Converting from synthetic line - need recommendations

[kratos015]

I'm offended. Lol I make my own super soil and compost and I have a worm farm ha ha it's fun for me and I feel like a mad scientist mixing all the amendments into the soil. I make compost teas too. But to each there own man. Your right, it is a lot of work but I enjoy it so it's all good. I got started reading True Living Organics. Great book

I strongly prefer living organic soil myself because the flavor is absolutely incredible.

But I'd be a fucking liar if I said hydro doesn't always tempt me, and Renfro really knows his shit. Hydro is actually significantly easier than soil is once you get things set up, truth be told. The biggest reason is because it's deceptively easy to fuck up watering, and getting watering practices at an optimal 100% is tricky without a BluMat setup. I'd even argue it's impossible for anyone to water with 100% efficiency without hydro. Even if you DO manage to water 100% efficiently, there's still the matter of soil texture/compaction/etc. It's easy to get massive roots going in a hydro set up. No problems with roots/watering = guaranteed success.

It's a lot more work than I planned for sure. I was thinking soil was the easy way, but I'm trying no-till now and water only. But it is still a bitch having to water them everyday now that they are getting bigger, and they're in 15 gal pots already. I thought I would be able to water less with bigger pots, but it just seems to make the plants bigger. Are you in DWC like I'm guessing?

It's a trade off my friend. Hydro is medium work all around; get the hydro set up and simply keep on top of your reservoirs PPMs, keep the water at the right temps and check your pumps religiously. You're almost always working weekly though.

Soil on the other hand is different. Takes a shit ton of work when you first start mixing soil for a no-till grow, but after you've done the initial work the soil should last in a no-till set up for 2-3 years easy. The only work involved in no-till is top dress and watering.

The bigger the plant, the larger the watering needs. They're directly proportional to one another and this is because of the roots.

Your train of thought about watering less in bigger pots is true at first, then the plants roots actually fill up the entire pot. When that happens, you'll be watering daily and multiple times a day in 95+ degree temps. The larger the root mass, the more water the plant is capable of uptaking. When you start off in a 15g+ pot with a clone/seedling, you'll be watering 1-2 times a week at best. Then they grow into trees that need to be watered daily.

I mistakenly believed I could do my outdoor without irrigation, even with the 5 trees I had outdoors I wish I had irrigation. It's as Renfro said, once your scale of operation gets to a certain size it's impossible to do without help and/or automation. I will be looking into irrigation for sure and not be so damn lazy about setting it up this time. Irrigation systems are quite affordable, they're just a pain in the ass to set up but once you do it's so worth it. I too underestimated how the roots would grow and the size of the plants. I've done 20g pots before, but never in the ground. I was foolish and didn't account for the fact the roots would grow out of my soil and into the dirt so long as there's water available for them there.

On top of that, the time you used to spend watering can now be used to inspect your plants/room. If time = money then saved time = saved money.

I am always changing things up so it wouldn't pay for me to put a auto watering setup together. I may be doing RDWC next run for all I know. lol

It's taken me 5 years to finally achieve a degree of consistency. Not only am I similar to you in the sense that I'm always changing things up, sometimes circumstances force the change whether you want to make it or not. Strain consistency has always been an issue for me due to low plant counts. Incredibly difficult to truly get dialed in when you're always working with a new strain every crop.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I strongly prefer living organic soil myself because the flavor is absolutely incredible.

But I'd be a fucking liar if I said hydro doesn't always tempt me, and Renfro really knows his shit. Hydro is actually significantly easier than soil is once you get things set up, truth be told. The biggest reason is because it's deceptively easy to fuck up watering, and getting watering practices at an optimal 100% is tricky without a BluMat setup. I'd even argue it's impossible for anyone to water with 100% efficiency without hydro. Even if you DO manage to water 100% efficiently, there's still the matter of soil texture/compaction/etc. It's easy to get massive roots going in a hydro set up. No problems with roots/watering = guaranteed success.



It's a trade off my friend. Hydro is medium work all around; get the hydro set up and simply keep on top of your reservoirs PPMs, keep the water at the right temps and check your pumps religiously. You're almost always working weekly though.

