How do I use this fertilizer?

bobj1598

Well-Known Member
Do I mix it into my soil before my tree is planted into it or do I add it to the top of the soil during the flowering phase?


What's the best way to use this fertilizer for growing buds?
 

loco41

Well-Known Member
I think it really depends on what kind of soil you are starting with. If it's already amended pretty well, then I would hold off until later in the grow. If you're starting with a pretty basic base with no nutes in it, then adding before may be a more beneficial. I tried looking for the specific ingredients in the mix but couldn't find them. Have you already purchased products or are you still in the planning phase?

Also will probably depend if you're feeding with liquids or going more for full organic? Personally I've only tried liquid nutes once, failed miserably, then have only grown in my own soil mixes as it seems more fool proof.

Sorry, I'm no expert in any way, but you should check out the organic threads. A lot of knowledgeable people and old threads over there to gather info from.
 

bobj1598

Well-Known Member
I think it really depends on what kind of soil you are starting with. If it's already amended pretty well, then I would hold off until later in the grow. If you're starting with a pretty basic base with no nutes in it, then adding before may be a more beneficial. I tried looking for the specific ingredients in the mix but couldn't find them. Have you already purchased products or are you still in the planning phase?

Also will probably depend if you're feeding with liquids or going more for full organic? Personally I've only tried liquid nutes once, failed miserably, then have only grown in my own soil mixes as it seems more fool proof
You sound EXACTLY like the reasonable and sensible person I would want to speak with. I do NOT want to use nutrients as this is my first ever gardening project and believe me, I've read the hydroponics subsections on some sites and heard first hand accounts of adding too much nutes/the wrong nutes, etc.

I'm using the PROMIX herb and vegetable mix for this grow. I'm completely fine with using just that and nothing else until harvest. But some people on another forum told me I need fertilizer. The odd thing is, the soil mix I'm using states it will feed your plant for up to 3 months. So my soil will probably contain enough nutrients to get me all the way until close to end of flower. Here is the ingredients list for that mix

  • Canadian sphagnum peat moss (60-75%)
  • Peat humus (except 2 cu ft comp.)
  • Compost (except 2 cu ft comp.)
  • Perlite
  • Gypsum
  • Limestone (for pH adjustment)
  • Organic fertilizer
  • Mycorrhizae - PTB297 Technology
  • Coir / coconut fibre (2 cu ft comp. only)
It's really nothing fancy, but that's I want for my first time grow. It'll get the job done, Do you think I should amend the soil with the fertilizer beforehand or during any stage of the grow?
 

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
Maybe you could start your young, small plants in small pots with just the base ProMix Herb and Veggie soil. You could (theoretically) start in 1 gallon pots to grow a nice, dense root ball for a couple weeks while your plants get going.

After about 3 weeks you could transplant into bigger pots, maybe 3 gallons, still with just the Promix. The fresh soil will give your growing plants more nutrients for another 3 or 4 weeks.

During that time you could prepare some nutrient dense, special Flowering Soil. Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of your 4-4-8 fertilizer per gallon of Promix soil and mix it up nice. Let that age for a week or two while your plants are vegging.

A week or so before you're ready to flower, transplant your plants one more time, into 5, 7 or 10 gallons of your fertilized Flowering Soil.

If you don't want to mess with a bunch or up-potting or mixing up batches of dirt, just grow in the Promix base. And then a week or two into flower top dress your plants with a little of the 4-4-8 fertilizer. Go light the first time (maybe 1 teaspoon of top dressing per gallon of pot size) and see how your plants like it.
 

loco41

Well-Known Member
Good advice in the post above and I would hold off on adding the amendment mix for now as well. I would just start with the promix base soil for now and go from there.

Personally I would grab some compost/ewc and perlite/rice hulls/pumice at this point to have on hand. If you can source some decent compost to mix in now along with equal parts or more of aeration, I think that would give you the best start. Fresh is almost always best when it comes to compost/ewc but if only bagged options are available it will still give you a bit more diversity in microbial content to start. Using this as a topdress later will also provide a pretty basic remedy to a lot of situations that could start to show up. Lastly this will be used to mix with your amendments down the road to help make them available to your plant more quickly when the time comes. So this would be my number one priority to starting things off if it were me.

Again, I am no expert, just my thoughts.
 
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