Questions about fertilizers

[PrideofCucamong]

I am growing in pro mix soil with pure blend pro fertilizer. My strains are skunk1, skunk1 X thai haze, and skunk1 X big bud.

I am only using botanicare pure blend, are there any other supplements that i can add to help the plants? This is my first real grow, thanks for any help!

 

[Guest]

Hi

I have used PBP in the past and you won't need much else.

I did use Liquid Karma, as directed on bottle, in addition to PBP. I also like to use a micro nutrient like Earth Juice "Microblast" a couple times (once a month)during the grow for micronutrient supplement. You'll get a lot of advice here but I strongly suggest you keep things SIMPLE this first grow. You don't need anything more than what you are doing and maybe my suggestions below for a nitrogen free fertilizer late in flowering.

I would also suggest getting a flowering fertilizer that has NO Nitrogen in it for late stage flowering. There's a lot of sativa in those strains. You'll have a tough time getting sativa dominant strains to finish flowering if you keep feeding them Nitrogen...and PBP Flower has Nitrogen in it. I use Fox Farm BeastieBloom which is 0-50-30. If you are an Organic grower, then maybe use something like Earth Juice flower which is Nitrogen free. You'll want to stop feeding them ANY Nitrogen at all the last month or so of flowering IMO. Let the plants metabolize all the residual Nitrogen in the soil...and then metabolize the Nitrogen in its leaves as it finishes and dies.

I would also recommend that you use PBP as directed. BeastieBloom is very potent stuff. I use a PPM meter so I don't overdo it. I didn't use PBP this grow. I used FoxFarm TigerBloom in early flower, then combined it with BeastieBloom mid flowering, then nothing but BeastieBloom in late flower. In no case did I ever use concentrations stronger than 750PPM (1.5 EC).

Overfeeding is a common mistake IMO with sativa dominant strains. Most sativas simply don't need lots of ferts. You have a good soil to begin with. So go easy on ferts in flower. Work up in fertilizer strength. Look at you plants carefully. If you see yellowing on lower, older fan leaves, it will almost surely be a Nitrogen deficit....assuming you are watering correctly. So next watering increase your fertilizer concentration a bit. If you see"clawing" fans and/or tip burn....then back off your fert concentration some...or skip ferts and just use pH'd water. Let the plants use up the excess. IMO, it's better to under fertilize a bit and then increase as plants indicate, rather than overdo it and burn them.

Learn to water correctly, another big mistake people often make IMO. Water SLOWLY, but thoroughly. Make a note of how much water your plants take before runoff occurs. For example, right now my finishing plants are in 3 gallon pots. They have been taking right at 2 liters every 3 days. That produces about a cup or so of runoff. I water slowly and begin watering around the base of the plant FIRST. This saturates the soil in the interior of the pot first. Then I water around the perimeter of the pot. If you water indescriminately, or around the pot edge first...you risk water simply running down the inside edge of the pot and out. You'll think you have watered enough, but you haven't. Watering thoroughly is very important for good dense root structure. As long as your soil drains well(It should be 30-40% perlite) you won't have problems. Make sure you drain off any excess water/ferts in your saucers. I use a turkey baster.

Beware of those who tell you to buy all sorts of "stuff". And be especially wary of those who tell you that you have Calcium and Magnesium deficits. If you have limed your soil with 2 Tbls/gallon of dolomite lime...and you use a good micronutrient supplement like Microblast...the odds of you having a Ca or Mg problem are nearly ZERO. Don't get caught up in "adding this and adding that". IMO you'll be making a mistake. Soil grows are forgiving in the sense that mistakes can be fixed. Don't panic at a yellowing leaf until you know what is going on. Post a GOOD picture of your problem and let some folks here like Suby, 10K, MyNameIsStitch and others advise yoiu over on the Infirmary forum. DO NOT listen to Black Velvet's advice.

That's how I have done these two haze hybrids I'm finishing up now.

