at the time of the experiment) and use their directions as a guide. I've read that they revised their formula so the directions may be different. Here's the current feed chart from their website:
Awesome thanks mang. ?
 

Smokieokie

Firelake Seeds
Cool info schwaggy, glad someone has the time and gumption to test these things out. I've always wondered if you could send a sample to a university or something and they tell you what it is made from. But anyways thanks for putting in the work. I got some terpinator to try as well.
 

jaguarlax

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Great stuff man...Thank you.. I remember trying to find out more info on Terpinator not too long ago, and discovered Rhizoflora keeps it pretty close to the chest... This bumped Terpinator way up my list of things to try now..I am thinking of moving away from Sweet Candy as I am finding it over-enhances in some cultivars... This could be a great alternative route for enhanced smell and flavor without over doing it... What did you think of the added sweetness @Schwaggy P ? Did you find it to be too artificial?
 
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