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Best time to foliar
- Thread starter CannaRed
- Start date
CannaRed
Cannabinerd
Self made or known quality worm castings (chelates nutrients, beneficial bacterias and nutrients), Humic/fulvic acid (chelate nutrients), kelp (auxin/cytokinin), soybean (aminos chelate nutrients and gives nitrate), alfalfa (triacontanol and nitrate) and epsom salt (magnesium/sulfur), brewed (aerated) into a tea.
Chillen, you mind sharing your ingredient amounts?
Also- I've never put Epsom salts in a brewed tea? Does this destroy the microbes?
I Guess if it does kill some it doesn't matter as much, because in this instance Stewart was asking about a veg nutrient tea.
It all depends on your VPD...
If you dont have enough humidity, but cant turn down airflow because of heat... Then frequent foliars are good. If its high humidity then foliars are probably more detrimental than good.
Plus you want the humidity to be highest the 1st half of flowering so they never stunt, or transpire to levels of stress, and over utilizing certain nutrients with imbalance {Not all nutrients are mobile enough to keep up with transpiration}.
2nd half of flower with budset you don't want to foliar at all in most situations..1st half of flower it can be the difference between a runt, and a mature plant if vapor pressure is off.
Magnesium is a good fast acting foliar 1st half of flowering that can make a difference imo. If you see early lowers dropping, and rusted edges.. Probably leached magnesium out of medium, and foliar is a instant remedy.
Sometimes lowering light intensity for a few days so plant can heal from high transpiration is another good idea. If your VPD is off, and humidity too low.. Had a few hot days, etc.. You can do high humidity, low light days and make up for several things including nutrient issues showing up before you get too deep into flowering, and diminish bud producing vigor..
If you dont have enough humidity, but cant turn down airflow because of heat... Then frequent foliars are good. If its high humidity then foliars are probably more detrimental than good.
Plus you want the humidity to be highest the 1st half of flowering so they never stunt, or transpire to levels of stress, and over utilizing certain nutrients with imbalance {Not all nutrients are mobile enough to keep up with transpiration}.
2nd half of flower with budset you don't want to foliar at all in most situations..1st half of flower it can be the difference between a runt, and a mature plant if vapor pressure is off.
Magnesium is a good fast acting foliar 1st half of flowering that can make a difference imo. If you see early lowers dropping, and rusted edges.. Probably leached magnesium out of medium, and foliar is a instant remedy.
Sometimes lowering light intensity for a few days so plant can heal from high transpiration is another good idea. If your VPD is off, and humidity too low.. Had a few hot days, etc.. You can do high humidity, low light days and make up for several things including nutrient issues showing up before you get too deep into flowering, and diminish bud producing vigor..
CannaRed
Cannabinerd
You're quite helpful. You have a knack for posting links of studies or pasting quotes of info pertaining to all of importance. Keep up the good work!
Ibechillin
Masochist Educator
Id just spray the foliar feed when lights come on.
1/2 tbsp to 1 tbsp per gallon water is the typical recommended amounts for the items I listed, none of these should burn plants. I usually err on the side of caution and feed on the lighter side. Molasses could be another good thing to add to the aerated tea, but im skeptical of foliar spraying it attracting insects and cant recommend because of it (same issue with fish).
I edited my other post to add the epsom salt after brewing and before spraying to minimize the potential microbe damage, its in a soluble/available form already and doesnt need to be brewed.
I'm LMAO over that comment.
I've sprayed plants outdoors around high noon and the leaves don't get torched from that big ol MH in the sky.
You want the stomata fully opened when you spray your plants and you want the plants to dry fairly quickly.
This is best done when the room is warm and VPD is on the low side, IME. (but I have a difficult time getting into the high VPD range)
Do you hold your breath all day while you are the most active during a 24 hour period?
Neither does a plant.
I may be wrong but my understanding is that organics need to be added to the soil, if that is your thing.
Salts, however, are readily absorbed.
I've used full strength nutes in both veg & flower to give my gals a nice boost.
There is some excellent advice in the nutritec blog in my sig.
Foliar sprays, when done properly, has proven to be up to 20 times more effective at feeding plants than root feeding. Again, the blog in my sig is the source for that info.
Ibechillin,
Do you think the plants are absorbing the organics or are they just adding an external layer of protections to plant surfaces?
Everything I've ever read says organics have to be broken down in order for plants to uptake the nutrients. That until those organisms are broken down all nutes they may provide are "locked" in place.
TychoMonolyth
Boreal Curing
I only use foliar feeding in two senarios:
- Plants should be in a huge growth spurt by July 1st. If they're not, I consider it an emergency and I'll spray nitrogen tea and add a ground nitrogen feed.
- When I see a cal/mag deficiency I'll spray with an Epsom Salt mix.