Soil on the other hand is different. Takes a shit ton of work when you first start mixing soil for a no-till grow, but after you've done the initial work the soil should last in a no-till set up for 2-3 years easy. The only work involved in no-till is top dress and watering.

The bigger the plant, the larger the watering needs. They're directly proportional to one another and this is because of the roots.

Your train of thought about watering less in bigger pots is true at first, then the plants roots actually fill up the entire pot. When that happens, you'll be watering daily and multiple times a day in 95+ degree temps. The larger the root mass, the more water the plant is capable of uptaking. When you start off in a 15g+ pot with a clone/seedling, you'll be watering 1-2 times a week at best. Then they grow into trees that need to be watered daily.

I mistakenly believed I could do my outdoor without irrigation, even with the 5 trees I had outdoors I wish I had irrigation. It's as Renfro said, once your scale of operation gets to a certain size it's impossible to do without help and/or automation. I will be looking into irrigation for sure and not be so damn lazy about setting it up this time. Irrigation systems are quite affordable, they're just a pain in the ass to set up but once you do it's so worth it. I too underestimated how the roots would grow and the size of the plants. I've done 20g pots before, but never in the ground. I was foolish and didn't account for the fact the roots would grow out of my soil and into the dirt so long as there's water available for them there.

On top of that, the time you used to spend watering can now be used to inspect your plants/room. If time = money then saved time = saved money.



It's taken me 5 years to finally achieve a degree of consistency. Not only am I similar to you in the sense that I'm always changing things up, sometimes circumstances force the change whether you want to make it or not. Strain consistency has always been an issue for me due to low plant counts. Incredibly difficult to truly get dialed in when you're always working with a new strain every crop.

Holy crap man, that's awesome information once again. All I can say is I totally agree with everything you just said, and I mean Everything. I'm sticking with my no-till living soil and am trying to master it. At least for now. I'm making the transition to water only, but still feel I should water everyday since I'm trying to keep my soil life alive and healthy. My plants are drinking a lot now and I also have super low humidity, so I just have to water more than I realized, but the plants themselves could go a couple days without water with no problems. I'm still debating whether or not to keep watering everyday, or go back to every other. Again, thanks for your amazing advice.

 

[Redwood Ninja]

to

Yeah that extra labor is all fine and dandy until you increase the scale of the operation, then it becomes too much, for me anyway.

I agree. I just grow personal so it's still fun. But on a larger scale I'd think about production. I've been wanting to try a hydro grow and see what all the hypes about. Might just change my mind

 

[kratos015]

Holy crap man, that's awesome information once again. All I can say is I totally agree with everything you just said, and I mean Everything. I'm sticking with my no-till living soil and am trying to master it. At least for now. I'm making the transition to water only, but still feel I should water everyday since I'm trying to keep my soil life alive and healthy. My plants are drinking a lot now and I also have super low humidity, so I just have to water more than I realized, but the plants themselves could go a couple days without water with no problems. I'm still debating whether or not to keep watering everyday, or go back to every other. Again, thanks for your amazing advice.

Definitely. Plants that large can technically live a little while without water, though it'll reduce yields due to things not being optimal. It's no different than a human being. A human being can survive a day or two without food and water. That human being will technically be "alive" but don't expect much performance out of said human. The same is true with plants. I recommend watering daily, personally. It's a bitch, but it's better for a variety of different reasons. Irrigation set ups are quite affordable, $20-$50 will get an irrigation system that'll be good for just about anyone's needs unless you're in a commercial/large scale set up. You can even grab a manual hose timer that'll open every 15/30/60 minutes.

Just be cautious with automation. Automation is wonderful because it allows you to put more focus into observing your plants, manicuring/training/trimming them, and so forth. But it also allows one to become complacent if you aren't careful. I'll be setting up an irrigation system next time myself. I don't care how much money it costs, it'll save me a stupid amount of time and will allow me to water more efficiently. I'd rather have a timer turn my irrigation system on for 5 minutes every 3-4 hours instead of trying to soak them once a day. This will not only save water, but will make for some very happy plants. Even someone with just 1-2 plants can still benefit from an irrigation system.

