To nutrient or not to nutrient?

Halfbreed

New Member
this is my first grow, and I am now 2 weeks into flowering my chemo plants...growing fox farm OF soil with 600 watt advanced LED light. Plants are looking great, no problems, no signs of deficiency, and I had some problems trying nutes during vegging even though I was going super light with it, guessing because the fox farm runs hot already....I had some PH problems in the beginning so I add 1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar per gallon of water I use, and as I've said, the plants are looking very healthy. I have some "Sweets" nutrients, Bioroot, Molasses, and aquashield available to me, and I'm worndering if I should start adding some nutes now that the plants are pulling more nutes for flowering, or should I wait until I see some sign of deficiency?
 
I can barely follow ur explaination of ur feeding regimen. It sounds as if ur under feeding ur plants. Things like sweet (unless this is a brand name which I am unfamiliar with), molasses, and I'm not sure what aquashiled is but the other two products are additives, not nutrients. Nutrients are simply fertilizers. Products like General Hydroponics 3 part nutes, Blue Planet 3 part, Fox Farms Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom, etc are examples of nutrients. Can u explain what U've been feeding the plants and how often to get the best help possible?
 
OK, as of yet I have not been adding anything other than a half tablespoon of white vinegar to control my PH. All of my plants are healthy and happy with this, both in veg and in flower. When I first transplant my seedlings or clones to a 3 gal or 5 gal pot I add a bit of bioroot from general organics, but nothing other than that. I have some calmag bloom and the various other nutrients/additives that I mentioned earlier, but my approach to this so far is that less is more, and so far things are going good. I am just curious if I should begin a nutrient regimen now that my plants are blooming hard or if I should just continue with simple watering until they show some sign of needing more, which they have not.

The two that I set to flower first are Chemos, which are super full, a little shorter than some of my other plants, but very bushy with many colas. It just seems to me that if I take a reactive approach rather than messing with a nutrient regimen I have less chance of stressing the plants out, as when I first had seedlings and clones I tried doing too much and lost one seedling and stressed out a couple others. I don't want to make the mistake of doing too much if it isn't necessary. I have a Co2 bucket in my flower room, but again, other than that and adding a bit of vinegar to the water to bring my PH down to where I need it, I've stayed away from doing anything else, and all my plants look great.

If I'm making a mistake in keeping it simple and being reactive to any issues that may arise or show themselves in the form of a deficiency I'd like to know which is why I'm posing the question for the guys with much more experience than I. So, any input and the rationale behind it would be greatly appreciated.
 
I've done the research, and I know what the deficiencies for each one look like and I know what each one is good for, but literature does not replace experience, and my question is not what nutrients would be good for what, it is whether or not I should be proactive in my use of nutrients or if a reactive strategy would be fine if my plants are staying healthy and happy with just ph correct water. Am I being foolish to say that my plants look healthy at two weeks of flowering and a month of vegging with just water so I should just keep watering until my plants tell me they need something else? I'm guessing that the soil I have is already extremely rich in nutrients so the plants are already getting everything they need, but thats just a guess based on my observations.
 
Done the research? In this case more is better. I've spent days (literally) perusing threads and searching posts for answers. I dont know what kind of research u do, but i do know the answers are in these threads. To make it easy on u bro, feed em. I'm not saying they can't produce ur way, but I can almost garuntee that u will yeild better quantity and quality with nutes, organic or inorganic. Waiting until deficiencies are present is like waiting until scurvy manifests symptoms before realizing u need to take vitamin C. Just my 2 cents bro. I think ur over thinking this. If u were outdoors or indoors in huge containers, I'd say go for it. That link was intended to explain why nutes are needed with hopes that u could deduce a logical answer for urself. Check some journals out. I havent read one successful one that didnt feed esp in flower. It is ur grow bro, maybe u can be the 1st success story. I'd like to see these girls. Can u post pics of em?
 
