Question about Dr.Earth dry amendments

[Hayron1088]

Ok I have researched this for over two weeks. I have Dr. Earth Flowergirl and the Tomato and vegetable line. I top dressed according to the info sent to me from Dr. Earth. My question is, can I use the “tea recipe” in conjunction with top dressing? There reply was that I can use the tea recipe anytime during the grow. That doesn’t sound right to me. I personally would like to use my original tea recipe which consisted of: 1.) worm castings. 2.) Humic acid or kelp meal 3.) molasses 4.)bat guano. Now I usually don’t do the humid acid and to be honest I haven’t but I got the recipe from a close friend and he Swears by it. I’m not him though. I’m really loving the Dr. Earth line and would love to stick with there products 100%. I know I’m rambling but I’m trying to learn as much as I can and develop my own way of growing. So, LOL what would you all do?? I don’t see many growers using Dr. Earth, which is fine bc I’m not a follower and I for some reason just really like the Dr.Earth line. I’m just worried for very obvious reasons that if I topdress with Flowergirl as prescribed and then a few days later use the tea recipe on the back, won’t it burn my plants?? That’s what I’m thinking Atleast. I’m being told by the Dr.Earth email that I can use the tea anytime through the grow as well as the top dress... is the tea even needed? My OCD is unbearable and not knowing what to do is driving me insane. I thinks that obvious with my post being as it’s three miles long. In closing, I’m sticking with Dr.Earth no matter what and I want to do it the right way. Pic below is White Widow day 24 of flower.

 

[Hayron1088]

Nobody? Am I the only person on this forum that is diving deeper into Dr.Earth products? If so that’s fine by me, I’m all about being a trailblazer! I made the Tea recipe on the back of the Tomato and vegetable dry amendment line and my ppm was 1442... is that cause for concern or should I not worry because it’s organic?

 

[CO Finest]

I am new with using Dr.Earth myself. Sorry I can not help with to much info. Hope you do not mind if I sit in on this. I am learning myself. I am using the green orange and red bags. I just top dressed my flower room with a 50/50 mix of the green and red this feed. Next feed will be 50/50 orange and red. I do know with organic you do not have to worry about salts or ppm in soil. I never thought a tea would be needed with this product so this will be cool to see what happens when you try that.

 

[Hayron1088]

I am new with using Dr.Earth myself. Sorry I can not help with to much info. Hope you do not mind if I sit in on this. I am learning myself. I am using the green orange and red bags. I just top dressed my flower room with a 50/50 mix of the green and red this feed. Next feed will be 50/50 orange and red. I do know with organic you do not have to worry about salts or ppm in soil. I never thought a tea would be needed with this product so this will be cool to see what happens when you try that.

Thank you so much for your interest in my post. Means a lot to me. I have done quite a bit of research but it seems I’m asking questions that are either A.) Completely unfounded and I have no clue what I’m talking about or B.) This is a trailblazing method with a specific product. Which excites me greatly. I love the products and they seem to be working quite well. Do you have the feeding schedule provided by Dr Earth or are you going by the back of the bag? Thank you again for your interest. I’m very interested in learning as much as I can with dry amendments in general. Oh by the way, I’m using Fox Farms Ocean Forest with Worm castings on top. Any other questions please ask.

 

[CO Finest]

I use FFO soil I do not feed anything for the first month. After the first month I top dress every two weeks. Right now I have been using 1/2 cup per 5gal pot. I did buy the Happy frog dry nutes as well. I will be playing around with that soon. I might be switching over to happy frog due to the price. I get HF for $8.76 from a store I go to and I get Dr Earth for 10-13$ a bag. My goal is to use only dry organic nutes I hate paying for water nutes way over priced for the amount of water paying for in the nute bottles. It seams like it takes around a week for the dry nutes to break down into the soil from what I have seen.

 

[Vegan4life]

I don't know anything about Dr Earth but your White Widow looks great... I am currently growing in Sohum soil, water only seed to harvest. I also use Coot's mix. I feed actively aerated compost Tea every week or two to help boost microbial life.

 

[Hayron1088]

I use FFO soil I do not feed anything for the first month. After the first month I top dress every two weeks. Right now I have been using 1/2 cup per 5gal pot. I did buy the Happy frog dry nutes as well. I will be playing around with that soon. I might be switching over to happy frog due to the price. I get HF for $8.76 from a store I go to and I get Dr Earth for 10-13$ a bag. My goal is to use only dry organic nutes I hate paying for water nutes way over priced for the amount of water paying for in the nute bottles. It seams like it takes around a week for the dry nutes to break down into the soil from what I have seen.

