Black strap molasses used to increase yield?

I researched the site and found no questions about exactly what I'm looking for.

Those of you who have used Black strap molasses during flower cycle. Did you notice an increase in yield at all or an increase in anything?

Thanks.

I use molasses throughout the entire plant's life, although I'm not sure if it directly has an effect on yeild, it definitely helps with the health of the soil and root system resulting in better plant health also. Once I started using molasses I noticed that I didn't have as many issues with nutrient deficiency, but that may also be due to me switching to running everything organically too.

Sorry I can't answer your question if it directly increases yeild, but it is worth giving a try for overall health for sure.

yes it feeds the bacteria in the soil it is also rich source of magnesium and calcium

You can over do it though like anything..and if you arent adding those various microbes regularly and effectively it doesnt seem to do much beneficial putting molasses in, some K and calmag.. imo ideally you dont want your medium dominant in microbes that eat molasses because they will be the fat lazy kind and not very diverse.

Lost in a SOG said:

You can over do it though like anything..and if you arent adding those various microbes regularly and effectively it doesnt seem to do much beneficial putting molasses in, some K and calmag.. imo ideally you dont want your medium dominant in microbes that eat molasses because they will be the fat lazy kind and not very diverse.

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Very true!

I have been feeding molasses along with bloom food through out the flowering cycle. Now at week 11 of 12-12 going to end of week 13 or till milky trich then harvest time. Got another clone ready to go into the bloom room soon.

5% of the molasses weight will soak into the root before uptake is blocked.

Results people see: Bud that's been inadvertently flushed by osmotic pressure differential between the inside and outside of the root,

Bud that's been inadvertently flushed by tying up nutes with a microbe boom (yes, microbes eat nutes)

Results I see: sandbag bud that smells like molasses, has the ugliest color, and tastes like plant matter soaked in molasses.

Health Cannabis makes plenty of sugar on its own. And people wonder why Cannabis is so bland, feeding it sugar cane instead of its own materials..

Ooo i plan on doing a good flush with plain water like always. And my cannabis doesn't seem to taste bad or smell bad.

Drewsif said:

5% of the molasses weight will soak into the root before uptake is blocked.

Results people see: Bud that's been inadvertently flushed by osmotic pressure differential between the inside and outside of the root,

Bud that's been inadvertently flushed by tying up nutes with a microbe boom (yes, microbes eat nutes)

Results I see: sandbag bud that smells like molasses, has the ugliest color, and tastes like plant matter soaked in molasses.

Health Cannabis makes plenty of sugar on its own. And people wonder why Cannabis is so bland, feeding it sugar cane instead of its own materials..

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**slowclap***

Yeah... that.

Molasses needs soil microbes to convert it into something the plants like. In non living container soil, molasses is just going to stress plants. Outdoors in the ground, it might help some, but I would certainly buy the less expensive agricultural stuff in case it doesn't help much. Besides, unless you live pretty far south, your soil is probably nutritive enough for cannabis with no amendments at all. IMO (not trying to start a debate here, this is just an example) Humboldt doesn't produce quite the quality Mendocino does because the soil is too 'good' in Humboldt and cannabis grown on poor soil is superior in quality. Very nutritive soil is great for growing giant pumpkins, but not so good for quality wine grapes and cannabis. But, you know, that's just my opinion man.

Interesting thread

Mr. Greengenes said:

But, you know, that's just my opinion man.

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The best thing said in this whole thread. Don't take naysayers and experts to heart. Just do it and be happy dude. Very good stuff.

Does molasses in a Perlite/Vermiculite hempy pot. Make sense?

I do it once about 8 weeks flowering.

when there was a living soil workshop at the grow store I go to the guy I talked to said molasses is actually not recommended, something about too much bacteria disrupting the fungi and that in a true living soil done correctly there is already plentiful bacteria and stuff for it to feed on

Mr. Greengenes said:

Molasses needs soil microbes to convert it into something the plants like. In non living container soil, molasses is just going to stress plants. Outdoors in the ground, it might help some, but I would certainly buy the less expensive agricultural stuff in case it doesn't help much.

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I like how you think.

Mr. Greengenes said:

Besides, unless you live pretty far south, your soil is probably nutritive enough for cannabis with no amendments at all. IMO (not trying to start a debate here, this is just an example) Humboldt doesn't produce quite the quality Mendocino does because the soil is too 'good' in Humboldt and cannabis grown on poor soil is superior in quality. Very nutritive soil is great for growing giant pumpkins, but not so good for quality wine grapes and cannabis. But, you know, that's just my opinion man.

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LOVE IT, ty for sharing your opinion. Confirmation bias loves to see info it agrees with, and this definitely hits some deep chords for me.

