top dressing recommendations

L

loco41

Well-Known Member
Hey, so I have four plants going in a a small 2x2.5ft tent and 3 gallon containers. They have been vegging for about 4 weeks now and look to be doing just fine. I want to flip to flower while they are still small, all 4 are roughly on their 5th or 6th nodes and seem healthy. The mix I'm using is a recycled mix that has been used for a few different things over a couple years, re amended with earth worm castings and various inputs over that time. I'm just wanting to give the plants some fresh castings and a little something extra to try and stay ahead of the game since they are in smaller pots before I start flowering.

The things I have on hand are: kelp meal, alfalfa meal, insect frass, crab shell meal, oyster shell, neem meal and karanja meal. I also have a worm bin for some fresh castings and some homemade compost from outdoors. I was thinking about mixing a couple tablespoons each of the frass, kelp and neem into the castings with a little bit of added pumice mixed in. What are your guys thoughts or practices on top dressing right before the flip/early flower?
 
Grow So High

Grow So High

Well-Known Member
I pretty much have all of those amendments you listed lol but I use those primarily for compost teas, for top dressing I usually stick to brands like Gaia green 2-8-4 for bloom because it’s high in phosphorus which tends to be good in flower. This company is Canadian based so it’s harder to get in the US. And if you are in the US a brand called Down to earth and I use the rose flower mix. Sometimes I’ll add worm castings or dolomite lime for calcium but using Dolomite lime has been risky for me because it always raises the soils PH past 7
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
At this point you shouldn't need to add too much; especially if you add fresh vermicompost. Neem takes a real long time to break down; not sure I would use it for a flower dressing.
Fish bone meal and kelp is always good along with ewc for a bloom phase top dressing dress. I usually push in 2 Jobes organic spikes into each final bloom container. They are made up of mostly blood, bone, and feather meal. You can easily mix up your own diy organic fertilizer spike and simply fill up a finger hole in the root ball directly instead of or as addition to a top dressing. I believe the frass, crab, and kelp you have on hand would be a very close alternative to this.
 
L

loco41

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
At this point you shouldn't need to add too much; especially if you add fresh vermicompost. Neem takes a real long time to break down; not sure I would use it for a flower dressing.
Fish bone meal and kelp is always good along with ewc for a bloom phase top dressing dress. I usually push in 2 Jobes organic spikes into each final bloom container. They are made up of mostly blood, bone, and feather meal. You can easily mix up your own diy organic fertilizer spike and simply fill up a finger hole in the root ball directly instead of or as addition to a top dressing. I believe the frass, crab, and kelp you have on hand would be a very close alternative to this.
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Sounds good, I was hoping to just use what I have on hand at the moment. I used all I had left of some fish bone meal into my outdoor compost piles, so hopefully the crab will be a decent alternative for now. Do you think 2 tablespoons of the frass/crab and then maybe 3 of the kelp would be appropriate mixed into the fresh castings and a little pumice? I don't want to overdue it, but figured such small amounts would maybe just help deter a future issue without throwing things off too much, even if for a short time.
 
H

Hash Hound

Well-Known Member
I've been using Dr Earth Bud and Bloom for about ten years with great success. Usually mixed right in the soil at planting, but top dressing along the way too.

My latest discovery is Agricolas 4-8-4 "high octane" mineral fertilizer. I have two plants i'm trying it on now and they are loving it. Not a bad leaf and frost everywhere. I top dressed some on a friends 4 plants and he's amazed and said he's never seen so much frost.
P149 OGK w8 c.jpg
P149 OGK w8 h.jpg
 
Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Hash Hound said:
I've been using Dr Earth Bud and Bloom for about ten years with great success. Usually mixed right in the soil at planting, but top dressing along the way too.

My latest discovery is Agricolas 4-8-4 "high octane" mineral fertilizer. I have two plants i'm trying it on now and they are loving it. Not a bad leaf and frost everywhere. I top dressed some on a friends 4 plants and he's amazed and said he's never seen so much frost.
View attachment 4473686
View attachment 4473687
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Interesting ingredient list .... great looking plant.
 
W

Who_care5

Member
Hash Hound said:
I've been using Dr Earth Bud and Bloom for about ten years with great success. Usually mixed right in the soil at planting, but top dressing along the way too.

My latest discovery is Agricolas 4-8-4 "high octane" mineral fertilizer. I have two plants i'm trying it on now and they are loving it. Not a bad leaf and frost everywhere. I top dressed some on a friends 4 plants and he's amazed and said he's never seen so much frost.
View attachment 4473686
View attachment 4473687
Click to expand...

Do you use that start to finish or just in flower? And how did it affect your yield compared to your previous top dress?
 
nl5xsk1

nl5xsk1

Well-Known Member
Hash Hound said:
I've been using Dr Earth Bud and Bloom for about ten years with great success. Usually mixed right in the soil at planting, but top dressing along the way too.

My latest discovery is Agricolas 4-8-4 "high octane" mineral fertilizer. I have two plants i'm trying it on now and they are loving it. Not a bad leaf and frost everywhere. I top dressed some on a friends 4 plants and he's amazed and said he's never seen so much frost.
View attachment 4473686
View attachment 4473687
Click to expand...
You mentioned top dressing, could provide ratio/method when top dressing please. I suspect you are using premade soil with the nutrient pre-added, and if so what recipe did you come with? I know mfg. has recommendations, but based in those plants , ( what strain?), you have the right mix! I’m cut running a supersoil mix but I would love to get the lowdown on your mix
 
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H

Hash Hound

Well-Known Member
The recently finished grow of the Nirvana OG Kush shown above I used Promix Organic, 1/g Worm Castings and 1/g Perlite, then I amended with 1 cup of Agricolas 4-8-4 Minerals and just a 1/2 cup Dr Earth Bud and Bloom . I only used tea 2x or water all the way and didn't need to top dress. I harvested Saturday and the fade had just started. It's some of the frostiest stickiest I've grown in a long time. Not dry yet but the wet weight was 364 which is high for me. Now it's all up to the genetics how it turns out, the soil and nutes did their job. I have a Skywalker OG in the same mix and it's emerald green and not a bad leaf.
DrEBB and the Agricola 484 Minerals probably covers most of the Super Soil recipe ingredients with a lot less boxes.

