Osmocote Plus Plant Food: Discuss Its Use With Cannabis Here!

Dr.RedWhite said:
I did an organic grow using OC+ and organic teas that resulted in some very sweet tasing smoke. Summer being upon me I am shutting down for the summer. Just not willing to fight the heat.
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I had to shut down last summer as well...just maintained my moms. Heat has already been an issue here...my room was in the 90s last week. Not good!

:Namaste:
 
I skipped last summer... and then suffered misfortunes over the winter (much of it my own fault) and failed to make it to harvest.

This year I'm going to grow somewhere even if the place I find to do it at (don't grow in my home) hits 100°F. Better a small harvest of airy bud than nothing.

I'm wanting to try OC and other TRF/CRF nutrients. But that I will save until it's not likely to be so hot. I'm operating on the assumption that high heat levels would see the nutrients get released quicker than intended, and the plants won't need nutrient burn added to everything else, lol. (Plus, I've had much better luck with madly-oxygenated DWC than other growing methods when temperatures get that high - as long as I remember that even short power failures can be damaging when the reservoir is warm enough that it's not able to hold enough DO for any length of time on its own.)

Thanks (mainly) to this thread, I'll have the knowledge I need when I do try OC-type products on cannabis.
 
TorturedSoul said:
Seems to me that cannabis requires less nitrogen during flowering (after the stretch has ended, anyway). And on the other two, I've often heard that a 4:1 ratio was better than an even one.

Which seems to be inferred by the fact that you supplement the OC with other things that have a different nutritional balance.

What I'm getting at is that after reading your post, I wouldn't call the 14-14-14 OC best during flower. I'd be more inclined to state that it was best... for OC (if, indeed, that is the case*). Using the word "best" with no qualifiers... I'd expect that to mean you didn't have to supplement it with other nutrients in order to give your plants the correct ratio.

*I don't have experience growing (cannabis) with OC products, so I do not know if there is a different OC that releases the correct nutrients in the correct ratio during flowering (so that supplementation is not an issue) - which is why I added the "if that's the case" disclaimer; there may or may not be, IDK. I'm still trying to learn about their products.

What OC product are the people that are using OC (only) to feed their cannabis plants using?
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Okay I don't think I clarified well what I wanted to pass on.
1st let me say that OC+ was the last CRF product I tried. I played with a half dozen or so products during the past 3yrs I finally tried OC+ last summer. The OC+ is by far the BEST stand alone CRF I've used.

Now with my growing system I have to transplant a soil grown veg plant into a hempy and straight into flower. So I have to re administer ferts for the added medium. Now if you don't have this transplant then changing ferts wouldn't make any sense. Because I have this transition I have tried several combinations. And I've settled on starting with OC+ with it's 4 to 6 month 15-9-12 formula. And when I go to flower I use the OC 14-14-14 with it's 3 to 4 formula. I've seen better results doing this than continuing with OC+. (this is without any supplemental food additives). I believe that the 14-14-14 has a more aggressive feeding program with it's shorter delivery period.

Last Item adding supplemental food additives.
1st I add supplements on every feeding, but they aren't food. I add ph down, cal mag, Superthrive, & Floralicious +. Never seen any adverse affects from their use.
Now in the world of pushing your plant past the point of an easy simple grow cycle, I have experimented with adding food supplements, and have had some great results, seeing large increases in bud size, resin production and plant growth. And on the other side have nearly killed a few plants. I won't advise you to hammer your girls, but I've seen really good results adding extra food (in very low % of recommended feedings)

In the end I'm an OC fan and will not pay another $18/qt or more for ferts, when these work so well.

PS: won't try organics either, I don't have the time, CRF's & hempy it don't get any easier.
 
Thanks for the clarification.

However... Why don't you consider the Ca Mg product plant food? Those are both nutrients. And while I never really thought about it before (since we use it mainly for lowering the pH), most pH Down products have some form of P in them - which is a plant food - and possibly a form of nitrogen as well. Not sure what all Floralicious+ has in it other than super-concentrated-India-ink (lol, I spilled some last year and the stain is still on that shirt) but it may have some food as well. Never used Superthrive as I rarely need to give plants B vitimans (seems like I heard it did have that) and when I do they seem to also want a little supplemental iron, so I give them a taste of a bottle of stuff I was gifted from an old-fashioned hardware store 15 years ago or so.