If cannabis only absorbed what it needed for awesome quality, ANY organic supersoil would produce phenomenal cannabis... regardless of the genetics. Sadly enough, reality tells us a different story. Anyone who's planted the same clones in different strengths of the same supersoil will tell you what's up. Organic or not, overfeeding destroys quality in cannabis.
Rock on.

Molasses is simply another substance cannabis can absorb and retain un-converted at harvest time. It's smart to keep it to a level where it's beneficial to microbes and not detrimental to end quality.

Yeah, Mr Curtis, I gave Mr G/G rep also!


Listen, molasses can fuel-up any anaerobic bacteria present. So make sure your drainage is perfect!

Much the same way a sneaky Sylvester cat is exposed by a little yellow bird saying - "I thought I saw a puddy tat . . . I did I did see a puddy tat . . . and he's standing right there!" - our Tweetie bird had discovered the essence of this product. It was indeed nothing more than Blackstrap Molasses, a quick taste had conformed for our Tweetie bird that she had wasted her time and effort lugging home a very expensive bottle of plant food additive. Molasses is something we already use for gardening at the Bird's Nest. In fact sweeteners like molasses have long been a part of the arsenal of common products used by organic gardeners to bring greater health to their soils and plants.

So please listen to the little yellow bird when she chirps, because our Tweetie bird knows her stuff. The fertilizer companies are like the bumbling Sylvester in many ways, but rather than picturing themselves stuffed with a little bird, they see themselves growing fat with huge profits from the wallets of unsuspecting consumers. Let us assure you it's not the vision of yellow feathers floating in front of their stuffed mouths that led these executives in their attempt to "pounce" on the plant growing public.

And the repackaging of molasses as plant food or plant additive is not just limited to the companies selling their products in hydroponic stores. Folks shopping at places like Wal-Mart are just as likely to be taken in by this tactic. In this particular case the offending party is Schultz® Garden Safe All Purpose Liquid Plant Food 3-1-5. This is a relatively inexpensive product that seems appealing to a variety of organic gardeners. Here's Shultz own description of their product.

"Garden Safe Liquid Plant Foods are made from plants in a patented technology that provides plants with essential nutrients for beautiful flowers and foliage and no offensive smell. Plus they improve soils by enhancing natural microbial activity. Great for all vegetables, herbs, flowers, trees, shrubs and houseplants including roses, tomatoes, fruits, and lawns. Derived from completely natural ingredients, Garden Safe All Purpose Liquid Plant Food feeds plants and invigorates soil microbial activity. Made from sugar beet roots! No offensive manure or fish odors."

That sure sounds good, and the three_little_birds will even go as far as to say we agree 100% with all the claims made in that little blurb of ad copy. But here's the problem, Shultz isn't exactly telling the public that the bottle of "fertilizer" they are buying is nothing more than a waste product derived from the production of sugar. In fact, Schultz® Garden Safe 3-1-5 Liquid Plant Food is really and truly nothing more than a form molasses derived from sugar beet processing that is usually used as an animal feed sweetener. If you don't believe a band of birds, go ahead and look for yourself at the fine print on a Garden Safe bottle where it says - "Contains 3.0% Water Soluble Nitrogen, 1.0% Available Phosphate, 5.0% Soluble Potash - derived from molasses."

The only problem we see, is that animal feed additives shouldn't be retailing for $7.95 a quart, and that's the price Shultz is charging for it's Garden Safe product. While we don't find that quite as offensive as Advanced Nutrients selling their "CarboLoad" product for $14.00 a liter, we still know that it's terribly overpriced for sugar processing wastes. So, just as our band of birds gave the scoop on poop in our Guano Guide, we're now about to give folks the sweet truth about molasses.


Molasses is a syrupy, thick juice created by the processing of either sugar beets or the sugar cane plant. Depending on the definition used, Sweet Sorghum also qualifies as a molasses, although technically it's a thickened syrup more akin to Maple Syrup than to molasses. The grade and type of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or beet and the method of extraction. The different molasses' have names like: first molasses, second molasses, unsulphured molasses, sulphured molasses, and blackstrap molasses. For gardeners the sweet syrup can work as a carbohydrate source to feed and stimulate microorganisms. And, because molasses (average NPK 1-0-5) contains potash, sulfur, and many trace minerals, it can serve as a nutritious soil amendment. Molasses is also an excellent chelating agent.

