Any need to add nutes if plants are thriving (for the time being)

[mattman089]

Got 3 plants going at the moment and all are a lush, vibrant green with zero deficiencies and are thriving IMO...

2 of them are 2 months old and 1 is a month old. I plan on flipping to flower in about 2 weeks.

That said, apart from PH water and regular Cal Mag, I've not given these girls a drop of nutes.

Medium is FFOF

I've always used the FF full lineup in the past from about a month out on due to the nutes that are already in there. I've usually always had some type of burn from using the nutrients...

That said, I want my girls to be as dope as they can be but if they are showing any signs should I even give them anything?

Ive got the powders and liquids and plan to add some molasses soon in flower stage.

Advice is much appreciated!

 

[Arnski5000]

I'm literally debating the same situation a little with mine. I'm biobizz and just starting flower nutes but I've been doing plain water Inbetween grow nutes and seems be doing the job. Start light with any nutes is my opinion then see if they grow within a few days then plain water and see if they seem slow then a little nutes seems do the trick for me. Last grow did nutes all way and this latest grow is defo my best. No other changes

 

[2Hearts]

Just do what the plants ask for and if they arent hungry dont feed. You can get most of the way without feeding in most soils, just watch the lower leaves for first signs they need npk.

 

[mattman089]

I'm literally debating the same situation a little with mine. I'm biobizz and just starting flower nutes but I've been doing plain water Inbetween grow nutes and seems be doing the job. Start light with any nutes is my opinion then see if they grow within a few days then plain water and see if they seem slow then a little nutes seems do the trick for me. Last grow did nutes all way and this latest grow is defo my best. No other changes

Solid... this is my rationale... I don't want to NOT use them and miss out on better buds come harvest, but they look greaaat as they are.

Im likely going to start out at a fraction of what's recommended and go from there.

The powders got me last time and I only used like 1/2 or 1/4 of recommended. Brown spots everywhere! lolol

I like FF stuff a lot but a friend of mine has been trying to sway me to nectar for the gods and I sure as hell don't want to buy a whole new brand new nute lineup lol

 

[Arnski5000]

Try a run with as little as poss then next time try add a little more soon you will see a balance that suits you. They are weeds and grow with water

 

[Richard Drysift]

Soil does not actually deplete it just becomes inactive. Adding a lot of nutrients speeds up the process of turning the soil to a sterile medium. So yeah give them just plain water and keep on transplanting to fresh mix as needed. Nutrients are not needed unless the soil becomes inactive; that is for many people due to their water source. If you are giving clean water the soil will stay active longer.
If you want to prolong the microbial activity of any soil just add compost. Adding in a good source of fertilizer could prolong the life of the mix straight through to harvest. If you learn how to amend and recycle the mix your soil can be reused indefinitely. I wish somebody told me this when I first started. Would have saved me thousands.
The nutrient industry would basically not exist without marketing in high times, grow shops, etc. It’s a flowering plant; grow it as any other flowering plant. Nutrients do not grow bigger buds; only wattage can do that. Naturally grown bud tastes better anyway.
Get your hands on a good source of worm castings or even better start up a worm bin. Compost is the key to growing in living soil.

 

[mattman089]

Soil does not actually deplete it just becomes inactive. Adding a lot of nutrients speeds up the process of turning the soil to a sterile medium. So yeah give them just plain water and keep on transplanting to fresh mix as needed. Nutrients are not needed unless the soil becomes inactive; that is for many people due to their water source. If you are giving clean water the soil will stay active longer.
If you want to prolong the microbial activity of any soil just add compost. Adding in a good source of fertilizer could prolong the life of the mix straight through to harvest. If you learn how to amend and recycle the mix your soil can be reused indefinitely. I wish somebody told me this when I first started. Would have saved me thousands.
The nutrient industry would basically not exist without marketing in high times, grow shops, etc. It’s a flowering plant; grow it as any other flowering plant. Nutrients do not grow bigger buds; only wattage can do that. Naturally grown bud tastes better anyway.
Get your hands on a good source of worm castings or even better start up a worm bin. Compost is the key to growing in living soil.

This is awesome thank you very much.

 

[mattman089]

Soil does not actually deplete it just becomes inactive. Adding a lot of nutrients speeds up the process of turning the soil to a sterile medium. So yeah give them just plain water and keep on transplanting to fresh mix as needed. Nutrients are not needed unless the soil becomes inactive; that is for many people due to their water source. If you are giving clean water the soil will stay active longer.
If you want to prolong the microbial activity of any soil just add compost. Adding in a good source of fertilizer could prolong the life of the mix straight through to harvest. If you learn how to amend and recycle the mix your soil can be reused indefinitely. I wish somebody told me this when I first started. Would have saved me thousands.
The nutrient industry would basically not exist without marketing in high times, grow shops, etc. It’s a flowering plant; grow it as any other flowering plant. Nutrients do not grow bigger buds; only wattage can do that. Naturally grown bud tastes better anyway.
Get your hands on a good source of worm castings or even better start up a worm bin. Compost is the key to growing in living soil.

