Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

[Uncle Ben]

Right... they need sleep!

It's nature's way.

 

[shrigpiece]

I started this draft and then quit after finding out I can't edit what I start. I need the flexibility to make future additions and revisions, which is not granted to the thread starter here at RIU. So for what it's worth, here are a few tidbits written about 6 months ago.

Enjoy,
Uncle Ben

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Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks

After 40 years of gardening experience, a ton of applied book learning, and a whole lot of research and personal experience I thought I'd share some pointers or tweeks. Feel free to comment. This will be a work in progress as I recall “gems” I might have inadvertently left out.

Light - Plants needs a rest. Recommend 20/4 for veg. Plants do better (produce more carbos) with less light over a longer period of time than alot of light for a shorter period of time. There is a point of light saturation where more light will work against you by bleaching out the lifeblood of the plant - chlorophyll. Learn to "read your plants" and keep those leaves healthy and green until harvest. Also, contrary to forum paradigms, in general you want to give your plants more light during veg and less during flowering, think nature. The flowering response is not the time to bleach out the leaves with high light intensities (and high P foods). Ultra low levels of N found in bloom foods will generally not support leaf health.

Temperature and the importance of day/night differential - In general, a 85/70F (32/16C) day/night temp is best for most hybrids for maximum carbo production. What's really important is a good drop in temperature at night, of at least 15F/4C. If night temps are too high, the plant will use up the carbos manufactured during the day to the process of respiration as opposed to plant cell division/elongation (tissue production).

Watering technique - contrary to popular belief, wet/dry cycles are NOT good, especially for organic growers. Keep the soil medium moist but not saturated to the point where air is excluded. When you water, don’t be shy. Water until there is a good runoff. The issue is not overwatering, it's watering to the point of the exclusion of air.

Fertilizers - I don’t use “cannabis specific” plant foods for many reasons. If you do, make sure you’re able to find the NPK and micro values and understand the relationship between those elements. An overage of one element over another will create an antagonistic affect. For example, too much K tends to create a deficiency of N, Ca, and Mg.

Foliage production - Grow for the most amount of foliage you can going into the flowering response. Maintain those leaves in a green and healthy condition up until harvest, even if it means switching fertilizer to a high N value, like a 9-3-6.

Upcanning (repotting) - Score the rootball - pop the ball out and using a razor blade or sharp knife insert it about ½" into the rootball at the top and slice thru the exposed roots from top to bottom concentrating on any root spinout at the bottom. Rotate the rootball and do this about 4 times. Bury the “trunk” as deep as you can even if it means pulling off some of the lower leafsets. This will induce root output all along the buried trunk.

with the nutes in question, what would you recommend?

 

[Joe Camel]

Nice Run down Ben.
A+
~~Joe~~

 

[BurnDatShit35]

Yo uncle ben...i was reading this thread and another thread u posted about having too much P in fertilizer. IM in my 4th week of flowering and some of the fan leaves are beginging to die off. U say that one should try to keep the leaves alive. RIght now my my bloom fert is 10-56-10 wich i guess is too high in p content. SO my question is should i perhaps add a little more nitrogen to the mixture during flowring to keep leaves alive.

WIch also brings me to another question...does that effect bud production?
also i think u mentioned that u dont flush....do u grow organicly cuz when i dont flush my buds are fucked since i use chemicles

 

[Bob Smith]

With what consequences. Plants need a rest and during darkness alot of root growth occurs. There are (natural and genetically scripted/fingerprinted) processes that can only occur during the dark cycle. I use a 20/4 because it is a compromise between 18/6 and 24/0. Look at the growth in this garden as an example. Any faster than this and it gets ridiculous. From popping a seed to flowering it is anywhere from 3 - 4 weeks for me resulting in large bushy plants.
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/9114-spin-out-chemical-root-pruning.html

Again, one must find their plants' light saturation point and stay just below it.

Stay free,
UB

So, you're saying that although the 24/0 plants grow faster (I do believe you conceded that point by not trying to refute it), that you "feel" like your 20/4 plants are "healthier"?

Also, are you saying that because 24/0 grows plants "too" fast that you simply use 20/4 out of convenience so that your garden doesn't become overgrown?

I'm kinda stuck in that we all agree that 24/0 is fastest, and the only argument against it seems to be that there are some "unknown consequences" which will develop - can you point any out specifically?

I'm not like many here just looking to pick a fight with you, I'm genuinely curious.

As always, thanks very much for your time, and for your effort to help out this community.

 

[Bob Smith]

It's nature's way.

No offense, but an aeroponics system is certainly no "nature's way" and that seems to blow "her" doors off in terms of yield and efficiency.

Just interested because everything I've read and the anecdotal experiences I've had over the past decade, all the signs point towards 24/0 dominating any other vegging times.

 

[Uncle Ben]

SO my question is should i perhaps add a little more nitrogen to the mixture during flowring to keep leaves alive.

Yes

WIch also brings me to another question...does that effect bud production?

Leaves produce bud, not bloom foods.

also i think u mentioned that u dont flush....do u grow organicly cuz when i dont flush my buds are fucked since i use chemicles

Your buds are gonna be "fucked up" using a 10-56-10.

