Those small pots will cause all kinds of problems including deficiencies. They are also harder to water correctly.
Check the damage done in the beginning of my grow thread. Doing the root pruning thing again, this time with MicroKote
I upcanned 2 Maui Wowie to the final 2 gallon treated pots when they were single leaved juveniles and they have already outgrown those started one month before. In fact, I applied Paclo Pro to one very vigorous MW yesterday. Will go 12/12 today.
Calcium nitrate. Sounds good albeit quite a bit of Ca. I’ve never known cannabis to be deficient in Ca, in fact I wouldn’t know what to look for except for some curling leaf and margin tips which can also result from moisture stress.
If I had to guess cannabis naturally grows in granitic native soils, not limestone.
I sprinkled about a handful of gypsum into my custom mix which was about a 30 gal. garbage can or two. That’s their only source of Ca. My well water is very high in bicarbs of Ca and Mg but my faves get mostly rain water. Sometimes I’ll do a 40% well water addition to the rain water.
The best foliar spray would be a few hits of Dyna-Gro’s Foliage Pro or a 30-10-10, about 1/2 tsp. per gallon. You MUST add a surfactant to your spray or it’s useless. Scratching in some blood meal into the soil will help. Affect won’t be immediate as that ammonical form of N has to become a nitrate before the plant can uptake it. Blood meal is fast though.
I’ve been successfully running 20-10-20 peat lite special at 3.5gr/gall.+1gr each epsom/Wollenstonite/gypsum. literally the first time I haven’t seen ANY spots or weird colors in my leaves. Plants just love it. I just harvested the last of this 20-10-20 tester batch and I cannot wait to smoke it once its done curing.
So, I’ve really been liking what peat lite 20-10-20 is doing for my plants and it got me curious. from what I read the phosphor is still a lot.
Found out Peters, has an “app”, not really, its just a page. but if I go to:
https://app.growwithpeters.com/find-a-product/
Played around with what I knew were my water’s numbers. This keeps getting suggested as a one bag solution.
I decided to take away the guesswork and got a test kit from them by filling this form: Request a Sample Kit - ICL Lab Services
Kit arrived the same week and I sent a water sample out to them. cost $35 + shipping sample. Results in 48-72hrs from receipt. Local greenhouse supplier will be able to get anything they make so I should be in good shape.
Will report when I know more.
I have stopped adding epsom and only use Part A @ 4g and Part B @ 2g. I finished one run and am on the second using this method. No issues at all.
A buddy had success and pointed me to a video where he got the info. Greengene’s Garden
I’ve been using the 321 formula for all my Solo cup plants and then once they get transplanted into my bigger pots it’s just Dr Earth dry amendments and Epsom salt. I was having chlorosis in my leaves before I started adding the Epsom salt. I’ll give the 4-2 system a try on my next batch of babies. Thanks for the link it was a good video.
water results are in.
plugged in the numbers:
15-5-15 keeps appearing for most plants.
teaspoon per gallon.
Found it for $65 with free shipping here:
I dropped a couple of seeds in coco on saturday.
That is some great water. Your well or city?
Excellent price shipped too. I order bulk from this place when they offer a free shipping promo for orders over $99. Weird comment on the oxidizer stuff. https://www.amleo.com/peters-excel-calmag-fertilizer-15-5-15/p/G15515
Good on ya!
There is no reason for anyone sucking up to the part A and B racket. That’s par for cannabis vendors who target noobs, not par for legitimate folks like Peters or others I order from.
Hard to beat Osmocote Indoor-Outdoor Plus regarding great nutrition fed continuously and for low maintenance too. I use it on everything including newly planted field trees. Cannabis loves it, from start to finish.
Again, another racket is the hype of switching to “bloom” foods and depriving cannabis of N during flowering. They still need plenty of it or you get premature leaf drop and less bud production.
There is no such thing as a “bloom food” to a plant. There is such a thing to growers and cons who push the stuff.
Hi @OldUncleBen Pleasured to “meet” you!
Yes, municipal water. Live right by the lake, got lucky.
Thank you. got a weird email on friday saying it was back ordered but they sent me tracking yesterday. fedex says tomorrow I’ll have it. I’m considering vacc packing it in smaller so it doesnt get wasted. Should last a while. Local amish greenhouse supply could get it too.
