FFOF, transplanting to new soil, and bloom nutes

[Lil Neutrino]

Been meaning to ask this for a few weeks...

I have been using FFOF soil for my grow and purchased some Earth Juice nutes a few weeks ago for use during flowering. I have the Bloom and the Catalyst but am not sure if I really should be using them. Why?

My current plants were both recently transplanted to larger pots along with new soil. I know that for vegging people generally say that you don't need to add any nutes for 3-4 weeks because the nutes in the stock soil is plenty. Does this apply to the flowering stage as well? I have only used the EJ nutes maybe three or four times since I began flowering three weeks ago because I don't want to overfeed them. Am I being too cautious? I started out with half strength the first time and they seemed fine so I upped it to full strength and noticed nothing really negative. I do have some leaves with some yellowing/browning spots but I think it's due to heat from the CFL's more than a nutrient issue. Plants appear to be quite healthy aside from a few leaves and has not worsened either.

So yeah...new FFOF soil + EJ nutes (they're not too strong to begin with), good idea? And while I have your attention since this grow is all organic do I really need to worry about flushing much come harvest time? I vaguely recall reading about it one night while stoned so don't recall all the details but I want to say it was more of a concern when using chemicals than organics. I don't mind doing it but I buy distilled water to use and at almost $1/gallon that could add up pretty quick. Thanks!

 

[xjackflashx]

wish i could answer this but i too am curious as to this so ill be watchin this thread.. +1

 

[greengo840]

Plants need lots of food during flowering because in nature this would be it's one and only chance to reproduce, so it pushes all availably nutrients into forming all that wonderful goodness. It's ideal not to transplant at all during the flowering process as it must use up energy to recover rather than producing those yummy colas.

But I guess in short yes you will have tons of nutes in the soil. Too much fertilizer can actually lock-out nutrients and cause major stress or sicknesses. Go slow, monitor your daily growth. How do your plants look? Are they happy and reaching for those cfls or are they just just kinda hanging there looking depressed?

What is your temp/RH?

What's your Ph like and run-off Ph?

I've read similar things regarding organics but I don't use them so I don't know.

You could use tap water that's been left out 24 hours instead off distilled.

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Thanks jack!

Plants need lots of food during flowering because in nature this would be it's one and only chance to reproduce, so it pushes all availably nutrients into forming all that wonderful goodness.

Yeah, that's why I'm curious if I should add more nutes...I don't want to starve them but I know with organics it is harder to burn your plants than with chems. Decisions, decisions

It's ideal not to transplant at all during the flowering process as it must use up energy to recover rather than producing those yummy colas.

Definitely not ideal but I'm the transplant king haha! I seem to have a knack for transplanting as none of the plants (15+, 2/3 cannabis, 1/3 other plants) I have transplanted so far since March have shown the slightest signs of shock or unhappiness. This includes three 6 day old seedlings with intermingled roots and a few basil plants and a cactus that fell a couple stories off my patio during a thunderstorm (didn't discover them for about an hour as I wasn't home at the time).

But I guess in short yes you will have tons of nutes in the soil. Too much fertilizer can actually lock-out nutrients and cause major stress or sicknesses. Go slow, monitor your daily growth.

Good idea...

How do your plants look? Are they happy and reaching for those cfls or are they just just kinda hanging there looking depressed?

Quite happy (pics in journal), got a bit of yellowing/browning of the lowest leaves but that's most likely due to lack of light. Also a few leaves have minor heat stress symptoms from getting too close to the lights (can't leave them alone by themselves for a day lol).

What is your temp/RH?

What's your Ph like and run-off Ph?

Temps are a bit higher than I'd like since I recently added a couple more CFL's to help my second female so I leave the door open as long as I can since I'm home a LOT. Last night I think they got up to 86F about an hour before the lights went out but average lights-on temp is about 82-83F, they seem to be doing ok with it. Higher than most like but I've been having pretty good luck so if they're happy I'm happy.

RH...unsure, don't have a hygrometer at the moment but judging from what it was during veg a few months back with some males probably about 50-60%. Maybe a tad lower depending when I watered last.

The pH of my run-off with straight distilled water...don't recall on the new transplants, from what I've had with other plants after a month of vegging it was about 6.7-6.8 (a tad high). Forgot to find some pH Down last time I went to "the store". The EJ nutes are very acidic unless you aerate them for a while first, I think a regular dose solution with a gallon of water came out to 3.8! However, even when I use this solution to water the plants seem to do fine and the run-off is closer to 6. I have only used it three or four times and after each use I monitored the plants for signs of problems and didn't really see anything worth noting. With that much of an acidic solution I would have thought I'd see some notable problems but since the run-off is exponentially higher maybe it's evening out?

You could use tap water that's been left out 24 hours instead off distilled.

Actually that's not as true as it used to be...depends on where your tap water comes from and exactly what the treatment plant (if any) uses. The chlorine will evaporate off however the chloramines (which arguably are worse) do not. Most people aren't aware that this stuff might even be in their water. See my post from Refer's journal for more info:

https://www.420magazine.com/forums/798256-post58.html

 

[Lil Neutrino]

JackFlash...I gave my plant a pretty hefty dose of EJ Bloom and Catalys (2 tbsp of Bloom, 1 3/4 tbsp of Catalyst..."normal" is 1 tbsp) the day before yesterday and so far it appears just fine. If I experience any problems I'll post back here or just keep an eye on my journal.

I pH'd the solution from 4.0 to 5.1 using a tiny bit of baking soda (no pH Up, keep forgetting to look for it) and my run-off came out at 5.8. I'll be able to check on her again in a couple hours, I think I sat and stared at her for a good 10-15 minutes straight yesterday lol.