Inexpensive Nutes For Flowering (And Other Advice)?

[zachw]

All 3 of my Burmese Kush plants, grown from 4-5 year old seeds, are female - yay! (see http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/49691-cool-my-5-year-old-seeds-have-sprouted/)

 

2 of 3 have been transplanted recently from 4 gallon square containers (mistake!) to 5 gallon buckets (with large holes for air pruning.) 

 

 

None of them have been pruned or topped, aside from a few clones and cleaning up the bottom. 51 days from planting, about 18" tall (two are slightly shorter due to minimal LST.) Really can't wait much longer before flowering because top of the closet is 6' tall. Using LEDs, BTW.

 

(There are three other plants in this small grow, but none have shown pre-flowers yet 40 days from planting. Probably have room for only 1 more on the flower side.)

 

Started the plants on our own compost + vermiculite, urine for fertilizer. When they went into 4 or 5 gallon containers, used MG Organic Choice and 20% vermiculite. I know that MG is not a favorite in the growing community, but this line does not have any added nutes and my bags from HD were fresh and had a great consistency with very few sticks. Also stopped using urine (wanted more NPK control) and have been fertilizing exclusively with 5-1-1 organic fish fertilizer (2 T/gallon) and a little molasses. The fish fert lowers the pH to 6.5 so great! 

 

I have two major decisions at this point.

 

1) Don't want to spend a lot on "designer" fertilizers. Maybe it won't be as optimal as possible, but would really like to go with relatively inexpensive organic nutes for bloom. Any suggestions?

 

2) The other thing I'm wondering about is if I can/should do any training at this point if I start flowering in a week or so.

.

Would appreciate some advice from you expert growers!

 

[t-pain]

you'd want to give the plant enough time to start growing new flower sites at the bends/fims. i dont know how long that takes. 1-2 weeks depending on growth

 

 

i tried searching for some organic recipes for bloom, heres what i found.

 

banana peels (toss in any other rotting fruit peels too. mango, melon, etc)

washed egg shells (i never wash mine)

taaspoon of molasses

water

blend

 

add tiny bit of fish or any other microbe booster (compost, seaweed, bird poop, worm poop) and let it sit for as long as possible so it can decompose a bit. warm temps are better. and you'll want to keep it covered because its going to smell...

[zachw]

Thanks t - LOVE the idea. Easy, homemade, & inexpensive. I knew that bananas were high in K but didn't realize that the peels are also! I'll start putting the peels & egg shells (& coffee grounds, high N) aside instead of into the compost bucket. Can add some of the 5-1-1 fish fert to the mix. 

 

Just saw a YT vid on this. One person asked if it was good for cannabis & the response from the author was "Don't know. It is a slow release fertilizer. Depends on the growing demands of the plant." 

[Restorium2]

Thanks t - LOVE the idea. Easy, homemade, & inexpensive. I knew that bananas were high in K but didn't realize that the peels are also! I'll start putting the peels & egg shells (& coffee grounds, high N) aside instead of into the compost bucket. Can add some of the 5-1-1 fish fert to the mix. 

 

Just saw a YT vid on this. One person asked if it was good for cannabis & the response from the author was "Don't know. It is a slow release fertilizer. Depends on the growing demands of the plant." 

Exactly why it's not going to work for your situation. You need nutes ready to go. 

[zachw]

Exactly why it's not going to work for your situation. You need nutes ready to go. 

 

Sad face.

 

Suggestions?

[Restorium2]

Sad face.

 

Suggestions?

I would use Fox Farms Organic Bloom with the recommended added salts. I can guarantee you it would work excellently. It's not super cheap or 100% organic. Slam them on 12/12 and follow the instructions on their feeding schedule. 

[suneday11]

Organically done or follow my recipe or the kiss recipe on here. Water only if you desire. Most add different teas though.

 

I'd go biocanna or roots organics if you go bottled. Biocanna is the bunny muffin. Mr. Nice and Shanti use it for their projects.

Edited January 9, 2016 by suneday11

[GregS]

When I started to grow I had some orchid food in my shed, and it worked well. I've compared it side by side with the expensive designer nutes from grow stores and seen little, if any, difference, unless I use a bloom booster in the final weeks. I dialed it in at the rate of about 3/4 recommended strength, and get lush, green plants with expected yields.

Edited January 9, 2016 by GregS

[zachw]

 

 

Organically done or follow my recipe or the kiss recipe on here. Water only if you desire. Most add different teas though

I'd go biocanna or roots organics if you go bottled. Biocanna is the bunny muffin. Mr. Nice and Shanti use it for their projects.

 

Yeah, I want to go bottled. Maybe next time I'll spend more time with soil preparations but not this time.

