Key takeaways
- CANNABOOST is not a feed. The analysis is 0-0.1-0.1, and the working part is oligosaccharides from fermented molasses and yeast that trigger a metabolic response.
- CANNA's own rate is 20 mL per 10 litres, about 7.6 mL per gallon, doubling to 40 mL per 10 litres at the strong end.
- CANNA's own lily trial found the optimum between 20 and 40 mL per 10 litres, with a reduced or adverse effect above it. More is not better here.
- Our rooms run it lighter than the label, at roughly 5 mL per gallon through mid-bloom, and start the foliar earlier than CANNA specifies. Both are deliberate departures, explained below.
- Do not mix it with hydrogen peroxide, and use a diluted solution within four days.
Most write-ups on CANNABOOST repeat the label and stop. This one sets the label next to what happened in our own rooms, and it is worth saying up front that the two do not agree everywhere.
Where we depart from CANNA's instructions, we say so and explain why. Where our results are an observation rather than a trial, we say that too, because a room full of our plants is not a controlled study and pretending otherwise would be the same marketing this article is trying to avoid.
What CANNABOOST Actually Is
The guaranteed analysis is 0-0.1-0.1. That is not a typing error and it is the most useful number on the bottle, because it tells you what CANNABOOST is not: it is not feeding your plants anything measurable.
CANNA describes the contents as oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, amino acids, proteins and other polymers, drawn from fermented molasses and yeast by-products. The oligosaccharides are the active part. CANNA's own wording is that they act as triggers in the plant cells, raising energy production, photosynthesis, metabolite production and gene activation.
Two things follow from that, and they matter more than any claim on the front of the bottle.
- It is a signal, not a fuel. A product working at 0.1% potassium is not contributing nutrition. It is prompting the plant to do more with the nutrition already there.
- Fermented is not the same as molasses. Growers sometimes treat CANNABOOST and a jug of blackstrap as interchangeable carbohydrate sources. The fermentation step is what produces the oligosaccharide fraction, and that fraction is the reason the response happens at millilitres per gallon rather than tablespoons.
It also means the honest expectation is a quality and uniformity change rather than a transformation. If the room is fighting climate, EC or watering problems, this is not the product that fixes them.
What the Label Says
Start here, because everything later in this article is measured against it. These are CANNA's published figures, not ours.
| Item | CANNA's figure | Per gallon |
|---|---|---|
| Guaranteed analysis | 0-0.1-0.1 | — |
| Standard rate | 1:500, or 20 mL per 10 litres | About 7.6 mL |
| Strong rate | 1:250, or 40 mL per 10 litres | About 15.1 mL |
| When to start | From the moment flowers start to form | — |
| Methods | By hand, through drip irrigation, or as a foliar feed | — |
| Diluted solution life | Use within 4 days | — |
| Do not combine with | Products containing hydrogen peroxide | — |
| Storage | Closed, dark, frost free | — |
| Sizes | 250 mL, 1 L, 5 L, 10 L (20 L and 200 L through us) | — |
The listing for the 1 litre bottle puts the same rate a slightly different way, as 0.27 fl oz per gallon starting one to three weeks after flower initiation. Those are the same instruction rounded differently.
What We Saw in Our Own Rooms
This section is field observation, not a controlled trial. We ran CANNABOOST across our own test blocks and compared against rooms that did not get it, holding feed, EC and climate as steady as we could. Read it as experience worth knowing about, not as data you could publish.
- Transition came in faster and more evenly. Running it as a foliar through the last 7 to 10 days of veg and into the first week or two of bloom, we saw earlier and more uniform flower set. In well-tuned rooms that looked like a couple of days, not a week.
- Aroma and resin coverage improved. Side-by-side runs showed a richer nose and better resin on treated plants even where the feed, EC and climate matched. This is the change we saw most consistently.
- One facility reported a yield gain we could not verify ourselves. A high-performing commercial site running roughly 5 mL per gallon as a drench for three to four weeks of mid-bloom reported something close to half a pound per light against their own control runs, same genetics and timing. That is their number, from their room, and we are passing it on rather than confirming it.
- It did nothing for rooms with a fundamentals problem. Where climate or irrigation was the limiting factor, adding CANNABOOST changed nothing worth measuring.
The pattern across all of it: the response tracks how well-run the room already is. That is the opposite of how additives are usually sold, and it is the single most useful thing we learned.
