What Is Your Top Dressing

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The3rdMan

Well-Known Member
I don't have much experience with adding amendments to the top of my soil. How much is enough or how much is too much.

I'm most interested in those of you that Just Add Water and use top dressing to add extra amendments to the soil.

Here is one from buildasoil called Craft Blend which seems comprehensive. It contains:

Ingredients all Equal by Weight
  1. Thorvin Premium Kelp Meal
  2. Karanja Cake - Terviva
  3. Alfalfa Meal
  4. CalPhos
  5. Camelina Meal
  6. Crustacean Meal
  7. Fish Meal
  8. 3x Fish Bone Meal
  9. Soybean Meal
  10. Sul-Po-Mag (Also Known as K-Mag or Langbeinite)
  11. Organic Malted Barley
  12. Premium Calcium Montmorillonite
  13. Micronized Basalt - Blue Ridge Meta
  14. Gypsum
  15. Oyster Flour
 
T

The3rdMan

Well-Known Member
Here is another one; it is a top dressing for Coot's soil. For every 5 gallons soil,

MONTHLY TOP DRESS
1.5 cup kelp meal
1/2 cup karanja/neem cake
AND
1/2" layer of compost or EWC between cycles.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Top dressing is ok but I think it’s preferable throwing it all into the soil before there are plants. That being said if they need a top dressing here’s my go-to:
EWC 2-3 cups
Kelp meal 2-3 tblspn
Fish bone meal 2-3 tblspn
Chicken manure (if a boost of N is needed) 1/2 to 1 cup
Mix all together; water it in
Use for any stage of growth
 
T

The3rdMan

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Top dressing is ok but I think it’s preferable throwing it all into the soil before there are plants. That being said if they need a top dressing here’s my go-to:
EWC 2-3 cups
Kelp meal 2-3 tblspn
Fish bone meal 2-3 tblspn
Chicken manure (if a boost of N is needed) 1/2 to 1 cup
Mix all together; water it in
Use for any stage of growth
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Is this a one-time application applied once or on a weekly/monthly basis?

Do you need to top dress a few weeks before your plants need the extra boost since a little time is required for the amendments to break down and release some nutrients into the soil?
 
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Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
That depends upon how rich and active your soil mix is....the less active and nutritious the more you’ll need to top dress. How often you transplant is another factor. You can top dress regularly or give a tea instead or simply pot up to next size; it’s up to you. It’s not easy to maintain a high level of microbial activity simmering inside a container over the long term; adding compost and slow release fertilizer keeps the party rocking. Aacts go to work even faster.

Yes that is the idea. You sort of need to give them what is needed before it is because everything happens slowly in organics. By the time you see deficiencies happening it’s usually too late to reverse it. That’s why I recommend putting it all in your mix beforehand and top dressing only when they’ve been in the same pot for too long or let’s say it’s mid flowering and they are yellowing a bit too early. In this case NPK in soluble form would go to work much faster; I keep some Neptune’s Harvest w/seaweed on hand for this reason. Goes well with a top dressing.
 
T

The3rdMan

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
That depends upon how rich and active your soil mix is....the less active and nutritious the more you’ll need to top dress. How often you transplant is another factor. You can top dress regularly or give a tea instead or simply pot up to next size; it’s up to you. It’s not easy to maintain a high level of microbial activity simmering inside a container over the long term; adding compost and slow release fertilizer keeps the party rocking. Aacts go to work even faster.

Yes that is the idea. You sort of need to give them what is needed before it is because everything happens slowly in organics. By the time you see deficiencies happening it’s usually too late to reverse it. That’s why I recommend putting it all in your mix beforehand and top dressing only when they’ve been in the same pot for too long or let’s say it’s mid flowering and they are yellowing a bit too early. In this case NPK in soluble form would go to work much faster; I keep some Neptune’s Harvest w/seaweed on hand for this reason. Goes well with a top dressing.
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If you are using a 15 gallon pot, you probably won't need to top dress. If you are using a 7 gallon pot, there may not be enough nutrients to get you thru flower. In this case, it is probably a safe bet that your plants will need additional nutrients and so top dressing would be necessary and you would know well in advance that you need to. Less dirt mean more nutrients will likely be needed. Some growers have trouble with the heavier pots so they use something smaller.