 

Thanks.

Edited January 9, 2016 by zachw

[zachw]

When I started to grow I had some orchid food in my shed, and it worked well. I've compared it side by side with the expensive designer nutes from grow stores and seen little, if any, difference, unless I use a bloom booster in the final weeks. I dialed it in at the rate of 3/4 recommended strength, and get lush, green plants with expected yields.

 

Great idea. Speaking from little experience, it's hard to believe that cannabis is so unique a plant as to require designer nutes. In lieu of an easy DIY solution, I'll check it out. Thanks.

[trichcycler]

in the end you'll look at the cost of nutrients to grow a few plants as a small part of what you pay for.

consider once branch from one plant in my garden, when delivered to my patient, who will gladly pay for months worth of fertilizer.

 

Example; I grow in pure promix. A few cups of organic dry ferts twice in flower and she's finished perfectly. The 50 lb bag of ferts is 70$ delivered.

I'd need a bag every couple months to support 25 5 foot (five gallon) bushy trees.  my ferts cost near a dollar per plant.

 

its tough, I did it, but try not to trip over dollars to pick up nickels.

 

Your vegging plant looks very well fed and happy, good work!

[zachw]

Yeah, grassmatch, I understand and agree. Not really trying to cheap out here. But the house philosophy here is DIY, reuse, compost, minimize new plastic, etc etc. Wife wasn't pleased that I bought rapid rooters because of the issues surrounding peat bog mining (although I noticed she grabbed some for the windowsill garden!) It's also why I won't buy anything with bat guano.

 

But I do slack off from time to time and succumb to laziness & convenience.

 

Been doing the Amazon thing and found something very promising: Neptune 2-4-1 Organic Fish Fertilizer. $10.65/quart. Looks like a number of other folks are using it for flower with good results. I don't mind the fish smell. 

[GregS]

http://www.amazon.com/Grow-More-5120-4-Pound-6-30-30/dp/B000YHG90O/ref=sr_1_7/188-0770020-4264663?ie=UTF8&qid=1452481744&sr=8-7&keywords=orchid+food

 

 

I'm using the 30-10-10 for veg and 6-30-30 for bloom, both at the rate of 2 level tsp per 2.5 gallon watering jug. Results are good, and it goes a long way.

 

Edited to specify label.

Edited January 11, 2016 by GregS

[zachw]

Thanks Greg. Looked at orchid fertilizer but thought it was applied to the soil. Didn't realize that it was dissolvable! 

[Wild Bill]

We used to use rose food (3-4-3) for outdoor grows with great success (think christmas trees). Here's an organic rose food recipe;

 

1 part alfalfa meal
1 part fish meal
1/2 part bone meal
1 tablespoon Epsom salts
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon kelp extract
and 3 cups water.

Mix the ingredients together into a quart measuring cup . Then pour the mix into a 2 gallon bucket or watering can. Fill the bucket or can with water and use it as a foliage fertilizer. You can also pour it around the roots. Give each small rose bush about 1/2 gallon. Larger plants can use a gallon.

[zachw]

Thanks Wild Bill. For the next grow I'll probably spend more time prepping. But you said "part" for the first 3 ingredients but actual measures for the rest. Can you clarify how much? 

[Otter]

Been using Fertalome Bloom for years.$11 for a one pound jar of dry mix. Lasts along time, never had any problems with it. Gave up on expense nutes along time ago!

[Wild Bill]

But you said "part" for the first 3 ingredients but actual measures for the rest. Can you clarify how much?

 

Sorry, I use Dyna-Gro myself. When we used the rose food it was back in the 70's. We'd dump a big pile on the plants and come back in the fall.

[t-pain]

how much compost is still in there? i wouldnt feed them again until they started turning yellow imo.

 

miracle grow organic choice has fast and slow release ferts. plus you said you are feeding with the fish ,and previously you added compost and urine.

 

at least all of the MG organic choices that i read had ferts...

http://www.miraclegro.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-organic-choice-garden-soil/prod70308

http://www.miraclegro.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-organic-choice-plant-food/prod70226

http://www.miraclegro.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-organic-choice-potting-soil/prod70318

 

"Continuously feeds for up to 2 months."

 

i would seriously cut back on feeding entirely. you could probably finish just on compost tea alone.

 

also i'd buy a couple horticulture 250W cfl and stick those in there for flowering to go with the leds.

[zachw]

Update. I ended up buying Jack's 10-30-20. (No longer organic for this grow.) Next time I'll do more soil & nute prep, unless the grow turns out amazing. 

 

Appreciate all the suggestions.

 

T - I have an unused Tek fluorescent fixture with 3000K bulbs. If you think that will help, I'll try to figure out how to fit them into the grow room.