Update - 4th and final top dressing - and some pictures
Greetings 420 enthusiasts! With my grow last year, I carried out a single top dressing, this year I chose to start giving earlier and to 'trickle feed' them a similar amount, but over several smaller top dressings. I thought 3 top dressing would be about it, and the 3rd was about 2 weeks ago. Since then, there has been some lower lightening leaves which I tend to remove because I don't want them blowing off into the neighbour's property (because I am trying to run a stealth grow here and no need to confuse them), otherwise I'd be happy to let the plants release their old leaves when they choose. So today, I decided to give a very small 4th top dressing and hopefully that'll be good until harvest.
Several grows ago, I was too conservative in the amount of the amendments I gave the plants. Each grow since, I have been trying a little bit more to tentatively establish where the 'Goldilocks zone' is, I think I am close to it with this grow, but today's topdressing is only small, only 1 tablespoon (1/16 of a cup) of Blood n Bone for the plant with the least lightening, and 3 tablespoons for the Mulanje which had the most. I included 2 tablespoons of Neem powder mostly as a pest deterrent but it does release some Nitrogen too.
These dry amendments were sprinkled over the existing mulch layer. On top of that I added 2 - 3 cups of fresh worm castings which included quite a lot of worms that I couldn't be bothered first removing. This was added as 'clumps' on top as it was too messy to lift the mulch layer and bird deterrent netting and training wires to mix in! So every time I water, more of it should wash in the main soil and become available to the plants.
Summary of top dressings given - for my own future reference and anyone who is interested
1st topdressing - 20th January 2022
- 2 tablespoons Blood n Bone
- 2 tablespoons Neem powder
2nd topdressing 2 weeks later - 3rd February 2022*
- 2 Tablespoons Blood n Bone (1/8 cup)
- 2 Tablespoons Fish Meal(1/8 cup)
- 2 tablespoons Guano Phosphate(1/8 cup)
- 2 tablespoons Seafood Lush Fert Mix(1/8 cup)
- 2 tablespoons Kelp meal(1/8 cup)
- 2 tablespoons Neem Powder(1/8 cup)
- 2 tablespoons Diatomaceous Earth/Silica(1/8 cup)
- 1/2 cup rough ground diastatic malted barley
*The above quantities are for the smaller 30L (13 gallon) containers. I added a bit extra for the larger 50L (13 gallon) containers.
3rd topdressing 2 weeks later - 19th February 2022
3 tablespoons Blood n Bone for 50L pots, 2 tbsp for 30L pots
1 tablespoon Fish Meal for 50L pots, 1/2 tbsp for 30L pots
1 tablespoon Guano Phosphate for 50L pots, 1/2 tbsp for 30L pots
3 tablespoons Neem Powder for 50L pots, 2 tbsp for 30L pots
1/3 cup washed dried shrimp (washed to remove salt)
1/3 cup rough ground diastatic malted barley
4th and final topdressing 2 weeks later - 3rd March 2022
Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje - 2 tablespoons Neem Meal, 1 tablespoon Blood n Bone
Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras - 2 tablespoons Neem Meal, 2 tablespoons Blood n Bone
Mango Sherbert - 2 tablespoons Neem Meal, 2 tablespoons Blood n Bone
Mulanje - 2 tablespoons Neem Meal, 3 tablespoons Blood n Bone
Each pot then had 2 - 3 cups of fresh worm castings (including some worms) added on top.
Some pictures from the day
Thanks for dropping by, wishing you and your gardens all the best!