I agree. I just grow personal so it's still fun. But on a larger scale I'd think about production. I've been wanting to try a hydro grow and see what all the hypes about. Might just change my mind

Hydro has a larger start up cost than soil does, and also has higher monthly costs/expenses. But realistically it is a lot easier and foolproof in many aspects, mainly when it comes to perfect watering and cultivating good root masses.

While a living soil is in fact capable of producing the best flavor possible, that's only if your living soil is optimized. A living soil running at 50% efficiency is going to produce shit yields compared to hydro running at 50% efficiency.

Furthermore, hydro growers running at ~100% efficiency will have much better flavor than someone with a poor living soil. Hydro is actually great for learning the basics of growing the plant, as well as producing incredible yields. The flavor just won't be as intense and this isn't because of "excess chemicals" or any of that BS. The only reason that soil has more flavor than hydro is because terpenes literally come from microbes, and since a living soil will have billions more microbes than a hydro set up will this is the only reason living soil is capable of better flavor. Note the emphasis on capable, because one can fuck up and not get the flavor out of soil because things went poorly.

That being said, in living soil I've only ever experienced issues with yields. The potency and flavor has always been incredible, but sometimes shit happens and you have issues with your roots/microbiology/soil compaction/soil texture/etc and the result is shit yields.

Depends on your situation and needs. As they say, more than one way to skin a fish my friend!

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Definitely. Plants that large can technically live a little while without water, though it'll reduce yields due to things not being optimal. It's no different than a human being. A human being can survive a day or two without food and water. That human being will technically be "alive" but don't expect much performance out of said human. The same is true with plants. I recommend watering daily, personally. It's a bitch, but it's better for a variety of different reasons. Irrigation set ups are quite affordable, $20-$50 will get an irrigation system that'll be good for just about anyone's needs unless you're in a commercial/large scale set up. You can even grab a manual hose timer that'll open every 15/30/60 minutes.

Just be cautious with automation. Automation is wonderful because it allows you to put more focus into observing your plants, manicuring/training/trimming them, and so forth. But it also allows one to become complacent if you aren't careful. I'll be setting up an irrigation system next time myself. I don't care how much money it costs, it'll save me a stupid amount of time and will allow me to water more efficiently. I'd rather have a timer turn my irrigation system on for 5 minutes every 3-4 hours instead of trying to soak them once a day. This will not only save water, but will make for some very happy plants. Even someone with just 1-2 plants can still benefit from an irrigation system.



Hydro has a larger start up cost than soil does, and also has higher monthly costs/expenses. But realistically it is a lot easier and foolproof in many aspects, mainly when it comes to perfect watering and cultivating good root masses.

While a living soil is in fact capable of producing the best flavor possible, that's only if your living soil is optimized. A living soil running at 50% efficiency is going to produce shit yields compared to hydro running at 50% efficiency.

Furthermore, hydro growers running at ~100% efficiency will have much better flavor than someone with a poor living soil. Hydro is actually great for learning the basics of growing the plant, as well as producing incredible yields. The flavor just won't be as intense and this isn't because of "excess chemicals" or any of that BS. The only reason that soil has more flavor than hydro is because terpenes literally come from microbes, and since a living soil will have billions more microbes than a hydro set up will this is the only reason living soil is capable of better flavor. Note the emphasis on capable, because one can fuck up and not get the flavor out of soil because things went poorly.

That being said, in living soil I've only ever experienced issues with yields. The potency and flavor has always been incredible, but sometimes shit happens and you have issues with your roots/microbiology/soil compaction/soil texture/etc and the result is shit yields.

Depends on your situation and needs. As they say, more than one way to skin a fish my friend!

Man you are awesome. Ya, my plan is just to keep watering daily since I can tell the plants and soil life are happier. It's not that that bad really, since I have a system down now, but it's just more than I expected. No complaints though. I'm loving living soil.

Ya, automation would be really nice. I just don't have any drainage in my closet, so I have to use a shop vac to suck the water out of the saucers after watering. Nobody would be happy with me if I caused a flood, lol. I'm in the upstairs bedroom too.