 

[Mr.Oasis]

Just interested because everything I've read and the anecdotal experiences I've had over the past decade, all the signs point towards 24/0 dominating any other vegging times.

just my 2 cents but ive done 24/0 and 18/6 a few times and the 24/0 seems to be great at a lower intensity (ie lights farther away, not all on) for the first 1-3 weeks but after that mine always seem to stall until i give'm some rest, then i can crank up the sun

and thats free of any inorganic fert's except the superthrive i add to the water...still not sure about the stuff but the plants eat it up

 

[Uncle Ben]

So, you're saying that although the 24/0 plants grow faster (I do believe you conceded that point by not trying to refute it), that you "feel" like your 20/4 plants are "healthier"?

I said that plants need a rest and don't concede to anything. It's an issue about light saturation, a point that you have to find for yourself. 20/4 grows plants plenty fast for me and they end up with fat colas and excellent root systems..

Hope that helps.....

 

[Bob Smith]

I said that plants need a rest and don't concede to anything. It's an issue about light saturation, a point that you have to find for yourself. 20/4 grows plants plenty fast for me and they end up with fat colas and excellent root systems..

Hope that helps.....

Thank you much.

 

[shrigpiece]

although you didnt reply to my post i get it, im mixing my grow and bloom ferts to keep the fan leaves alive, thanks bro!

 

[Uncle Ben]

although you didnt reply to my post i get it, im mixing my grow and bloom ferts to keep the fan leaves alive, thanks bro!

I didn't understand the question - "with the nutes in question, what would you recommend?"

What is your final NPK values "to keep the fan leaves alive"?

 

[southern homegrower]

i use pureblend pro from botanicare and the flower nutes are 2-3-5 and the veg nutes are3-2-4. would i be better off using 3/4 bloom nutes and 1/2 veg nutes. im growing hydro. when i use to grow outside my leafs staid nice and lush green right up to harvest time. now that i switched to hydro my leafs start looking kinda bad yellowing about the 5th week of flower . im growing a pure indica strain. and what books would you recomend on growing

i think this ? might have slipped by you

 

[shrigpiece]

I didn't understand the question - "with the nutes in question, what would you recommend?"

What is your final NPK values "to keep the fan leaves alive"?

sorry dude, i meant what do you recommend using as a nutrient as in you dont use cannabis specific nutes, because of micro nutes that plants become defient, i have noticed my plants becoming defient of micro nutes because i use cannabis specific nutes!

 

[shrigpiece]

although you didnt reply to my post i get it, im mixing my grow and bloom ferts to keep the fan leaves alive, thanks bro!

as in this post i thought there would be a happy medium that keeps the fan leafs alive, (as you recommend with the nitrogen being low in bloom) but there still seems to be a lack of micro elements in cannabis specific nutes, im gonna use seaweed kelp to sort this little prob out. thanks again for the gems!

 

[Uncle Ben]

i think this ? might have slipped by you

3-2-4 is NOT a decent ratio for veg. They have it bassackwards. A 4-2-3 would be more like it. Typical ratios for veg are 30-10-10, 9-3-6, 20-10-20.

sorry dude, i meant what do you recommend using as a nutrient as in you dont use cannabis specific nutes, because of micro nutes that plants become defient, i have noticed my plants becoming defient of micro nutes because i use cannabis specific nutes!

Peters makes good fertilizers. Those found at Walmart or Sam's is fine. Nurseries sell decent fertilizers. Dyna-Gro is hard to beat for hydro and soil.

 

[pitch]

3-2-4 is NOT a decent ratio for veg. They have it bassackwards. A 4-2-3 would be more like it. Typical ratios for veg are 30-10-10, 9-3-6, 20-10-20.

I've been using a half to 3/4 strength solution of Foxfarms Grow Big for soil which is 6-4-4. Is that too weak?

 

[shrigpiece]

thanks for the pointers!

 

[The Warlord]

I really don't think that's correct - will wait for others to comment to come to a conclusion, but this post disagrees with everything I've ever read.

I do believe it's pretty inarguable that a 24/0 plant will grow faster then a 20/4 or 18/6 plant.

That, as far as I understand it, is just a fact (any study I've ever heard/read of has come to this conclusion, although I've never run an experiment personally).

That being said, I'm wondering if UB (or anyone else) has taken it a step further and flowered those two groups, and come to the conclusion that even though the 24/0 plants grew faster and were flowered larger then the 20/4 or 18/6 plants, that for some reason the latter produced more and/or higher quality herb than the 20/4.

I guess that was basically the question I was asking.

I remember someone online at one time(maybe here) posting the results of the FINAL YEILD from plants that were vegged for 24/0, 18/6, and 20/4.
The results were that the plants that had recieved 4 hours darkness out yielded the others followed by18/6. 24 hours light veg was the LOWEST yielding of the three. Im too lazy to search for it but those were the posted results. YMMV but I doubt it. I believe the plants will yeild more in the long run if given short rest periods of darkness during veg.

 

[southern homegrower]

3-2-4 is NOT a decent ratio for veg. They have it bassackwards. A 4-2-3 would be more like it. Typical ratios for veg are 30-10-10, 9-3-6, 20-10-20.



Peters makes good fertilizers. Those found at Walmart or Sam's is fine. Nurseries sell decent fertilizers. Dyna-Gro is hard to beat for hydro and soil.

thanks for the info UcleBen