to feed or not to feed

[maryjohn]

ok, so my setup was supposed to last the whole grow without feeding, but I kinda veged about twice as long as planned due to my own intransigence. I started with 4 plants, and put them all through hell (a hot and dry hell). Only one turned out to be a female non-hermi. Now I am well into flower, and I am losing alot of leaves to yellowing. Seems a bit early for that, so I am thinking I may give a light feeding. I have nothing to feed with though, other than some urine I can produce. I'm not going to order online but I can go to agway.

Should I feed something? The bud sites look great, it's just fan leaves turning yellow as N is moved to newer growth. I want the plant to be quite stressed, but not so much it hermies or reduces yield excessively.

growing inside in tiny pots is hard, but it's nice to see plants every day and not just a few times during the grow.

blueberry x burmese bagseed

here is a shot, but of course I took the picture to make myself look good, so the worst part is off the frame.

 

[VerdantGreen]

hi mj - i would definitely feed them - maybe seaweed or fish emulsion/hydrosolate. or till a bit of something into the surface of the pots. I had the same problem with one of my plants the other day (i had reduced the amount of N guano in my mix) and i used cc's method of tilling some N guano into the soil surface.
have you got any liquid from your worm bin or make some WC tea?

if it was 2/3 weeks or less so from finish i probably wouldnt bother but yours look less than halfway through

good luck

V.

 

[maryjohn]

Thanks Verdant.

I picked up some fish stuff at agway, since I've never used it due to a fish allergy. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[JackTheGrower]

Since you have gone so long..

maybe feed some top dressed compost mixed with high P guano and azomite ..
It's time to bloom!

 

[maryjohn]

yeah, that stuff would be great, but right now I don't have a budget. hopefully the bonemeal gets me through.

 

[highgrade562]

They lack N, do whatever you can to get them fed, you'll thank yourself at harvest. I would also go way heavier on the P. They seem to be at around week3, which means you still have time to somewhat correct this problem.

 

[maryjohn]

It's really a wonder that it's even alive, considering what it's been through.

I don't think I will be giving too much P, as the roots have mycorhizae I don't want to kill. I watered it with fish emulsion, and we'll see how that does, since it seems to have a little of everything. Otherwise they are on their own, except maybe some EM. I think you're right, must be 3 weeks into flowering. I'm not used to keeping track and I thought I was just testing my cab.

I've got two clones of this plant that are getting done right and the srog net won't be put on way too late. The fact that it has survived its tribulations make me wonder if I don't have a pretty good mother here.

 

[*mistress*]

ok, so my setup was supposed to last the whole grow without feeding, but I kinda veged about twice as long as planned due to my own intransigence. I started with 4 plants, and put them all through hell (a hot and dry hell). Only one turned out to be a female non-hermi. Now I am well into flower, and I am losing alot of leaves to yellowing. Seems a bit early for that, so I am thinking I may give a light feeding. I have nothing to feed with though, other than some urine I can produce. I'm not going to order online but I can go to agway.

Should I feed something? The bud sites look great, it's just fan leaves turning yellow as N is moved to newer growth. I want the plant to be quite stressed, but not so much it hermies or reduces yield excessively.

growing inside in tiny pots is hard, but it's nice to see plants every day and not just a few times during the grow.

blueberry x burmese bagseed

here is a shot, but of course I took the picture to make myself look good, so the worst part is off the frame.

no need to feed them. looks like you have plenty of fan leaves that are full of stored energy for the plant.

the method of growing plants for a full season w/out adding fertilizers is to allow the plant to use all of its own resources. by the time you get to harvest, those leaves should be totally gone, and the plant will then be drawing energy from the smaller leaves adjacent to the flowering sites.

you are actually right where you want to be. why change course in mid-stream? they will be fine. ideally, fan leaves should be fully dead by harvest. the specific cultivar in q is an annual by nature that dies @ the close of the season anyway. so dying is part of its life; they do not re-veg in nature.

