new and dont know which nutrients veg&flower
- Thread starter blizake54
- Start date
so i am new to growing this ganja and i cannot figured out which nutrients to use, for veg or flowering stages i was wondering, if i could ask yall and tell me what to get with yalls good results? AND how much of the nutrients do i use at a time.hydro looks so difficult so i just stuck to soil, seems way easier
Mother's Finest
Well-Known Member
It's usually a good idea to give the plants some variety in their feedings. Constantly feeding them the same thing increases the risk of overfertilization and missing micronutes.
So anyway, you'll have two ways to feed your plants- mixing solid ferts into the soil or pouring liquid ferts into the mixed soil. A good soil mix can provide enough nutrition for up to about 2 months of growth in a 5gal bucket; not that adding extra in the second half of that time frame won't help. Some of the best fertilizers include Bat & Seabird Guanos, Bone & Blood meal, Kelp & Seaweed ferts, Worm Castings, Fish Emulsion/Hydrolyzed Fish and certain types of high-Potassium ash. There are, of course, many other good ferts as well, not to mention more inert substrate components that can help with drainage, Ph and soil aeration. We use a mix of roughly 3 parts Edna's Best potting soil, 1 part Perlite and 1 part Worm Castings. We'll add a little Kelp, Bone and Blood Meals to the mix and some lime. For flowering we'll also add Ph-corrected palm ash. Coco coir can be added and we'll use it sometimes when it's on sale. More perlite should be used when adding coir to this mix. Wet the soil with pure water until a handful drips a few drops when moderately squeezed. Fill pots with soil and drop them onto the counter a few times while filling to pack & settle the substrate. Don't push down on the soil to pack it, you want there to be passageways for air to get to the roots. For fertilizing potted plants, look into making tea out of guanos. There are some threads on tea making in the Organics section. Fish emulsion and Maxicrop soluble powder are other excellent liquid ferts. Fish Emulsion/Hydrolyzed Fish contains all of the micronutes your plants need.
Start geminated seeds in seed starter soil. Once the second set of leaves appear (they are 3-bladed leaves after the first set of single-bladed leaves), they can be transplanted into regular potting soil with worm castings and/or be fed dilute organic ferts (1-1-1 for example, very weak). Always alternate feedings with plain water. Slowly increase ferts as the plant grows, watching the lowest leaves for signs of fertilizer burn. If they start to burn, ease off on the ferts a bit. By the time the plant has fully grown 5-bladed leaves, you should be feeding it something around 9-5-5, roughly equal parts Phosphorus and Potassium with almost twice as much Nitrogen. The nutrient requirements for flowering vary from strain to strain but usually a ratio around 7-6-10 will work well. These ratios can be strengthened or weakened as needed. Try to give the plants as much as you can without burning the leaves. During mid to late flowering, burning a few small bottom leaves is ok and should happen when you're pumping in the nutes for the end of bud formation.
Good Luck.
So anyway, you'll have two ways to feed your plants- mixing solid ferts into the soil or pouring liquid ferts into the mixed soil. A good soil mix can provide enough nutrition for up to about 2 months of growth in a 5gal bucket; not that adding extra in the second half of that time frame won't help. Some of the best fertilizers include Bat & Seabird Guanos, Bone & Blood meal, Kelp & Seaweed ferts, Worm Castings, Fish Emulsion/Hydrolyzed Fish and certain types of high-Potassium ash. There are, of course, many other good ferts as well, not to mention more inert substrate components that can help with drainage, Ph and soil aeration. We use a mix of roughly 3 parts Edna's Best potting soil, 1 part Perlite and 1 part Worm Castings. We'll add a little Kelp, Bone and Blood Meals to the mix and some lime. For flowering we'll also add Ph-corrected palm ash. Coco coir can be added and we'll use it sometimes when it's on sale. More perlite should be used when adding coir to this mix. Wet the soil with pure water until a handful drips a few drops when moderately squeezed. Fill pots with soil and drop them onto the counter a few times while filling to pack & settle the substrate. Don't push down on the soil to pack it, you want there to be passageways for air to get to the roots. For fertilizing potted plants, look into making tea out of guanos. There are some threads on tea making in the Organics section. Fish emulsion and Maxicrop soluble powder are other excellent liquid ferts. Fish Emulsion/Hydrolyzed Fish contains all of the micronutes your plants need.
