How often can I top dress plants?

sybn

Member
I have some seabird guano 0-11-0 I'm using during my flower cycle. I've applied it once already it was a small dressing . Can I apply small amounts often or would it be to much for the plant? I heard you can't burn a plant with organic nuts is that true?
Also if Im having a sulfur deficiency how do I adjust for that make a tea with Epsom salt?
Thanks for any advice all info is appreciated!!
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
I have some seabird guano 0-11-0 I'm using during my flower cycle. I've applied it once already it was a small dressing . Can I apply small amounts often or would it be to much for the plant? I heard you can't burn a plant with organic nuts is that true?
Also if Im having a sulfur deficiency how do I adjust for that make a tea with Epsom salt?
Thanks for any advice all info is appreciated!!
You can burn just as easy with organics!

11 is a lot of P.....maybe every 10 days to 2 weeks.... Longer even. I hope you waited till after the stretch..

I would be more inclined to want to "see" a pic of the new growth on the plant to call S def!
But,,,
Best way to fix S def - foliar of Mg sulfate (Epsom) or even better - Potassium Sulfate ("K" Sulfate)... Bird poo's are "hot". top dressing use must be small amounts and you need to be patient for it to work.....
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
It takes a long time for a top dressing and/or for most dry amendments to break down and become available to the plants. You can top dress well into flowering but the idea is to put what is needed in the container before it's actually needed. Give your plants water only after week 6 of flowering as a rule...usually by then fungal life has dominated the container and giving anything too radical can upset the balance. You can burn plants with organic nutrients especially with liquids w/ high NPK values as they are immediately available. Dry amendments take so long to be useful they typically cannot cause much havoc but it is possible to burn plants if you don't allow time for them to be "cooked" in or add too heavy. Always give 30 days of "cooking" time if you add amendments and compost to recycle your soil which I highly recommend.
Personally I would not give to plants anything with an NPK value higher than 5 in a soil grow but if I had to use up that hi P guano I would dilute a few pellets in a tea along with some kelp meal, EWC, and molasses. Earthworm castings are always good to add in any form whether on top, mixed in globally, or in an AACT. It's more likely that your soil lacks microbial activity which compost can provide than it is that your soil is deficient.
During early to mid flowering a top dressing of diatomaceous earth and garden gypsum is an awesome source of sulfur and other goodies like silica. Mix 1/4 cup of DE with 1 tsp of gypsum; adding a handful of EWC helps speed up the process.
Top dress by sprinkling the mixture around the outside perimeter of your pot about 2" in; you want to place your dressing away from the main stem. Again it takes time to work so you want to put it on a few weeks before it's needed in say week 2-3 of flowering.
 

Joeybliss

Active Member
It takes a long time for a top dressing and/or for most dry amendments to break down and become available to the plants. You can top dress well into flowering but the idea is to put what is needed in the container before it's actually needed. Give your plants water only after week 6 of flowering as a rule...usually by then fungal life has dominated the container and giving anything too radical can upset the balance. You can burn plants with organic nutrients especially with liquids w/ high NPK values as they are immediately available. Dry amendments take so long to be useful they typically cannot cause much havoc but it is possible to burn plants if you don't allow time for them to be "cooked" in or add too heavy. Always give 30 days of "cooking" time if you add amendments and compost to recycle your soil which I highly recommend.
Personally I would not give to plants anything with an NPK value higher than 5 in a soil grow but if I had to use up that hi P guano I would dilute a few pellets in a tea along with some kelp meal, EWC, and molasses. Earthworm castings are always good to add in any form whether on top, mixed in globally, or in an AACT. It's more likely that your soil lacks microbial activity which compost can provide than it is that your soil is deficient.
During early to mid flowering a top dressing of diatomaceous earth and garden gypsum is an awesome source of sulfur and other goodies like silica. Mix 1/4 cup of DE with 1 tsp of gypsum; adding a handful of EWC helps speed up the process.
Top dress by sprinkling the mixture around the outside perimeter of your pot about 2" in; you want to place your dressing away from the main stem. Again it takes time to work so you want to put it on a few weeks before it's needed in say week 2-3 of flowering.
Shrimp meal is amazing in transplant and at early flower top dress watered in with some ferments shrimp meal is like 6-9-0 and I’ll add bio char or even better wood ash from the fire pit the calcium from the shrimp meal and some epsom salt soil drench I haven’t had any toxicity of deficiency in calmag and I cut off all nite at week 4 of flower and just use molasses water to feee microbes. With all that that larger the pot the better. And yes alway pre amend soil and let. I always amend soil at end of harvest so it freezes in and the. Cooks off as weather warm. Since I went organic 5 years ago the soil get better ever grow.
 
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