here, remove many fan leaves @ beginning of+late flower anyway. if have issue w/ n, can simply foliar spray w/ molasses [~npk 1-0-5]. n is easily assimilated into plants via foliar feeding. just adjust ph to ~7.0 for foliar, if want greener plants.

have found over time that plants really dont need much to go entire season. gardeners may observe a natural progression of maturation and consider it a fert deficiency - when in fact, the plant is just aging and preparing to die, willingly.

since have already committed to entire grow w/out feeding - do it. no need to coddle plants; they have survived millenia in roughest nature. by the time 56-70 days arrive, and all of those little flowering leaves are covered in glands, you will be happy.

dont want plant to be green @ harvest anyway. relax, let nature take its course - and remain on course 1st set.

if leaves still present on plants in this garden @ harvest, something wrong. desired effect is total usurpation of available resources (flush for 10-14 days w/ only water+h202, no dumping of run-off). then withdrawal of all resources (no water for last 3-5 days). plant dries out, drawing all available resources to enlarge fruit. should only have to pluck off several leaves when all done.

just alternative considerations... after all, ultimately growing for fruit, not fan leaves. enjoy your garden!

 

[VerdantGreen]

hi mistress, i agree that you want the leaves to fade by the time they are done, but if they are that yellow three weeks in then there will not be enough stored food in them to allow the plants to reach their full potential.
it's pretty impossible to know how much ferts to add at the start unless you have run the strain a few times. i am growing multiple strains for the first time in the same mix, and some of them will go all the way till harvest with no further feeding whilst some will start to get hungry early. the only way you could ensure you never had to feed any plants would be to start with a mix that is very rich and then you would have problems with some of them not fading enough by the end, as well as having a mix that is too hot for some of your strains.

cheers

V.

 

[JackTheGrower]

I think if you make the bone meal particles smaller by coffee bean grinder or blender that it will work faster but, on the same token, take care to not over feed.

 

[maryjohn]

well, it's had a dose of fish, so I hope I don't wind up overfeeding. Time will tell.

also because I put the scrog net on way too late, I wound up removing much material I would not have otherwise removed. So I think I have pulled quite a bit from this dirt.

I am really getting used to being able to go smell the flowers whenever i want. they smell like fucking heaven.

 

[*mistress*]

hi mistress, i agree that you want the leaves to fade by the time they are done, but if they are that yellow three weeks in then there will not be enough stored food in them to allow the plants to reach their full potential.
it's pretty impossible to know how much ferts to add at the start unless you have run the strain a few times. i am growing multiple strains for the first time in the same mix, and some of them will go all the way till harvest with no further feeding whilst some will start to get hungry early. the only way you could ensure you never had to feed any plants would be to start with a mix that is very rich and then you would have problems with some of them not fading enough by the end, as well as having a mix that is too hot for some of your strains.

cheers

V.

got you an the underfeeding. just am not into coddling plants. either they do well, or are eliminated. depending upon the targets set @ the onset of the season.

IF the standard set was to go an entire season w/ out feeding, then that is what is going to happen - regardless if 9 out of 10 plants die duing the process.

in THAT particular regimentation, those particular cultivars dont thrive.

by the time week 3 comes around here, dont mind some yellowing; but the plants pictured really dont look yellow @ all. they look a little pale, but there is no way to determine that its the result of a lack of n.

those leaves look fine. again, growing flowers/fruit, not leaves. have some plants that have pale leaves throughout entire season. have had an albino sport that was so pale the clones actually turned AWAY from the light. though totally covered in glands, was eliminated from garden... only strongest survive... the would be mum was done @ 6 weeks, easy. you may have a plant that will finish early, the paleness in the leaves can be a sign of early maturation. already using up that n in effort to get to fattening fruit.

the photos above look like normal plant from this gardener's pov. yellowing leaves dont provoke panic here. just natural progression of an ANNUAL plant.

insert a plant success myco tab [npk 17-9-5] into the media and be done w/ it. should provide plenty of n, beneficial bacteria, etc. only ~a quarter a piece, too.

by the time plants here reach week 6, leaves better be yellowing and falling off. should be hardly any fan left on plant @ harvest.

so, kind of boils down to preference on how want plants to look @ certain stage of growth. find your own rhythm w/ that particular strain and you will be fine. good luck.

enjoy your garden!

