Black strap molasses
- Thread starter myke
- Start date
Ukulele Haze
Well-Known Member
According to a Google Search, Blackstrap Molasses has a pH of of 5.6. It seems like Molasses could very well have contributed to the reading.
Here's a similar Thread to yours on RIU:
Here's a similar Thread to yours on RIU:
Affect on water PH from molasses?
Haven't been able to find the answer to this on ROI, primarily because so many words related to molasses and growing have PH in it (sulPHured, unsulPHured, PHosPHate etc. etc.), which doesn't work well for searching the forums. I'm wondering how people with the vial and drop test kits determine...
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CrunchBerries
Well-Known Member
Organic molasses or conventional? Organic has a ph buffer. I learned this the hard way when activating some em-1. Don’t know too much more.
youraveragehorticulturist
Well-Known Member
Molasses is acidic. If you use too much you can temporarily throw off the soil pH, causing lock out issues. The lock out can bring on dark purple stems and yellow leaves really fast.
This can cause more trouble if you misread the lock out as a dificency and start getting crazy dying to feed.
I think molasses is best used sparingly, like maybe once or twice in the last week or two of flowering to keep your sluggish microbes kicking a little longer. Or in your tea to feed the bacterias. But not as something to be dumped on your soil steadily throughout the grow.
This can cause more trouble if you misread the lock out as a dificency and start getting crazy dying to feed.
I think molasses is best used sparingly, like maybe once or twice in the last week or two of flowering to keep your sluggish microbes kicking a little longer. Or in your tea to feed the bacterias. But not as something to be dumped on your soil steadily throughout the grow.
Powertech
Well-Known Member
Agreed. I used it somewhere around 6-8 times my last grow, and i went yellow about 3 weeks early. This time, it will be twice, at weeks 6 and 8, 5 and 7 for earlier strains
GrOwThMoNgeR
Well-Known Member
Agreed, less is more, the microbes are already eating the organic matter so only needs a bit of supercharging.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
You're roots should be providing enough sugars for the bacteria. I think molasses is best used in teas. But I do use it occasionally.
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Your Soil is Teaming With Microbes | Living Off Grid Guide
How to use soil biology to benefit your garden. The best food for soil bacteria is molasses. Mix just 1 drop of molasses with...
www.livingoffgridguide.com
Dontjudgeme
Well-Known Member
I use molasses from veg through flower, never had any problems. As far as Ph, yes it does drop the ph, but I use it in conjunction with Calmag so I’m sure that drops it a little bit too. You’ll notice the ph meter will give you a different reading based on the temp of the water also. I try to aim for the temp the meter is designed to be calibrated at, mine is 25c, and this is the temp of my water before I take my readings. Maybe this doesn’t even matter, but it’s worked for me this far, so if it ain’t broke I’m not gonna try to fix it. I feed molasses twice a week, 1 tsp per gal of water. I do this because my wife likes the sweet taste it gives the meds, ( she can’t stand the taste of weed, weird I know ) and she is the only reason I grow, otherwise I’m not entirely sure I would even use it. I do understand it’s role, just don’t feel it’s necessary, although for my particular situation, and reason for growing, it is.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
You've noticed a sweeter taste with molasses fed weed? I'm truly interested. I had a similar experience, and am now guessing it's just super happy microbes making tasty plants. But when I was using molasses regularly the buds did have a sweeter kinda taste. I thought guano at first, then molasses, and now am learning towards happy microbes.
But the molasses really could be doing something even though it sounds like BroScience.
Dontjudgeme
Well-Known Member
I wish I was able to provide the taste results from personal experience, but based on my wife, she won’t smoke the meds I grow if I don’t use molasses, she notices it right away, I tried to trick her once...... didn’t work. I’m not entirely sure of the science behind using molasses, and what it does or doesn’t do in terms of the plants growth, but it definitely has something to do with the taste ( being sweeter ). It didn’t matter what strain I grew, the results were identical. With or without it, the potency was the same, only difference was the taste, and as strange as it may sound, I feel like that’s my wife’s main concern, so I roll with it.
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PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
They have Hi-Brix too. I've used both.
Dontjudgeme
Well-Known Member
Not familiar with that one, just heard of it. Might have to give that a go, see if she notices a difference between the 2. Not sure I wanna do it on a large scale though, just in case she doesn’t like it. The molasses last a long time, that’s another added benefit I like. But I’m gonna get some earth juice. My local shop has it, tried to sell me on it but I didn’t bite because the molasses was working just fine. What effect does it have on increasing the sweetness of the product?
PJ Diaz
Well-Known Member
Nice, I'll have to try it when I run out of the bottle of Catalyst I have. The stuff lasts a long time, and I got my current gallon bottle on some crazy clearance at Home Depot (I didn't even know they sold the stuff), for like $8. This stuff does look good tho:
I'm not really sure. My taste sense isn't as acute as your wife's, and I haven't done any side-by side comparisons. I has always believed the theory that molasses feeds soil, not plants, but the more I look into it, it does seem that the plants are directly affected by sugars in the root zone. The jury is still out on this one IMO.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
My first grow I used Earth Juice and teas. That bud had the most flavor of anything I've grown so far. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it was, but part of me still thinks it was the molasses. The buds all had kinda a similar flavor. The taste would linger on your tongue. It was kinda a fruity molasses taste.
First I thought it was the molasses, then guano in the Earth Juice, but molasses makes more sense. Or it's the microbes. But I've been doing no-till since, so the soil should actually have more microbial life now than when I started.