I’m guessing my plants need fed. It hasn’t been quite 3 weeks for their next feeding (I’m using Dr Earths dry nutes) in 70/30 coco perlite . One plant is very yellow. I thought it might be magnesium deficiency but figured I would ask here. I am scheduled to feed tomorrow. These are about 4-5 weeks into flower. All are different strains. All photo periods. PPFD using photone app is around 800 at top of canopy.
My second question is, I had a gnat problem. I used some sand on top along with some sticky traps. I also bought some beneficial bugs and dropped the sack into the top of the pot. Now I need to feed these plants tomorrow and usually when I feed I mix the dry nutes with some 70/30 perlite… but that would defeat the purpose of the sand layer for killing off the gnats, or no? Could I just spread the dry nutrients directly onto the sand and then water or should I mix with 70/30 perlite and place that on top of the sand layer?
I use mosquito bits. Soak in a gallon of water overnight. Add to feeding water. Apply. The adults die off with short life cycle. The eggs and larvae die in medium. No babies…no adults…no gnats.
If you use a coconut coir mix you need to fertilize every time you water, generally every day or two. At the very least alternate fertilizer one time and water the next but generally it’s fertilizer every time you water them.
Coconut coir is considered a soil less substrate and is treated like hydroponics (continuous fertilizing). Lack of fertilizing will result in small unhealthy plants because the coconut coir has nothing in it for the plant to use. Perlite doesn’t either.
You also need to add extra calcium, magnesium and iron to the fertilizer solution because coconut coir can hold onto these minerals and stop the plants getting them. Adding extra means there will be some for the plant.
Fungus gnats can be treated with parasitic nematodes (worms) that eat the gnat larvae. You can get a bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis) that you sprinkle on the growing medium and it kills the gnats and larvae. You can get parasitic mites that hunt and eat the gnats and larvae.
These are all naturally occurring in the wild and safe to use on food crops but they take about 2 weeks before you notice a decline in numbers. The nematodes and mites need temperatures above 18C (64F), whereas the bacteria will work at any temperature above freezing.
Oh boy I really screwed this up. Lol. My first two grows i used advances nutrients with coco perlite 70/30, and then I had a wild idea of just using dry amendments and totally missed that I couldn’t do that with coco perlite.
I’m in week 4 of flower. Any suggestions for an easy fertilizer I can move to to finish off this grow? I’m going to guess that Dr earths cannot be mixed into the water.
Jacks 321 system. It’s a 3 part, consisting of Part A, Epsom Salt and Calcium Nitrate (Part B). Same ratio of each part every mix. Easy on the plants. Relatively cheap and lasts a long time.
Go to a nursery or hardware store and look for a soluble plant fertilizer for flowers and fruits. It will have a high potassium and phosphorus level and low nitrogen level. The plants mostly use potassium for fruit and flowers. Then mix it with water in a watering can and give the plant a drink.
Make sure you add calcium and magnesium to the fertilizer water.
Hey this sounds pretty simple. Thanks for sharing. Do you feed this to your plants every time you water? I’m watering right now about once every other day and probably will be in flower for another 5 weeks. This could turn to every day watering soon. I just bought A/B should be here wednesday. Looking forward to trying this out and seeing if I can get some size on these buds before mid/late december.
This works very well. I use it when i want a boost. Dry ammendments are slow. I bought it for RDWC.
After mixing let sit 30 minutes then check PH. It regulates itself and tends to stabilize in cannabis range. A solid nute line.
Yes I use fertilizer water every time I water. During the first few months I use a general purpose soluble plant fertilizer that has a high nitrogen and lower potassium and phosphorus levels. The nitrogen encourages leaf growth.
A couple of weeks before they get flipped I swap to a fruit/ flower soluble fertilizer so the plant can start getting potassium for the flowers before it starts to flower. Then it stays on the fruit/ flower fertilizer till it gets flushed a few days before harvest.
I also add calcium, magnesium and iron to the water each time I fertilize. I buy these in dry powder forms and mix with hot tap water before putting in a watering can and filling with cold tap water. The general purpose and fruit/ flower fertilizers have calcium, magnesium and iron in but I add extra because the plant is in coconut coir and perlite and if I don’t add extra, they get yellow spots on the leaves.
Before filling the watering can I also add some fish emulsion and seaweed extract. You don’t need to add these but I do to try and encourage beneficial bacteria in the potting mix. If you do use seaweed extract and or fish emulsion, rinse the watering can out with water after use or it attracts flies. And don’t spill any of the liquid anywhere because it attracts flies.
