4th week of flower organic top dress recommendations???

Newbie indoor grower who in the past has starved my ladies unknowingly, 2nd grow better than first but still not great. Anyways hopping to best my previous grow this time around and have already screwed up and have not top dressed. Is it to late? Do I need to remove soil or if I have room add soil along with the food?

So far to date nutrients my ladies have received are below. Feeding every other watering.

Veg

FFOF soil amended for veg cycle with Dr. Earth organic formula granular (green bag)
Cal-mag

Flower

Roots Buddha bloom
Roots Buddha grow
Roots Trinity
NOTG Herc Harvest
Cal-Mag
Big Foot mycorrhizal soil food web formula
Granular kelp meal

Thanks much..

Week 4 is not too late I would make that your last top dressing tho, for top dressing I use down to earth rose and flower mix, works good for me, sometimes I use that along with earth worm castings in early flower but at week 4 you pretty much don’t want to give them much Nitrogen at this point so just the rose mix.

Should I mix it with more soil if my pots have the room?

Grow So High said:

Week 4 is not too late I would make that your last top dressing tho, for top dressing I use down to earth rose and flower mix, works good for me, sometimes I use that along with earth worm castings in early flower but at week 4 you pretty much don’t want to give them much Nitrogen at this point so just the rose mix.

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Yes you would put it on the top of your soil and gently rub it into the top, don’t push it into the soil. Do that before you water then when you water, water slowly. You don’t want the water to pool at the top because the nutes will float and it will take longer for those nutrients to be available. When you top dress it is not instant food for the plants it takes time to break down and become available. I looked at your post again and see you use a good amount of bottled nutes which tells me you may not even need to top dress if you are using those. I’m not familiar with your nute lineup I only use dry amendments.

Wait don’t add more soil on top I’m sorry I misread that lol just add the top dress to the top and rub it in

Grow So High said:

Yes you would put it on the top of your soil and gently rub it into the top, don’t push it into the soil. Do that before you water then when you water, water slowly. You don’t want the water to pool at the top because the nutes will float and it will take longer for those nutrients to be available. When you top dress it is not instant food for the plants it takes time to break down and become available. I looked at your post again and see you use a good amount of bottled nutes which tells me you may not even need to top dress if you are using those. I’m not familiar with your nute lineup I only use dry amendments.

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Was following a recommended Roots guideline but looking again I noted they are for a recipe that also includes, bat guano, worm castings, Roots uprising grow, uprising foundation, uprising bloom, elemental and seabird guano. I'm in over my head as far as what I've spent this grow and was hoping to find a less expensive route than purchasing all of the above. ADHD doesn't help when it comes to following recipes. I'm still confused on the foods I've been serving so far cause researching them most contain all of the same things. Some contain a few different items so I'm guessing the little stuff must really make a huge difference in what and how the ladies process the light and food given to them.

farmingfisherman said:

Was following a recommended Roots guideline but looking again I noted they are for a recipe that also includes, bat guano, worm castings, Roots uprising grow, uprising foundation, uprising bloom, elemental and seabird guano. I'm in over my head as far as what I've spent this grow and was hoping to find a less expensive route than purchasing all of the above. ADHD doesn't help when it comes to following recipes. I'm still confused on the foods I've been serving so far cause researching them most contain all of the same things. Some contain a few different items so I'm guessing the little stuff must really make a huge difference in what and how the ladies process the light and food given to them.