I have two mothers in happy frog with perlite added i have basically been doing the same thing but have fed them low dosages of GH flora nova. I basically water, water, nute, and repeat.I have heard that the OF is pretty hot as far as nutes.I basically read the plants and have noticed with the strain i am growing they don't like to be pushed to much. I also give mollasses as a foliar and sometimes in a water cycle.this is only my second grow and have done alot of reading as well but you are right sometimes you need someone with more experience to reassure you your doing right. 420 has alot of good folks who are willing to share they're knowledge.
Soil seems to me to be much more forgiving.I have just started with dwc for all other growing and keep mothers in soil.I also have fimmed and topped both plants and have noticed at these times they seem to want a little extra care but so far with the soil i am using less has proved to be more. hope this helps.
 
First, BWC....The tone of your last response isn't necessary, and I'm not one of these new kids who think they know it all, so it definitely isn't warranted. I was asking a question because any time I've tried adding any kind of nute in any amount, however small, my plants have either suffered or acted like they had nutrient burn, but looked very healthy when I just did water, and based on the research I did, I found it was most likely because the foxfarm OF runs hot in nutrients, something that I found after spending hours scouring posts. So since this is my first grow, I'm asking questions to find the collective wisdom, and offering my experiences thus far to justify why I have not followed the regimens suggested on here common to nutrient supplementation. So for you to take over my thread with the lazy response of copy/paste with a condescending and arrogant attitude, to be frank, doesn't help, it just pisses me off, and being that this is an internet forum and not a face to face meeting, its a rather cowardly forum to have that kind of attitude because you don't have to answer to it. So please, if you have real advice and life experience, share it. That's why I asked. If you want to act like I'm some lazy jerk who wants all the answers given to me rather than spending the time myself to do it, you're misunderstanding me and I'm going to ask you to just move on to the next post. I spend the time, I do the research, but I also value life experience which is why I'm asking questions, not so I can take shortcuts to the answers. Ok? Ok. Oh, and I did take some pictures earlier when I had some things happeneing that I was asking about before, but couldn't get them to load from my micro SD card to my computer for some reason. Believe me, I know how much pictures help in assessing things so I would love to, and I am going to keep trying but may have to do so on my gf's computer and not my own.

Satch- Thanks for the reply. I didn't realize that molasses could be used as a foliar feeder, as what I've read about it indicates that it's more a of a watering system as it is used to promote the beneficial bacteria in the soil breaking down nutrients in the soil to make it more available to the plants' roots.

I haven't done much fimming or topping, I've just pruned off the fan leaves that have on occasion not looked healthy, as the collective wisdom suggests that they don't repair or heal themselves, so are just a burden on the plant and taking energy away from the rest of the healthy plant. My particular strains haven't seemed to need any help getting bushy, so topping hasn't really seemed necessary for me. I almost don't have room to water because I'm scared to hit the flowers with it but the entire bucket from top to bottom seems to be full.
 
My apologies bro if I came off offensive to u. Sounds to me like ur asking in attempt to absorb someone's experience thru a post or two. Ur grow, ur life. No time to babysit ur emotions. If I wanted to intentionally lambast you it would have been indelible. I'm done here, no need to defend my post(s). Have a little patience, continue reading (from experienced growers- plenty of completed journals in said forum) , learn, & grow. :peace:
 
Appreciated, BWC....That being said, this is a very basic thread, and as I've said before, I've done the research as far as that goes....I know the common nutrients, what they do, and what their deficiencies look like. I've seen the feeding schedules, and I know what they say you're supposed to do....However, the reason I ask the question is because during veg I tried adding nutrients as was suggested and my plants didn't respond well. When I stopped using nutrients and kept it to strictly PH correct water they did very well. Now that I'm in flower I know that the plant is calling for more nutrients, but it's not showing any signs of deficiency and is growing rapidly with good flower formation. I'm just concerned about adding nutes if it's not deficient and overfertilizing and stressing out my plants. Everything I've read about foxfarm OF suggests that it is already super high in nutrients which is why I'm assuming even 1/4 measures of nutrients show nutrient burn in the plants....Maybe I should have posed the question directly to people who are regular foxfarm growers rather than as a general question....

That being said.....anyone use foxfarm OF regularly and have any suggestions/thoughts?
 
