Osmocote Pure & Simple

Indoor Growing
#1

I’m currently going through my 3rd grow ever, & so far it’s the best I’ve ever done. No burning… big (about a little under 4 feet), thick, green plants and a few so far show pistils. They look healthy even though my greenthumb kinda sucks.

I’m just curious exactly how many of you use only Osmocote in soil? The Father in Law suggested it, & to my surprise the old man was right. It works. Better than the GH nutes that cost me $50 or so!

This goes against everything I’ve read though… it seems everywhere I research everyone always tells you - stay away from Controlled Release stuff… it’ll burn your plants. You won’t be able to have that ‘taste’ or ‘smell’ that’s unique etc etc. I only really care about potency and a decent yield though. I actually would prefer not to juice up the plants w/ all these ‘pro’ nutes and make her stink to high heaven - I’m hoping they’re odorless, or close to. If the taste is unbearably harsh, I’ll just make hash/edibles out of’em all. So far, I’m loving Osmocote (& it won’t burn your plants like Miracle Gro CRF) if all goes well, this will be all I’ll ever use.

Cheap, Simple, & it works.

Any of you guys have links to grows similar to mine? & if so, how was your smell/taste & yield? Just curious. BTW, I’m using about a half capful of osmocote in 5 gallon pots. I’ve read threads on other sites of people doing things similarly, but this being a new site & all, it’s a good idea bring the topic over here me thinks : )

Happy growing everyone!

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#2

First I have to say I don’t have any personal experience with Osmocote, I hope some others may share their experience.

But from what I can read it is just regular mineral fertilizer (with the exemption of organics line - Osmocote® Plus Organics from Scotts) targeted on masses (all purpose fertilizer for lawns, etc.) so very low-cost and cheap. I don’t see why it shouldn’t work well for plants.

Its “resin coating” feature should help dissolve gradually thus helping prevent nute burn.

I can see there are many formulas including professional for particular plants. What N-P-K do you use? Do they offer anything suitable for growth and bloom separately?

On the other side, as you said some don’t like smell and taste of mineral ferts or outright dislike particular brand, but I think with proper flushing in final two weeks or so it can be acceptable. This is really personal thing, because every fertilizer tastes differently. You reap what you saw, so if you like it, stick with it. Personally I hate smoking not-properly flushed buds. It happens sometimes because people think that they can add more weight into buds by overfertilizing till the very last day. I say just don’t be like them and you will be ok!

#3

Hey man, thanks for replying. I’m using the 14-14-14 osmocote. I’ve yet to see any deficiencies so I haven’t added anything else. & no I don’t think they have anything specifically for blooming… they have an osmocote plus which is a little higher NPK I think, but I’ve never used it.

I guess if it affects bud formation and if I see deficiencies, I’ll look into some kind of bloom booster. But for the time being, everything so far looks good.

My grow is personal and medicinal, so any yield that I can convert into oil or edibles I’m happy with. I’m honestly too paranoid to juice them up w/ stuff like floralicious plus etc. Last grow I had horrible burn problems but during veg time stunk like a rotten fruit cos of the nutes I was using. They also hermied. This time though, they’re odorless (so far, knock on wood) and many are showing to be females.

#4

Just wondering - in what phase are you now?

#5

They’re in 4 week flowering.

#6

i vegged for 1 month before flipping the switch to 12/12…

#7

While balanced N-P-K (14-14-14) can work well in growth I don’t think it is good enough for flowering though. There is reason why formulas for cannabis growth and bloom are different.

You should definitely lower dosage of Osmocote and add some P-K 13-14 to promote flower growth.

Also I don’t want to spook you at all, but IMHO odor is usually sign of potency, I don’t connect odorless with quality. But it is too early to say in 4th week and of course odor strength highly depends on selected strain.

Care to share a photo of your garden?

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#8

Just thought I’d throw in a FYI…

14:14:14 is the same as 1:1:1, as these numbers are ratios, and not strength.

Think of it as:
14 scoops of N, to 14 scoops of P, to 14 scoops of K.

Companies use big numbers to sell more product. You may have already known this, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Cheers and happy growing :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#9

The thing about Osmocote, is that they’re little balls that you mix into the soil before you even plant the seed. It’s supposed to last 3 to 4 months, so there’s no way of adjusting the nutes until they run out. All I do is water them through a Britta filter and that’s it. The girls are sativas too. So I know they will take longer to ripen…

Since they’ve been alive for 2 months now, and the Osmocote only lasts 3 - 4 months, I’ll have to wait & see for them to tell me when they’re hungry otherwise I’m afraid I’ll fry them.

You’re probably right that less smell equals less potent bud. But I think regardless I’ll most likely be looking at something %10 thc at least. I mean, even mids get me stoned! After all, it’s medicinal for me and I’ll be vaping it throughout the day. I don’t need to be messed up, and I’m willing to trade quality/potency for security.

I’ll see what I can upload a little later after Turkey day’s done.

#10

you should check out notill dude. simple. organic. big yield, tasty bud, potency, its all there. and did i mention no transplanting, 5 bucks a cycle for “nutes”, no throwing out soil, no throwing out leaves and stems. its a growers dream.

1 Like
#11

Dumme said it right. I just wanted to add:

In general (and I hope agricultural companies respect this established order) NPK should mean percent of each substance in the bottle you buy.

So 14:14:14 could be read as 14% of Nitrogen, 14% of Potassium and 14% of Phosphorus in fertilizer bottle (~ 140 ml of Nitrogen in 1 liter bottle). By diluting with water you get solution you need (it is better to measure EC specifically in hydroponics).

If you buy 1:1:1 you just need to add more of it to get same solution strength.

Mineral fertilizers are easier to produce with higher NPK (its values can reach double digits) on the other side organic fertilizers are usually very mild (max. single digits) in NPK. See comparison here

When shopping you can then compare different brands and its NPK (amount of pure NPK) to its price.

#12

I’m interested in your results with Osmocote with cannabis. My only issue with osmocote is the NPK ratio, I would like to see a different NPK ratio instead of the 14-14-14. I’ve used it before in vegetable gardens and I liked the results.

I think the ratio of NPK is that way because it might be designed for soils low in organic matter. I dont know what soil you are using but if there was going to be a problem with Osmocote, it would be a nitrogen issue. So I would anticipate smaller flowers due to higher N availability.

I did a bunch of amendment evaluations and Osmocote, faired pretty well. I think the only issue was the cost. Might be too expensive for broadcast application.

Other than that, I look forward to your results.