What to topdress with?

[Pimpjuice9906]

Hey all. I have plants at week 7. They're autos. Feeding schedule is calling for 444 top dressing. I'm thinking more along the flower nutes of a 394. They started to flower early.

Thoughts?

 

[weedstoner420]

Either one is probably okay. I use Espoma Tomato Tone in flower, which is a little lighter on the P (I'm not sure why fertilizer companies think you need to jack up the phosphorus in flower), but that's just me...I also give a handful of worm castings for every 1-2 tablespoons of dry amendments, mix it all together and then scratch into the top layer of soil.

 

[Pimpjuice9906]

Either one is probably okay. I use Espoma Tomato Tone in flower, which is a little lighter on the P (I'm not sure why fertilizer companies think you need to jack up the phosphorus in flower), but that's just me...I also give a handful of worm castings for every 1-2 tablespoons of dry amendments, mix it all together and then scratch into the top layer of soil.

Still trying to used to not letting the pots dry out. Still heavy. Giving one 4 cups for a 5g pot. Really need to get the air going to dry the pot out a little. Stalk is pretty thick too.

 

[weedstoner420]

Still trying to used to not letting the pots dry out. Still heavy. Giving one 4 cups for a 5g pot. Really need to get the air going to dry the pot out a little. Stalk is pretty thick too.

Do you get runoff from watering that amount?

I have zero experience with fabric pots, but I have noticed that "dry-dry" soil can absorb about 1/4 it's volume in water before being saturated. And some folks mention watering with 5% of the container volume every day, which in your case is about 4 cups. So that's probably a good starting point. It's much harder to overwater large plants in the short term, and I'd imagine fabric pots help with that, too.

You mentioned it being hydrophobic in the other thread; when that happens you will get runoff fairly quickly, and it can help to just let it sit in a tray of water for a few hours to make sure everything gets evenly rehydrated.

Edit to add: that 5% per day number really depends on the size of the plant. I grow my bigger plants in SIPs, and just based on the time it takes them to empty the reservoir, it probably varies from 2-8% depending on plant size. 5% is probably a good starting point but be prepared to adjust from there. Either way, keeping consistent moisture level seems to work well for organic soil...

 

[Pimpjuice9906]

Do you get runoff from watering that amount?

I have zero experience with fabric pots, but I have noticed that "dry-dry" soil can absorb about 1/4 it's volume in water before being saturated. And some folks mention watering with 5% of the container volume every day, which in your case is about 4 cups. So that's probably a good starting point. It's much harder to overwater large plants in the short term, and I'd imagine fabric pots help with that, too.

You mentioned it being hydrophobic in the other thread; when that happens you will get runoff fairly quickly, and it can help to just let it sit in a tray of water for a few hours to make sure everything gets evenly rehydrated.

Edit to add: that 5% per day number really depends on the size of the plant. I grow my bigger plants in SIPs, and just based on the time it takes them to empty the reservoir, it probably varies from 2-8% depending on plant size. 5% is probably a good starting point but be prepared to adjust from there. Either way, keeping consistent moisture level seems to work well for organic soil...

It was not hydrophobic today. Absorbed easily.