One thing you could do is mix your top dressing amendments with some soil and water and let it bake for a month. With this mix, some of the amendments have broken down and are readily available when you water your top dressing. When you spot a deficiency, top dress, water, and nutrients should be immediately available to the plant.
 
ganga gurl420

ganga gurl420

Well-Known Member
I use roots organic uprising bloom for my top dressing and tomato tone for in the soil.

Fish bone meal, oyster shell flour, kelp meal, greensand, soybean meal, glacial rock dust, alfalfa meal, feather meal, bat guano, langbeinite, rock phosphate, leonardite and hop flowers
 
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rkmcdon

Well-Known Member
I was in 5 gallon pots transplanted 2 weeks before flipping to flower and my soil ran out of juice by week 5 or 6 of flower. Now im in 10 gallon pots transplanted the same day I flip to flower and will be top dressing around day 28-35. This is a new process for me so i can't give you results. I do however think this will work nicely based on what i saw with the 5 gallon pots.
My top dress is:
4 gallons ewc
1 gallon pumice
8 cups rice hulls
8 cups biochar
1 cup biolive
1 cup neem
1 cup kelp
1 cup guano
2 cups mbp

This top dress is also new for me, so again, I can't speak to its effectiveness
 
T

The3rdMan

Well-Known Member
rkmcdon said:
I was in 5 gallon pots transplanted 2 weeks before flipping to flower and my soil ran out of juice by week 5 or 6 of flower. Now im in 10 gallon pots transplanted the same day I flip to flower and will be top dressing around day 28-35. This is a new process for me so i can't give you results. I do however think this will work nicely based on what i saw with the 5 gallon pots.
My top dress is:
4 gallons ewc
1 gallon pumice
8 cups rice hulls
8 cups biochar
1 cup biolive
1 cup neem
1 cup kelp
1 cup guano
2 cups mbp

This top dress is also new for me, so again, I can't speak to its effectiveness
Click to expand...
Good luck with it and let us know how it worked.
 
T

The3rdMan

Well-Known Member
Here is a blend I'm going to create for the flower cycle.

2 Cups each:
Craft Blend (See first post to find the ingredients in this blend.
Kelp Meal

1 Cup each:
Karanja Cake
Neem Cake
Alfalfa Meal
Greensand

8 Cups Soil

This will make a gallon of top dressing. I'm going to mix these ingredients and bake this mix for at least a month. Normally top dressing has to be added a few weeks before it is needed because the nutrients have not been absorbed into the soil. By baking or cooking this mix, the nutrients will be available to the plant when I top dress And water.

Use 4 tablespoons per watering. I'm not real sure if this is the right amount; will have to think on it some.
 
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thetruthoverlies

Well-Known Member
I used a modded version of Rev's bloom spike recipe found in his TLO book. Had great results with these top dressings and bi-weekly teas.

2cup kelp meal
1cup alfalfa
1cup rock phosphate
1cup bone meal
1cup seabird guano
1/4cup azomite
1tbsp humic powder

I mixed all that up good and then was putting about 1tbs topdressed, and then made a few spikes with this mix. It was so effortless...

Trying the uprising bloom and the fox farm tomato/vegi blends to see what happens.
 
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thetruthoverlies

Well-Known Member
Dontjudgeme said:
I top dress with roots organics terp tea bloom dry amendments. I love this stuff. Of course kelp, guano, molasses and silica as my feed. 3 weeks in flower.
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I love roots organics. I'm trying the uprising bloom and it looks like some good stuff. I contacted roots organics and they are sending out samples of the extreme serene and calmag. They have options to try their dry stuff too. I've been sold on the cocomix with dry blends for a while now and can't see myself going back to my older methods. (has settled on top drip drain to waste prior)...I've since downsized and prefer to keep stuff simple.
 
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