Organic carbohydrate and sugar sources?

[Epiphyte]

What Up? I was hoping some of you more seasoned growers could talk a little bit about your experience with yucca and other sugar/carb sources...I am looking for a way to diversify my carbs....I use molasses religiously and biobud which has some plant protein hydrolysate.

Could you please talk not only about your experience with sugar/carb/protein sources, but how these products are applied?

I am trying to increase my yield....other techniques are welcomed. However, I'd like to mostly focus on carbs and diversifying my sugar spectrum.

Thanks for the input
Phyte

 

[mad librettist]

rather than adding sugar, just keep you plants healthy. They will pump a number of sugars into the soil.

 

[thing]

Really? I thought adding molasses was good for your microherd? I swear that when I add molasses to my plants outside it makes a notable difference. Could you elaborate more?

 

[h.h.]

Then straight sugar should do miracles. The plant is already feeding the microherd. You might get a slight boost from what is in the molasses other than carbs. It is better kept for teas.
As for carb sources, there doesn't really seem much reason to use ones other than molasses as they don't contain mush else but sugar.
I've been using corn stalks as well as grapes and raisins off the vine in my last couple of teas. To what benefit, I couldn't really say. Not using a lot. Not trying to do an alcohol fermentation.

 

[descivii]

Some grocery stores will carry sugar canes seasonally and composting those is great but basically the same as molasses

J

 

[mad librettist]

Organic carbohydrate and sugar sources?

Really? I thought adding molasses was good for your microherd? I swear that when I add molasses to my plants outside it makes a notable difference. Could you elaborate more?

most plants exude sugars and other substances from their roots, either to trade for nutes directly or to indirectly manipulate the soil life.

if you have good diversity, and good light, your plant is making all the sugar it needs.

as stated above, there are lots of reading molasses could be helping.

 

[Scrappy4]

I am trying to increase my yield....other techniques are welcomed. However, I'd like to mostly focus on carbs and diversifying my sugar spectrum.

I think it takes the whole environment to make for a great grow. Focusing on one miracle ingredient is likely to fail, and misses the point. The point? Glad you asked. Living soil is the point.

If yields and quick turn around times are driving forces grow hydro.
I don't think big yields come in a magic bottle, it's the whole enchilada, even in hydro.

Make sure to run proven high yield genetics. If big yields are important, and you want a living soil, great, get a big light, keep your plants bug free and keep the temps under control. Make sure you have plenty of root space, give them lots of veg time. Give your plants a diverse selection of organic foods to feast on, keep your focus on microbes, and sit back and let them call the shots. Run them until there done helps too. Many times i see imature buds being sold, because of reasons to do with money not quality.

If your reasons for yield increases are money, as in increased sales potential, again go hydro. Organic grown bud would be more of a niche product for pot connoisseurs, not the production line.....scrappy

 

[mad librettist]

hydro's edge on organic yields is entirely due to space limitations, which in turn are due to legal issues. The highest yields possible would probably be just like the pumpkins:

in full sun
in a perfect climate
high compost/OM content in the soil
and nutrient salts used to blow up the plant

i think the place where murphy's law and your skills meet is going to determine your real yield. If you know you will be harvesting in 90% humidity, and you still try to grow big colas, you made a problem for yourself that leaves you vulnerable. If you don't know you are taking extra risk, you don't even increase your inspections.

 

[jaykush]

personally i think its more along the lines of

molasses = microbial bloom

microbial bloom = lots of dead/dying bacteria

lots of dead bacteria = release of nutrients = more plant growth

 

[VerdantGreen]

i think that molasses/carbs can be useful, but i like to keep it back till the second half of flowering - by that time the plant is going towards senescence and the roots become less efficient (imo) so a few hits mid - late flower can give the plants a little boost.
if you are using good balanced soil then there shouldnt be much need for it throughout the grow.

VG

 

[big_daddy]

Along with all of their other beneficial compounds, Aloe Vera and Seaweed both have mannose, a sugar that is known to aid in the chelation of minerals.


b_d

 

[thing]

LOL @ h.h.. obviously I use it in teas. You think I just pour it on like syrup? Wtf. Molasses + Beneficials in tea = irreplaceable for me. I'll never stop using it. It adds the best texture to my tea.. foamy, frothy, sweet.

I agree with Jay & Verdant.

Big_daddy, did not know that, thanks for sharing.

