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- #21
LatteBroker
New Member
Hi, sorry its taken me so long to get back to you on this, but better late than never I suppose. I've just been crazy busy.
Thanks for the compliments on the plants, this is only my second grow so I'm just learning as well. I do have a background in molecular and cellular biology, which I think helps, but take what I have to say with a grain of salt because I am still figuring it out myself.
I did a ton of research online before I started growing, but there is no better way to learn than to just jump into it and get your hands dirty. I am using 3.4G airpots (google them if you aren't familiar) but I'd do the same thing if I was using 5G pots like you.
So if I'm growing 4 plants, I'll use 4 gallons of water, one gallon for each plant. I fill milk jugs full of tap water, and then let them sit out for at least 24 hours. I alternate plain water and nutrients, so typically I am feeding the plants nutes 1x a week. What I feed them varies throughout the life cycle of the plant, so it's more of a phased feeding program, where there are base nutes that for the foundation of the program. I use Fox Farms for the base nutes, and they seem to work fine. For the most part, I just follow the feeding chart for soil that's on the fox farms website, although I really don't feed them much of anything for the first 2 weeks, and then I start out lightly. So I'd say that by the time I flip them to 12/12, I'm pretty much at 80% of what the feeding chart has them at (and I don't really ever get higher than that). You'll need the Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom, those are the base nutes. You'll want to get some measuring spoons to measure out the nutes, and just know the basic conversion from ml to teaspoons (5ml = 1 teaspoon).
Once you've got your base nutes sorted out, it's then a matter of how much hype you're willing to knowingly endure to boost the growth of your plants through stimulants, boosters, etc...Granted, there are some additional supplements that seem to be worth the cost, and I've admittidly bought into some of the hype and purchased stuff that may or may not work as advertised.
I would recommend buying the General Organics Go Box (Amazon: General Hydroponics Go Box Starter Kit - Organic Fertilizer), and possibly using this kit either in addition to the Fox Farms trio, or in place entirely of it. This kit includes a veg/bloom base nute, but I already had the Fox Farms trio when I picked up the Go Box. For the most part, I followed the feeding schedule that came along with the Go Box...it's all organic stuff, so it seemed like the plants were able to take a decent amount without any adverse effects. The Go Box has some stuff that seems to help the plants grow, and not too much snake oil - you've got calmag, which you'll need to get anyway, humic acid, and a lot of kelp/seaweed type stuff that is rich in nutrients.
I've also tried out Yellow Bottle Ooze, Liquid Karma, Sweet, and Fox Farms Open Sesame. Of these, the Liquid Karma is the only one that I'd definitely buy again, but I need another round or three with the others to see if I think they're worth it. Fortunately, there's enough of each of these to do another 4-5 4 plant grows. You could probably do another 100 grows with the amount of open sesame I have. With the liquid karma, I feed the plants 15ml/gallon all the way from veg to a week before harvest. I use the sweet at 15-20ml/gallon once I start to see the buds forming, and all the way to 10 days before harvest. I may not use the Open Sesame again on my next grow - it just seems to be overkill, and that huge hit of phosphorous doesn't necessarily seem to speed up blooming, and can throw the plant out of whack.
I've definitely started to pay a lot more attention to the NPK ratios of the various stuff I give to the plants. I'm concerned with balance, and not totally overloading any one element. I adjusted my base nutes for a little more Nitrogen late into flower, which meant a little less tiger bloom and a little more grow big.
I also have ph up and ph down, and a digital ph tester...I got this one made by blue labs (BLUELAB PH PEN METER HYDROPONICS AQUARIUM BLUE LAB POOL TEMPERATURE DIGITAL on eBay!). I ph the water (after adding all the nutes) to ~6.5. It's kind of a pain in the ass to always ph the feedings, but I think it's worth it, especially since it's one less thing to think about. I realize that the soil should act as a natural buffer, but I don't think ph'ing the water can hurt.
I'm beginning to feel like less is more when it comes to the nutes, and that there's a lot of hocus pocus going on when it comes to the industry. But there is science behind a lot of this stuff, and there are certain additives that unequivocally help the plant grow. If you've got the cash, it doesn't hurt to buy a few things and see for yourself, but if you're strapped, don't feel like you're missing out if you can't afford every latest and greatest additive to hit the market. That's why I recommended the GO Box...it's like $30 and gives you the essentials for supporting a happy plant.
Okay, that was a lot to type out! Time to blaze a big ass blunt of my own homegrown weed! Fruits of my labor!