To spray or not to spray? (leaves)

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
what are you spraying the leaves for?

foliar feed?

bug spray?

leaf polish?

morning dew :)

your stating a bunch of hypotheticals, but with no purpose.
 

bmeat

New Member
spray with water 1-2 times a day if humidity is low. if not, dont.

if you want to try foliar feeding..go for it, need a water soluble feed.

/end cycle
 

AimAim

Well-Known Member
molasses is a sugar, thats why its good for soil. its sugar, simple carbs for the fungus and bacteria to feed on and if theyre stronger, they turn the soil into food quicker
Try to concentrate and stay on topic here meatster. We were talking about spraying the leaves, not adding sugar to the soil.

Are you implying that since some believe in adding sugars to the rooting medium, that it's good to spray on the leaves? I don't want fungus and bacteria or anything else growing on my leaves due to sugars. Not sure I would want them in my soil either causing who knows what to start growing. Healthy soil as it occurs in nature has no sugar in it, and adding sugar is going to cause things to grow that were not intended to be part of the soil food chain.

Always thought that sugar feeding stuff for soil flora and fauna was BS anyway. Where, in nature, do these little critters get there sugar fix? They don't. There is no sucrose, fructose, maltose or any other simple sugar. Now cellulose is a different story, technically a complex sugar/polysaccharide which along with minerals and nutrients drives the food chain in the soil.

Ever hear of a farmer, or home gardener or anyone else adding sugars to their soil to make it more alive? Nope me neither. They add nutrients and organic matter, not sugar. I was going to mention how the carbon-nitrogen ratio fit into this to produce rich, living soil, but think I'll pass on that as you might get confused.
 

bmeat

New Member
Try to concentrate and stay on topic here meatster. We were talking about spraying the leaves, not adding sugar to the soil.

Are you implying that since some believe in adding sugars to the rooting medium, that it's good to spray on the leaves? I don't want fungus and bacteria or anything else growing on my leaves due to sugars. Not sure I would want them in my soil either causing who knows what to start growing. Healthy soil as it occurs in nature has no sugar in it, and adding sugar is going to cause things to grow that were not intended to be part of the soil food chain.

Always thought that sugar feeding stuff for soil flora and fauna was BS anyway. Where, in nature, do these little critters get there sugar fix? They don't. There is no sucrose, fructose, maltose or any other simple sugar. Now cellulose is a different story, technically a complex sugar/polysaccharide which along with minerals and nutrients drives the food chain in the soil.

Ever hear of a farmer, or home gardener or anyone else adding sugars to their soil to make it more alive? Nope me neither. They add nutrients and organic matter, not sugar. I was going to mention how the carbon-nitrogen ratio fit into this to produce rich, living soil, but think I'll pass on that as you might get confused.
thats why i dont use it, and i was saying good job in saying not to moleasses sugar on leaves..but then at the end of your post you said if you have fungus/mold spray with sugar..was just confused.

but it is a fact that sugar is the easiest simple carb to turn into energy, so who knows, it might work.

were on the same page buddy. still think you shouldnt spray your plants so much :p
 

AimAim

Well-Known Member
thats why i dont use it, and i was saying good job in saying not to moleasses sugar on leaves..but then at the end of your post you said if you have fungus/mold spray with sugar..was just confused.

were on the same page buddy. still think you shouldnt spray your plants so much :p
At the end of my post I said:

Second molasses would be a horrible thing to put in a foliar spray as a sticker. Unless you want some mildew, mold, fungus or insects on your plants... Then I'd recommend spraying them with sugar.
My god you are serious, aren't you. Google "facetious" :wall: I said unless you want mildew etc

Your opinion on my spraying my plants means less than nothing.Have I ever mentioned how often I spray, or what I spray with?

My opinion is you should not be attempting to grow weed, nor permitted to post on this board.

And not only are we NOT on the same page, we are reading completely different books.
 

Crankyxr

Well-Known Member
I foliar feed but I only do so with Dyna Gro Protekt.
It seems to work pretty well for me during my outdoor seasons as it strengthens stems and thickens foliage and helps me in preventing various bugs from taking hold and infesting my ladies.
And from my personal experience, it seems to give a bit of "glossiness" to the leaves as well.
I don't know about you guys, but I love it when my ladies shine in the light :wink:
 

jaubry777

Member
good to know but... i feel like there's room for disagreement here in the sense that if you wash all your leaves off shortly afterwards there is no remaining residue and you have still fed them. true? or just stupid?

Ok first of all molasses would not be a surfactant (wetting agent), it would be a "Sticker". A surfactant breaks the surface tension of water so it does not bead up and run off, a sticker helps whatever you apply to the foliage stick to the foliage. Don't believe me google spreader sticker and read about it in more detail. You can read all night if you wish.

I've used both surfactants and spreader stickers for years in ag type settings, many many gallons. They can be useful when applying foliar ferts, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides etc.