I’ll look into Happy Frog as well thank you for that. Truthfully, I use Dr. Earth in my food and flower garden as well so I’m killing two birds with one stone. I’m just extremely suprised that I can’t find much info for the questions and/or concerns that I have. So basically I sat down and gave it a thoughtful and serious look. Why over complicate right? I think I’m just going to stick with the top dress as directed by Dr. Earth. I’m also going back to my basic bare bones compost tea as all the ingredients are easily sourced at my local Menards. I can buy the ingredients for under $20 and make over 50 gallons of amazing compost tea! I’m here to learn and grow firstly. I live in a state where it’s just medically legal but at $60 for 3.5g.... I’m a disabled veteran with 3 children and I’m a tile setter by trade. It kills me everyday and Cannabis is the only thing that helps. I want to make this work and I want to do it as efficiently and organic as possible. You guys are great and have opened my eyes to learn even more so thank you so much

 

[Hayron1088]

I don't know anything about Dr Earth but your White Widow looks great... I am currently growing in Sohum soil, water only seed to harvest. I also use Coot's mix. I feed actively aerated compost Tea every week or two to help boost microbial life.

Thank you! She’s short and wide but healthy. My Cherry Pie looks even better! All plants are under 22inches tall but producing well. I thank you all for your interest. Feels great to be seen for my hard work and love for this plant

 

[732002]

Looking nice, what soil and pot size? How much Dr earth?

I have recently started using those Dr earth dry amendments in pro mix.
I still have been adding mega crop, I suspect to go full organic larger containers
are needed. Moving autos outside soon and transplanting to 5G but may try 10G
in the future. Will try and ween of the mega crop then.

I doubt top dressing will burn, it tends to get watered in slowly............

 

[Hayron1088]

Looking nice, what soil and pot size? How much Dr earth?

I have recently started using those Dr earth dry amendments in pro mix.
I still have been adding mega crop, I suspect to go full organic larger containers
are needed. Moving autos outside soon and transplanting to 5G but may try 10G
in the future. Will try and ween of the mega crop then.

I doubt top dressing will burn, it tends to get watered in slowly............

I top dress with the Tomato and Veg Line twice during early veg with 1/4 cup then use the All purpose during the first 1-2 weeks of flower then switch to the Flowergirl and use 1/4 cup at week 4 and maybe if I can squeeze it in I’ll top dress one more time if she still has enough time with another 1/4 of Flowergirl around week 6-7. I also top dress in late Veg of worm castings and usually make my own tea every two weeks. All plants are in 5 gal fabrics under two Maxsisun pb1500’s.

 

[SmokingWings]

My question is, can I use the “tea recipe” in conjunction with top dressing? There reply was that I can use the tea recipe anytime during the grow. That doesn’t sound right to me. I personally would like to use my original tea recipe which consisted of: 1.) worm castings. 2.) Humic acid or kelp meal 3.) molasses 4.)bat guano.

The main source of the nutrients are the other additives, mostly Dr. Earth if I am understanding it right.

The tea recipe you mention sounds like a normal one. The benefit from the tea is the introduction of the bacteria and micro-organisms, mostly from the worm castings. Also some nutrients from the Kelp and Bat Guano but I have the feeling you are not going overboard. The Molasses is there to help feed the micro-organisms which will live and die in the soil and feed the plant as they consume and digest the nutrients you are top-dressing with.

Like they said, you can use the tea through all the growing cycles.

 

[Hayron1088]

The main source of the nutrients are the other additives, mostly Dr. Earth if I am understanding it right.

The tea recipe you mention sounds like a normal one. The benefit from the tea is the introduction of the bacteria and micro-organisms, mostly from the worm castings. Also some nutrients from the Kelp and Bat Guano but I have the feeling you are not going overboard. The Molasses is there to help feed the micro-organisms which will live and die in the soil and feed the plant as they consume and digest the nutrients you are top-dressing with.

Like they said, you can use the tea through all the growing cycles.

Thank you for the info. I had a basic understanding of the process that’s why I was curious about the Dr. Earth reply. I asked them if I was able to top dress by the schedule given and make a tea out of the same product in stead of a “traditional” tea as mentioned above. Although the reply seemed generalized I feel, they still told me that I could. Just doesn’t sound right...

