Mix it into the top. IOW words add after you’ve upcanned to a new pot and mix and just scratch it into the top inch with your finger. Water, done.
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yes, i get that on a normal type container. i’m trying to find out for a hempy bucket/autopot/octopot type setup, wher the water is on the bottom of the pot.
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Sorry, I don’t do abnormal. 
You’re on your own.
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Here’s a guy who does exactly that, @wattsaver at RIU
https://www.rollitup.org/t/a-real-k-i-s-s-growing-method-soilponics.850551/
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This is exactly what I was talking about. 
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Nelson Lindsey aka “poetry of plants” was repping this stuff as an improvement over osmocote and cannabis specific. https://beanstalkcrf.com/
I think he was saying that osmocote isnt biodegradable and, release rates are inconsistent vs beanstalk, also not crop specific. I havent tried it, but sounded like a nice simple way to grow.
Ehhh that website is pretty light on science and I don’t see any lab tests or studies to say that their product is anything special. Kinda looks like Tad deciding he could make some Green Tax money on salts. I have a hard time believing that this guy came up with better plant nutrition than the Osmocote lab, he just is selling a three part, but the one part aspect is the whole point for me, personally.
Also Osmocote uses a biodegradable resin, which that product implies they don’t.
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The big difference between CRF release rates as I understand it is that Osmocote is both temperature and moisture dependent and Nutricote is chemically released so no temperature variable just moisture. Osmocote spikes nutrient levels when you put it down as well. This is a good lab comparison (Dr. Bruce strikes again!):
pub__2394262.pdf (652.2 KB)
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RNGR is a fantastic site for research BTW:
Release Characteristics of Nutrients from Polymer-Coated Compound Controlled Release Fertilizers.pdf (581.6 KB)
Also this article is very in depth about the history of CRFs:
plants-10-00238.pdf (1.7 MB)
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Of course he would, he’s got an agenda. Another example of cannabis specific hype and whole/half truths. I’ve tried quite a few brands and they all release about the same way based on soil temps and moisture. I don’t need some cannabis specific marketing kook hawking their product on some unsuspecting, ignorant noob. Been using these slow release fertilizers for decades, another commercial variety being Polyon which is used in large ops such as golf courses.
Here’s another joke, they’re selling bloom foods. You don’t need bloom foods unless you’re in the industry and trying to up your profit margin. Stick with a balanced food like the 15-9-12 and you’re good to go from start to finish.
Where’s the guaranteed analysis? The fact that horticulturists (who understand plant and soil chemistry) do not have complete transparency regarding a product should raise a red flag with ya’ll.
Uncle Ben
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Science is fine, but eventually you have to get off the forum hype and try something else.
My “science” is based on experience, years of it and a good grasp of plant nutrition and soil chemistry. The Osmocote brand is well known (as is Polyon) and is reasonably priced for the quality and ease of maintenance you get. It’s also widely available. It is used by the huge commercial hort. industry which includes the nursery trade.
Case in point, all my greenhouse grown tropical fruit are going nuts. I have a small Meyer lemon tree that produced 226 very large beautiful fruit the last 3 months.
My girlfriend and I juiced 42# of blood oranges, regular oranges this past weekend. Froze juice in ice cube trays and have about a gallon to drink fresh stored in the fridge. My avocado trees are just loaded with blooms. Cannabis is growing fine too.
Last month each citrus tree got shy of a pound of Os. They are heavy feeders.
RootBuilder “pots” aka bottomless raised beds are shown. Remember folks, forget about the bud, it will come, IF… It’s ALL about the roots!
1 TB. was scratched into the top inch of soil when I upcanned from the 20 oz cups to 2 gallon pots Feb. 28. They really respond well to a good soaking hit of rainwater which I collect in 3,000 gals. off my greenhouse roof. Nothing is as fine as rainwater.
Male Maui Waui Jan. 19
Male Sensi Kush indica Jan. 19
Uncle Ben
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Ben I was agreeing with you, and posted lab reports and a scientific study. I appreciate your experience and knowledge, I also want to discuss the white coat stuff
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I know you were. Thanks for the reports. @Dirt_Wizard. Now try some! 
