When do you P/K boost?

[cfl...KING]

What kind of yield increases can one expect with PK boosters say on some Cookies hybrid? Are we talking single digit or double digit percentages?

Depends on lights an environment. For me I'd say it's around 4oz per 1k difference. Could be the specific cuts I'm running tho. Some will love it some won't be much difference. I've never seen any bad side effects, keep dosage low an run it longer. If canna pk13/14 was as expensive as canna boost I probably would not run it. At their respected prices they are both worth their money x10

 

[I Care]

All of that stuff on that .gov if confusing. Also where is the chart that shows the yield numbers from each blend of nutrients. There’s no info there, if all the results it shows show you is a bunch of dots. It’s not really a science. I’ve smoked a lot of pot, two if the top 10 were verifiably grown with canna, exclusively, in flower with p/k boost.

There's your problem, salinity rises as the soil dries out. For starts, why would you ever let the soil dry out? Keep it moist at all times and when you water make sure you get a good run off. The soil needs to be thoroughly drenched with no dry pockets or channels.

You'll be leaching excess salts out of the pot and then to add to your confusion or speculation if you will, ask yourself "how much fertilizer do I add now and which bottle do I grab?" There in lies the benefits of balanced slow release foods like Osmocote. It removes all the guessing.

Seems you're caught up in a vicious cycle. Tis the norm around these parts.

I'm germing some indicas again - Kwik (Real) Seeds Afghan mix and their old school1990 Master Kush X Afghaan 90. My drill will be a repeat of what I did on my last indica garden cause it served me well. I'll be using MicroKote painted pots (to increase root mass, efficiency via root pruning) and feeding with Osmocote 15-9-12 start to finish. Background is a mango tree, my real passion these days.

View attachment 18928736

Good luck,
Uncle Ben

I don’t know, it was looking good. I turned the lights off, went to bed and woke up to the thing begging for mercy. Someone else mentions ammoniacal nitrates. I’m going to cease the use of the stuff. I really really like the idea of the osmocote as I don’t want to be putting chelated fertilizer out in the yard. I was going to plan on spending money on the good soil and transplanting in weeks before the equinox so it has more food. The osmocote I can get cheap soil and just use water. It’s great man! Makes a guy want to move south, grow outside like this all year long!

 

[I Care]

Depends on lights an environment. For me I'd say it's around 4oz per 1k difference. Could be the specific cuts I'm running tho. Some will love it some won't be much difference. I've never seen any bad side effects, keep dosage low a run it longer. If canna pk13/14 was as expensive as canna boost I probably would not run it. At their respected prices they are both worth their money x10

Dang, that’s a big difference, that’s like a 3-4 month supply of packing the pipe in the evening.

I really wish I had found someone here that carries BioCanna. The shop I went to, based on a friendly recommendation, didn’t have the Canna. For what the guy lacks in Canna, he makes up for in willingness to give positive encouragement.

Found this morbloom 0-10-10 when I went in to local nursery.
And Neptune’s. I figured that a 0-10-11 along with the Organic 2-4-4 I found, its close enough to Bio/Canna and Canna PK. I think I’m going to get some good puffage, albeit maybe not a lot with all the issues I had. Probably not the 30 Os you really want to target in the space I am using.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

....If canna pk13/14 was as expensive as canna boost I probably would not run it. At their respected prices they are both worth their money x10

You can't convince me "it's worth it". NO, cannabis specific food is worth the cost and inferior results relative to quality commercial products like ICL, Peters, Scott's, Dyna-Gro, etc.

Please see my comment on the costs of feeding. https://www.icmag.com/threads/osmoc...peasy-complete.18126434/page-13#post-18484279

This 50# bag will last many years at a rate of a small handful per 3-5 gal. pot, feeding them from start to finish. Cost per plant, TOTAL, about $0.25 USD if I was to guess. I paid $85 couple of years ago for this bag before "Bidenomics" ramped up the cost to $139, shipped. Out of control inflation, fuel and tariffs.... a lame green agenda..... at your service. https://www.amleo.com/osmocote-fertilizer-15-9-12-slow-release-5-to-6-months-50lb-bag/p/159125

UB

 

[Ultramarin]

You can't convince me "it's worth it". NO, cannabis specific food is worth the cost and inferior results relative to quality commercial products like ICL, Peters, Scott's, Dyna-Gro, etc.