 

[mad librettist]

when we talk about "microbial bloom", it helps to know what kind of bloom and what kind of microbe.

unlike in tea, the environment of soil selects who gets to eat. In the case of any sugars in solution, advantage bacteria.


If you are troubling yourself to make fungal tea, then watering with molasses, you are really working against yourself.

 

[Microbeman]

personally i think its more along the lines of

molasses = microbial bloom

microbial bloom = lots of dead/dying bacteria

lots of dead bacteria = release of nutrients = more plant growth

You are more than the second or even tenth person I've heard say this. That it is dead bacteria which contribute nutrients to plants. I have not found information to support this. Do you know of some?

There is even a major seller of ACT brewers who is going around saying this. Is there something to it?

I know that some bacteria can contribute nutrients through mineralization and others (or the same) fix certain nutrients [primarily N] in the soil and to roots but the primary way that bacteria contribute nutrients after a bloom is by being consumed by protozoa (flagellares & naked amoebae), nematodes and rotifers (amongst some others) and then it is the poop of this higher order organisms which feeds the plants (roots).

BTW molasses feeds fungi as well.

Edit: Perhaps I should not have interpreted microbial to mean bacterial 'bloom'. but I guess sort of the same in this application.

 

[Microbeman]

when we talk about "microbial bloom", it helps to know what kind of bloom and what kind of microbe.

unlike in tea, the environment of soil selects who gets to eat. In the case of any sugars in solution, advantage bacteria.


If you are troubling yourself to make fungal tea, then watering with molasses, you are really working against yourself.

More and more I'm discovering 'some researchers' are very wrong about molasses being only a bacterial food. I'm not surprised because just about everything else those researchers say is incorrect.

 

[Epiphyte]

Fuck just wrote the longest thread, timed out and lost it. Oh well, hour of my life.

So, thanks everyone for chiming in. It's good to see the usual suspects here (jay kush, verdent green, mad librettist).

Alright, I thought yucca was a sugar source but it is not. I am sure you guys have seen the bountea video on youtube or are fimilar with the product. One of the primary ingredients is yucca. Although, it is just a wetting agent could some of you talk about your experience with the extract.

Next, I real appreciate the input mad librettist. It's good to understand that plants exude a lot of sugars that are used buy the microherd. Do you happen to know what kind of sugar that cannabis exudes?

I don't have too many problems..I am just looking to dial in more and more. And if the organic section has taught me anything, it is to diversify...I am really just looking for another sugar source that someone around here uses. I believe molasses is just sucrose, so wouldn't adding something else, if only a little, be beneficial?

Here's an example of the info I am looking for....I recently started using alfalfa meal in my soil and teas....It has the plant growth regulator triacontanol which increases yield across the board in plants. I just started adding azomite as well. Are there any other products that have high levels of minerals/vitamins or that have special/high levels of naturally occurring hormones. Anything people swear buy, basically...Not looking for a magic product...just diversifying while trying to add the least amount of the most beneficial materials...least amount should be taken with a grain of ions.

I know that Soma's method of putting 20-25 straight stalks under a six has him hitting the mark...can't do that in Cali. I am just looking for methods and diversity...Shit, it's no mystery on how to get big yields...but I'm over pbp's taste. And there are definitely much worse things. I prune for yields and chunky tops; it has definitely helped.

I don't want yielder buds...However, I do want the biggest, stinkiest, tastiest, dankest bud on the planet. The 1% buds.
Thanks for the input and I hope to hear more.
Phyte

 

[big_daddy]

Agave Nectar

Agave Nectar

"phyte"

Another carb/sugar source you may consider is Agave_Nectar, a syrup produced from the Blue Agave Cactus . It an be used similarly to molasses and the particular sugar it contains is primarily fructose and partially glucose.

Agave has vitamin C, calcium, copper, iron, manganese, magnesium, and potassium so has similar minerals as molasses. Just wanted to add this to your thread as another option.

HTH

b_d

 

[descivii]

I use a mix of molasses and the Agave nectar, personally

J

 

[Scrappy4]

A while back we talked about using malt extract for sugars, and the enzymes too, I have some, from beer making, but never used it. I'm not sure if it would be better to boil it for a while to break down the starches to simpler sugars or just use it as is. Has anyone tried malt extract in a tea or Straight up for microbe food? Scrappy

 

[CascadeFarmer]

Dextrose, specifically, is used to promote Lactobacillus growth in large scale agriculture. I know you can do rice ferments for Lactobacillus cultures but just saying.