Good luck and keep us updated. Lots of good folks here to help you. I've had lots of help from people here. Holler if you need it!!

pedro


This is my SuperSilverHaze from Mr Nice on Day 66 of flowering. She has another 3 weeks from when this was taken and I stopped Nitrogen a week before this was taken.


This is my Skunk Haze and she is 1 week ahead of my SSH. Day 71 of flower here. You can see she is finishing up, yellowing leaves.


See how roots are nice and dense from just below soil surface all the way to the bottom? Thats the sort of root structure you want to see.

 

[Guest]

Great advice, Pedro.

 

[58FLH]

Nice looking plants Pedro good job

 

[Guest]

Hey guys

Thanks for the compliments. I was on a rip when I wrote that this morning. Some of it need a bit of clarification. So I'll try to do that before I head out into the cold and snow here for a bit of work to pay the rent. LOL!!

I hope the thread owner isn't getting pissed off at me.

PBP Grow for soil is a good choice. I see in another similar thread Suby recommended PBP for some guy. PBP Flower is also a good fert. My only problem with it is the Nitrogen it contains. I prefer ferts with NO Nitrogen late in flower. That's why I shift my blend of FF TigerBloom/BeastieBloom to 100% BeastieBloom late in flower. That's just my growing style/preference. I do it because I have gotten a great deal of advice from very experienced sativa growers...and most all of them said the same thing: You don't want to be giving sativas Nitrogen late in flower.

I didn't mention pH.

It is critically important that you understand pH and its importance in your grow. That said, don't freak out and think you have to get obsessed with doing things to tweak your pH all the time. Disaster lies down that road.

You MUST lime your soil. (Check out BurnOne's soil recipes over on the Organic forum)Dolomite lime provides the buffering necessary for the complex chemical reactions that take place when water and fertilzers are applied. IMO, for soil grows, the liquid color test kits are perfectly good to use.

And I keep it simple on my grows. FF TigerBloom and BeastieBloom are acidic after mixing in my tap water. So I just mix to my desired PPM and give to my plants. I trust my liming of the soil. I rarely ever test pH of runoff. (Why I don't is subject for another thread)

PBP is also acidic. Use it as directed for the stage of growth your plants are in. Don't be trying to fiddle with the pH of your fertilizer mix if it is already acidic (pH <7) Some get all excited when they see Earth Juice Grow's pH is like 4. I used EJ Grow on these haze hybrids during grow. It turned my pH color kit sample that pinkish red LOL!! VERY acidic stuff. Like pH of 4. I poured it right in my pots and those hazes grew like weeds )))) You need to trust your soil and the proper liming of it.

EJ Grow is good to use as a pH down in some applications. It doesn't take much to drop a gallon of 7.5 water to 6.5....depending on why the water was pH 7.5.

I didn't explain about Calcium and Magnesium very well. They are extremely important elements for your plants. In most cases dolomite lime satisfies the Ca and Mg requirements. Sometimes there are problems, almost always from lack of one or both. You'll see a lot about something called CalMag. CalMag will solve Calcium and Magnesium deficits, BUT BUT!! you need to know that you truly have a deficit before using CalMag. Why do I say that?

Because you don't want to be adding things like CalMag unless it is necessary. LESS is MORE in this business most of the time. Don't be adding anything to your soil unless it is absolutely called for. Once you put something in that soil it is a bitch to get out...and flushing is no fun thing to have to do. Your plants don't like it!!

If you think you have a problem with nutes, take a deep breath, water with 6.5 pH water if dry, take pictures, good pictures, and post them in the appropriate place. Be prepared to answer the basic questions in that list of Q's that they have on that forum in the Infirmary.

What I'm trying to say is that very few people ever have Ca or Mg deficits, or especially these weird deficits of things like Sulphur, or Zinc IF IF IF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they build a good soil to begin with, and use well known, tried and true fertilizers like Botanicare, Fox Farm, etc. properly.