Start geminated seeds in seed starter soil. Once the second set of leaves appear (they are 3-bladed leaves after the first set of single-bladed leaves), they can be transplanted into regular potting soil with worm castings and/or be fed dilute organic ferts (1-1-1 for example, very weak). Always alternate feedings with plain water. Slowly increase ferts as the plant grows, watching the lowest leaves for signs of fertilizer burn. If they start to burn, ease off on the ferts a bit. By the time the plant has fully grown 5-bladed leaves, you should be feeding it something around 9-5-5, roughly equal parts Phosphorus and Potassium with almost twice as much Nitrogen. The nutrient requirements for flowering vary from strain to strain but usually a ratio around 7-6-10 will work well. These ratios can be strengthened or weakened as needed. Try to give the plants as much as you can without burning the leaves. During mid to late flowering, burning a few small bottom leaves is ok and should happen when you're pumping in the nutes for the end of bud formation.
Good Luck.
thansk a lot!
NLNo5
Active Member
My soil is 1/3 MG organic, 1/3 worm castings, 1/3 pearlite
For the "food" I use A for grow, B at the start of bloom, and C (mixture of A and B) during the rest of the bloom cycle.
I like to flush once prior to harvest.
I like to add botanical molasses on the "water" throughout the life of the plant (don't add with fertilizer), this provides carbs for beneficial microbes.
I feed and water on alternating schedules.
A MG, (NPK) 18 18 21
B OS, (NPK) 5 45 19
C Equal mix of A and B, 11.5 31.5 20
(A)Miracle Grow Tomato's
Total Nitrogen: 18%
Available Phosphate: 18%
Soluble Potash: 21%
Magnesium: .50%
Copper: .05%
Iron: .10%
Manganese: .05%
Zinc: .05%
(B) Open Sesame bloom promoter (FoxFarm)
Nitrogen (ammoniacal) 5%
Phosphate 45%
Potassium 19%
Iron 0.15%
Zinc 0.05%
Manganese 0.05%
Calcium and Magnesium supplement (see CalMag Plus) I add this once in the beginning and once in the middle with watering only.
This setup requires a quality pH meter because the OS is very acidic. I'd recommend you consider getting a meter if you are planning on making it a hobby. I also use solutions for pH adjusting.
You may want to get a TDS meter or a pH/TDS combo meter. Because the concentration of the nutes in the feedwater is critical. Some plants don't like to be fed more than 400 ppm depending on the type of fertilizer. I feed my plants about 300 ppm because the OS is very active(strong) and it can shock the plant if you follow the manufactures feeding recommendation.
It's very common for newbies to over water and over feed. You want to develop a Zen with your plants. Sometimes it is good to ignore your plants for a few days after watering to allow them to do their job. You can feel the pot get lighter as the plant uses the water. I like to water the plant when the pot gets noticeably lighter (I get this feeling like "oh shit she needs some water"). The soil in the pot will get dry and it will shrink in from the sides as the water leaves the system.
I wouldn't give ferts to the plant within the first 3-4 weeks as the soil provides plenty of nutrients to the seedling. And I would start out with a feeding solution of 200ppm and then increase it to 300 or 400 over the next 2-3 feedings.
I hope I didn't complicate things. PM me if you have any questions. If this helped, +rep.
For the "food" I use A for grow, B at the start of bloom, and C (mixture of A and B) during the rest of the bloom cycle.
I like to flush once prior to harvest.
I like to add botanical molasses on the "water" throughout the life of the plant (don't add with fertilizer), this provides carbs for beneficial microbes.
I feed and water on alternating schedules.