Our Protocol Against the Label
We run CANNABOOST differently from CANNA's instructions in two specific ways. Both are deliberate, both are departures from the label, and you should know which is which before copying either.
| Decision | CANNA says | We run | Why the difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foliar start | From the moment flowers start to form | Last 7–10 days of veg, stopping around day 10–14 of bloom | Earlier than the label. We are priming metabolism before flower set rather than reacting to it |
| Commercial drench rate | 20 mL per 10 L, about 7.6 mL per gallon | About 5 mL per gallon, week 3 to week 6 or 7 | Below the label rate. A cost decision that still gave us a visible response in our rooms |
| Hobby drench rate | Up to 40 mL per 10 L, about 15.1 mL per gallon | 8–16 mL per gallon through bloom | In line with the label, and at the top of CANNA's own tested range |
| Foliar mix | Foliar feeding is supported | CANNABOOST and water only, sprayed at lights-on | Matches the label. Stomata are open early in the cycle |
| Solution life | Use diluted solution within 4 days | Same | No reason to stretch it |
| Hydrogen peroxide | Do not combine | Same | Peroxide attacks the organic fraction that does the work |
The 5 mL per gallon figure is the one to think hardest about. It sits below what CANNA publishes, which means you are running the product off-label on purpose. We did it because the arithmetic in a commercial room is unforgiving and we still saw a response. If you want the manufacturer's expected result, use the manufacturer's rate.
What not to do
- Do not push it hard in early veg. It is a flowering signal. Sending it too early invites pre-flower responses you did not ask for.
- Do not use it to rescue a room. It multiplies good fundamentals. It does not supply them.
- Do not assume more is better. The next section is entirely about that.
Why More Is Not Better
This is the part the category never mentions, and CANNA published it themselves. In a trial on Oriental Lily varieties, the response peaked between 20 and 40 mL per 10 litres, which is 8 to 16 mL per gallon, and then fell away, with an adverse effect at stronger doses.
A dose-response curve that turns back on itself is unusual in this aisle. It means the usual grower instinct, that if a little helped then double it, actively costs you here. It also means the label's 1:250 strong rate is not a starting point with headroom above it. It is the top of the tested range.
Two practical consequences. First, if you are already at 16 mL per gallon and not seeing what you hoped for, the answer is not 24. The limiting factor is somewhere else. Second, the lily result gives our lighter commercial rate a sensible frame: the curve rises from zero, so a below-label dose should still sit on the useful part of it, which matches what we saw.
Running It Through Drip
The most persistent rumour about CANNABOOST is that you cannot run it through irrigation. You can. The rumour comes from people running heavy rates through inadequate filtration and then blaming the bottle.
- Filter properly. A 100 to 120 micron screen or net disc filter handles it. Clean and rotate the discs on a schedule rather than when something goes wrong.
- Keep solutions fresh. Four days is CANNA's limit on a diluted solution. An organic fraction sitting in a warm tank past that is what actually blocks emitters.
- Pressure-regulated drip is fine. Open-flow emitters are more forgiving at the higher rates, which matters more for hobby doses than commercial ones.
- No peroxide in the line. This is a compatibility instruction, not a preference.
- Expect line maintenance. An organic input means filters and lines need routine attention. That is the real cost of running it through irrigation, and it is small if you plan for it.
It works across rockwool, coco, peat and soil, and alongside base lines other than CANNA's own. If you are building the rest of the program, our complete CANNA nutrients guide covers how the base lines differ, and the terpene and aroma guide covers the other inputs that move the same quality markers.
The CANNA Range We Carry
CANNABOOST sits inside a line, and the two products people most often run alongside it are PK 13/14 and a base feed matched to the medium. Here is what we stock, with the label analysis on each.
| Product | What it does | Analysis | Sizes |
|---|---|---|---|
| CANNA Boost Accelerator, 1 L | Flowering stimulator, the subject of this article | 0-0.1-0.1 | 1 L |
| CANNA Boost Accelerator, bulk | Same product in commercial volumes | 0-0.1-0.1 | 5 L, 10 L, 20 L, 200 L |
| BioCANNA BioBoost | The organic-line equivalent, from plant extracts | — | 5 L, 10 L |
| CANNA PK 13/14, 1 L | Phosphorus and potassium for the peak flowering window | 0-10-11 | 1 L |
| CANNA PK 13/14, bulk | Same additive in commercial volumes | 0-10-11 | 10 L, 200 L |
| CANNA Coco A & B | One formulation covering growth and bloom in coco | — | 1 L, 5 L, 20 L |
| CANNA Coco HC A | Concentrated coco base, the A side | 6% N, 7.8% Ca | See listing |
| CANNA Coco HC B | Concentrated coco base, the B side | 1-7-4 | See listing |
| CANNA Aqua Flores A & B | Bloom feed for recirculating hydroponics | 3-0-6 | See listing |
| CANNA Substra Flores, soft water | Bloom feed for run-to-waste on soft water | A 3-0-3, B 1-3-5 | See listing |
| CANNA Substra Flores, hard water | The same feed corrected for hard water | A 3-0-3, B 1-3-5 | See listing |
| CANNA Terra Flores | Bloom feed for potting mix and soil | — | See listing |
| CANNA Coco Brick 40 L | RHP certified buffered coco, 2 × 20 L expanded | — | 40 L expanded |
Two products this article used to point at
Earlier versions of this page recommended CANNA Rhizotonic and Cannazym alongside CANNABOOST. We no longer carry either one, and the Rhizotonic link on the old page had gone dead. Everything still in the line is on the CANNA brand page.