And I definitely agree that hydro may give you a better yield, but will never beat the taste of a healthy organically grown plant.

Thanks again man. Keep teaching us rookies, lol.

 

[ukdave]

Chicken manure pellets contain everything the plant needs to thrive and it is well cheap. So does Fish Blood & Bone mix, I use both. I use any cheap 50 litre bag of compost to start, amended with 5 grams of each. After that all I have to do is top my 11 litre buckets with 3 to 5 grams of each every three to four weeks throughout the grow, couldn't be simpler, great results. A water butt full of rain water eliminates the need muck about PH mixing water, and LED lights keeps it cool enough to only need watering every few days.

 

[speakheavy]

Happy to be of service, just an enthusiast nothing special here.

Top dressing applies to any and all soil though, you could even top dress Miracle Gro if you really wanted to. Top dressing is akin to using bottled nutrients in the sense that you're using them only when the soil itself is depleted of nutrients. The difference between top dressing is that it takes a few days to become available to your plants. That's why I do it every 2-4 weeks, depending on the strain and size of the plant. I top dress with ingredients that aren't "hot" such as kelp, neem and crab meals and then Dr Earth's Tomato and Herb blend (4-6-5) for flower because it's also light.

I looked up the soil though and it seems pretty legit in terms of nutrients and being a living soil, however there are a few things about it I'm noticing that you may want to know about. It has blood, bone, and feather meals in them. Those are good amendments, but they're pretty hot because of how quickly they break down. My concern with bagged soils like these is that they don't let it sit for as long as it needs to (trying to push product as quick as they can), which can be problematic for two reasons. For one, the compost may not be fully composted yet, so if you put small plants in that soil you're likely to burn the shit out of them and their roots. This is the same issue with the Blood, Bone, and Feather meals, you want those to "cook" (aka decompose) for a good 3-4 weeks otherwise it'll make your soil too hot as well.

In short, the soil looks good but it's likely going to be hot when used straight out of the bag. Some companies ensure they decompose their products enough, but many do not do this. Unless I can be certain of a company's reputation, I always assume I need to let the soil "cook" for a bit. Unless your plants are over a foot tall with a good root mass, you don't want to plant anything directly into that soil without a little prep work. Fortunately you do have options!

Option 1 would be to dump the soil in a pile, water and turn the soil daily. This is going to accomplish two things, the watering/turning of the soil will help decompose the compost and amendments enough to the point where the soil won't burn your plants. This option is going to require 3-4 weeks worth of time and labor though.

Option 2 is what I'd do personally. Get yourself some light soil to mix with the Detroit Soil so that you don't burn your plants. You can either buy it pre-made (Fox Farm's Happy Frog or Light Warrior are my recommendations) or you can make some yourself by simply mixing peat, perlite, and compost together. This is what is called a "base" soil, because it's completely basic for the sole purpose of starting off plants nice and slow. What you're going to do is "layer" your pots with your Detroit and Base soils. For the sake of simplicity, let's use an empty 10 gallon pot as an example here. The bottom 4g of soil will be your Detroit soil, above it will be 3g of Detroit and Base soil blended together, and the top 3g of soil will just be the base soil. The idea behind layering like this is so that you can start seedlings/clones in it immediately without having to wait like in option 1. This is because your clones will start in the base soil where there is zero risk of burning the roots/plant. Over time, the roots will grow down into the Detroit soil. By the time the roots have grown down into the Detroit soil it'll have broken down enough (and the root mass/plant will be big enough) to where you will have zero issues.

Keep in mind, that soil mix looks pretty potent to me like Subcool's supersoil. They're good mixes and they work quite well, there's just a risk of burning your plants is all. That's why I switched over to Coot's recipe, zero burn and little to no prep work. But, Coot's soil is significantly lighter than the aforementioned soils and so as a result I will be top dressing more than someone using a "hot" soil. With the ingredients in that Detroit mix you shouldn't have to top dress for a good 2 months or so, give or take. And not only that, you can even save some of the Detroit mix to the side for when you do need to top dress. That soil is powerful enough to be used on a top dress on it's own because of the ingredients that are in it. 8-10 weeks after planting you can start looking for signs of deficiencies and top dress accordingly.