Can't really justify an OC+ experiment this year. Still need to run this Blue Max two part magic. But everyone does have me interested (just the wrong time for me, so to speak).
 
WattSaver,

As for your PS about not wanting to try organics because of the time.

I also am sold on OC+, but am experimenting with organics, (premixed preboxed, not made from scratch). It took me just as much time to add the organics as it did to add the OC+.

Mix in the soil, then I water with the same things I do when I use OC+. ie. Molasses, Snowstormultra, StumpTea. and Worm Castings. (I bought them after I had the soil mixed, or that would be in the soil already)

The plants are as healthy looking as the OC+ plants.

I am looking for better taste and smell. If I don't see a significant improvement, it will be back to OC+ as the base.

And I recommend OC+ to any of my local friends that want a simple cheap fert for both indoors and out. Even more so for outdoor where they may not be able to mix nutes for watering.
 
I could think of worse problems to have, actually.
 
I just enjoyed the heck out of my water only wick system routine and hitting them with a tea made from Alfalfa powder and molasses once a week. Easy Easy Easy. Cure is done now and the buds are so resinous and taste so sweet I can't believe it. I think the next time I use a soil based medium I will add a tablespon per gallon of the alfalfa powder to the medium. Then all I would have to do is hit them with some molasses a few times late in flower. Both my systems are wick based and talk about lowering the labor and time spent, you can't ask for better.
 
Thought I'd show some current shots of my OC 14-14-14 grow. Let me introduce you to Mom. She is a Maui Wowie, spent 16 wks in veg, in a 1/2 gal of soil, fed with bontanicare (plant was given to me) topped, chopped & basicly abused to keep under 28" in veg box. She started 18 children before being sent into flower.

When going into flower I transplanted into a 3 gal heppy bucket (perlite & soil) with 4 tbs of OC 14-14-14. The photos below are taken at day 38, and I'm gonna give them some Cha-Ching here soon. (small dose)

Mom is sitting under a single hood with 2 - 400W CMH bulbs, which build some seriously dense buds.

Last thought; With my work schedule, & commute, I couldn't do a med grow without the ease of OC. Happy Growin'
 
More on OC+. I know it seems wrong but I had fine results using OC+ to fert my small vegging plants just by putting a tablespoon of it in the tray I kept the cupped plants in. I watered by pouring an inch or so of water in the tray. As for the run of CRF"s I have used they have all worked well for me. Lilly Miller, Red Dynamite, Blue Dynamit, Green Dynamite, OC+, Miracle Gro shakenfeed.
 
Dr.RedWhite said:
More on OC+. I know it seems wrong but I had fine results using OC+ to fert my small vegging plants just by putting a tablespoon of it in the tray I kept the cupped plants in. I watered by pouring an inch or so of water in the tray. As for the run of CRF"s I have used they have all worked well for me. Lilly Miller, Red Dynamite, Blue Dynamit, Green Dynamite, OC+, Miracle Gro shakenfeed.
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This makes perfect sense to me and allows control to some extent. As long as the water temp is low the release rate would be slow..

Did somebody say hydro? Guess that would be an off label use eh? Did you perhaps ever check ppm?
 
Dr.RedWhite said:
I may try a wick system OC+ soaker run in a small 4 holer. Nahh I will just keep puting it in the soil.
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It works best in a medium other than water, as far as I can tell - in just water I think it would release at a faster rate than just being in a moist medium like coir or soil.

Here was my successful grow with OC+ in a wicking hydro setup:

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:bongrip: - JZ
 
I seem to remember DocBud playing around with OC+ prills in a bucket of water back when he was just starting with hempy...for some reason 400 ppm comes to mind as the amount of nutes that were released.

Was it OC+ that was used successfully in rice paddies?...I can't remember. When I have time I'll see if I can find more info on both!

:thumb:
 
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