Going to get some worm castings today. How do I go about feeding with it and how often? Is it just mixed with water?

Also - would you recommend using any of the FF salts/fertilizers? My plants are all healthy with zero signs of amy deficiencies. Maybe go very light with the ferts or would you rec. just RO/CalMag, worm castings, some molasses and kelp?

The plan is to flip to flower in the next 1 - 2 weeks after I top/transplant my smallest and let her respond to those stresses.


EDIT: May have gotten ahead of myself - it looks like Ocean Forest soil is already amended with worm castings.

 

[Richard Drysift]

Put the EWC into recycled soil at up to a third. If that makes it too mucky add perlite and maybe some coco and/or vermiculite. If you are using bagged FFOF shouldn’t need to add much more to it; maybe add a few handfuls of ewc or just use it as is. Believe it or not FF Big Bloom is organic. That’s it. Everything else FF sells in liquid form is synthetic. You can make up an aact with compost, BB, and molasses; maybe some kelp. Won’t make much of a difference if you use the BB or not; it’s garbage imo. If your plants need soluble npk keep liquid fish on hand. I use Neptune’s Harvest with seaweed.
There are few rules for living soil grows; do what you find works for you. That being said here’s how I build my final bloom pots: add in a slow release fertilizer (chicken or cow manure, etc) in the bottom layer of the final bloom containers. Then sprinkle granular mycorrhizae in the hole on top of the bottom layer at each transplant. Place the root ball right on top of the myco, fill in with soil and mulch it. Finally push in two Jobes Organic AP spikes. This should feed them through to harvest with just plain water. Give a compost tea maybe once or twice monthly to keep the mix highly active. The idea is not to treat a deficiency later on it is about preventing it before it ever occurs.

 

[mattman089]

Put the EWC into recycled soil at up to a third. If that makes it too mucky add perlite and maybe some coco and/or vermiculite. If you are using bagged FFOF shouldn’t need to add much more to it; maybe add a few handfuls of ewc or just use it as is. Believe it or not FF Big Bloom is organic. That’s it. Everything else FF sells in liquid form is synthetic. You can make up an aact with compost, BB, and molasses; maybe some kelp. Won’t make much of a difference if you use the BB or not; it’s garbage imo. If your plants need soluble npk keep liquid fish on hand. I use Neptune’s Harvest with seaweed.
There are few rules for living soil grows; do what you find works for you. That being said here’s how I build my final bloom pots: add in a slow release fertilizer (chicken or cow manure, etc) in the bottom layer of the final bloom containers. Then sprinkle granular mycorrhizae in the hole on top of the bottom layer at each transplant. Place the root ball right on top of the myco, fill in with soil and mulch it. Finally push in two Jobes Organic AP spikes. This should feed them through to harvest with just plain water. Give a compost tea maybe once or twice monthly to keep the mix highly active. The idea is not to treat a deficiency later on it is about preventing it before it ever occurs.

Thanks for the input very solid.

The BB and Cha Ching really got me last go round.. Had brown spots allover.

Def going to look into the Neptunes w/ seaweed and I like the idea of the ap spikes also.

Solid advice on the mycorrhizae also.. I definitely use that (myco +) at every transplant just as you mentioned.

Thanks again you're very helpful!

 

[mattman089]

Put the EWC into recycled soil at up to a third. If that makes it too mucky add perlite and maybe some coco and/or vermiculite. If you are using bagged FFOF shouldn’t need to add much more to it; maybe add a few handfuls of ewc or just use it as is. Believe it or not FF Big Bloom is organic. That’s it. Everything else FF sells in liquid form is synthetic. You can make up an aact with compost, BB, and molasses; maybe some kelp. Won’t make much of a difference if you use the BB or not; it’s garbage imo. If your plants need soluble npk keep liquid fish on hand. I use Neptune’s Harvest with seaweed.
There are few rules for living soil grows; do what you find works for you. That being said here’s how I build my final bloom pots: add in a slow release fertilizer (chicken or cow manure, etc) in the bottom layer of the final bloom containers. Then sprinkle granular mycorrhizae in the hole on top of the bottom layer at each transplant. Place the root ball right on top of the myco, fill in with soil and mulch it. Finally push in two Jobes Organic AP spikes. This should feed them through to harvest with just plain water. Give a compost tea maybe once or twice monthly to keep the mix highly active. The idea is not to treat a deficiency later on it is about preventing it before it ever occurs.