HTH

Don't worry about ph. Runoff tells you nothing. Ph also has no bearing on how fast clones root and it wouldn't matter what the ph of the water in your cloner is until there are roots growing anyway. If you have to keep rooted clones in a cloner for an extended length of time then you would need to add nutrients and adjust the ph until you can transplant to soil.
The soil itself buffers the ph. If you are using a ph balanced soil mix the roots will absorb the full range of available npk and macros. You need a decent quality soil probe to check ph with accuracy. Whatever you adjust the water or nutrient mix to has minimal affect on the actual ph of the soil in the root zone.

Hello guys, little update here. I have everything for the soil building process which ill be starting in a couple weeks, I'm just chilling out with these mama plants making clones for the time being so I can keep the genes going. I got the Dr. Earth tomato and herb blend, this stuff is so awesome, however quick question for kratos, Im aware it has beneficial microbes in it as well as the plant food, I mixed it in with some regular soil for when the mama plants need re potting again as theyre growing so fast and

(the soil stays slightly moist and the bin is enclosed to prevent pests - had had gnat issues in the past)

the fungus is growing!
a few days after mixing the soil together and letting it sit I uncover to see its full of life already! Crazy.
My question was just making sure that these were indeed the microbes already in the dr earth blend and not some rouge anarobic fungus thatll harm my plants lol, I know good fungus is good and I have no issue with breaking up the soil and mixing it more to spread out the beneficial colony before repotting.

other than that though-
I have the mamas in recycled soil from oil house plants reamended with the doctor earth blend, some lime pellets, some vermiculite, and some azomite (granular not powder) and I only water with either plain water or fish emulsion every now and again and theyre loving it!

This post is only text as all the picture are on my phone but ill post them aswell right after I post this.

I also spray with the liquid seaweed mix almost everyday and they seem to be loving that too

and I've added a grandpas stash plant to the family, and a clone off of that plant is already potted.

Another question- I got a bunch of superthrive on clearance at walmart because 5$ a bottle was a steal but I know its not organic, would it be okay to make just a spray for the leaves in a sep bottle with the superthrive or could that disrupt any organic life I got going on? I def wouldn't get any in the soil I just know they love superthrive as a foliar and I have a bunch now for my garden (I have dozens of house plants too lol)

Thanks for the info and your time guys! I'm thinking I'll make a journal for updates when I have 2 good sized clones and am about to flower them both, Ive never made a grow journal and I think Id benefit from one.

 

[speakheavy]

Hello guys, little update here. I have everything for the soil building process which ill be starting in a couple weeks, I'm just chilling out with these mama plants making clones for the time being so I can keep the genes going. I got the Dr. Earth tomato and herb blend, this stuff is so awesome, however quick question for kratos, Im aware it has beneficial microbes in it as well as the plant food, I mixed it in with some regular soil for when the mama plants need re potting again as theyre growing so fast and

(the soil stays slightly moist and the bin is enclosed to prevent pests - had had gnat issues in the past)

the fungus is growing!
a few days after mixing the soil together and letting it sit I uncover to see its full of life already! Crazy.
My question was just making sure that these were indeed the microbes already in the dr earth blend and not some rouge anarobic fungus thatll harm my plants lol, I know good fungus is good and I have no issue with breaking up the soil and mixing it more to spread out the beneficial colony before repotting.

other than that though-
I have the mamas in recycled soil from oil house plants reamended with the doctor earth blend, some lime pellets, some vermiculite, and some azomite (granular not powder) and I only water with either plain water or fish emulsion every now and again and theyre loving it!

This post is only text as all the picture are on my phone but ill post them aswell right after I post this.

I also spray with the liquid seaweed mix almost everyday and they seem to be loving that too

and I've added a grandpas stash plant to the family, and a clone off of that plant is already potted.

Another question- I got a bunch of superthrive on clearance at walmart because 5$ a bottle was a steal but I know its not organic, would it be okay to make just a spray for the leaves in a sep bottle with the superthrive or could that disrupt any organic life I got going on? I def wouldn't get any in the soil I just know they love superthrive as a foliar and I have a bunch now for my garden (I have dozens of house plants too lol)

Thanks for the info and your time guys! I'm thinking I'll make a journal for updates when I have 2 good sized clones and am about to flower them both, Ive never made a grow journal and I think Id benefit from one.