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I got 16 pounds of Osmocote Plus from Walmart this winter, put down a pound or two of it around my dad’s yard in the shrub beds and lily/berry patches etc during the warm break we had recently here in New England, with some gypsum, Espoma Plant-Tone, and a bunch of MicroPak and Mr Fulvic/soluble kelp foliars from the backpack sprayer. It’s been neglected for years and I’m hoping for a big booming spring of flowers and growth. Also been using it in my own yard the last year or two on the privet hedges and they have been jumping up! I’m going to start using it this year for cannabis, to sample some buds side by side with my recycled living soil, after seeing the results people have with it in both soil and soilless mixes.
I think my main interest in Osmocote and other CRF besides their low cost and all-in-one plant nutrition is that the gentle release of salts is compatible with a biologically active media whether soil or not. I like the idea of pure salts but also have seen great results with flavor and overall quality as I maintain a more active soil food web and I don’t want to mess with that too much. But I’m also trying them hempy buckets! Been looking at Krusty buckets and Octopots and the like for a long time but passive just seems better to my mind, and that user WattSaver has some impressive results posted over the years with Osmocote Plus Indoor-Outdoor (his first choice of CRF) and straight perlite hempy buckets, which would be extremely inexpensive and clean, I think I might be able to get more folks growing with a system that dead on simple.
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this is very useful. Thank you very much @OldUncleBen . I will try this.
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Ben, I have been moving away from the pothead gurus myself. Moving away from cannabis specific brands as well. Seems the industry is full of predators taking advantage of new and ignorant hobbyists.
I never tried the osmocote, but I am open to experimenting.
The slow release feed seems ideal for long growing sativas.
Any thoughts on mixing it throughout the medium vs scraping it into the top few inches of soil? Does it need any additional calcium? Maybe lime added to the soil as well?
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What a hoot! Sounds like a good plan.
Use of Osmocote is an economy-of-scale thing for me. I only use it on newly planted annuals to contain the nutrients at the root zone. I have found roots travel far beyond the book learnin’ stuff regarding the canopy drip edge line for trees and shrubs. I used a 2’ deep subsoiler on my tractor’s 3 pt. hitch and snagged 2" roots 100’ away from the drip line of old oak trees of my neighbor.
Don’t really buy into the value of fulvic/humic acids and God knows I’ve tried them all. Best sources in order are: Leonardite, peat moss, compost.
Our landfill sells very high quality double grind mulch for only $10/3 cu. yds. That’s a ton of mulch! Like 2 large pickup loads. That’s what you might want to try. It’s nutritional and cheap. I’d apply some supplemental N to your Dad’s goodies if you choose this route in order to feed the microbes extra N they require as they break down the organics. Ammonium sulfate, cotton seed meal, blood meal, etc.
Ben
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You can do that, sure. Instructions are given in the tech sheets I believe regarding how much to mix per cu. yd. for such and such ppm final. Also, commercial ops usually mix it in cause it’s convenient and saves on their labor costs - “where you sit is what you see” kinda thing.
I just put it at the top since the nutrients leech top down with the flow of water. I figure “why have your food near the drain holes just to leech away?” Seems wasteful. With my greenhouse trees I toss it on top and blast it in somewhat with my water hose.
Yes, I’m anal, but I don’t do “aw shits” unless forced on me.
I threw in some gypsum fines that I shovel from a nearby mining op in my mix. I also added in a handful of the meals, bone and blood. These are large batches. Also threw in a slop of horse nuggets (alfalfa) to wet down the entire mix. Alfalfa contains triacontanol, a fatty growth hormone. Might want to explore that concept.
Bone meals contains Ca too. I really don’t have to do the Ca thing if I used my well water. It is very hard, high in bicarbs of Mg and Ca. You have to take all this nutritional stuff into consideration and go for it, see what works.
I pull off the side of the road, grab the shovel and a 5 gal. bucket…
FWIW, my stored rainwater comes in at a wild pH of 5.3! That drop is caused by anerobic humus and carbonic acid in the tank. Plants/trees go nuts.
UB
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Curious, anything aside from osmocote you would recommend for fruit trees? I’ve struggled with them so far, just putting them in a mixture of native soil/conditioner/down to earth nutrients.
Cheers!
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