Ibechillin
Masochist Educator
Worm castings contain up to 10,000 different species of microorganisms and is rich in humus (available nutrient rich black soil and humic acid). The worms and beneficial bacteria eat the organic insoluble forms and release them back as the individual element ions immediately available to the plant, fertilizer salts are pairs of element ions made with chemistry that separate into the individual elements when added to water.
By feeding the inputs to the worms first and then aerating them in the tea the plant availability of the nutrients should be instant same with fertilizer salts, the castings should have a natural PH near 7 as well. Fulvic acid is able to penetrate the leaf and even the mitochondria of a cell because of its small molecular size which makes it great for foliar sprays and root drenches. I wouldnt rely on the aerated tea as a method of protection, just for available nutrients. Ammonium and phosphorus are the most detrimental to microbiology from what ive found and would avoid if concerned about hurting them.
Chelated calcium is another good foliar item (glycine amino calcium), really any soluble nutrient can be foliar sprayed.
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Ibechillin
Masochist Educator
Found a good article on amino acid and chelating nutrients that explains it well:
(after opening link need to remove the https:// from the beginning of the site address)
https://www.modernplantnutrition.com.au/pdf/amino%20acid%20description%20web.pdf
(after opening link need to remove the https:// from the beginning of the site address)
https://www.modernplantnutrition.com.au/pdf/amino%20acid%20description%20web.pdf
T
Teddybrae
Well, I don't know anything now!
Listen ... all of my amendments are designed to be used foliar OR roots. There's one I use which is made out of chook shit. It's particles have been ground so small that stomata can receive them. That's amazing for me.
But I go to the garden at dusk or early morn before sun up and spray until run off as the manufacturer (Nutri-Tech see MJPassion's signature) recommends.
I didn't know most of the stuff written above ... but my plants are BOOMERS!
So just spray them. Under and over. The hot of yr lights is not too hot.
Listen ... all of my amendments are designed to be used foliar OR roots. There's one I use which is made out of chook shit. It's particles have been ground so small that stomata can receive them. That's amazing for me.
But I go to the garden at dusk or early morn before sun up and spray until run off as the manufacturer (Nutri-Tech see MJPassion's signature) recommends.
I didn't know most of the stuff written above ... but my plants are BOOMERS!
So just spray them. Under and over. The hot of yr lights is not too hot.
CannaRed
Cannabinerd
I thought about that too. But most of my gardening books say not to water or spray during the hottest part of the day.
I guess in nature there are appropriate changes in atmospheric pressure, cloud cover, humidity etc to relieve pressure of the sun's burning rays.
It might be "bro science" but it's not cannabis bro science, it may be just gardening bro science.
Ibechillin
Masochist Educator
More water is lost to evaporation in the hotter parts of the day so its best to water in the early morning. Once the sun goes down the plants arent doing photosynthesis or transpiring as much to cool off so the stagnant moisture could cause problems.
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You avoid the sun, because you want your spray to carry the feed in. Not evaporate quickly and leave spots of salt on the leaves.
There is little point watering your feed down if you spray mid-day. As soon after spraying, the water will be gone leaving neat feed on the plant anyway. Which is far from ideal.
Half strength feed, and a wetting agent. The agent will see it slip through holes that surface tension wouldn't allow without it. Spray under, not over. Morning or evening. Or indoors, raise the lights and unplug some.
I certainly prefer morning to evening. When often the plants are damp anyway. I have done it at all the wrong times to though. Leaving visible salt spotting when the evaporation happened quickly. It's not really on the leaf though. The surface is covered in tiny hairs that it sits upon. No damage.
There is little point watering your feed down if you spray mid-day. As soon after spraying, the water will be gone leaving neat feed on the plant anyway. Which is far from ideal.
Half strength feed, and a wetting agent. The agent will see it slip through holes that surface tension wouldn't allow without it. Spray under, not over. Morning or evening. Or indoors, raise the lights and unplug some.
I certainly prefer morning to evening. When often the plants are damp anyway. I have done it at all the wrong times to though. Leaving visible salt spotting when the evaporation happened quickly. It's not really on the leaf though. The surface is covered in tiny hairs that it sits upon. No damage.
There is about half a gram of nutrient salt in a liter of ec0.7 spray. A couple of grams of gloopy wetting agent, and usually some amount of seaweed stodge when I spray.
When that drys off, it leaves marks. I'm not sure why you havn't seen this. If you run tap water over a clean glass and allow it to dry it leaves spots. With nothing added at all.
When that drys off, it leaves marks. I'm not sure why you havn't seen this. If you run tap water over a clean glass and allow it to dry it leaves spots. With nothing added at all.
CannaRed
Cannabinerd
So plants DO NOT transpire at night? Or just transpire less at night?
