using sugared water

[Bud Frosty]

never tried that it should be ok might have some unknown effect from ambient plant hormones in the maple sap but again i have never used that method.

I figured it would be worth experimenting on one plant anyway.

 

[bicycle racer]

yeah why not maybe you will get some interesting results who knows.

 

[smellzlikeskunkyum]

well the molasses was good, it was sealed anyhow... i used aprox 1 tbs for a gal of natural spring water, i only watered a few of them... overnight i can see that the afghan i used it on looks healthy and vigorus as well as the others, but it seems the afghans are gonna enjoy the molasses the most. ill try to update my journal for those interested

 

[smellzlikeskunkyum]

I figured it would be worth experimenting on one plant anyway.

yeah im tempted to try using honey on one of my plants, seems like it would be valuable somehow to the plant if it uses sugars

maple syrup is a good experiment too!

i wondered if juice made from crushed organic berries would be suitable, maybe too much sodium??

 

[bicycle racer]

honey wont hurt it has various b vitamins and trace elements. also plants use some b vits especially b-1 it helps with stress or trauma. b-1 is one of the ingredients in superthrive which most people love.

 

[AdReNaLiNeRuSh]

Do you guys think that using a carb based additive would compensate for me pruning some larger fan leaves off my plant? I really want to prune it up so the light may better penetrate the canopy, however, I do not want to loose out on those sugar factories...


-AR

 

[bicycle racer]

dont remove fan leaves unless there mostly yellow and used up or your very close to harvest there important to plant growth and yield.

 

[Bud Frosty]

Do you guys think that using a carb based additive would compensate for me pruning some larger fan leaves off my plant? I really want to prune it up so the light may better penetrate the canopy, however, I do not want to loose out on those sugar factories...


-AR

Are you in flower yet or still vegging? In veg you can prune because you'll be able to grow new ones but, if flowering leave all of em. The sugar won't compensate

 

[born2killspam]

Fermented sugar water.....

As an aside, it's my understanding that the sugar molecule, in any form (sucrose, fructose, lactose, etc.) is too large to move across the root's epidermal gradient into the plant, unlike salts such as potassium chloride. Some folks say molasses feeds the soil's microbes. I've done experiments with molasses and found it much better suited for flapjacks.

They don't uptake much for carbohydrates, but they do secrete them.. Plants can dump up to 25% of the carbs they produce via photosynthesis to microbes..
Roots need carbs in the roots to process nitrogen into amino acids etc etc.. Basically all organic compounds are going to be built from CO2 through to simple carb to complex organic.. The more carbs to receive building blocks the better.. But they need to share those carbs too since the microbes produce their active nutrients.. The more carbs there are available in the soil, the less demand will be put on the roots as a carbohydrate source and the more it gets to keep for processing already available nutes.. If your soil is carb sufficient then carb loading won't help, but it won't hurt either..

honey wont hurt it has various b vitamins and trace elements. also plants use some b vits especially b-1 it helps with stress or trauma. b-1 is one of the ingredients in superthrive which most people love.

Bees collect nectar, which is mainly sucrose and 40-80% water. They process this using the enzyme invertase, and by evaporation into a product containing 18-20% water we know as honey:
Water 18%
Fructose 38%
Glucose 33%
Sucrose 1.5%
Maltose 7.2%
Higher sugars 1.5%
Minerals 0.2%
Total acid (as gluconic acid) 0.6% (pH 3.9)

Mock Honey. Not to be outdone by bees, we can also process granular sucrose to make a home-made 'honey'. Here is a mock-honey recipe (a form of invert sugar syrup), based on the above, using 4 units of granulated sugar to 1 unit of water:
2000g raw sugar (say 8 heaped cups). For a darker color substitute with soft brown sugar (1 cup)
5tbsp. malt extract (maltose)
500ml water (say 2 cups)
6g or 1tsp. acid (a mixture of various - tartaric, citric) or juice of 2 lemons. A pH of 3.6 is equivalent to 6g of citric acid/litre or 1tsp.
Boil water, add acid and sugar and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool. When cool add 1tbsp raw sugar (sucrose). This produces about 1 litre of mock-honey syrup. SG of honey is 1.5kg/l.

Here's a little bit on honey from homedistiller.org.. One advantage of molasses is the fact that it doesn't attract as much for bugs, and actually repells some.. Honey/Vinegar on the otherhand carry an adage..
Regarding the molasses, I'm thinking the robust format is blackstrap (probably 55-60% simple sugars), and the other is fancy (more simple sugars).. Blackstrap will carry more complex stuff, its the health nut type..
A great source for more complex stuff ontop of simple carbs is boiled yeast.. Or don't boil it, it won't hurt anything, boiling just busts them all open for instant availability to anything in the soil..

 

[Uncle Ben]

They don't uptake much for carbohydrates, but they do secrete them.. .

Are we into some anal excretion drill?

I wanna know what my kids are drinking and how it affects their health.

 

[bicycle racer]

as always im at a loss thats the internet. im gonna go on the political threads that will make me feel better.

 

[smellzlikeskunkyum]

born2killspam thx for the extended info! (+rep), at the local market they have: blackstrap molasses, grama's original, grama's robust... at the moment im using the original. ive began using molasses in my water about 1tbs per gallon ive only done it twice and i notice a difference in how much the plant grows during the dark period. that must mean that the roots are benefiting from the molasses. ill be updating my grow journy soon(only using flouro tubes!)... the afghans seem to like the molasses the best. i may try honey one or two times also, ill let u know how it goes... any special kind needed?.. and ohh... does the small amount of sodium in the molasses have undesired effects?

 

[cleangro]

One more tiny thing, also every now and again dont use sugar, to get some of the stickiness out of the soil. I just use molasses with every other watering. Lamp

Hey how much unrefined cane sugar or molasses do you use per gallon? I am just now going to start using sugar instead of an expensive additive called "sweet"

 

[bicycle racer]

too much sodium has a negative effect in many ways. personally i like products like sweet and carboload etc... as they have amino acids vits minerals etc.. besides just sugar. im on a budget myself so i use mollases or other carb sources currently.

 

[born2killspam]

Ya know what never gets mentioned as a mega carb source.. Good ol' compost..

 

[somebody041]

I use Advance Nutrients Carbo Load and have had great results. I use it in my res but I also spray it directly on the buds with my fert right on through late stage flowering. I've heard that to really take advantage of carbo loading you should actually use it as a foliar mix. I got incredible results last time. It brought out all these delightful fruit flavors and allowed the plants to develop an outstanding lime/citrus flavor and aroma. I'm growing a Maui/Chem Dog cross: Maui Super Dog and Mango Haze.

You sprayed your buds mid to late flowering? I am very interested... can you elaborate? How did you combat mold?

 

[born2killspam]

Spraying carb products on bud/leaf is as wasteful as spraying it on your dog and hoping it improves your plant yields.. Any effect you see besides scorching is definately psychosomatic..
On the Advance stuff, I'm with UB.. Until they provide some real info about what they're selling, I'm going to assume its snake oil..
Has anybody done any patent searches on the company??

 

[bicycle racer]

i like carboload the main ingredient is deoxy ribose a simple sugar found in most living cells it is more easily absorbed and used than any other carb source. unfortunately it is expensive. it is sold in health stores for people also i use it myself for extra energy in races it is good for the heart.

 

[caliearl6060]

I just bought some stuff called Sweet by Botanicare products. Its made with cane sugar, Todays my first day using it, I'll give it a week or 2 to see what happens. Ive heard only good things about the sugars.

 

[born2killspam]

Another thing made from cane sugar is sugar..