Who Gets the Most From It
Being plain about who should skip a product is more useful than another list of reasons to try it.
- Rooms already hitting their numbers. Teams with EC, VPD and irrigation events under control see the clearest response, because there is nothing else limiting the plant.
- Growers competing on aroma and resin. If customers come back based on how the finished flower smells, this is the part of the program that moves that marker.
- Cultivars with headroom. A genetic line with a high terpene ceiling that is not reaching it has something to gain. One that is already at its ceiling does not.
- Not for rooms with a fundamentals problem. If climate, feed or watering is the constraint, fix that first. This will not cover for it, and the money is better spent elsewhere.
- Not for anyone unwilling to maintain filtration. Running an organic input through drip is a commitment to cleaning filters. If that will not happen, apply it by hand or skip it.
The Bottom Line
CANNABOOST is a carbohydrate signal rather than a feed, and that framing predicts almost everything about how it behaves.
It gives the most where the fundamentals are already right, it works at millilitres per gallon rather than by the capful, and its own manufacturer's trial data says the response falls away if you overdo it. Timed into the transition and the front half of bloom, it is a quality and uniformity tool. Treated as a yield lever to be cranked, it costs money and gives back less.
Our own rooms ran it below the label rate and still saw a response worth keeping, which is a useful thing to know and also a departure from CANNA's instructions rather than an improvement on them. Start at the label, measure against your own control, and move from there.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions growers ask us about CANNABOOST, answered in a few lines each.
How much CANNA Boost per gallon?
CANNA's standard rate is 20 mL per 10 litres, which works out at about 7.6 mL per gallon. The strong rate doubles that to roughly 15.1 mL per gallon. Their listing states it as 0.27 fl oz per gallon, which is the same instruction.
When should I start using CANNA Boost?
CANNA says from the moment flowers start to form, typically one to three weeks after flower initiation. We start a foliar earlier, in the last 7 to 10 days of veg, and stop it around day 10 to 14 of bloom. That earlier start is our practice, not CANNA's instruction.
What is the NPK of CANNA Boost?
0-0.1-0.1. It is an additive rather than a feed, so the analysis is close to nothing by design. Judge it on what it prompts the plant to do, not on what it supplies.
Will CANNABOOST shorten my flowering cycle?
A slightly faster, more even transition is common in well-tuned rooms, roughly a couple of days in what we saw. It will not remove a week from a cycle and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.
Can I use more than the label rate for a bigger result?
No, and this is the unusual part. CANNA's own Oriental Lily trial found the optimum between 20 and 40 mL per 10 litres, with a reduced or adverse effect at stronger doses. The strong rate is the ceiling, not a starting point.
Can I run CANNA Boost through drip irrigation?
Yes, with 100 to 120 micron filtration and fresh solutions. The stories about clogging come from heavy rates plus poor filtration. Keep diluted solution under four days and rotate the filter discs.
Can I mix it with hydrogen peroxide?
No. CANNA states plainly that it should not be combined with products containing hydrogen peroxide, which would attack the organic fraction that makes it work.
How long does it keep once opened?
Store it closed, dark and frost free. A diluted solution is a different question: CANNA says use that within four days. For an opened bottle, match the size to what your room will get through rather than reaching for the biggest jug available.
What is the difference between BioBoost and CANNABOOST?
They work on the same idea, with BioBoost built for the organic BioCANNA line and made from plant extracts. BioBoost carries less preservative, so an opened bottle wants finishing sooner and smaller sizes make more sense.
Does it replace silica?
They are different tools. We reduce silica once CANNABOOST is in the plan, because plants hold their structure without the extra woody biomass that heavy silica can build. Our silica guide covers where silica still earns its place.
Do I still need PK 13/14 if I run CANNABOOST?
They do different jobs. PK 13/14 at 0-10-11 supplies phosphorus and potassium in the peak flowering window; CANNABOOST at 0-0.1-0.1 supplies neither and instead prompts the plant to use what it has. Growers commonly run both.