Several grades and types of molasses are produced by sugar cane processing. First the plants are harvested and stripped of their leaves, and then the sugar cane is usually crushed or mashed to extract it's sugary juice. Sugar manufacturing begins by boiling cane juice until it reaches the proper consistency, it is then processed to extract sugar. This first boiling and processing produces what is called first molasses, this has the highest sugar content of the molasses because relatively little sugar has been extracted from the juice. Green (unripe) sugar cane that has been treated with sulphur fumes during sugar extraction produces sulphured molasses. The juice of sun-ripened cane which has been clarified and concentrated produces unsulphured molasses. Another boiling and sugar extraction produces second molasses which has a slight bitter tinge to its taste.

Further rounds of processing and boiling yield dark colored blackstrap molasses, which is the most nutritionally valuable of the various types of molasses. It is commonly used as a sweetner in the manufacture of cattle and other animal feeds, and is even sold as a human health supplement. Any kind of molasses will work to provide benefit for soil and growing plants, but blackstrap molasses is the best choice because it contains the greatest concentration of sulfur, iron and micronutrients from the original cane material. Dry molasses is something different still. It's not exactly just dried molasses either, it's molasses sprayed on grain residue which acts as a "carrier".

Molasses production is a bit different when it comes to the sugar beet. You might say "bird's know beets" because one of our flock grew up near Canada's "sugar beet capitol" in Alberta. Their family worked side by side with migrant workers tending the beet fields. The work consisted of weeding and thinning by hand, culling the thinner and weaker plants to leave behind the best beets. After the growing season and several hard frosts - which increase the sugar content - the beets are harvested by machines, piled on trucks and delivered to their destination.

At harvest time, a huge pile of beets will begin to build up outside of the sugar factory that will eventually dwarf the factory itself in size. Gradually throughout the winter the pile will diminish as the whole beets are ground into a mash and then cooked. The cooking serves to reduce and clarify the beet mash, releasing huge columns of stinky (but harmless) beet steam into the air. Sometimes, if the air is cold enough, the steam will fall to the ground around the factory as snow!

As we've already learned, in the of sugar cane the consecutive rounds of sugar manufacturing produce first molasses and second molasses. With the humble sugar beet, the intermediate syrups get names like high green and low green, it's only the syrup left after the final stage of sugar extraction that is called molasses. After final processing, the leftover sugar beet mash is dried then combined with the thick black colored molasses to serve as fodder for cattle. Sugar beet molasses is also used to sweeten feed for horses, sheep, chickens, etc.

Sugar beet molasses is only considered useful as an animal feed additive because it has fairly high concentrations of many salts including calcium, potassium, oxalate, and chloride. Despite the fact that it's not suitable for human consumption and some consider it to be an industrial waste or industrial by-product, molasses produced from sugar beets makes a wonderful plant fertilizer. While humans may reject beet molasses due to the various "extras" the sugar beet brings to the table, to our plant's it's a different story. Sugar beet molasses is usually fairly chemical free as well, at least in our experience. Although farmers generally fertilize their fields in the spring using the various arrays of available fertilizers, weed chemicals (herbicides) are not used for this crop due to the beet plant's relatively delicate nature.

There is at least one other type of "molasses" we are aware of, and that would be sorghum molasses. It's made from a plant known as sweet sorghum or sorghum cane in treatments somewhat similar to sugar beets and/or sugar cane processing. If our understanding is correct, sorghum molasses is more correctly called a thickened syrup rather than a by-product of sugar production. So in our eyes sorghum molasses is probably more like Maple Syrup than a true molasses.

In the distant past sorghum syrup was a common locally produced sweetener in many areas, but today it is fairly rare speciality product that could get fairly pricey compared to Molasses. Because sorghum molasses is the final product of sweet sorghum processing, and blackstrap and sugar beet molasses are simply waste by-products of sugar manufacturing, it's pretty easy to understand the difference in expense between the products. The word from the birds is - there isn't any apparent advantage to justify the extra expense of using sorghum molasses as a substitute for blackstrap or sugar beet molasses in the garden. So if you find sorghum molasses, instead of using it in your garden, you'll probably want to use it as an alternate sweetener on some biscuits.

That's a quick bird's eye look at the differences between the various types and grades of molasses and how they are produced. Now it's time to get a peek at the why's and how's of using molasses in gardening.


Why Molasses?

The reason nutrient manufacturer's have "discovered" molasses is the simple fact that it's a great source of carbohydrates to stimulate the growth of beneficial microorganisms. "Carbohydrate" is really just a fancy word for sugar, and molasses is the best sugar for horticultural use. Folks who have read some of our prior essays know that we are big fans of promoting and nourishing soil life, and that we attribute a good portion of our growing success to the attention we pay to building a thriving "micro-herd" to work in concert with plant roots to digest and assimilate nutrients. We really do buy into the old organic gardening adage - "Feed the soil not the plant."

