Being Scientific about when to start feeding nutes in super soil?

Hey All,


I'm currently growing in Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil. I've been testing the PPM of the run off and it's currently coming in around 1200. My understanding this is from the organic nutrients in the FFOF soil.

From reading I've done I want the target PPM to be 450-700 for Veg Weeks 4+.

Should I wait to begin feeding nutrients until the run off PPM dips to around 700? Or when my plant only starts to show deficiencies? Or should i just start doing quarter doses now? Any thoights on tjis?

Strains:
Seedsman Blueberry Fem
Seedsman Jack Herer Fem
Bruce Banger FAST Feminised Seeds

Day 35 of Veg (They first sprouted from the soil 42 days ago and I'm considering start of veg to be with first set of true days so 33 days of veg. I last transplanted from 1 Gallon to 5 Gallon pots on Day 16 of Veg)
5g fabric pots
3x5 tent
Electric Sky 300 v3 (48 inches away at LVL 7)
75-80f
55-60RH%r
Ph going into medium 6.2-6.5
Have not yet started feeding Fox Farm Trio. No signs yet of deficiency.
Feeding 1 Tablespoon of Molasses per gallon every other feeding

Checking runoff will tell you nothing useful. Just water as needed. If the plants look happy healthy and green water is all they will need for awhile. At some point your soil will begin to “drop off;” usually a result of reduced microbial activity. Could be like 40 to 60 days; that’s when you can either begin giving nutrients at low strength or simply potting up with fresh mix and compost. You will notice the plants getting pale: look at the newest growth for signs they need a boost.
Do not use the FF feeding schedule; they wil burn easily in hot soil. I would not give more than say 400 ppm in veg phase unless in a soiless medium. Start at something like 200-300ppm; feed weekly or bi-weekly. You will need to increase ppms as your mix becomes less viable and your plants needs gradually increase. 600-700 ppm max in full bloom phase. No need to ph the water when you give straight water but when you give nutrients you will need to adjust the solution to the proper range for absorption.
FFOF is not “super” soil. It’s just an organic mix that works pretty well with just plain water. It is fairly stout right out of the bag but falls off fast once it does. You can make it into a super soil which could even prolong its viability indefinitely by amending it with worm castings and fertilizer. You can recycle it over and over; gets even better with age. I wish someone told me this when I started off.

Thanks for the Reply Richard and excuse my late reply.

I'm into day 41 of veg and haven't noticed any deficiencies in the plant. I'm thinking I'll start with a quarter dose of FF Trio. Does this sound right to you? Is there something to be said about introducing nutes to a plant before flipping to flower to see how they might react to give them time to recover if necessary?

Also in terms of which week I should abide by, am I correct that I should go with week 4 as specified below? So I'd only be using Big Bloom and Grow big to start?

Got any updated pics

Dank Bongula said:

Got any updated pics

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Absolutely. I defoliated them about 3 days ago also FYI.

Jscooter2 said:

Thanks for the Reply Richard and excuse my late reply.

I'm into day 41 of veg and haven't noticed any deficiencies in the plant. I'm thinking I'll start with a quarter dose of FF Trio. Does this sound right to you? Is there something to be said about introducing nutes to a plant before flipping to flower to see how they might react to give them time to recover if necessary?

Also in terms of which week I should abide by, am I correct that I should go with week 4 as specified below? So I'd only be using Big Bloom and Grow big to start?

Click to expand...

I can tell you about my most recent experience with this subject. My grow last summer I used FF Ocean Forest and also used the FF trio with great results. I never used more than 1/2 the recommended dosage on the FF feeding schedule, but I didn't write down exactly what I did. Mistake #1.

Since that was my first grow in 5 years, I was rusty on the details, trying to remember what I did 5 years ago, and I was just going by how the plants looked day to day. I should've written down what I fed but I thought I would remember well enough.

So the next round of plants I started feeding at somewhat less than 1/2 strength to start and everything seemed fine until week 4 in flower, I started getting yellow leaves, then got white pistils turning brown prematurely, on all but one small plant, the runt of this litter; they also stopped bulking up. The one runt had all white pistils and continued growing normally. I was confused why this was happening, as I thought I was doing the same thing I did before.

I forgot that I had switched to Happy Frog because I had issues with the Ocean Forest being too hot for seedlings. Mistake #2. Since they were repotted the week before flip to flower, and this was now week 4, I thought all the nutrients in any potting soil (OF or HF) would be long since depleted. However, what I believe happened is the Ocean Forest had more nutrients in flower than the HF. With the Happy Frog, and far less nutrients, the plants were suffering a nitrogen deficiency which is the cause of premature flowering a.k.a. brown pistils too early.

It took me a week to figure this out, and it was too late for the brown pistil plants. They finished and looked fine but lacked resin and the potency is weak. The runt finished normally but is also weak potency. I think there was just enough nitrogen for the runt to keep white pistils from turning brown, but still relatively weak potency. At least that is my hypothesis and I am going to find out.

I am now on a second round growing this strain from clones (last batch was seed) and I am doing 2 different fertilizer regimens to see what happens, all in Happy Frog soil. I am also writing down exactly what I feed every single time I water, and I am keeping a daily journal to record exactly what happens. I am going to find out how much is enough, and how much is too much, so I know for the future.

I also want to know what a difference more fertilizer will make with the resin and potency of the bud. I know what too little did for the last round, so now I want to see too much and just right. Maybe I should start a thread to keep track.

They were looking a little light before but darker now. Looking good so far.