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Things do add up quick lol I felt defeated my first grow I spent so much money, bought some shitty seeds that all ended up being hermie. Wasted 3 months of time. If you go the full organic route what I’ve been doing is planting in smaller pots either solo cups or 1 gallon, when the roots fill it up transplant to 3 gal then right before flower transplant to 5-7 gallon, doing this I don’t even have to add nutes at all in veg because there is fresh nutrients in the new pots when I transplant. Then week 4-5 in flower I top dress. Sometimes use compost teas. Just letting ya know what’s been working for me hopefully it makes sense

Grow So High said:

Things do add up quick lol I felt defeated my first grow I spent so much money, bought some shitty seeds that all ended up being hermie. Wasted 3 months of time. If you go the full organic route what I’ve been doing is planting in smaller pots either solo cups or 1 gallon, when the roots fill it up transplant to 3 gal then right before flower transplant to 5-7 gallon, doing this I don’t even have to add nutes at all in veg because there is fresh nutrients in the new pots when I transplant. Then week 4-5 in flower I top dress. Sometimes use compost teas. Just letting ya know what’s been working for me hopefully it makes sense

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That's pretty much the route I did for veg. Other than cal-mag I had loaded the soil for pretty much their whole veg cycle. I didn't transplant other than when they went from their seedling containers, first small six-pack style then little 4 inch then the cloth pots they are in now, with one exception for a lady that was first in a 2 gallon put her into a 3 gallon right pretty much the same time I flipped them to 12/12 She's probably the greenest of the bunch. Crazy how different they all are.

@Grow So High made some good points. It's not too late to top dress. There are lots of options. I do a combination of different stuff depending on what I think they need. Sometimes I mix the top dressing with some EWC first so it doesn't irritate my worms as much. If you don't already have EWC, I would get some.

Chicken manure is one of my new favorite amendments now. @Richard Drysift turned me onto it. And both me and my plants love the stuff. I bought the 2 gal bag of NutriGrow from Build a Soil, and it's awesome.

PadawanWarrior said:

@Grow So High made some good points. It's not too late to top dress. There are lots of options. I do a combination of different stuff depending on what I think they need. Sometimes I mix the top dressing with some EWC first so it doesn't irritate my worms as much. If you don't already have EWC, I would get some.

Chicken manure is one of my new favorite amendments now. @Richard Drysift turned me onto it. And both me and my plants love the stuff. I bought the 2 gal bag of NutriGrow from Build a Soil, and it's awesome.

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Thanks. So EWC in addition to any top dress mix I go with then?

farmingfisherman said:

Thanks. So EWC in addition to any top dress mix I go with then?

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Been told with organic it's pretty hard to over do it. Am I correct in understanding that??

farmingfisherman said:

Thanks. So EWC in addition to any top dress mix I go with then?

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You don't have to use EWC too, but my worms get a little mad when I put some of the dry amendments straight on them. They get over it, but I know they aren't very happy until I water it in. EWC also have some microbes in it to help break down the dry amendments if you don't already have a good supply of microbes. Vermicompost is even better.

farmingfisherman said:

Been told with organic it's pretty hard to over do it. Am I correct in understanding that??

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Yes and no. You can still overdue it on organic nutes, just not as easily. I'd start with less to be safe. If they seem to like it, then next time you can add a little more. Just remember organic nutes can take awhile to break down.

PadawanWarrior said:

Yes and no. You can still overdue it on organic nutes, just not as easily. I'd start with less to be safe. If they seem to like it, then next time you can add a little more. Just remember organic nutes can take awhile to break down.

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Decided on Earth Juice Granular Bloom Pro Mix 2-14-2 Used a little over 3/4 cup per plant followed by a good soaking. Fingers crossed! Thanks to @PadawanWarrior and @Grow So High for chiming in!

farmingfisherman said:

Decided on Earth Juice Granular Bloom Pro Mix 2-14-2 Used a little over 3/4 cup per plant followed by a good soaking. Fingers crossed! Thanks to @PadawanWarrior and @Grow So High for chiming in!

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That looks like good stuff. I have the whole bottled Earth Juice lineup that I first started growing with, and still use it sometimes. That Rainbow mix looks great. I think the guano in the Earth Juice gives the buds a lot more flavor. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

PadawanWarrior said:

@Grow So High made some good points. It's not too late to top dress. There are lots of options. I do a combination of different stuff depending on what I think they need. Sometimes I mix the top dressing with some EWC first so it doesn't irritate my worms as much. If you don't already have EWC, I would get some.

