Noob nute feeding question...how much for 1 plant

G

greenmoney

Active Member
I'm currently vegging a Purple Kush clone and am going to begin 1/4 strength nutes. I have Fox Farm Grow Big, and on the back it says 2-3 teaspoons per gallon of water for feeding. I am only growing 1 plant and am currently using a 1 gallon bucket of soil. My question is do i premix a gallon bucket of nutes and store it or mix fractions of teaspoons in my watering cup and then maybe max 1 teaspoon of nutes per watering?

This is my first grow so any tips welcomed.
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
You've got the right idea starting 1/4 strength. Use this feeding schedule from foxfarm : http://foxfarmfertilizer.com/soilfeed.pdf
The nutrient mix is good to sit for about two weeks mixed up with water. Figure out how much water you use in two weeks, and make a batch based on that amount so you are not wasting anything, nor feeding your plants spoiled nutrients.
 
drogrowin

drogrowin

Member
DONT USE ANY NUTES! Foxfarm soil will be just fine for the first 3-4 weeks, just add water.

CLONES AND SEEDS DONT LIKE NUTES! BE CAREFUL! but learning the hard way isnt always bad. Good luck my friend.
 
Waggs

Waggs

Active Member
Buy a 20 dollar ppm meter and save yourself the headache of 1/4 str this or 1/2 str that.. I went by all these people saying ff stuff was so strong... but the ppm readings of your nutes going in or out wont lie to you. Test your runoff when you water as your plants start as seedlings, then you know when they need to start being fed as the soils nutrients are depleted. ;) and if you store some ff nutes for 2 weeks mixed and take a whiff of it... no way im putting that in my plants.. I only mix what im gonna use that day.
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
Waggs said:
Buy a 20 dollar ppm meter and save yourself the headache of 1/4 str this or 1/2 str that.. I went by all these people saying ff stuff was so strong... but the ppm readings of your nutes going in or out wont lie to you. Test your runoff when you water as your plants start as seedlings, then you know when they need to start being fed as the soils nutrients are depleted. ;) and if you store some ff nutes for 2 weeks mixed and take a whiff of it... no way im putting that in my plants.. I only mix what im gonna use that day.
Click to expand...

Mixing nutrients to different strengths is not much of a headache, if you can do math with fractions..And nutrient water going sour after two weeks depends alot on the concentration of the mix to water, and how it's stored. The way I go about it is make smaller batches of water as I up the nutrients, so it sits for less time the more concentrated it gets. Always worked for me, and never had a batch go bad.
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
I grow in 1 gallon pots(for the first 3-4 weeks) with FF soil, and they never need any food at all, and I veg up to 18" and bushy. By the time they are ready for some fert, it's time to transplant to a bigger pot(3 gallon is my final size), and because of the fresh soil, they still don't need fed. I leave them to recover for a week or so, then move them to bloom, and don't start feeding until a week or so later. I'm not sure why FF recommends feeding plants before that, because they certainly don't need it.(and mine grow VERY well) That soil is very rich, and keeps the plants happy for a long time. I tried feeding awhile back, but that brought them very close to fert burn, so I found it not necessary. Plus, I have yet to see a deficiency in veg, since i switched to that soil. :cool:


EDIT: LOL, Oh yeah, I almost forgot....I was wondering how big your plants are, and the age?
 
Waggs

Waggs

Active Member
They want you to use up your bottles and buy some more of course ;)

oh yes and I agree 100% with never seeing a nute deficiency in veg in the ff soil. great stuff. My stuff always goes to hell after that lmao.. Not this time tho hehe..
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
jawbrodt said:
I grow in 1 gallon pots(for the first 3-4 weeks) with FF soil, and they never need any food at all, and I veg up to 18" and bushy. By the time they are ready for some fert, it's time to transplant to a bigger pot(3 gallon is my final size), and because of the fresh soil, they still don't need fed. I leave them to recover for a week or so, then move them to bloom, and don't start feeding until a week or so later. I'm not sure why FF recommends feeding plants before that, because they certainly don't need it.(and mine grow VERY well) That soil is very rich, and keeps the plants happy for a long time. I tried feeding awhile back, but that brought them very close to fert burn, so I found it not necessary. Plus, I have yet to see a deficiency in veg, since i switched to that soil. :cool:


EDIT: LOL, Oh yeah, I almost forgot....I was wondering how big your plants are, and the age?
Click to expand...
This is totally true if you transplant, but if growing start to finish in the same containers(with clones) they will start to get hungry at some point..But still, I've been relentlessly stingy with FF's nutrients. I've never used a mix above 3/4 strength.
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
^I agree totally. Right when I transplant, is right when i would start feeding them if I were to keep them in the same sized pot, instead of transplanting. What I was trying to say, is that a 1 gallon pot with FF soil won't need any ferts until you have a good sized plant. Age doesn't really matter, so the new guys can't really say "okay, mine are 3 weeks old, time for some fert", most don't realize that it's the size of the plant that matters, not the age. I see some 4 week old plants that are like 6-8" tall(untrained, in one gallon pots, for example) and they start nutes because they are over that 3 week period that is commonly recommended. They don't realize that the plant basically has only used about 10 days worth of nutes, because it's growing slower than normal, and is not typical of a normal 3-4 week old plant. Then they burn the hell out of them, or borderline overfert.lol

I've found that FF soil will sustain a plant until the roots have filled the entire pot.(if they get watered thoroughly each watering) Not rootbound, but filling the pot nicely. Then it's time for nutes. :)

(yes, I'm loaded and babbling, so bear with me.lol)
 
S

swelchjohn

New Member
jawbrodt said:
^I agree totally. Right when I transplant, is right when i would start feeding them if I were to keep them in the same sized pot, instead of transplanting. What I was trying to say, is that a 1 gallon pot with FF soil won't need any ferts until you have a good sized plant. Age doesn't really matter, so the new guys can't really say "okay, mine are 3 weeks old, time for some fert", most don't realize that it's the size of the plant that matters, not the age. I see some 4 week old plants that are like 6-8" tall(untrained, in one gallon pots, for example) and they start nutes because they are over that 3 week period that is commonly recommended. They don't realize that the plant basically has only used about 10 days worth of nutes, because it's growing slower than normal, and is not typical of a normal 3-4 week old plant. Then they burn the hell out of them, or borderline overfert.lol

I've found that FF soil will sustain a plant until the roots have filled the entire pot.(if they get watered thoroughly each watering) Not rootbound, but filling the pot nicely. Then it's time for nutes. :)

(yes, I'm loaded and babbling, so bear with me.lol)
Click to expand...
Babbling or not, it makes sense. I'm on board. I feed my plants as they may need it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top