Need help turning around my grow around. Should I continue to use Fox Farms?

S

smokerjimbob

Well-Known Member
I'm on day 18 of 12/12 flower cycle. I'm on my second grow. I'm growing 2 Midnight Mass, 1 Harlem Dreams, 2 Black Sugar Rose, 1 Harlem Shuffle. My grow is on the grow journals section.

They are in 3 or 5 gallon fabric pots. I water with 2 gallons of tap + 2 teaspoons each of Fox Farms Cal Mag, Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom. 2 teaspoons of each of the 4 added to the 2 gallons of tap. I do this for every watering. The reason I do this is because I feel it's a balanced mix, it's moderate in amount, and the PH just comes out right at 6.5 if I do this. No need to PH (such a hassle). Usually water twice a week, Wednesday and Sunday. On Friday I just give them a gallon of tap.

They are in Great Lakes Water Only Soil and Purple Cow Indicanja, another water only soil.

I don't know if the plants I grow will be fire. I think it depends on if I am luckily able to grow the right phenotype. Chances aren't great since I"m only growing 6 plants. But in the event that I do, what can I do right now to ensure that I grow the best weed possible?

I want to ditch the Fox Farms because for some reason I feel that I won't grow the best tasting and most potent bud with these nutes. I could be wrong.

Should I stick with the current nute schedule or is it not too late to totally switch to something else like dry amendments? If so, what do you recommend?

Thanks20240609_181801.jpg
 
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OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Don't change horses in the middle of the stream has some wisdom to it.

They are looking healthy enough and switching to a different method isn't likely to alter the outcome in a more positive manner so I'd stay the course for now.

Stretch is almost over so I'd cut back on the N and P a bit while boosting the K, also cutting back on the Calmag while adding some Epsom Salts to boost the Mg and S for some extra resin production.

What about how things are going makes you think switching might change?

I've always liked AN's Big Bud for flowering but start using that a week before the flip to flower to get the best results.

How hard is your tap water? You probably don't even need Calmag unless it's really soft. I've always used RO water and only ever used about 1/4 the amount of Calmag they say to use on the bottle.

:peace:
 
S

smokerjimbob

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
Don't change horses in the middle of the stream has some wisdom to it.

They are looking healthy enough and switching to a different method isn't likely to alter the outcome in a more positive manner so I'd stay the course for now.

Stretch is almost over so I'd cut back on the N and P a bit while boosting the K, also cutting back on the Calmag while adding some Epsom Salts to boost the Mg and S for some extra resin production.

What about how things are going makes you think switching might change?

I've always liked AN's Big Bud for flowering but start using that a week before the flip to flower to get the best results.

How hard is your tap water? You probably don't even need Calmag unless it's really soft. I've always used RO water and only ever used about 1/4 the amount of Calmag they say to use on the bottle.

:peace:
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I only thought about changing as I am just getting more sensitive to how clean bud tastes. There seems to be similar profiles I taste that are associated with some kind of growing agent or chemical that I feel is common for both privately grown weed and commercial weed nowadays. Something synthetic that is not coming from the bud but from the way it was grown. Can't quite put a finger on it but a mothballish kind of taste.
I don't know I just want clean tasting bud but at the same time potent bud. At the same time I want to taste the full expression of the weed and all of it's natural tastes. The fumes and vapors from the trichomes. Want to taste all that shit.

I'd say the tap water is pretty typical tap water for a big city. All of the nutes I'm adding are less than half the recommended dose from FF. Probably close to 1/4 strength.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
smokerjimbob said:
I only thought about changing as I am just getting more sensitive to how clean bud tastes. There seems to be similar profiles I taste that are associated with some kind of growing agent or chemical that I feel is common for both privately grown weed and commercial weed nowadays. Something synthetic that is not coming from the bud but from the way it was grown. Can't quite put a finger on it but a mothballish kind of taste.
I don't know I just want clean tasting bud but at the same time potent bud. At the same time I want to taste the full expression of the weed and all of it's natural tastes. The fumes and vapors from the trichomes. Want to taste all that shit.

I'd say the tap water is pretty typical tap water for a big city. All of the nutes I'm adding are less than half the recommended dose from FF. Probably close to 1/4 strength.
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Too much P tends to give pot that 'chem' taste but most nutes contain much more P than needed. Dry nutes take a while to break down and you need a good bio-herd in the soil/medium to help with that.

The last 3 or 4 years I experimented with using organics starting with 3 different types om manure in ProMix HP with Gaia Green nutes and could never get the kind of decent yields and tasty buds I got just using AN 3-part with the Big Bud in straight ProMix or even DWC. Outdoors I got good bud with autos grown right in the ground with the same kind of stuff I was trying indoors.

I'd stick with the nutes you're using now and don't feed anything the last couple of weeks so you see older leaves going yellow and limp as the plants steal nutes from them indicating they aren't overfed which tends to give that off taste. Then try different stuff your next grow or even do half with one and the other half with the other to compare better. I was adding DynoMyco to the organics plus adding some unfiltered water from our dugout to have lots of action in the soil to break down all the organic stuff. Our tap water comes from the dugout and is about 400ppm and pH8+ so I used RO water to prevent problems.

You should get some info on your tap water tho. Often towns/cities have that on their websites or you can request one by phone to be emailed at no cost. There is no typical city water as they vary a lot depending on their source. Vancouver water is almost RO water it's so soft compared to the sludge they get in town water up here in northern Alberta. Barely better than what comes out of my dugout.

:peace:
 
S

smokerjimbob

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
Too much P tends to give pot that 'chem' taste but most nutes contain much more P than needed. Dry nutes take a while to break down and you need a good bio-herd in the soil/medium to help with that.

The last 3 or 4 years I experimented with using organics starting with 3 different types om manure in ProMix HP with Gaia Green nutes and could never get the kind of decent yields and tasty buds I got just using AN 3-part with the Big Bud in straight ProMix or even DWC. Outdoors I got good bud with autos grown right in the ground with the same kind of stuff I was trying indoors.

I'd stick with the nutes you're using now and don't feed anything the last couple of weeks so you see older leaves going yellow and limp as the plants steal nutes from them indicating they aren't overfed which tends to give that off taste. Then try different stuff your next grow or even do half with one and the other half with the other to compare better. I was adding DynoMyco to the organics plus adding some unfiltered water from our dugout to have lots of action in the soil to break down all the organic stuff. Our tap water comes from the dugout and is about 400ppm and pH8+ so I used RO water to prevent problems.

You should get some info on your tap water tho. Often towns/cities have that on their websites or you can request one by phone to be emailed at no cost. There is no typical city water as they vary a lot depending on their source. Vancouver water is almost RO water it's so soft compared to the sludge they get in town water up here in northern Alberta. Barely better than what comes out of my dugout.

:peace:
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Yeah I tried the last 3 weeks water only with my first grow. The smoke was weak AF but there was no chemical taste. Might try it this time for 1 week maybe.

My cities water report :
1718225766799.png
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
You can't put your finger on it because it's in your mind.

Nutrients are Nutrients.
Doesn't matter which brand you choose as long as its roughly in the right ratios.

Plants don't know or care if something is synthetic or organic or what branding the fancy bottle have on them.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
smokerjimbob said:
Yeah I tried the last 3 weeks water only with my first grow. The smoke was weak AF but there was no chemical taste. Might try it this time for 1 week maybe.

My cities water report :
View attachment 5399613
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Pretty limited report but high in some stuff I prefer to avoid like sodium and alkalinity.

Having to run to the city today so in a rush and will get to you back later.

:peace:
 
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