 

[maryjohn]

by the time week 3 comes around here, dont mind some yellowing; but the plants pictured really dont look yellow @ all. they look a little pale, but there is no way to determine that its the result of a lack of n.

I think you are mostly right, but if you noted the caption by the picture, I took the shot to make myself look good, not to show the state of the plant. I'm too embarrassed to do a full shot. You can't see the heat damage, or the ridiculously fat stem bent under the scrog net. Also obscured is most of the yellowing. Targets were set, but then the grower fucked up and didn't do what he was supposed to do.

I like your take on growing in general though. Coddled plants make for bland vegetables.

 

[VerdantGreen]

....by the time plants here reach week 6, leaves better be yellowing and falling off. should be hardly any fan left on plant @ harvest.....

i agree with this, well by the time they get to 2-3 weeks from harvest anyway. Im always disappointed if there are still green leaves at harvest!
but i certainly am not into coddling plants either - biobizz bloom is my only 'specialised' nutrient.

here's a sharksbreath at 75 days just before harvest - if i hadnt fed this from weeks 4-8 then i wouldnt have got 1.3 grams/watt

V.

 

[maryjohn]

and if my shit looked like yours we would have a full body shot.

nice work verdant.

 

[*mistress*]

i agree with this, well by the time they get to 2-3 weeks from harvest anyway. Im always disappointed if there are still green leaves at harvest!
but i certainly am not into coddling plants either - biobizz bloom is my only 'specialised' nutrient.

here's a sharksbreath at 75 days just before harvest - if i hadnt fed this from weeks 4-8 then i wouldnt have got 1.3 grams/watt
V.

nice plant! perfectly swollen ovaries!

75 days brings out best in many unique flowers. yield is not factor in imagination, but do like molasses as feed during late bloom. more water and h202 than anything. lots of nutes lodged in media of coco that can be gradually used+leached away during season. molasses can go up until last day, seemingly... have done that w/ no ill-effect.

beautiful specimen...

and if my shit looked like yours we would have a full body shot.

try this simple, yet effective method. may get comparable results. (if go to 75 days, smile.):

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=127112
coco+wick+gh flora nova=never dump run-off|pdg’s imaginary/enjoyable garden

enjoy your garden!

 

[maryjohn]

well, it's 1-3 weeks before harvest, and the fish emulsion advice worked out well. I had mixed it with em and molasses the second time. thanks everyone!

I took a sample today (ok, 3 samples) and tried it in the vapo. it's very uppity, which is neat considering the bag it came from was not like that at all. the buds pack nicely under cfl's. It's not a huge yield since it's a scrog from seed in an 8" pot, but i'm very happy with quality and it's enough to justify building the cab. and I have a proper clone moving in next! It filled the screen in less than half the time, and there are many more budsites with a fat life support system.

I have a good magnifier, so I am harvesting based on trichome color. I am thinking I will keep it pretty clear to cloudy, rather than try to go for amber. not in a couch lock mood in the summer.

Everything I needed to do my first indoor micro grow i found right here (ok I did use the overgrow faq), and got great results. Thanks ICMag!

 

[habeeb]

vaps up your stain no matter what it is, so I've heard

ehh, amber is the THC degrading, cloudy is tops, but most will say different as alot like being a zombie

 

[maryjohn]

i vape, then i get dirty and hit the vape dregs. lol

if you turn vape pregressively up you get a more complete stone. if you do that with a bunch of stuff you already vaped at less than 350 F, you get the slow stupid kind.

 

[master shake]

give em a little high N guano.