Most people on here follow Clackamas Coots. Here is a 3 part pod series and he explains things pretty well in here, he covers compost and worm bins too. The other pods are very good too. I wish that I had this when I started out...
www.kisorganics.com
I have learned that while giving teas is beneficial for healthy plants they will not necessarily make bigger flowers. Wattage, LST, and light manipulation do. I mean you need to provide adequate NPK inputs along with minerals and active compost to keep them happy and green but once those bases are covered adding more of this or that will not in and of itself grow bigger buds.
Hey RD, curious - which Jobe's spikes do you use?
The all purpose flower and vegetable; can’t go wrong with these. They are made of mostly feather and bone meal plus mycorrhizae and potash. You just push them in and they feed for about 8 weeks. I put two 180 deg from each other about an inch or two inside the rim of the container. If you push them in after a transplant just outside where the old root ball is new roots will grow in around them. You could always make you own DIY spikes too but at $6 per 50pk these are cheaper than buying the amendments. Found at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Amazon, etc
jobescompany.com
How quickly do these start feeding? Also, will a 10 gallon pot of well amended soil not carry the plant through to harvest? (Transplant to 10 gallon pot to harvest is typically 11-12 weeks for me)The all purpose flower and vegetable; can’t go wrong with these. They are made of mostly feather and bone meal plus mycorrhizae and potash. You just push them in and they feed for about 8 weeks. I put two 180 deg from each other about an inch or two inside the rim of the container. If you push them in after a transplant just outside where the old root ball is new roots will grow in around them. You could always make you own DIY spikes too but at $6 per 50pk these are cheaper than buying the amendments. Found at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Amazon, etc
Jobe’s Organics Fertilizer Spike All Purpose - Jobe's Company
Jobe's Organics All-Purpose Fertilizer Spikes provide plants with nourishment at their roots. Learn how this product works and where to buy it.
Should be fine in 10 gallons. When I was growing in 7 gal pots, I would hit them with couple inches of compost and water in some fish right when is flip them into bloom
Like anything else it takes a week or two for spikes to go to work but these usually fall off by week 8 or so. I cannot say for sure if your 10 gal container will keep them green through to harvest because I have no idea what in your mix. I can tell you that it’s always better to pot up to the final size containers just before you flip them rather than waiting several weeks before or after. Ten Or 7 gal is typically the size we flower in and even then sometimes don’t get it right. Spikes are such slow release that even a little overkill won’t hurt. I would even go so far as to suggest adding in a fertilizer input as well; like chicken or cow manure, etc.
Thanks, that helps.
Why lolThanks, that helps.
I do most of veg in smaller containers and then up pot to final containers 2 weeks before flip. I've always done this since both flipping and transplanting are stressors and didn't want to do them together. Maybe i have been over cautious in this respect? When you say you transplant just before you flip, do you mean within a day or two or are you giving it a little more time than that?
I'm trying to build a pretty robust soil, but havent had it through a full run yet to see if it will last an entire 11 weeks (2 weeks veg plus 9 flower) yet. I'm finally finishing the transition so should have a better idea in the next couple of months. As I transitioned ive been supplementing with age old bloom once a week to try to head off any nutrient deficiencies which has worked well, but we are now dropping that to see how the soil holds up. I may grab a few spikes to add about 2 weeks into veg as a safety net
My current mix is:
26 gallons sphagnum
10 gallons ewc
8 gallons pumice
7 gallons rice hulls
1 gallon insect frass
1 gallon bio-live (fish bone meal, fish meal, crustacean meal, alfalfa meal, langbeinite and kelp meal with beneficial bacteria and fungi)
4 cups each of azomite, basalt, gypsum and oyster shell (i'm bumping this to 6 cups each starting next mix)
2 cups neem
I'm adding 2 cups kelp meal starting next mix
You know that does present me with an opportunity. Lugging 10 gallon pots between veg and lower gets to be a bit of a chore, and the 10 gallon pots take up a lot of space in veg when i'm getting 20+ plants ready for flower. It sounds like i could go from clone rack to pint pots to 1 gallon pots. Veg in 1 gallon until they are the proper height then just transplant into 10 gallon pots in flower flipping the day of transplant. It would save us a lot of work and make better use of our limited veg space.