Need help with top dressing ( first grow )

S

Shaawing

Member
The mix I am useing is

Seedling (solo cup mix)
16 cups promix hp
4 cups quality worm castings
1/4 cup kelp meal

Actual growing mix
10gal peat moss
10gal Perlite
10gal Quality worm castings
2kg bucket (8-10 cups) Glacial rock dust
4 cups lime
4 cups kelp meal
2 cups neem meal
2 cups Alfalfa meal
2 cups crab meal
2 cups all purpose gaia green brand (Alfalfa meal, bat guano, blood meal, feather meal, glacial rock dust, mined potassium sulphate, fossilized carbon complex, rock phosphate, fishbone meal, greensand, kelp meal, gypsum, frass, basalt rock dust)

Im growing 10 regular seeds, (5 northernberry, 5 northernskunk from peakseedsbc) all germed and sprouted well but i culled 1 at the first transplant, runt...i will cull down to the best 4 after they show sex, im growing in a 4x4 600w hid tent, I am 24 days into my grow, I transplanted 9 days ago into 2 gallon pots and topped 2 days ago above the 4th node no stunting from the xplant or topping, they handle everything quite well!

I will be vegging these plants for another 2 weeks, 3 absolute max I really don't know lol... first grow ever so I'll go until they look right or most likely make another thread lol.... I feel the need to give a push for the last couple weeks of veg with some top dressing but I don't know what to give in what ratios and I can't find any recipes online with what I already own....

Can anyone tell me a good top dressing for a final push through veg with what I already own in my recipe?

Thanks in advance!
 
M

MrKnotty

Well-Known Member
Your soil recipe looks fine, especially if the worm castings are homemade. I don't think you need to top dress anything. I would order some organic comfrey leaf though and make some teas with it. Once a week if you want. Tons of phosphorous in comfrey, as well as minerals. It's seriously one of the greatest plants to use in your garden, crazy nutrient accumulator.
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
"You" might feel the need for a push, but I doubt that the plants do. Not 9 days after xplant and just over 3 weeks old.

Wait 2 to 3 weeks at least, then apply 1/4 cup of that Gaia Green/2 gal container. Keep it close to the edge of the pot, not the stem. Once/month is plenty for top dress and keep them light, 1/4 cup or so.

Good luck.
 
S

Shaawing

Member
MrKnotty said:
Your soil recipe looks fine, especially if the worm castings are homemade. I don't think you need to top dress anything. I would order some organic comfrey leaf though and make some teas with it. Once a week if you want. Tons of phosphorous in comfrey, as well as minerals. It's seriously one of the greatest plants to use in your garden, crazy nutrient accumulator.
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I have been looking into getting some comfrey for mulch, thank you!
Wetdog said:
"You" might feel the need for a push, but I doubt that the plants do. Not 9 days after xplant and just over 3 weeks old.

Wait 2 to 3 weeks at least, then apply 1/4 cup of that Gaia Green/2 gal container. Keep it close to the edge of the pot, not the stem. Once/month is plenty for top dress and keep them light, 1/4 cup or so.

Good luck.
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Thanks wet, I thought I was rushing it a bit.. I guess I might just not top dress in veg at all because I plan on transplanting in 2 weeks so going into a new pot with new soil will be good.. I guess I'll wait until a month into flower and see if I need to top dress then

Side question if you don't mind, I know plants grow differently but is there any average duration filling a 4x4 tent with 4 plants? I was hoping 5 weeks veg would be enough, 6 max....?
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Top dressing is good for when your mix is already dialed in and you have established an active soil food web in your containers.
I only top dress for no till plants going into bloom phase: Once you have plants that stay a nice healthy green all the way to harvest then after you harvest those just leave the root ball intact. Then you can simply pull off or cut the old stem/stump and transplant another plant directly into the old root ball. That's when you want to top dress with EWC and maybe some kelp meal.
Hard to say if 5 or 6 weeks is long enough veg for your expectations of yield. I never veg less than 8 weeks from seed but that's just how I roll. They should be mature enough to flip after 6 weeks but if you plan on topping and LST-ing for a decent yield you might want to go longer than that. Then again a 600w oughta veg em out pretty fast. Duration varies with conditions; there's no average.
 
S

Shaawing

Member
Richard Drysift said:
Top dressing is good for when your mix is already dialed in and you have established an active soil food web in your containers.
I only top dress for no till plants going into bloom phase: Once you have plants that stay a nice healthy green all the way to harvest then after you harvest those just leave the root ball intact. Then you can simply pull off or cut the old stem/stump and transplant another plant directly into the old root ball. That's when you want to top dress with EWC and maybe some kelp meal.
Hard to say if 5 or 6 weeks is long enough veg for your expectations of yield. I never veg less than 8 weeks from seed but that's just how I roll. They should be mature enough to flip after 6 weeks but if you plan on topping and LST-ing for a decent yield you might want to go longer than that. Then again a 600w oughta veg em out pretty fast. Duration varies with conditions; there's no average.
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Honestly since this is my first grow I'm not concerned about yield.. this is for myself and family anyways so I don't plan on making money off of it, I just wanna grow the best I can... I have 9 regular seeds plants in my tent right now, I'll assume I'll only get 4-5 females but either way I wanted to flower out 4 in a 4x4 tent so i will cull the herd if need be and flower them 5-7 gal pots ( I made 30 gallons of soil..) I just can't find a general guideline anywhere as to how long it could possibly take for f1 hybrid mostly indica strains to fill that space.. don't plan on topping again, and the only training i will do is just probably stake them when I transplant them so I can tie off branches if I need to open them up for light or if they have thin branches... I will definately scrog in the future, just easy for my first grow though..

My goal is 2 oz per plant minimum for my first grow, I know filling a 4x4 I can get way way more but I will be happy with that as my first
 
S

Shaawing

Member
25 days old now i believe, topped 3 days ago above 4th node (FIMed the top right and bottom left just for the shit of it and they are the least promising ones so i figured i would have some fun with them, most of them are 6 inches tall and 13 inches wide

20170831_185536.jpg 20170831_185611.jpg 20170831_185646.jpg
 
WeedFreak78

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
Run any ladies you get, don't cull any, you got plenty of room for all 9 in that tent if you only veg 2 more weeks.
 
S

Shaawing

Member
WeedFreak78 said:
Run any ladies you get, don't cull any, you got plenty of room for all 9 in that tent if you only veg 2 more weeks.
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Yea I guess I'll have to see what I have to work with when I have to switch to flower... I just really want it harvested and started curing by the beginning of december to be ready before Christmas.. breeder says 9-10 week flowering time so I'll assume the worst and expect 11. I can push veg back and let them go another 3 weeks then 11 weeks after that will be the beginning or 1 week into December then a 1 week dry and a 2 week cure for before Christmas.. I guess that'll work.. very tight time frame though so I'll see in 2 weeks then decide
 
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