Fungal colonies growing
(Whenever I get foliage from plant I just throw it in the soil too, I just topped a plant as you can see)



I have 2 of these blue trays for my MAC and Amnesia Haze, all holes in the sides so I can get my +10 air pruning




Grandpa's stash cutting




Gorilla glue is the front left, I've notoriously ways had issues keeping this strain happy


3 100w cob units. 33w each actual LED. These will be used for flowering as well but the plants are loving them now! Tent is a measly 2 x 2 x 3 feet keep in mind lol

 

[MustangStudFarm]

But I'd be a fucking liar if I said hydro doesn't always tempt me, and Renfro really knows his shit. Hydro is actually significantly easier than soil is once you get things set up, truth be told. The biggest reason is because it's deceptively easy to fuck up watering, and getting watering practices at an optimal 100% is tricky without a BluMat setup. I'd even argue it's impossible for anyone to water with 100% efficiency without hydro. Even if you DO manage to water 100% efficiently, there's still the matter of soil texture/compaction/etc. It's easy to get massive roots going in a hydro set up. No problems with roots/watering = guaranteed success.

I would agree with the watering problem. This is one reason why Sub Irrigated Planters are a decent idea. I didn't buy into them for a while because I thought that it was a gimmick, but I was wrong... What really made me switch was getting spider mites that came in on some hay that I was using for mulch.

 

[kratos015]

I would agree with the watering problem. This is one reason why Sub Irrigated Planters are a decent idea. I didn't buy into them for a while because I thought that it was a gimmick, but I was wrong... What really made me switch was getting spider mites that came in on some hay that I was using for mulch.

SIP is amazing, but I don't have an affordable enough supply of perlite to take advantage of it. Especially on a medium scale grow.

BluMats might be something that interest you though, however it can be pretty pricey if you're growing in anything larger than a small scale grow. It'd cost me nearly $500 to get BluMats set up for my greenhouse but damn it'd be so worth it to finally know I'm watering "perfectly".

I just don't see how you can water perfectly without SIP or BluMats unfortunately.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Epsom Salts are great, I use them as part of a foliar feed even when I'm not experiencing deficiencies.

Epsom Salts are just Magnesium Sulfate, so Mag and Sulfur that your plants can absorb. It isn't quite viable for a top dress unfortunately, but is quite useful in a weekly foliar feed. 1/4 tsp per gallon of water is what I usually go with, though I'll go up to 1/2 tsp twice a week if any plants are getting a Mag deficiency that badly. Sulfur is one of the biggest elements responsible for terpene production, that's why I foliar with Epsom Salts weekly. Potassium and Silica also help for this purpose. A weekly foliar feed of liquid seaweed, epsom salts, and ProTekt/AgSil (Potassium Silicate) has done wonders for me, great for preventative maintenance and enhancing flavor.

Langbeinite is your friend here if you're looking for a top dress. It's great stuff, just takes a while to decompose is all.

HTH

I just did my first foliar feed on one of my plants with epsom only. It loved it. The ProTekt and seaweed is on my list next time I go to the hydro store. I will be foliar feeding a lot more now that I have seen the results. Thanks again for the awesome advice.

 

[kratos015]

I just did my first foliar feed on one of my plants with epsom only. It loved it. The ProTekt and seaweed is on my list next time I go to the hydro store. I will be foliar feeding a lot more now that I have seen the results. Thanks again for the awesome advice.

My pleasure my dude! Seems silly that something so simple would do so much, but it really does work. Even without Mg deficiencies I still foliar with Epsom Salts religiously because the plants will almost always make use of the extra Sulfur and Magnesium in terms of flavor. This applies for literally every and any plant you can grow. Try using living organic soil with the Epsom Salt/ProTekt/Seaweed foliar feed with veggies. Tomatoes actually have flavor and slicing a cucumber grown this way will stink up your house so much that people will think you opened a bottle of lotion.

