Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

Uncle Ben said:

I started this draft and then quit after finding out I can't edit what I start. I need the flexibility to make future additions and revisions, which is not granted to the thread starter here at RIU. So for what it's worth, here are a few tidbits written about 6 months ago.

Enjoy,
Uncle Ben

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Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks

After 40 years of gardening experience, a ton of applied book learning, and a whole lot of research and personal experience I thought I'd share some pointers or tweeks. Feel free to comment. This will be a work in progress as I recall “gems” I might have inadvertently left out.

Light - Plants needs a rest. Recommend 20/4 for veg. Plants do better (produce more carbos) with less light over a longer period of time than alot of light for a shorter period of time. There is a point of light saturation where more light will work against you by bleaching out the lifeblood of the plant - chlorophyll. Learn to "read your plants" and keep those leaves healthy and green until harvest. Also, contrary to forum paradigms, in general you want to give your plants more light during veg and less during flowering, think nature. The flowering response is not the time to bleach out the leaves with high light intensities (and high P foods). Ultra low levels of N found in bloom foods will generally not support leaf health.

Temperature and the importance of day/night differential - In general, a 85/70F (32/16C) day/night temp is best for most hybrids for maximum carbo production. What's really important is a good drop in temperature at night, of at least 15F/4C. If night temps are too high, the plant will use up the carbos manufactured during the day to the process of respiration as opposed to plant cell division/elongation (tissue production).

Watering technique - contrary to popular belief, wet/dry cycles are NOT good, especially for organic growers. Keep the soil medium moist but not saturated to the point where air is excluded. When you water, don’t be shy. Water until there is a good runoff. The issue is not overwatering, it's watering to the point of the exclusion of air.

Fertilizers - I don’t use “cannabis specific” plant foods for many reasons. If you do, make sure you’re able to find the NPK and micro values and understand the relationship between those elements. An overage of one element over another will create an antagonistic affect. For example, too much K tends to create a deficiency of N, Ca, and Mg.

Foliage production - Grow for the most amount of foliage you can going into the flowering response. Maintain those leaves in a green and healthy condition up until harvest, even if it means switching fertilizer to a high N value, like a 9-3-6.

Upcanning (repotting) - Score the rootball - pop the ball out and using a razor blade or sharp knife insert it about ½" into the rootball at the top and slice thru the exposed roots from top to bottom concentrating on any root spinout at the bottom. Rotate the rootball and do this about 4 times. Bury the “trunk” as deep as you can even if it means pulling off some of the lower leafsets. This will induce root output all along the buried trunk.

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Impman said:

At what low temperature does marijuana get stressed at? I have been letting the temp go down to as low as 50 degrees at night and they are still thriving.

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Uncle Ben said:

Nothing wrong with foliage feeding if your plants are deprived of nutrients, which they shouldn't be.

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Doer said:

Over watered.

An over watered cannabis plant will have leaves that are full of water, so the leaves will be firm to the touch and generally curling down (even from the stem of the leaf) almost as if it has too much water weight to hold the leaf out straight.

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Under watered.

An under watered cannabis plant will have leaves that are brittle, limp, and lifeless. The leaves will seem to be drooping but won't appear as rounded and full as an over watered cannabis plant.

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