i posted this in a different thread earlier today, we were discussing different fertilizer regiments in regards to the transition period between veg and flower and weather to flush or not. which happens to be the area i try to focus mostly on as its the most important phase IMO. like i said earlier in this journal i stop fertilizer 2 weeks before flower and rely on symbiosis with the microbes i use to get by on minimum N and in turn reduce node spacing, and in some cases density. Dr. Who enjoyed this i hope you will to
heres the explanation as to why this counter intuitive technique works well for me
and yes my methods are a little different than most. after college i figured if u want to see something different u got to try something different, so i stepped out of my old "by the book" way of growing and haven't looked back since (i prefer going by the latest science). there is a lot of new research out there regarding the need for synthetic nitrogen. if you use a live culture of both aerobic and anaerobic microbes they are constantly decomposing elements into usable form for the plants. forgive me but this is going to get a little scientific here. to understand why and when the plant truly needs nitrogen u need a basic understanding of how N is converted to different forms.
the first step would be the conversion of atmospheric N (which is happening in your roots all the time) through a process called nitrogen fixation which is carried out by beneficial bacteria living in the root zone the (diazotrophs) combine hydrogen with nitrogen to produce ammonia (NH4) in a process called ammonification. this is important because the latest research has shown that when soils are lacking N these beneficial organisms will produce ammonia (which is converted to NO2 during nitrification by the oxidation of ammonium) in exchange for some carbohydrates. (another fascinating thing that is yet to be fully understood by the scientific community is the fact that the plant trades back some of the amino acids it produces back into the bacteria inorder to skip the whole process of ammonium assimilation process. however NO2 still cannot be used by the plant, this requires another step, yet again by the microbes you should be adding to your soil every month at least. once the nitrites (NO2) are converted by nitrifying bacteria into nitrates (NO3) which is important because nitrite is toxic to plants, the N can finally be assimilated by the plants roots mostly as nitrate ions. once in the plant the nitrate ions are converted into ammonium ions. the ammonium ions are the final product of this long and fascinating process. once the N has been assimilated into ammonium ions the ammonium is what the plant uses to build amino acids, chlorophyll and nucleic acids, which as you know are the fundamental building blocks to life. that's the basic logic behind why i am getting away with lower N levels in early flower/late veg. microbes microbes microbes. did i mention microbes? lol this is a little overly simplified. there is a lot more complexity to the exchange of amino acids between microbes and the plant but i don't feel like typing a whole thesis here atm. BTW i do have a degree in microbiology with a minor in descriptive inorganic chemistry, i have to say this little symbiotic relationship that goes on between microbe and plant is only just now beginning to be understood. its been a lot of fun putting all these theories and research to real life application in the cultivation of cannabis
okay im done. just wanted to explain a bit of reasoning behind my madness. this transittion period is the part of the plant cycle that i have really been working hard to understand, as i believe it is the most critical point in the entire cycle for the best end result. yes N is very important however u can cut the added N way back in the transition. let the microbes do the fine tuning for u in transition and see your nodes get tighter and tighter
https://www.rollitup.org/t/3-pound-goal-48-oz-or-greater-4-plants-one-1000-watt-hps-scrog.836164/
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Nicely put there Bubba.!
Great posting, I enjoy the science you share. Your methods are, as I stated earlier, interesting!
And everyone should know that if it works for you.....It WORKS.
Thanks for sharing and I may just give your method a good old American try on a few with a side by side testing.
I sure don't have anything to loose by trying! (maybe some time and work, but I like to try out different things to "see" for myself).
There are things I will closely monitor when I do.
Trying is how we learn.
Grow on!
thank you Dr.! heck yeah thats what i always say! i love trying new techniques ive never tried or heard of
science is my passion well i may like cannabis a little more but i am trying to put the latest scientific info i learn to use in a real life way. i always say the day i don't enjoy learning new things is they day i just need to give up. that technique takes some tinkering thats for sure! need to find the right live cultures to use in you region, grow room, media etc., as different ratios of different species in the culture will yield different results. the strain varies it a lot as well, i havent quite figured it out yet but there seems to be a big difference between incica and sativas in how they share proteins and molecules and how much they share. sativas from what ive seen so far, seem to react better than indicas when tampering with that delicate symbiosis. not to say it wont work in indicas by any means, i just havent dialed it in. i have Bubblicious (my more sativa strain) and OG18 X purple wreck (mostly OG indica pheno) the bubblicious responded very well to my little experiment. the POG went a little N deff early in bloom, resulted in super dense buds but the node spacing has def left something to be desired, it streched like CRAZY on me whereas the Bubblicious all tightened right up and turned out spectacular. this next crop i will have mostly POG growing since i feel like i have my Bubblicious mostly figured out now. im keeping fingers crossed it can go as well.
i have a bit of a theory as to why it doesn't work so well with indicas, mind you i have no proof or research to back up my thought process (i dont believe anybody has studied sybiosis of anyplants at altitude to my knowledge yet). indica is native to areas of a generally higher altitude, meaning that the air is thinner where they grow naturally. that makes me think that the plant does not rely as heavily on that symbiosis between microbes and plant as much since there is less N and less O to oxidize the ammonium into protein chains (amindo acids, clorophyl etc.). so it may just be a genetic pre-disposition of sativas to be able to manipulate growth by biological processes. idk i find it interesting to think about, but im just a science nerd lol im entertained by funny things like that