A MG, (NPK) 18 18 21
B OS, (NPK) 5 45 19
C Equal mix of A and B, 11.5 31.5 20
(A)Miracle Grow Tomato's
Total Nitrogen: 18%
Available Phosphate: 18%
Soluble Potash: 21%
Magnesium: .50%
Copper: .05%
Iron: .10%
Manganese: .05%
Zinc: .05%
(B) Open Sesame bloom promoter (FoxFarm)
Nitrogen (ammoniacal) 5%
Phosphate 45%
Potassium 19%
Iron 0.15%
Zinc 0.05%
Manganese 0.05%
Calcium and Magnesium supplement (see CalMag Plus) I add this once in the beginning and once in the middle with watering only.
This setup requires a quality pH meter because the OS is very acidic. I'd recommend you consider getting a meter if you are planning on making it a hobby. I also use solutions for pH adjusting.
You may want to get a TDS meter or a pH/TDS combo meter. Because the concentration of the nutes in the feedwater is critical. Some plants don't like to be fed more than 400 ppm depending on the type of fertilizer. I feed my plants about 300 ppm because the OS is very active(strong) and it can shock the plant if you follow the manufactures feeding recommendation.
It's very common for newbies to over water and over feed. You want to develop a Zen with your plants. Sometimes it is good to ignore your plants for a few days after watering to allow them to do their job. You can feel the pot get lighter as the plant uses the water. I like to water the plant when the pot gets noticeably lighter (I get this feeling like "oh shit she needs some water"). The soil in the pot will get dry and it will shrink in from the sides as the water leaves the system.
I wouldn't give ferts to the plant within the first 3-4 weeks as the soil provides plenty of nutrients to the seedling. And I would start out with a feeding solution of 200ppm and then increase it to 300 or 400 over the next 2-3 feedings.
I hope I didn't complicate things. PM me if you have any questions. If this helped, +rep.
vito*magito
Member
I use roots organic soil, straight out of the bag. I put my clones in it straight from the cloner and water with ph'd water for the first water and to saturate the new dirt, usually in a 16 oz cup. I use Flora Nova Grow fertilizer and mix it to 400 for the next watering in a few days, then 700 for the next watering, then i do 1000ppm the rest of the time. I switch to Flora Nova Bloom 2 weeks after putting them in 12/12 lighting. I feed with every watering and have used this for at least 5 strains with no problems. I ph to 6.5.
When the plants are still in small pots, i lift them to see if they feel light and water then. when they are in bigger pots i use a soil moisture meter because they are hard to lift.
Thats about it
When the plants are still in small pots, i lift them to see if they feel light and water then. when they are in bigger pots i use a soil moisture meter because they are hard to lift.
Thats about it
NLNo5
Active Member
You can slowly increase your nutrients. The leaves will be a dark green and the corners will be clawed upwards and the leaf tips turn brown when you've approached high nutrient loads. So if you're at that point you can actually slow down the feedings to half as frequent. Most of the nutrients a plant gets come from the rhizoidal bacteria and directly from the soil. The nutes you give the plant in your feed water are only a dietary supplement to close the gap. So keep in mind that your plant is really feeding itself, you are just providing a little boost.
doctor.j
Well-Known Member
it seems a lot harder but once all your shits set up and you know how it works its actually pretty easy, a little high mantainence though
vito*magito
Member
ya hydro is easy too, id say hydro is a little harder and for me there was plenty to dial in just to get my environment good with the lights etc, so it was nice to just put the plants in dirt and not have to set up a hydro deal at the same time. I think an ebb flow hydro set up would be cool though
Mrflorida5556
Member
Hey NLN, First time grower here. Been running through the indoor growing section to get my confidence up. I have started with just bag seeds (1 i got out of some GREAT chron and just some reggie miller seeds) so i dont waste too much on starting. I am doing a CFL PC Case grow and am worried about the nutritional needs for my sweet little babies (just planted them today after the Germ process) cause i am really not that experienced with plants of any kind. Are there any tricks to coming up with good soil for bag seeds (maybe to get some extra stretch from em, the smoke was decent for reg). I guess what i'm really asking is will my soil and nutrients be enough to make the smoke a little better? Im going with your soil setup as a base but what should i look for in my operation to come out with some decent smoke from these seeds? I notice most of you guys get clones or order crazy named seeds and i know those buds are great, but can i essentially get REALLY GOOD buds from decent bud?
i hope you know your kind of taking my thread? why dont you go post your own
