Why do we use pot fertilizer?

LosSerpent

Well-Known Member
Can't we just use "normal" fertilize from the store that has the same npk values?

And save ton of money?

What exactly does pot fetilizer have that other cheap fertilisers don't?


I grow in soil, I was thinking of adding granular fetilizer to my soil ( not weed specific one) would that be a good idea?
 
I’m sure that greatly depends on the fertilizer u get, but granular make me think time release, which would make it difficult to give specific amounts of specific nutrients at specific times, but I’m just guessing
 
I’m sure that greatly depends on the fertilizer u get, but granular make me think time release, which would make it difficult to give specific amounts of specific nutrients at specific times, but I’m just guessing
I mean, for example, today in the store I saw succulent fertilizer with similar npk values to weed fertiliser, goes for dirt cheap and it's liquid
 
There is no need to use cannabis specific fertilizer, that’s just marketing and pot is big business. Your plants don’t care if the nutrients come in a bottle labeled X from company Y. They just need the nutrients.

I grow organically for the most part and buy my amendments in 50lb bags: blood meal (N), Bone meal (P) KNO3 for the (K), kelpmeal, alfalfa pellets, hydrated lime that I can think of off the top of my head. I mix that all into peat and let it cook for a month or 2 and then use it to grow in, nothing else is given to the plants but water until harvest.

This year, I do have some plants growing using cannabis specific fertilizer. Reason being, it was cheap, it’s a one part granular mix and you just up the concentration at various stages of growth, and I wanted to see how it compared to growing organically.

And then there is Dr Bruce Bugbee from the Utah State University that are studying hemp (low THC cannabis) and works with NASA doing research into plants grown in space. He recommends and uses
20-10-20 granular fertilizer that they mix with water to feed the plants.
 
There is no need to use cannabis specific fertilizer, that’s just marketing and pot is big business. Your plants don’t care if the nutrients come in a bottle labeled X from company Y. They just need the nutrients.

I grow organically for the most part and buy my amendments in 50lb bags: blood meal (N), Bone meal (P) KNO3 for the (K), kelpmeal, alfalfa pellets, hydrated lime that I can think of off the top of my head. I mix that all into peat and let it cook for a month or 2 and then use it to grow in, nothing else is given to the plants but water until harvest.

This year, I do have some plants growing using cannabis specific fertilizer. Reason being, it was cheap, it’s a one part granular mix and you just up the concentration at various stages of growth, and I wanted to see how it compared to growing organically.

And then there is Dr Bruce Bugbee from the Utah State University that are studying hemp (low THC cannabis) and works with NASA doing research into plants grown in space. He recommends and uses
20-10-20 granular fertilizer that they mix with water to feed the plants.
OK grate, so as long as I have the right npk value, all I need is to find the right amount of nutrients they need, and then fix the ph and it's game done?
 
If you have a ppm meter, I believe 120ppm N is the concentration to shoot for but It’s covered in this video that should help you out
So I have this granular fertilizer, it's 15 9 15.


I have a question, whats the difference between a say, 2 1 2 fertilizer and a 4 2 4?

Does it just mean its stronger thus you should use less of it?


I'm not sure how much I should use i dont wanna over do it. I just wanna give it a shot and see if it can be used. Its dirt cheap too compared to cannabis fertilizer I got a 20 kg bag
 
O
Yes the difference between 212 and 424 is the concentration :)
OK thank you, BTW, this fertilizer is granular and not meant to be mixed with water


You were saying about NASA mixing granular fertilizer into the water, that should. Work, but i guess i should be very careful with how much I put correct, because if it's mixed in the water plants absorb it very fast?


If its that simple, why do people even bother buying Expensive cannabis fertilizer, when you can buy say, tomato fertilizer for 5 times cheaper and the same npk?

I mean for real. I spend 18 euro for a bottle. Of terra canna which doesn't even last long. With that money I would buy like 10 bottles at a "non cannabis" gardening store
 
If its that simple, why do people even bother buying Expensive cannabis fertilizer, when you can buy say, tomato fertilizer for 5 times cheaper and the same npk?
marketing and ease of use...
 
So I have this granular fertilizer, it's 15 9 15.

...
I'm not sure how much I should use i dont wanna over do it. I just wanna give it a shot and see if it can be used. Its dirt cheap too compared to cannabis fertilizer I got a 20 kg bag

I am all about cheap! Double check the print on the 20kg bag. Check expiration dates, triple check the values of their nutrient order, read and follow their instructions. I've read growers start with about a 1/3 dose as they introduce nutrients.

Poke around the forum in different grow journals and tutorials, there are countless ways to grow and fertilze your plant.
 
To make it a little easier for you, if that 15-9-15 was water soluble, you would want to use 1g per litre of water to give you 150ppm of N...the P would be at 90ppm and the K at 150ppm
Where did you find this information, I didn't know it was possible. To calculate it. I tho I just had to try till I see nutrient burn. Very helpful.
 
And i mean sure. Proper cannabis fertilizer might give you a slightly higher yield. But the amount of money you save on fertilizer you can use on planting more plants and getting a even bigger yield Imo... Next growing season I'll defently give cheap fertilisers a shot.
 
OK, ppm is easy enough to figure out. NPK numbers are percentages, so 15-9-15 you are using means 15%N, 9%P and 15%K. For every gram of fertilizer, you have 0.15g N, 0.09g P and 0.15g K or 150mg-90mg-150mg and ppm is mg divided by Kg.

One litre of water is 1 kg (+/-) so 150mg N divided by 1 kg (1 L) you have 150ppm
 
What exactly does pot fetilizer have that other cheap fertilisers don't?
What the pot fertilizers in the gardening and grow stores have that the generic fertilizers do not have is the pretty picture of the pretty young lady on the label.

What everyone else is saying. The less costly fertilizers will work just as well.

And, there are pot fertilizers that do not cost a lot (and those often have plain labels without pretty pictures or colors). The pot fertilizers will have mixing directions which tells the user how much to mix per gallon of water or how much to mix with a gallon of soil. Since many pot growers are growing in containers or small hydro set-ups it helps a lot. Fertilizers meant for vegetable or flower gardeners usually have the amounts to use expressed in how much to use per 100 square feet of garden surface.
 
cannabis likes a fert with a 2:blushsmile:3 npk ratio. the ratio is important to get correct at different stages so the plant has what it needs at the proper times for development, without there being so much of a single nutrient that it burns the plant up.

you're contemplating 1.5:blushsmile:1.5. it's gonna run deficient at best.

there are also a range of micronutes in cannabis nutes that are generally missing from others which would have to be sourced and added.

back in the dark ages, you could use tomato fert, as it's nutritional requirements are close, but you would have to source a cal-mag and a couple other micros to get the balance correct.

that is why there are cannabis specific nutes. it's not a garden plant.
 
Back
Top Bottom