If for some reason I run out of my own home grown, I simply don't smoke until I get more of my own harvest. Weed is just like any other product; it's rare that someone else actually gives a fuck about you enjoying the product, they just want your money. So sadly, things must be taken into your own hands as a result.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

My pleasure my dude! Seems silly that something so simple would do so much, but it really does work. Even without Mg deficiencies I still foliar with Epsom Salts religiously because the plants will almost always make use of the extra Sulfur and Magnesium in terms of flavor. This applies for literally every and any plant you can grow. Try using living organic soil with the Epsom Salt/ProTekt/Seaweed foliar feed with veggies. Tomatoes actually have flavor and slicing a cucumber grown this way will stink up your house so much that people will think you opened a bottle of lotion.

If for some reason I run out of my own home grown, I simply don't smoke until I get more of my own harvest. Weed is just like any other product; it's rare that someone else actually gives a fuck about you enjoying the product, they just want your money. So sadly, things must be taken into your own hands as a result.

Ya, I'm really impressed with foliar spraying already. I plan to do it on all my plants from now on. You have great advice, and I actually keep re-reading all your posts in this thread so I absorb it all. My memory kinda sucks, haha. Thanks again man.

 

[mantrid]

Epsom Salts are great, I use them as part of a foliar feed even when I'm not experiencing deficiencies.

Epsom Salts are just Magnesium Sulfate, so Mag and Sulfur that your plants can absorb. It isn't quite viable for a top dress unfortunately, but is quite useful in a weekly foliar feed. 1/4 tsp per gallon of water is what I usually go with, though I'll go up to 1/2 tsp twice a week if any plants are getting a Mag deficiency that badly. Sulfur is one of the biggest elements responsible for terpene production, that's why I foliar with Epsom Salts weekly. Potassium and Silica also help for this purpose. A weekly foliar feed of liquid seaweed, epsom salts, and ProTekt/AgSil (Potassium Silicate) has done wonders for me, great for preventative maintenance and enhancing flavor.

Langbeinite is your friend here if you're looking for a top dress. It's great stuff, just takes a while to decompose is all.

HTH

I know this is an old thread, but do you combine the seaweed and epsom salts and silicate in the same solution/spray? Or do a foilar spray for each?

 

[kratos015]

I know this is an old thread, but do you combine the seaweed and epsom salts and silicate in the same solution/spray? Or do a foilar spray for each?

I actually combine them all, however I only use the kelp every 3-4 weeks personally.

 

[mantrid]

Th

I actually combine them all, however I only use the kelp every 3-4 weeks personally.

Thanks dude.

 

[natureboygrower]

I only use the kelp every 3-4 weeks personally.

Is this because you think applying sooner would be overkill?

 

[kratos015]

Is this because you think applying sooner would be overkill?

Correct. Liquid Kelp/Seaweed is full of all sorts of good stuff, many of which plants often don't use in high enough doses to warrant constant application. This is especially true if your soil already has kelp meal in it.

Not sure of others, but the bottle I currently have on hand is rather ominous in it's suggestion of using it only once every 3-4 weeks. It even states that it is better to increase the dosage as opposed to using it more frequently than 3-4 weeks.

 

[natureboygrower]

Correct. Liquid Kelp/Seaweed is full of all sorts of good stuff, many of which plants often don't use in high enough doses to warrant constant application. This is especially true if your soil already has kelp meal in it.

Not sure of others, but the bottle I currently have on hand is rather ominous in it's suggestion of using it only once every 3-4 weeks. It even states that it is better to increase the dosage as opposed to using it more frequently than 3-4 weeks.

I'm in promix during veg and have always had issues with Mg I believe. I thought the foliar feeding of kelp on it's own would help, but I'm finding that is not the case. I'm going to start with the weekly epsom foliar along with the kelp every 2 weeks. What are your thoughts on fulvic acid in the foliar mix? I thought I read somewhere that it helps the plant uptake whatever your spraying. I use fulvex from botanicare.

 

[Northwood]

What are your thoughts on fulvic acid in the foliar mix?

This question just reminded me that another good thing about no-till is that humic and fulvic acids are free.