Thanks, came to it by a long roundabout way …cough canna aqua 8 part liquid 400+ dollar nonsense…didnt know any better. now I do.
found osmocote plus in walmart. 8lb for 20 I plan on using it on figs and quinces I’ll be transplanting in a few weeks. I didnt know you could use it in cannabis.
a couple questions if I may. I ad epsom and gypsum to my current 20-10-20 peat lite. I dont think I need the epsom, but I wasnt sure on gypsum. What do you think?
Presuming Osmacote works in peat/coco sterile media; I use the octopot type growing, reservoir of water, netpot dips and bottom 3-4 inches of the above pot get wet from capillary action roots also dip in rez.
Where do you mix the Osmacote on such a setup? homogeneous? layers? also, what is the feed rate with a time release like that?
Sorry for all the questions!
Works great on transplants like that. Just scatter a handful after you plant your figs and lightly scratch it in with your fingers.
If I may…I do trees, 1,000’s of them, pop your transplant out of your pot, blast with water to expose the roots. If there is any root girdling, J rooting or root spin out, correct it with surgery. When you plant in the hole, drop the transplant deep, add backfill, pull up as you go along until it’s at the original water line and complete the backfill. Your goal is to insure roots are pointing down, not up. Contrary to nursery label BS, do not amend your backfill with organics, sand, etc. Return the original soil. Scratch in the Osmocote and mulch with a layer of pine bark or pine needles if you got it. Best time to plant trees is in the fall, if you can find them. By the heat of the summer they will have become established, have a robust root system.
If you have heavy clay, fracture the bottom and sides with a hand held pick ax. The roots will find those fractures and root in as opposed to spinning around in the “glazed pot” you just made with your shovel or post hole digger.
If you aren’t supplying Mg, then supplement. Just don’t get carried away because of some cannabis forum post that claims it’s the be-all, which too many do. How ever you garden provide all the essential elements plants need. Treat it like a tomato plant and you’ll be fine. Dyna-Gro is about the most complete food I know of for a sterile medium. A perfect coco or hydro grow.
Osmocote is designed, and works best in a typical soil mix, reason commercial nursery folk use it. Plus it’s no maintenance. Water, you’re done feeding. I top dress my trees and just did in my greenhouse. Citrus trees got about 12 oz, annonas, avocados and mangos got about 8 oz. I grow in bottomless RootBuilder pots.
Good luck!
Uncle Ben
Amazing. I’m printing this. I’m in a 5b zone. Clay and roots and rocks. Its a pia to dig up but doable.
Thank you!!
Good, I don’t know how far to go with this. I have used a 2’ deep, 3 pt. subsoiler to fracture my bitch clay soil for a vineyard and trees. This will help too. https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/soil-amendments.pdf
“…plants struggle to make enough to photosynthesize effectively…”
Don’t make enough what; chlorophyll?
Yep, chlorophyll is produced from iron and magnesium
Ok, thanks. Just wasn’t sure of the wording and wanted to double check.
I wonder if this also relates to the “extra” purpling many/most see (petioles, streaks, in particular), could the anthocyanin maybe express more because there’s less chlorophyll production or something? It just made me think.
Anyways…
You know…that’s making me think too especially with the different expressions we see from growers using similar-ish lights and environmental targets but very different media and nutes. Really interesting point dude
Like we’re all growing in 4x4 to 8x8 tents with Samsung or other higher CRI daylight diodes now, most of us have some deep/far red and blues maybe some UV (I think the biggest variation other than PPFD is probably how powerful/effective/present at all UV is) and we all try to hit roughly the same 80F or so in flower with LEDs with moisture between 40-60% RH. I imagine that the higher temps are better like people say because with more transpiration and also warmer soil to work up decomposition faster there’s more mag available? But it seems like you could be right and it’s basicallly what’s your chelated iron, mag, and micros looking like?
I’m glad I mentioned it then. I wasn’t going to.
Have you ever had a flowering plant (under the led types you mention in your next post) deep into flower with large buds, and very purple petioles (and the petioles extend deep into the bud because of the buds size)? I notice that if I remove one of those large fan leaves completely (pulling down on the stem at a sharp angle while supporting/holding the bud gently) and break it off where it attaches to the stem/center of the bud, there is a line where the purple ends and a beautiful green begins. The part of the stem that has no light hitting it remains a nice green color, and exactly where it exits the bud and gets light, it’s purple.
There’s a thread on riu where a guy had a vertical QB grow with one plant. You can see this effect so well on those images.
I always found this purpling interesting (ie: annoying, or frustrating not knowing what’s going on).
I try and get the plant temps to 80-82F. Which means my air temp is about 6-8F above that. I think their metabolism is “better” at those (plant) temps.
Thanks.