The usual soils i use are Promix Organic or Black Gold, 1qft bag, I add about a gallon of Worm Castings and Perlite, then I amend with 1 CUP Dr Earth Bud and Bloom, 1/4c Epsoms 1/4c Azomite.
I top dress around the 2nd 4th and 6th week of flowering with a TBSP DrEBB, only if the plant looks like it need it.
My yields are to inconsistent to judge, different strains, soil experiments, etc. but my plants are usually very healthy. I feed a tea or two along the way and its water or water molasses the rest of the way.

I'm not a regular on here and other times when I've posted about using Dr Earth, they think I'm associated with them or something.
I'm not. I'm just a guy who needs simple growing for my situation, and amending soil with some powdered organics has been simple and good/great results. The DrE Organics have been the main nutes I use. I've used their Tomato and Veg and All Purpose too.
The next run I may just try the Agricolas alone and see what happens.

My friends last batch, he uses strictly FF HF/OF, amended the same a mine, but he top dresses a heaping TBSP at 2nd week with the 4-8-4 , 4th and 6th with Happy Frog. It was his best grow in a long time. His faded real nice too, so I guess the amounts we're using are doing the job.
 
nl5xsk1

nl5xsk1

Well-Known Member
Hash Hound said:
The recently finished grow of the Nirvana OG Kush shown above I used Promix Organic, 1/g Worm Castings and 1/g Perlite, then I amended with 1 cup of Agricolas 4-8-4 Minerals and just a 1/2 cup Dr Earth Bud and Bloom . I only used tea 2x or water all the way and didn't need to top dress. I harvested Saturday and the fade had just started. It's some of the frostiest stickiest I've grown in a long time. Not dry yet but the wet weight was 364 which is high for me. Now it's all up to the genetics how it turns out, the soil and nutes did their job. I have a Skywalker OG in the same mix and it's emerald green and not a bad leaf.
DrEBB and the Agricola 484 Minerals probably covers most of the Super Soil recipe ingredients with a lot less boxes.

The usual soils i use are Promix Organic or Black Gold, 1qft bag, I add about a gallon of Worm Castings and Perlite, then I amend with 1 CUP Dr Earth Bud and Bloom, 1/4c Epsoms 1/4c Azomite.
I top dress around the 2nd 4th and 6th week of flowering with a TBSP DrEBB, only if the plant looks like it need it.
My yields are to inconsistent to judge, different strains, soil experiments, etc. but my plants are usually very healthy. I feed a tea or two along the way and its water or water molasses the rest of the way.

I'm not a regular on here and other times when I've posted about using Dr Earth, they think I'm associated with them or something.
I'm not. I'm just a guy who needs simple growing for my situation, and amending soil with some powdered organics has been simple and good/great results. The DrE Organics have been the main nutes I use. I've used their Tomato and Veg and All Purpose too.
The next run I may just try the Agricolas alone and see what happens.

My friends last batch, he uses strictly FF HF/OF, amended the same a mine, but he top dresses a heaping TBSP at 2nd week with the 4-8-4 , 4th and 6th with Happy Frog. It was his best grow in a long time. His faded real nice too, so I guess the amounts we're using are doing the job.
Click to expand...
Thank u for your feed back!, I have been doing subs soil, going to give this a go. When you wrote !qft bag, that 1 cubic foot correct? did you let soil cook, or use immediately? I see where there are different Dr E bud and bloom, are u using the 3-9-4 or the 4-10-7, so thanks again for sharing this info
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
At this point you shouldn't need to add too much; especially if you add fresh vermicompost. Neem takes a real long time to break down; not sure I would use it for a flower dressing.
Fish bone meal and kelp is always good along with ewc for a bloom phase top dressing dress. I usually push in 2 Jobes organic spikes into each final bloom container. They are made up of mostly blood, bone, and feather meal. You can easily mix up your own diy organic fertilizer spike and simply fill up a finger hole in the root ball directly instead of or as addition to a top dressing. I believe the frass, crab, and kelp you have on hand would be a very close alternative to this.
Click to expand...
How could you forget to mention chicken manure Drysift, lol? My plants are loving the chicken shit. That's one of my favorite amendments now. Thanks again for the recommendation.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Superbad421 said:
I use chicken shit as well very good for your olants
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I think Drysift uses this one. But I haven't tried it yet.

- About

charliescompost.com charliescompost.com

I wound up getting this one from BAS. So far I haven't noticed any odors, and my wife hasn't complained, lol. My plants love it, and it's really easy to mix into the topsoil or add to vermicompost. Glad he kept pushing chicken shit, and so are my plants, lol.
buildasoil.com

NutriGrow Organics Chicken Manure

NutriGrow Organic Chicken Manure is a all purpose pelleted chicken fertilizer from certified organic fed cage-free chickens right here in Colorado. FREE SHIPPING on select NutriGrow Organics Chicken Manure Low Odor All-Natural Slow-Release Fertilizer Cage-Free Chickens Weed Seed and Pathogen...
buildasoil.com buildasoil.com
 
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