What is your opinion on nectar for the gods? Any experience using it or reading about it?

 

[Richard Drysift]

Yes. Nutes are nutes to me; any system that you need to mix a few mix bottles of stuff together and adjust ph to the proper range may as well be in a sterile medium. If you are just gonna dump nutes on them anyway then why bother with compost or amending the soil?
In the first post you said you have not given nutes....assumed that’s because you didn’t plan to. I’m taking about mostly water only soil here but there’s nothing wrong with using nutrients; I just don’t like them. Would not be pushing it so hard unless it was worth all the effort. A decent base soil, compost, and clean water; not as sexy as nectar of the gods but just as effective.

 

[mattman089]

Yes. Nutes are nutes to me; any system that you need to mix a few mix bottles of stuff together and adjust ph to the proper range may as well be in a sterile medium. If you are just gonna dump nutes on them anyway then why bother with compost or amending the soil?
In the first post you said you have not given nutes....assumed that’s because you didn’t plan to. I’m taking about mostly water only soil here but there’s nothing wrong with using nutrients; I just don’t like them. Would not be pushing it so hard unless it was worth all the effort. A decent base soil, compost, and clean water; not as sexy as nectar of the gods but just as effective.

Correct - I haven't used nutes this go round only water and calmag with RO water and really dont plan to at this point from your feedback alone, really. I have them but they will be sitting in the cabinet.

Going to go the organic route I think this time. I always end up burning or over-feeding any way lol so I wanna give this a run a shot. If it works, it works, if it doesn't it doesn't.. more plants will grow lol

All that said, without any synthetic nutes, do you typically still run a flush towards the end of flower? That's another thing I've been on the fence about the last few years.. Some swear by it and some say a proper dry/cure will purge everything..

I've gotten a little off topic here oh well! lol

 

[Richard Drysift]

No just water the plants as needed the entire grow. A mulch layer can help retain moisture and repel gnats/other bugs when sprinkled with diatomaceous earth. Drying/curing properly can make a huge difference in the end quality of your bud. The best advice I can give you is at harvest to leave the plant whole; don’t cut the branches into bits. Cut only the fan leaves and any leaf with a visible stem. Don’t trim off the sugar leaf until dry. Cut the entire plant down just once at the base and hang it in a dark semi enclosed area for a week or so. Stems should snap when bent before jarring it up.

 

[mattman089]

No just water the plants as needed the entire grow. A mulch layer can help retain moisture and repel gnats/other bugs when sprinkled with diatomaceous earth. Drying/curing properly can make a huge difference in the end quality of your bud. The best advice I can give you is at harvest to leave the plant whole; don’t cut the branches into bits. Cut only the fan leaves and any leaf with a visible stem. Don’t trim off the sugar leaf until dry. Cut the entire plant down just once at the base and hang it in a dark semi enclosed area for a week or so. Stems should snap when bent before jarring it up.

Really? I've dried that way before years ago and found it to be extremely difficult. Then again I trimmed/manicured by hand which I enjoy (to an extent)... Would you manicure with a trim machine? Just seemed impossible to get in there in an efficient manner.

If been using the below method for the past few years and for the most part I've enjoyed it. What are your thoughts if you have a chance to look at it? Buds look, smoke and taste beautiful using this method.

If your about to Cure- then you gotta read this-

Even if ya not curing soon read the below and you might just change the way you do things- Its a copy and paste job- I have just tried this method and currently sitting in the 63% humidity stage in my Mason Jars. 63% I hear you say? THen read on.... Its a interesting read even if you are the...

www.rollitup.org

 

[Richard Drysift]

Do it any way you feel comfortable. Just sharing my method. Started reading the link and was thinking it’s an awfully complex way to think about it. I have done it with a hygrometer in the jar to find out I was jarring too early. I only grow for me and no I don’t think a machine can do a better job than just hand trimming. I use my nose; it always knows. In big block lettering it says don’t dry til the stems snap but that’s how I do it. You do want some moisture left for curing in jar but if the bud gets moldy that’s it. Ruined. I would rather drop in a Boveda if it gets too dry than have moldy weed.

 

[mattman089]

Do it any way you feel comfortable. Just sharing my method. Started reading the link and was thinking it’s an awfully complex way to think about it. I have done it with a hygrometer in the jar to find out I was jarring too early. I only grow for me and no I don’t think a machine can do a better job than just hand trimming. I use my nose; it always knows. In big block lettering it says don’t dry til the stems snap but that’s how I do it. You do want some moisture left for curing in jar but if the bud gets moldy that’s it. Ruined. I would rather drop in a Boveda if it gets too dry than have moldy weed.

You've been extremely helpful kind sir.

Btw I only frow for me as well