Here is a spreader-sticker

http://www.amazon.com/Bonide-097-Turbo-Spreader-Sticker/dp/B000PKTPP6/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1360300439&sr=1-1&keywords=spreader+sticker

And here is a surfactant

http://www.amazon.com/Nonionic-Surfactant-90-Gallon-Concentrate/dp/B0034078TY/ref=sr_1_5?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1360300572&sr=1-5&keywords=surfactant

A good surfactant is a clear dish soap like Dawn, use 2 drops per quart. You really don't need a sticker on indoor grows, once it dries there no rain to wash it off. And before you freak out, no a couple drops of dish soap in a quart sprayer ain't gonna hurt your delicate little snowflake of a pot plant

Second molasses would be a horrible thing to put in a foliar spray as a sticker. Unless you want some mildew, mold, fungus or insects on your plants... Then I'd recommend spraying them with sugar.
 

jaubry777

Member
I know for a fact that Dr. Earth (Mylo whatever his last name is) uses molasses and even directs you to use it under instructions on his POTting Soil bags. In foliar feeding. So.... hopefully its not too horrible. anyway i have found that even without molasses my leaves are getting stained. probably all the goodies in my tea, bat guano, worm castings, etc...
 

cobra28widow

New Member
At the end of my post I said:



My god you are serious, aren't you. Google "facetious" :wall: I said unless you want mildew etc

Your opinion on my spraying my plants means less than nothing.Have I ever mentioned how often I spray, or what I spray with?

My opinion is you should not be attempting to grow weed, nor permitted to post on this board.

And not only are we NOT on the same page, we are reading completely different books.
The best part is he hit the "like" button for that post.... hes the definition of ignorant...
 

jaubry777

Member
dont u wanna use reverse osmosis water anyway? or at least have tap water sitting out for minimum of 24 hours before its used in any capacity. correct me if im wrong please, still a newbie but way cooler than bmeat
 

natro.hydro

Well-Known Member
No one has mentioned it yet but since we are mentioning sprays, lot of people foliar feed neem oil but not after bud development. I have heard neem is systemic though so if you water the soil with neem your plants should still have that aza chemical in the leaves that fucks the bugs up. If you do not know neem is a organic oil that you can foliar feed or water into your soil to help your plant fight infection. I have never used this since I have not had a bug problem or pm problem or anything like that, weird I know but I am only starting my 4th indoor grow, I have time yet lol.
 

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
For me spraying does two things. One is that along with fans, it strenghtens the plant to grow bigger stems, and the other is it washes off contaminates and dust. I spray once a week when I water, and with the fans on the leaves are dry in a half an hour. I would shut the lights off of during that short period in case of water contact with the bulb, or boom. I feed roots only, let them do the work they were designed for.
 

jaubry777

Member
No one has mentioned it yet but since we are mentioning sprays, lot of people foliar feed neem oil but not after bud development. I have heard neem is systemic though so if you water the soil with neem your plants should still have that aza chemical in the leaves that fucks the bugs up. If you do not know neem is a organic oil that you can foliar feed or water into your soil to help your plant fight infection. I have never used this since I have not had a bug problem or pm problem or anything like that, weird I know but I am only starting my 4th indoor grow, I have time yet lol.
neem oil, from what i understand, is not really a nutrient supplement. it is commonly used to combat spidermites. get a fine paintbrush and apply it to all the stem area (this can even be done during flowering), and it can be sprayed in a fine mist onto the under sides of leaves. the sticky residue it leaves behind also makes it harder for mites to travel and spread.

Even during flowering you could feed individual fan leaves (if you felt it was necessary). obviously it would be very laborious but if you only have a couple plants and nothing else to do or if you're religious about foliar feeding, whatever the case may be I'm still quite new and just tossing out ideas. Take a piece of thick cardboard and cut out a thin strip almost half way down, slide it behind your leaf so you can spray the leaf without spraying anything else. move to the next leaf, repeat. what a painnnn but maybe some day ill try it
 

jaubry777

Member
I foliar feed but I only do so with Dyna Gro Protekt.
It seems to work pretty well for me during my outdoor seasons as it strengthens stems and thickens foliage and helps me in preventing various bugs from taking hold and infesting my ladies.
And from my personal experience, it seems to give a bit of "glossiness" to the leaves as well.
I don't know about you guys, but I love it when my ladies shine in the light :wink:
this is copy/pasted from the wiki article on foliar feeding

"One way to tell if a fertilizer has been effective is to squeeze juice from the leaves of plant and to test it with a refractometer. If after spraying with foliar fertilizer the amount of light refracted significantly rises, then foliar application has worked. To increase effectiveness it is recommended to use a spray enhancer to help the nutrients stick to the leaf and to penetrate the waxy cuticle of the leaf."
 

jaubry777

Member
*once a week is fine, I stop foliar feeding when I go into bloom~

#cheers
seems like the gist of the wiki article is that people see amazing results from feeding tomatoes during flowering. what happens to plants outdoors in regions with regular or even heavy rains? I'm genuinely curious so i hope this doesn't come across as sarcastic.

#cheers
 
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