I used FFOF for years (straight and ammended). It can start out hot but usually the nutrients are usually depleted (from the medium) within 2-4 weeks unless in extremely large containers. Never had it kill a plant via over fertilization. If what ur doing is working keep doing it. U consider doing a side by side meaning feeding one plant and just sticking watering the other throughout flower? Personally I try to do things before deficiencues manifest because it takes longer to rectify esp in flower, which adversely affect the yield. In flower more P &K are required for good bud development. That's all I can say from experience. Hopefully others have more to add to help. If I can find older threads on the topic i'll link u to them. Keep it green. :peace:
 
Awesome, thanks BWC. Instead of doing a side by side, I was going to try several different methods, starting flower times, etc for the same strain in different batches. I think you've convinced me to start adding a bit of nutes to my flowering girls. Any recommendations on brands that work well with the foxfarm OF? I'm thinking about starting with a bit of Cal/Mag Bloom now that I'm approaching week three of flower
 
I got my best results to date with a line called Cutting Edge nutrients used with FFOF. I have also used the Fox Farms line up (using now). I tried Dyna Grow nutes which were convenient because they required no mixing. Those are the only brands I know and am familiar with. I've seen MoslowJJ use Dyna Grow in a greenhouse w/sunshine #4 with great results. U may wanna ask others about nutes, I stick with what works for me instead of trying everything.
 
the foxfarm lineup looks more expensive than others I've seen, have you finished a grow with them? Any noticeable difference in result over the others? I'm definitely going to take a look at the Cutting Edge nutrients, much appreciated.
 
I'm finishing a grow with Fox Farms now. Before i had only veged w/Fox Farms because I used Cutting Edge nutes at another location. To me Cutting Edge seems similar to General Hydroponics and Advanced Nutrients 3 part nutrients. I noticed Advance Nutrients enjoyed popularity from the advertisement rendered in the "Weeds" TV series. I now notice more and more members using Blue Planet nutes. I know nothig of Blue Planet or Advanced other than what i read. Like i said I stick with what's been tried and proven. My best run was my 2nd which was a Purple Kush and Deep Chuck X Strawberry Cough grow on a 4X4 tent under a 600W HPS. Stems were thick as children's wrists, 3' talL plants, EVERYTHING was purple and covered in trichomes. Bag appeal was out of this world and they were both LOUD!! An open bag would light the room up. When I say purple, I mean all purple, not just tint, shades, or spots. That was using tap water and Cutting Edge.
 
Sounds great. Yeah, I'm Flowering two Chemos right now and just send one unknown strain and one big bud #2 to flower Saturday. I built a room that was about 10x12 on the long side of an L shaped room and partitioned it off into two seperate flower rooms with Advanced LED 600w diamond series lights. Right now I'm just running one light per room because it was all I wanted to spend in the beginning and I wanted to see how they did, but so far I've been very happy with them and I'll probably add one more to each room in a few months. I've got a 4ftx2ft hydrofarm t5 flourescent setup for my veg area, which is built on the small branch of the L shaped room and I have that branch partitioned off as well.

In veg right now I have two more Chemos, one more big bud #2, a feminized purple trainwreck, a couple Cinderella C99 BX-1's, and a couple more of the unknown strains. The unknown strains are showing female already, and what's interesting is they're growing faster and bigger than even my big bud strain, so I'm not sure what they are, but they're going to be monsters.
 
U remind me of my 1st grow. I think I had like 6-7 diff strains going at once. Some tall, some bushy & squat, some sensitive others more tolerant of over attendance and mistakes. All in all it was a bust because I harvested a week or 3 early. I knew nothing of trichomes, how to check em, PH, or TDS/PPMs. That was before I was a member here and before attending Oaksterdam. Funny looking back. I never used an LED light. I remember when they were fairly new on the market, Ed Rosenthal came to speak in a class and swore they were "the next big thing". Interested to see how ur grow comes out using them to flower. They used to be good for veg and poor for flower. I haven't been keeping up with the trends so i dont know if improvements were made.
 
Back
Top Bottom