When should I start my nutrients?

OMGReptar

OMGReptar

Well-Known Member
Hi all. I’m trying to decide when it is generally appropriate to begin feeding my plants nutrients. Overall, my plants are 22 days old but I just transplanted them into 1 gallon pots about 3 or 4 days ago. They are in Happy Frog soil.

the nutes that I have to use are the Fox Farm trio and cal-mag. So far, my plants have just been getting tap water and I have not worried about the pH. Once they outgrow these pots, I’m going to move them into either 3 or 5 gallon pots with Fox Farm Ocean Forest.
 
What I have done for my last 2 grows as well as my most recent, I started seeds in peat pellets. I then put them into cardboard planters and from there straight into the soil. I find that the cardboard gets wet enough that roots will make their way where they want to go. You can see the timeline here. Started legal grow #3 with Blue cookie and Sativa star As for when to feed them, I will start with a mild feeding in 2-3 weeks. I have heard Ocean forest has enough nutes to go a month.
 
You can start nutes any time you wish, and if you check the Fox Farm feeding schedule, there is even a recommended dosage for seedlings. If you want huge fast growing plants, fertilize. Don't think of it as feeding, because as you have seen, the plants can feed on just the soil for a while and be perfectly fine.... but a fertilized plant is more than just fine. I guess it just comes down to how hard to you want to push them, and how much do you want to spend on nutes.
 
Emilya said:
You can start nutes any time you wish, and if you check the Fox Farm feeding schedule, there is even a recommended dosage for seedlings. If you want huge fast growing plants, fertilize. Don't think of it as feeding, because as you have seen, the plants can feed on just the soil for a while and be perfectly fine.... but a fertilized plant is more than just fine. I guess it just comes down to how hard to you want to push them, and how much do you want to spend on nutes.
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I have the FF trio and cal-mag already. I saw the FF feeding schedule and I’ve also read that people recommend cutting the dosage in half. So is it ok to start nutes before the nutes in the soil run out? Also, would I add the trio and the cal-mag in at one time?
 
OMGReptar said:
I have the FF trio and cal-mag already. I saw the FF feeding schedule and I’ve also read that people recommend cutting the dosage in half. So is it ok to start nutes before the nutes in the soil run out? Also, would I add the trio and the cal-mag in at one time?
Click to expand...
Yes some people do recommend running the fertilizer as if it were feed, carefully doling out only enough for the plants to survive, and without pushing them. I am not a timid person and I fully trust the folks at Fox Farms... so I ran their nutes full strength for years, and grew some awesome plants.

It is perfectly ok to run the nutes as fertilizer, in addition to anything that might happen to be in the soil, any time you like. I have run full nutes from the seedling stage in a very rich minerally enhanced super soil, and all that resulted was awesome plants. Don't believe everything you read on the internet... a lot of people get a lot of mileage out of giving advice that is different than what the manufacturers recommend... I choose to follow the people who really know how to use their stuff, the people that made it. Some of the best grows I have ever had were in Fox Farm Ocean Forest (a very rich organic soil) and full on Fox Farm Trio and the solubles, right from the beginning. It wouldn't make sense for them to make something for you to use that would harm your plants... and they don't. Yet, despite it being illogical, you can find hundreds of people on the internet advising not to do so. Such is the nature of the internet.

Run calmag when you see a need for it, not before. Loading up the soil with too much calmag can lock out other things... it is a supplement, not a major food group. When and if you do use it, yes, you can add calmag to either a nute run or a water only pass... following of course the feeding recommendations from Fox Farm to alternate between plain water and water mixed with nutes, all through the grow.
 
Emilya said:
Yes some people do recommend running the fertilizer as if it were feed, carefully doling out only enough for the plants to survive, and without pushing them. I am not a timid person and I fully trust the folks at Fox Farms... so I ran their nutes full strength for years, and grew some awesome plants.

It is perfectly ok to run the nutes as fertilizer, in addition to anything that might happen to be in the soil, any time you like. I have run full nutes from the seedling stage in a very rich minerally enhanced super soil, and all that resulted was awesome plants. Don't believe everything you read on the internet... a lot of people get a lot of mileage out of giving advice that is different than what the manufacturers recommend... I choose to follow the people who really know how to use their stuff, the people that made it. Some of the best grows I have ever had were in Fox Farm Ocean Forest (a very rich organic soil) and full on Fox Farm Trio and the solubles, right from the beginning. It wouldn't make sense for them to make something for you to use that would harm your plants... and they don't. Yet, despite it being illogical, you can find hundreds of people on the internet advising not to do so. Such is the nature of the internet.

Run calmag when you see a need for it, not before. Loading up the soil with too much calmag can lock out other things... it is a supplement, not a major food group. When and if you do use it, yes, you can add calmag to either a nute run or a water only pass... following of course the feeding recommendations from Fox Farm to alternate between plain water and water mixed with nutes, all through the grow.
Click to expand...
Very helpful. Thank you!
 
 

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