What other supplements should I be using?

RobertE

Member
Hey everyone. I'm currently growing in Fox Farms ocean forest and in my first week of flowering with (4) 3 ft tall ladies(indoors). For supplements I'm currently using 1 tablespoon of earth juice bloom and 1 tablespoon of b.s. molasses with every feeding. What else should I be adding to get the best buds possible?

I have to admit I'm knew to the world of growing, however I thought it would be smart to start slow with the nutrients but I feel like I may be missing out.

Any advice?
 

LetricBud

Active Member
theres lots of things you can use...

General Hydroponics - Kool Bloom (used for hydro, but still good with soil)
General Organics - Bio Bud
Fox Farms - Tiger Bloom
Fox Farms - Open Sesame, Beastie Blooms, Cha-Ching. (pricy, but well recommended)


You say you're using earth juice...So i guess you just need one supplement... If i had to recommend just one, id say Bio Bud. Ive never used it, but theres lots of people on this forum that use it. Its simple, Organic, cheap, and effective.
 

Nullis

Moderator
Be careful what else you start adding, everything you mentioned in your original post (Earth Juice, molasses, Ocean Forest) is considered organic. Most other products by Fox Farm (besides their soils), and General Hydro products are not organic and/or contain synthetic chelating agents (such as EDTA) which at the very least can make the soil environment unwelcoming for the microbes which your plants form a symbiotic relationship with. Essentially there are various beneficial species of micro-organisms (bacteria and fungi mostly) which should be alive in your soil; working together to turn organic matter into humus, provide nutrients to plant roots, protect the roots and prevent diseases/other damages caused by harmful organisms. Molasses is a source of nutrition for the microbes, which will in turn nourish the plants. If you want to sustain this sort of environment, it is necessary to avoid things that reduce biological activity such as synthetic salts & chelates, pH Up, chlorinated tap water, etc.

I use the Earth Juice line, and you should really be using the Grow in conjunction with the Bloom through the first half of flowering. The Bloom is a 0-3-1 fertilizer, meaning no nitrogen at all. The nitrogen is all in the Grow, which is 2-1-1, so you really don't want to switch directly from using just Grow to just Bloom. Ideally you want to start flowering with roughly a 2:1 ratio of Grow to Bloom or 2 tablespoons of Grow for each tablespoon of Bloom. As flowering progresses, you reduce the amount of Grow you use each feeding while increasing the Bloom. Halfway through flowering you could be using a 2:1 ratio of Bloom to Grow, which would be 2 tablespoons of Bloom and just one tablespoon of Grow per gallon of water.
You'll also need lime or dolomite limestone, both because Earth Juice nutrients are very raw and acidic and because cannabis needs extra calcium and magnesium. Lime or crushed oyster shell is calcium carbonate while dolomite limestone contains both calcium and magnesium (calcium magnesium carbonate). You can provide this simply by mixing a tablespoon of dolomite per gallon of water, and thoroughly agitating (it wont all dissolve), between watering each container. You can either water with the dolomite in between feedings, or even right before watering with your fertigation solution. In order the get an idea what the pH of the soil is, you can use the run-off that drains from your containers and test it with horticultural pH drops or testing strips. It should test between 6 and 7.

As for supplements, if you're going to be using Earth Juice Grow and Bloom you might want to consider at least adding Catalyst which would pretty much complete the program. The molasses is likely providing enough additional potassium, but it also contains other secondary and trace nutrients so you could probably get away with not having the Earth Juice Microblast. The only other liquid supplement I would recommend is Liquid Karma by Botanicare, which provides humic and fulvic acids, kelp extract, amino acids and other good stuff all in one bottle. Humic and fulvic acids are organic chelates which not only facilitate assimilation of nutrients but also make them more mobile within the plant.

Lastly, some kind of biological supplement which contains mycorrhizae (symbiotic fungi) and/or beneficial bacteria could be extremely beneficial. Cheapest such additive I know of is also a fertilizer; Espoma Bio-tone Starter Plus sold at most home improvement stores. You could sprinkle this just beneath the root ball for your next transplant.

You might also want to look into tea brewing if you want to get extra serious, lots of info on that in this forum. Hope this makes enough sense, good luck!
 
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