PH and liquid nutrient question

[Gee]

Being a newb......I’m telling you, there’s days I come on here I feel like I’m bugging everybody...so here I go and I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question. I’ve searched and search and everyone disagrees on the boards I’ve found this subject.

I’m growing 3 different hybrids in organic soil. I started the grow outdoors with clones and plan to use the light schedule provided by Mother Nature all the way through harvest. The plants are healthy and are all around 2 feet high now with manipulation to the branches to open up the middle. I super cropped two but found if I use a soft yarn on the one I topped instead, and used that yarn to pull down the arms growing from the stem, I could safety pin the yarn to the bag planter, it works great and provides support (it can get windy here). If I need to pull down the arms more I simply remove safety pin and move it down. Easy peasy

I did start using feather meal as a nitrogen supplement one month ago when I took the clones out. At first I tried a handful of the feather meal on my potted mint plant a while back and the mint went ballistic so trusted the meal.

I’ve been reading that this feeding is time released though. I’d like a little more control and for a clean flushing at harvest, I am going to start using liquid fertilizer.

The question: if I use a liquid fertilizer supplement in my watering can, does the final watering have to be in the proper PH range OR does the water have to be the proper PH before I add the fertilizer in the water???

Help a brother out..

 

[TorturedSoul]

Adjust pH last.

No point in doing so at the beginning - or at some point in the middle - because you'd still have to adjust pH last.

 

[GenericName01]

As said, adjust PH last. If you're already using organic soil, I wouldn't worry about using a liquid fertilzer unless you feel growth is slow or see symptoms of a deficiency. Vegetative growth uses more nitrogen though, so it is a good additive during that phase, and then decrease during bloom. Feather meal is a slow release fertilizer as you mentioned, because it requires decomposition from microbes to be in a form the plant will use. If you're seeing good results from that, I would not switch to a liquid or synthetic form, but stop using it a few weeks before transition. There is no need to worry about flushing if you're using organic soil, excess salts will not be building up as long you are not over applying additives.

 

[Gee]

As said, adjust PH last. If you're already using organic soil, I wouldn't worry about using a liquid fertilzer unless you feel growth is slow or see symptoms of a deficiency. Vegetative growth uses more nitrogen though, so it is a good additive during that phase, and then decrease during bloom. Feather meal is a slow release fertilizer as you mentioned, because it requires decomposition from microbes to be in a form the plant will use. If you're seeing good results from that, I would not switch to a liquid or synthetic form, but stop using it a few weeks before transition. There is no need to worry about flushing if you're using organic soil, excess salts will not be building up as long you are not over applying additives.

Thank you for the info. Thank you, Tortured, as well.

 

[DaddyKush]

A lot of growers say there's no need to adjust the pH after adding the nutes but I always do it anyway. The starting pH isn't important, just add your nutes and then test and adjust as necessary.

 

[DaddyKush]

Keep in mind that if you raise or lower the pH too much, you have to either use the water or toss it out. For example, if it tests at 5.0 and you accidentally raise it to 8.5, you can't add anything to lower the pH again or you risk harming the plant. You'd have to toss the water and start again.