 

[732002]

I top dress with the Tomato and Veg Line twice during early veg with 1/4 cup then use the All purpose during the first 1-2 weeks of flower then switch to the Flowergirl and use 1/4 cup at week 4 and maybe if I can squeeze it in I’ll top dress one more time if she still has enough time with another 1/4 of Flowergirl around week 6-7. I also top dress in late Veg of worm castings and usually make my own tea every two weeks. All plants are in 5 gal fabrics under two Maxsisun pb1500’s.

Thanks, that's helpful. Sounds like I have been under top dressing. I do mix in 1/4 cup/5 gallon
before up potting and let it cook a few weeks is possible.

 

[Hayron1088]

Thanks, that's helpful. Sounds like I have been under top dressing. I do mix in 1/4 cup/5 gallon
before up potting and let it cook a few weeks is possible.

I haven’t “cooked” my soil yet to date. Never had a burning problem or major deficiency, etc. I do love the product though. Does what it says I my opinion.

 

[Hash Hound]

Hey there Hayron, I've been using DrE as my base nute for 10+ years with real good results.

top dressing leaches the nutes slowly with each watering, and an aerated tea is a quicker boost of microbes also.
If you are using a tea, I wouldn't use it the same time I top dress, but I doubt it would hurt if they say it's ok.
Make them light, a cup per gallon is way to much especially if you are top dressing too.. I use 1/4-1/2 cup depending if I toss other stuff in like worm casting, guano etc.

I rarely top dress, I usually just mix mine in 50% flower 50 veg with the soil and feed a tea about every 3 weeks and water only.
I've used each of them alone throughout the whole grow and still had good results.
I sometimes mix it in layers, half cup flower on the bottom and half cup veg on top. (7g bags)

this is water only, layered and using the swick (bottom water) method, doesn't get much easier, and only about a quart of a light tea mid flowering.

P164 PS2 w9f.jpg

• Hash Hound
• Jan 9, 2021

P164 PS2 w8he.jpg

• Hash Hound
• Jan 6, 2021

 

[Hayron1088]

Hey there Hayron, I've been using DrE as my base nute for 10+ years with real good results.

top dressing leaches the nutes slowly with each watering, and an aerated tea is a quicker boost of microbes also.
If you are using a tea, I wouldn't use it the same time I top dress, but I doubt it would hurt if they say it's ok.
Make them light, a cup per gallon is way to much especially if you are top dressing too.. I use 1/4-1/2 cup depending if I toss other stuff in like worm casting, guano etc.

I rarely top dress, I usually just mix mine in 50% flower 50 veg with the soil and feed a tea about every 3 weeks and water only.
I've used each of them alone throughout the whole grow and still had good results.
I sometimes mix it in layers, half cup flower on the bottom and half cup veg on top. (7g bags)

this is water only, layered and using the swick (bottom water) method, doesn't get much easier, and only about a quart of a light tea mid flowering.

P164 PS2 w9f.jpg

• Hash Hound
• Jan 9, 2021

P164 PS2 w8he.jpg

• Hash Hound
• Jan 6, 2021

Wow she’s gorgeous for sure. I’m definitely taking notes here because I will have 5 different strains in a little bit here. Will be an excellent grow journal as I’m going to have the same medium and Amendments. So much fun to see the difference in feeding, watering, etc throughout the cycle. Makes me feel like I’m in Disney land sometimes

 

[safeman]

remember when you top dress do it after you water/ feed your plants -- it takes two weeks for your top dressing to have any effect on your plant

 

[Hayron1088]

remember when you top dress do it after you water/ feed your plants -- it takes two weeks for your top dressing to have any effect on your plant

Wait.... after??

 

[Hash Hound]

remember when you top dress do it after you water/ feed your plants -- it takes two weeks for your top dressing to have any effect on your plant

that doesn't seem right to me. Top dressing IS the water/feed isn't it?

 

[SmokingWings]

that doesn't seem right to me. Top dressing IS the water/feed isn't it?

'Top dressing' is usually means to spread the added material to the top of the soil in a container or on the surface of the soil in an area around a plant being grown in the soil in a garden outside.

The moisture in the soil will wick up and into the top dressing getting it wet and the gardener can water right over it during regular watering times. The watering will help move the water-soluble nutrients into the root zone. The moisture in the top dressing material will allow the micro-organisms to move into it and they will start to process the non-water-soluble nutrients so those too can move into the soil.

That is my take on the situation based on what I have read about the process.