Please see my comment on the costs of feeding. https://www.icmag.com/threads/osmoc...peasy-complete.18126434/page-13#post-18484279

This 50# bag will last many years at a rate of a small handful per 3-5 gal. pot, feeding them from start to finish. Cost per plant, TOTAL, about $0.25 USD if I was to guess. I paid $85 couple of years ago for this bag before "Bidenomics" ramped up the cost to $139, shipped. Out of control inflation, fuel and tariffs.... a lame green agenda..... at your service. https://www.amleo.com/osmocote-fertilizer-15-9-12-slow-release-5-to-6-months-50lb-bag/p/159125

View attachment 18929265

UB

first,sorry for that, but i can't take him seriously; he's a hobby grower working with different strains in soil. his setup involves far too many uncertain factors to make his claim seem credible. i don't want to offend anyone, but I've looked at his plants and see slight signs of excessive water or too low soil temperatures, causing a mild calcium uptake block, perhaps too much calmag as well. overall, there's a mild over-fertilization and slightly restricted phosphorus uptake, although that could also be due to the strain. i'm not familiar with his plants, they look quite ok, but they are not perfect enough for his claims...

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Depends on lights an environment.

All outside influences in place yield depends on the bulk, health, and productivity of the foliage and root system.

This (young male) is healthy with a solid fibrous root system and plenty of foliage. Has plenty of chlorophyll doing what it does best - providing "energy" aka carbos for the production of plant tissue. Osmocote 15-9-12. Perfect NPK for cannabis, food has a great micros package and slow release which mimics nature.

 

[cfl...KING]

25$ bottle gets me thru 2 runs getting 8-16oz more (4 1kws) per harvest how is it not worth it? Again not all strains/phenos will have the same response, also environment is huge.

This was grown under 600w hpss. Largest bud I've ever seen in person under 600w hpss and dense too

 

[cfl...KING]

To each their own, as stated there's no one answer fits all. If there was everyone would be running the exact same nutes.

I'm not here to have a dik measuring contest. I'm sharing my real world results.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

25$ bottle gets me thru 2 runs getting 8-16oz more (4 1kws) per harvest how is it not worth it?

I laid it out in post #104. I'm paying about a quarter of a pound, less than a buck USD, per garden, say 6 plants, start to finish.

Nice plants!

Uncle Ben

 

[cfl...KING]

I laid it out in post #104. I'm paying about a quarter of a pound, less than a buck USD, per garden, say 6 plants, start to finish.

Nice plants!

Uncle Ben

First off Thank you , it was only being given fade an cannazym at that point for 2 weeks(just before harvest).

That is definitely worth looking into if I do some outdoor next year for sure! Have you used it in coco or only soil?

 

[mexweed]

Roots are 99% genetics, you shouldn't have to add all of the supplements, I have had crazy root systems in all perlite hempy buckets feeding only the old cns17 two part

The plant will either do it or it won't, seeds used to be advertised as the strain being better suited for hydro, soil, or either, different phenos of the same strain don't even develop roots or drink the same

 

[CharlesU Farley]

Roots are 99% genetics, you shouldn't have to add all of the supplements, I have had crazy root systems in all perlite hempy buckets feeding only the old cns17 two part

Not sure I'd agree with the "99% genetics" for root development, as that has not been my experience. Where did you get that figure?

I'm pretty familiar with root development and genetics isn't the first thing that comes to my mind, it's the environment the roots are placed in:



These roots were developed in Miracle-Gro potting soil and fertilized with nothing but Peter's 20/20/20, so I do agree with your opinion on supplements.

