guide me oh wise ones

[mefistyou]

Im in my first outdoor grow, and the season is getting near. I have a couple C99 from mosca that are doing great. I have been feeding with teas all season. Mainly alternating compost/EWC/and bat poop. I also mixed in some fox farms flowering ferts I happen to have lying around a couple times. My question is, since this is my first grow, what should my fert program look like from now till harvest (I'm guessing around mid oct).

Thanks

 

[pseudopod]

A stupid one chimes in:

I think I'd consider a nice top dressing with high-P bat guano and kelp meal and then water those girls with your teas and some molasses mixed in.

If your grow is doing great, then trust your instincts. Congrats on the outdoor grow, I'm jealous!

 

[VerdantGreen]

if they dont look hungry or deficient now then i would just water them and let them grow - there may be plenty of food in the soil for them already. if the leaves start to fade in the next couple of weeks give them some tea or other light feed. too much food now may compromise the quality of your bud. by the time they are a couple of weeks off harvest you really want the leaves to start fading imo.

VG

 

[mefistyou]

thanks guys.....verdant, you think I should add EWC/Compost teas...molasses...for the organisms, or just water? I am only guessing but I think I am roughly a month out from harvest. Plants are looking great, but still really green all over...buds are filling in at a rapid pace right now. I feel like what I do during this time might be the most influential since they are changing on a daily basis, and I don't want to mess them up lol

thanks

 

[MrFista]

With a month left I would give them one last tea - EWC, molasses, tiny bit of P.

This tea should not have significant quantities of any nutrient, just a wee bit to support and enhance the microbial life in the EWC.

You have already added the ferts. Now you want them being processed efficiently.

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeah that sounds good. you should always try and avoid having excess ferts as the plant gets towards finishing. i also think that they can ripen a bit quicker outdoors if they start to get hungry towards the end.

sounds like you've done a good job with them, you just want to avoid overdoing it between now and finish time.

VG

 

[hash head]

so would putting cup after cup of p guano into a water mix for one plant and dumping one cup of the dry guano a day on the plants roots be bad for it a month before chop time?

even if you add mulch and vinegar to lower the ph?


They don't need this? I thought that P was most important for flowering and hardest for the plant to get..

 

[VerdantGreen]

most P guano will take a while to break down and all that time it will feed your plants, so if you've been adding it up until halfway through flower then, providing your plant is not showing signs of deficiency, what is already there may well be enough to last it up until the end. let the plant guide you.

less than one cup of dry p guano mixed into the soil is enough for me to last all through flowering and get a 3oz plant or so. it's strong stuff.

VG

 

[Fat J]

I agree - at the end of flower, with well fertilized soil, less is more, U want them to be basically completely out of N by the time u pull, leaves should be nice n faded. This is the best advice I can give you:
They are growing well, putting on weight fast... dont fuck with that. Let em have some water with molasses(if u like) and watch em. #1 first time mistake is overlove.

 

[MrFista]

In the classical experiment where a container of dirt was weighed before and after growing a tree... the weight of the tree suggested it used approximately 0.06% of it's dried weight in minerals from the soil.

All the sugars, the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, all come freely from the atmosphere and from water.

We overdo fertilising dramatically. In the run I'm doing in my bed this time I have added 0 ferts. I use rock phosphate... as it was gifted, at the rate of 1 tablespoon per grow (6 plants).

It might sound crazy, but the facts are that a plant needs fuck all from the soil, though most of that tiny bit it does use is essential.

 

[NSPB]

In the classical experiment where a container of dirt was weighed before and after growing a tree... the weight of the tree suggested it used approximately 0.06% of it's dried weight in minerals from the soil.

All the sugars, the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, all come freely from the atmosphere and from water.

We overdo fertilising dramatically. In the run I'm doing in my bed this time I have added 0 ferts. I use rock phosphate... as it was gifted, at the rate of 1 tablespoon per grow (6 plants).

It might sound crazy, but the facts are that a plant needs fuck all from the soil, though most of that tiny bit it does use is essential.

That's why a plant grows roots 5x bigger than its actual self...

Eh...never mind. Not worth the time. Can plant take in nutrients from it's leaves via a foliar method...no question. Is that the BEST way a plant grows...

HEHEHE....



NSPB

 

[MrFista]

Should clarify though that my soil has char content that has been there for years and lots of time and TLC over the years has made it the soil it is today.

The use of less and less ferts over time is a char thing, an add compost and worm castings thing, and now that I grow in a bed and it's no till, it's a mulch thing too.

And the tree took approximately 0.08% of it's weight from the soil. I was out by a bit.

 

[hash head]

most P guano will take a while to break down and all that time it will feed your plants, so if you've been adding it up until halfway through flower then, providing your plant is not showing signs of deficiency, what is already there may well be enough to last it up until the end. let the plant guide you.

less than one cup of dry p guano mixed into the soil is enough for me to last all through flowering and get a 3oz plant or so. it's strong stuff.

VG

at a dollar a pound is there any harm other than ph to adding a couple pounds of it over the course of flower if its a large plant?

 

[NSPB]

Yes. Too much of anything can be bad.

If guano content is too high, then the structure of the soil suffers. Guano can muddy up, and take time to fully work it self into the soil. I honestly HATE top feeding with guanos as they tend to "sit" on the surface of the pot, and once wet, cakes together and prevents water from seeping into the substrate as it normally would. Also, using TOO much guano can encourage infestations of certain pests or cause an increase of diseases in and around the root zone.

All these things are much more a concern when dealing with potted gardens or constricted beds. Not so much an issue with large outdoor gardens. But if you are going to top feed with the guano, make sure you can get it evenly mixed, starting at least 8" away from the base / stalk of the plant...broadcast spread the guano around the outer diameter of the plant until you have covered a good 2 foot radius around the base of the plant. I'd proceed to work / scratch / mix the application into the top 12" of soil.

Just remember, it takes time for guano to break down and become fully active, even though it is much faster acting than most nutrient sources. You don't want to have plants fully of food when it is time to harvest...



NSPB