I guess I have rambled on too much. I hope the thread owner doesn't mind. I will pull the posts if he does.

pedro

 

[Guest]

pedro,

I'm loving the info. I'm growing accustomed to reading anything with your name on it. Keep the good stuff coming.

Mr. Cucamong,

pedro is right, as is seeming to be the case more and more often. The best words I picked out from his post..."keep it SIMPLE on the first grow". That is the BEST advice I give any new grower.

- N.W.

 

[Guest]

No Worries...Tks for the kind words. It's stokes ones ego LOLOLOL!!!!

However, I think I really have gone overboard here....SOOO

I began a new thread on my next grow. I'm gonna leave my posts above until Sunday my time MST. Then remove them from here. They will be on my thread then. I just don't feel right leaving them here. I'll post the link here to get to them.

pedro

 

[Guest]

I didn't keep it simple on my first grow and it went beeeautifully lol ... BUT, I'm in the horticulture industry so i kinda already know my sally's from bob's haha ... and jst so i dnt sound like a total ass, i agree with the keep it simple rule if u dnt hav a lot of experience; practice makes perfect.

Anyway, some things i agree with:

- Lime ur soil - Dolomite lime = Good.
- I use Earth Juice ferts, they're good, bt they're a lot weaker than some if the other ferts out there so, even with good soil, u can use a fair bit.
- I use a foliar spray (during vegg/early flowering - before buds begin to get dense, dnt want mold!!!) ... The spray is 500ml water (coz thats the size of the sprayer lol) 2-3 drops of Superthrive, 1.5 ml Nitrozyme, 2-5 ml Earth Juice Mircoblast, 1ml Earth Juice Meta-K, 1-2 ml Earth Juice Catalyst, a pinch of epso salt (for magnesium) and a pinch of dolomite lime (for calcium) ... This foliar spray seems to greatly improve the overall health of the plant (for me at least) and seems to prevent any deficiencies ... I also use those Earth Juice (EJ for short) products in my fert solution.
- Nitrozyme (newly discovered for me) works wonders, if u have to choose between Superthrive and Nitrozyme for an additive, go with Nitrozyme!!! (I choose to use both lol)

- I've never tried using NO nitrogen to finish flowering bt will try it this nxt grow coz that sounds interesting, I've always heard adding nitrogen in flowering jst made ur bud more leafy, which i kinda like, bt will try it none the less!!!

- Also, jst a tip, if u have lower leaves that are barely getting any light, chop them off, its called thinning if ya want to look it up, and the idea is so that, either, the light can penetrate further through the plants and/or coz lower leaves that aren't getting light aren't doing much so by chopping them off the plant is redirecting the energy that would b going to these lower leaves up the plant to the next set which means more growth in the higher parts of the plant, very good wen buds are forming at the TOP of ur plant. (Jst dnt go chopping off all the fan leafs that ARE getting light or ur plant will b very sad)

Sorry if thats confusing, its very late and im tired bt doing my best lol
Good luck mate!!!

 

[PrideofCucamong]

Hello. Thank you very much for the info Pedro and greenfield. I have been really busy the last few days and havent been able to check the thread.

I am going to use either fox farm or pro mix soil, unless it is cheaper to just mix my own. I am going to look for earth juice and i already have PBP.

This is some great info thank you pedro.

 

[statusquo]

Good info pedro.
OP - Keep things simple imo. As pedro suggested as a beginner I wouldnt try and add a bunch of "things". One might even argue seeing things like slight nute defficiency is good for the learning process; its a lot easier to fix a little bit of yellowing than over feeding your plants.

 

[Guest]

Promix and ocean forest are both decent mediums,add a skosh of mycorrzea or however its spelled and the results will astound you.I've used ocean forest form close to seven years now without mycorr and adding it is the best thing I've done to my medium in seven years.PBP grow big and tiger bloom are all great ferts but with mycorr you can use half as much and get twice the results

 

[PrideofCucamong]

thank you, i will have to go pick up some fungi on my next trip to the store.