 

[Cerathule]

Not sure I'd agree with the "99% genetics" for root development, as that has not been my experience. Where did you get that figure?

I'm pretty familiar with root development and genetics isn't the first thing that comes to my mind, it's the environment the roots are placed in:



These roots were developed in Miracle-Gro potting soil and fertilized with nothing but Peter's 20/20/20, so I do agree with your opinion on supplements.

Genetics set the internal base, the plant is the result of the genes responding to outside stimuli.

 

[Terppalooza]

to be honest i found that pk boost is pretty bullsit infact most nutrients cotain far to much p and k in my experience in the first place

 

[cfl...KING]

While definitely true genetics play a large role, especially with rooting clones. Rhizo an cannazym will stimulate root growth. We're getting so far off topic lol.

In the end there is no one answer. Depends what base nutes you use, the genetics, the environment ECT. Adding ok is not going work magic, it's an additive for once you have everything else in order. We all know that just because on paper something works it doesn't mean that's how it's always going to work in real life scenarios

 

[Ca++]

I have been happy just running grow and bloom from the same brand, year after year. Trying new plants, and if they like it they stay. If they ask for more whatever, they go. I don't run single strain tanks, so can't adjust for single strains. Instead, I found a good feed for the typically 8 week plants I do, and stuck to it. Changing plants, not feeds.

Every few years I'm forced to buy a different feed (due to availability) and will undoubtedly see a shift between which of my plants is dominant. The same will happen running individual elements up&down.

This presents us with two different routes. One to get a plant, and see what it likes. That is the usual prospective. I take the other path though, where I choose my feed, and find plants that like it. More people are doing this than they realise.

Using the internet shows us a lot of things. Most of my time spent changing things, just reaffirms that my base feeds are the right choice. If I found an improvement from a change, I would look for a new base feed choice that is closer to that recipe. What I have really found, is that just grow and bloom isn't ideal, and this mostly manifests during stretch. Where we want the PK of bloom feeds, but are not ready to loose the N of the grow. Though we can benefit from a dip in the N, as a plant loosing it's N availability, will push faster into bloom. They must finish before the food runs out.

It's almost like I'm off topic, but in effect, I have found a bloom food that doesn't need the PK boost, with my keepers. It has the right balance at that time. Moving my area of interest, to how that same feed works through transition.

It's really quite impossible to say if someone will need PK, if posed that simple question, without a whole load of other factors being known.
Perhaps it's more relevant for tomato's, because PK boosts were in my garden center, long before people woke up to cannabis growing.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

First off Thank you , it was only being given fade an cannazym at that point for 2 weeks(just before harvest).

That is definitely worth looking into if I do some outdoor next year for sure! Have you used it in coco or only soil?

I don't use coco. Tried it for orchids years ago. Is more of a trend and doesn't offer anything exciting for me. I apply osmocote to my orchid mixes now which are bark based blends I make up.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

to be honest i found that pk boost is pretty bullsit infact most nutrients cotain far to much p and k in my experience in the first place

Yep, but it's what sells. Product marketers aren't interested in what makes a plant tick. If da kids believe a 2-6-6 produces bigger, harder nuggets, then "that's what we give them".

 

[Cerathule]

It's from a number of garden veggies which grow large watery fruits that need alot of K . Some may need alot of P as well, but Cannabis only for seeds. Leafy plants require N, though the smoke is way smoother, quality better if harvested yellow. Now that's your personal choice to either max yields or trade off for topshelf

 

[CharlesU Farley]

Genetics set the internal base, the plant is the result of the genes responding to outside stimuli.

I agree with that statement, it's the specific "99% roots" part that I don't understand. Your above statement is totally true for the generalization of plants, I'm just not sure about the specific _parts_ of the plants. I'm more of a generalist.

Since we're almost in the Christmas season, just like the movie Trading Places, it's not 100% genetics or 100% environment, is the _combination_ of both.