Nutes with every other watering?

[NorthernCosmos]

I've been picking some causal mentions of only using nutes every other watering. I've not seen that mentioned in the grow guides I've read, and what I've read of nute manufacturers instructions only says how much nutes to use per unit of water, not how often or if you should alternate water/nute feedings

I've generally been using nutes with every watering. The autos that I grow in soil in 12l buckets normally want water every 3rd day, and with a nutes strength of ca. 2/3 of the manufacturers recommendation. The 2/3 is what I've arrived at for no burns and no deficiencies, using the Advanced Nutriens 3 part pH Perfect Micro/Grow/Bloom. My soil is peat based, precharged with some NPK nutes, mixed with composts, perlite and with a little coffe, ash and molasses added. Lately I've been mixing it up a little, with a couple of water only feeds to fend off nute burns, and a couple of longer periods between between watering (4-5 days).

So what do you guys do? Is it normally nutes every time, or...? And if it's not every time, what strength would you use? What are the advantages of one or the other?

 

[BubbleBucketz]

Less is always better with nutrients. You can always add more but harder to remove once they are there. I have always fed once a week and watered once a week. Sometimes, depending on the plant, I may need to add a little cal-mag in the watering and feed because of LED and them just being heavy feeders.

 

[Enr0n]

I have used coffee in the past as well. The grounds help with veggie growth.

 

[r0am1ng st0ner]

You said you have compost in the media so it is a soil not soil-less, for this reason it would help to water between feedings and make sure you just watch the plant to start to lighten then feed. That is how I did my soil plants, I just watered until they started lightening, in flower I fed every second time.

 

[DakiniKush]

I've been picking some causal mentions of only using nutes every other watering. I've not seen that mentioned in the grow guides I've read, and what I've read of nute manufacturers instructions only says how much nutes to use per unit of water, not how often or if you should alternate water/nute feedings

I've generally been using nutes with every watering. The autos that I grow in soil in 12l buckets normally want water every 3rd day, and with a nutes strength of ca. 2/3 of the manufacturers recommendation. The 2/3 is what I've arrived at for no burns and no deficiencies, using the Advanced Nutriens 3 part pH Perfect Micro/Grow/Bloom. My soil is peat based, precharged with some NPK nutes, mixed with composts, perlite and with a little coffe, ash and molasses added. Lately I've been mixing it up a little, with a couple of water only feeds to fend off nute burns, and a couple of longer periods between between watering (4-5 days).

So what do you guys do? Is it normally nutes every time, or...? And if it's not every time, what strength would you use? What are the advantages of one or the other?

After a while you get a feel for what plant us telling you. My plants are big enough now that I have to water every day. But when I'm in veg and it's not as thirsty I feed it everytime I water. But now that I'm up to everyday ( huge plant in 5 gal bucket) I do every other. Hope that helps. I'll never understand why people dont go full strength with their nutes. That's what their designed to work at that particular ratio. By people a lot smarter than me. I smash mine with nutes from seedling stage all the way up until harvest. Dont short change your plant feed her just like bottle says or what's the point

 

[NorthernCosmos]

I'll never understand why people dont go full strength with their nutes.

Well, we have proponents of both less and more already in this thread

I've tried - If I go full strength from the manufacturers recommendation, the leaf tips get burnt a lot more than I like. I've been dosing back and forth to find a sweet spot, with no or little burns and no apparent deficiencies, allowing for natural yellowing towards the end. I also give them a little Epsom salt and banana water now and then.

When I water, they first get some plain water for a little runoff, then the rest of the water with the nutes. Since I grow in a medium that has an NPK charge, and the plants are small autos, it's not implausible that the dose should be reduced a little.

I like the thought of pure water every other time (or as often as possible, maybe I'll go full LOS one day) from a perspective of letting the soil and water do more of the work, using nutes efficiently and possibly avoid or reduce accumulation of salt remains (or is that bunk?)

So perhaps that nute reduction could be achieved by watering every other time. And/or perhaps the water-every-other-time method has other advantages too?

I may just try it out with my two new autos. They'll not get anything but a little water until they're around 3 weeks old anyway.

 

[CO Finest]

On my photoperiod plants Water, Water Cal/Mag, Nutes Cal/Mag.
On my autos Water, Water Cal/Mag, Water. Only add nutes around week five or six in flower if needed. Most of my autos in FFO soil can go start to finish with only the nutes that are in soil non needed to add in 5 gallon pots.

 

[NorthernCosmos]

FFO, is that Fox Farm Original, perhaps?

Yeah, I'll try to go as light and late as I can without any obvious starving, just to see what my ghetto soil mix can do.

 

[Emilya Green]

Growing in soil is not the same as growing hydroponically. In hydro, plants are getting nutrients all the time, but soil provides a buffer, so that not only do you not have to water continuously in order to keep the roots alive, but you also do not need to feed every time you water either, because the soil has the ability to hold the nutrients and keep them available to the roots as soon as the plant can pull them up through the roots. Essentially, both systems allow the nutes to be in contact with the roots all the time, soil simply does it passively.

Because soil has this natural ability to hold and storehouse nutrients and the salts that are left behind when nutes are broken down to be used by the plants, soil can become a clogged up mess, especially with the salts, and it needs to be cleaned out every so often so that the feeding cycle doesnt stop. This is the purpose of flushing, or moving 3x the container size in fresh water through the soil so as to clean it up and this flushing should be done several times during a grow if you are heavily feeding synthetic nutes from a bottle.

There is something else that is commonly done to keep that soil clean and free of salt and leftover nutes. If you feed on one pass with full strength nutes, not all of them can be used on that pass, and the leftovers are stored in the soil. If you feed the next time too, and the time after that... you will be building up a lot of debris in the soil. Some growers mitigate this by instead of feeding full strength, they only give 1/2 or 1/4 strength feedings, every time... the problem is that the nutes and the salts still build up. Smart soil growers have realized that if one feeds on that first pass and then every other time simply give pH adjusted water only, they are able to reactivate (make mobile) the leftover nutes being stored in the soil, and give the plants a second shot at clearing up the excess. By using the feed/water/feed/water schedule, a grower is able to keep their soil free of buildups, give themselves a buffer where they don't need to deal with the plant and feeding every day, and still supply the plant with close to the same amount of nutes that the 1/2 strength grower is giving.

If you want to feed every time, go to a water based system... you are not cut out to be a soil grower. Soil growers do what they do because the method ends up being less work and ends up being a much more stable system, using the soil as a buffer as it has been used for centuries.

 

[CO Finest]

Fox Farm Ocean

 

[NorthernCosmos]

If you want to feed every time, go to a water based system... you are not cut out to be a soil grower.

Heh... I don't want to... Could there be hope for me after all

I'm on the right path then; my thinking is not contrary to your advice, I just need to structure and optimize things a little. Thank you!

 

[Nunyabiz]

Totally dependent on pot size and if its plastic or fabric, if its in veg or flower, and most importantly what grow medium.
For me I don't feed the plants at all, I feed my soil, everything I add is solely for the benefit of my soil microbiome.
I change up just about every watering depending on what the plant and soil are telling me.
I am in 25 gallon fabric pots, currently in 6th week of flower and watering deep every 3rd day about 4 gallons or so and very lightly every day a few cups here and there to keep everything moist.
I feed my soil and microbes at least twice a week, every deep watering.
But I have virtually no danger of nutrient burn because in LOS adding amendments and such is mostly just recharging the soil, the plant takes what it needs.