Molasses is a good, quick source of energy for the various forms of microbes and soil life in a compost pile or good living soil. As we said earlier, molasses is a carbon source that feeds the beneficial microbes that create greater natural soil fertility. But, if giving a sugar boost was the only goal, there would be lot's of alternatives. We could even go with the old Milly Blunt story of using Coke on plants as a child, after all Coke would be a great source of sugar to feed microbes and it also contains phosphoric acid to provide phosphorus for strengthening roots and encouraging blooming. In our eyes though, the primary thing that makes molasses the best sugar for agricultural use is it's trace minerals.

In addition to sugars, molasses contains significant amounts of potash, sulfur, and a variety of micronutrients. Because molasses is derived from plants, and because the manufacturing processes that create it remove mostly sugars, the majority of the mineral nutrients that were contained in the original sugar cane or sugar beet are still present in molasses. This is a critical factor because a balanced supply of mineral nutrients is essential for those "beneficial beasties" to survive and thrive. That's one of the secrets we've discovered to really successful organic gardening, the micronutrients found in organic amendments like molasses, kelp, and alfalfa were all derived from other plant sources and are quickly and easily available to our soil and plants. This is especially important for the soil "micro-herd" of critters who depend on tiny amounts of those trace minerals as catalysts to make the enzymes that create biochemical transformations. That last sentence was our fancy way of saying - it's actually the critters in "live soil" that break down organic fertilizers and "feed" it to our plants.

One final benefit molasses can provide to your garden is it's ability to work as a chelating agent. That's a scientific way of saying that molasses is one of those "magical" substances that can convert some chemical nutrients into a form that's easily available for critters and plants. Chelated minerals can be absorbed directly and remain available and stable in the soil. Rather than spend a lot of time and effort explaining the relationships between chelates and micronutrients, we are going to quote one of our favorite sources for explaining soil for scientific laymen.

"Micronutrients occur, in cells as well as in soil, as part of large, complex organic molecules in chelated form. The word chelate (pronounced "KEE-late") comes from the Greek word for "claw," which indicates how a single nutrient ion is held in the center of the larger molecule. The finely balanced interactions between micronutrients are complex and not fully understood. We do know that balance is crucial; any micronutrient, when present in excessive amounts, will become a poison, and certain poisonous elements, such as chlorine are also essential micronutrients.
For this reason natural, organic sources of micronutrients are the best means of supplying them to the soil; they are present in balanced quantities and not liable to be over applied through error or ignorance. When used in naturally chelated form, excess micronutrients will be locked up and prevented from disrupting soil balance."
Excerpted from "The Soul of Soil"
by Grace Gershuny and Joe Smillie

That's not advertising hype either, no product being sold there. That's just the words of a pair of authors who have spent their lives studying, building, and nurturing soils.

Molasses' ability to act as a chelate explains it's presence in organic stimulant products like Earth Juice Catalyst. Chelates are known for their ability to unlock the potential of fertilizers, and some smart biological farmers we know are using chelating agents (like Humic Acid) to allow them to make dramatic cuts in normal levels of fertilizer application.

One way to observe this reaction at work would be to mix up a solution of one part molasses to nine parts water and then soak an object which is coated with iron rust (like a simple nail for instance) in that solution for two weeks. The chelating action of the molasses will remove the mineral elements of the rust and hold them in that "claw shaped" molecule that Grace and Joe just described.

As we've commented on elsewhere, it's not always possible to find good information about the fertilizer benefits of some products that aren't necessarily produced as plant food. But we've also found that by taking a careful look at nutritional information provided for products like molasses that can be consumed by humans, we can get a pretty decent look at the nutrition we can expect a plant to get as well.

There are many brand's of molasses available, so please do not look at our use of a particular brand as an endorsement, our choice of Brer Rabbit molasses as an example is simply due to our familiarity with the product, one of our Grandmother's preferred this brand.

Brer Rabbit Blackstrap Molasses
Nutritional Information and Nutrition Facts: Serving Size: 1Tbsp. (21g). Servings per Container: About 24. Amount Per Serving: Calories - 60;
Percentage Daily Values; Fat - 0g, 0%; Sodium - 65mg. 3%; Potassium - 800 mg. 23%; Total Carbohydrates - 13g, 4%; Sugars - 12g, Protein - 1g, Calcium - 2%; Iron 10%; Magnesium 15%; Not a significant source of calories from fat, sat. fat, cholesterol, fiber, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C.

Nice info, ty for posting it up. I've read this before but don't remember the source. Anyone?

Ive used grandmas molasses for yrs a few times during the flowering cycle. I think it kinda helps the roots some using that and may help intake nutes. Thing is i use floralicious plus and it smells just like molasses, there's other things I use im sure had a bit of molasses too. It may increase yields a little but isn't the determining factor.

Thanks JWM! Great primer on molasses.