Chicken manure is one of my new favorite amendments now. @Richard Drysift turned me onto it. And both me and my plants love the stuff. I bought the 2 gal bag of NutriGrow from Build a Soil, and it's awesome.

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@PadawanWarrior and @Richard Drysift Are you guys using the chicken manure by itself in flower or mixing and about how far along in flower do you use it? I'm going to start top dressing (or possibly just spike?) this grow. I'm looking at doing ewc, frass, kelp, fish bone, alfalfa, gypsum, langbeinite blend, but Padawan keeps talking up this chicken manure so much I starting to reconsider!

rkmcdon said:

@PadawanWarrior and @Richard Drysift Are you guys using the chicken manure by itself in flower or mixing and about how far along in flower do you use it? I'm going to start top dressing (or possibly just spike?) this grow. I'm looking at doing ewc, frass, kelp, fish bone, alfalfa, gypsum, langbeinite blend, but Padawan keeps talking up this chicken manure so much I starting to reconsider!

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Drysift was actually the one who got me hooked on chicken shit. I use it all the time when they look like they need a boost, veg and flower. I would've mixed some in my mix too, but I wasn't using chicken manure when I mixed my no-till pots, so I just top dress with it.

One tip I have is to mix some pumice or perlite with your EWC top dress to lighten it up a bit. You're on the right track though man.

rkmcdon said:

@PadawanWarrior and @Richard Drysift Are you guys using the chicken manure by itself in flower or mixing and about how far along in flower do you use it? I'm going to start top dressing (or possibly just spike?) this grow. I'm looking at doing ewc, frass, kelp, fish bone, alfalfa, gypsum, langbeinite blend, but Padawan keeps talking up this chicken manure so much I starting to reconsider!

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I put about a handful of Charlie’s composted chicken manure into the bottom layer of each container, mix it in with a bit of soil, and then add a sprinkle of crushed oyster shell to help regulate ph in the root zone, then a bit more soil and a sprinkle of granular mycorrhizae, finally the root ball on top of that & fill it in. I do this at each transplant whether it’s for veg or bloom cycle. I think you might be better off putting your amendments into the soil directly and then letting it set for a month. For flowering I push in two Jobes AP organic spikes into each pot; they feed for 8 weeks. The idea is to put all they need into the container and then just water the plants for the entire cycle. Put it all in there & just let it ride..,

PadawanWarrior said:

Drysift was actually the one who got me hooked on chicken shit. I use it all the time when they look like they need a boost, veg and flower. I would've mixed some in my mix too, but I wasn't using chicken manure when I mixed my no-till pots, so I just top dress with it.

One tip I have is to mix some pumice or perlite with your EWC top dress to lighten it up a bit. You're on the right track though man.

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Thank you! I should've thought of that, but would have overlooked entirely!

Richard Drysift said:

Put it all in there & just let it ride..,

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That's definitely my goal, but its my first time trying to wean completely off bottled nutes (though i've only been using cal mag and age old bloom/grow, they are a pretty big crutch) so i have no idea how close i am to achieving that. My plan right now is water, compost tea every 2 weeks and one top dress day 29 of flower as a safety net. If that goes ok, i may try to drop the top dress with the next crop
Are you doing any tea's? In a perfect world I would like to be able to mix my soil and water without top dresses or tea's, but that may be getting the cart a little before the horse

Richard, I've heard you talking about a diy spike where you just push a finger in the soil and fill it with your mix. Do you consider this adequate to replace a top dress(it sounds easier)?

One other question regarding the top dress mix i mentioned above. I considered rock dust, crustacean meal and oyster shell, but thought they were probably to slow for an addition in the last 5 weeks. Thoughts?

I don't want to stray too far in someone elses thread, but i'm curious. Did you guys move away from ewc when you fell in love with the chicken manure or are you using both? Do either of you use insect frass? I'm using a mix heavy on ewc with a fair amount of frass