2-Scoops wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 10:06 am
I dont get any sediment in my fert mix with hydrosol either, but i have a 5ltr stock solution i mix those ferts from which is made up in my old empty Canna coco 5ltr green tubs, i always shake that stock solution before mixing up a fert mix but i do that with any ferts be it dry or bottled. The hydrosol when plants are in full flow and full steam ahead around week two after flipping they getting around 7ml a ltr of A&B to an EC around 1.6-1.8`ish, atmo they`re getting 5ml per ltr to a lesser EC around 5 otr 6 weeks in bloom.
So Seymore you`ve prolly heard of cus its been about for years now but shooting powder which is P39/K25 to be used last few weeks before you flush. Long and short of it ive got my hands on a rip off version of the House & Garden stuff made someone else, lets call it same but different. Anyhow its supposed to produce rock hard nugs and send flowering into overdrive last few weeks before chop. Ok i know lots of that is a load spiel by makers, but whats your thoughts on using the stuff ? Cheers mate.
Pre-mixing stock solution is pretty standard because its hard to get the salts to disolve if not. A little hot water will help. My system will work exactly the same, but will have four components. Ca(NO3)2, MgSO4, a 8-15-36 masterblend for veg and the standard 4-18-36 for flower. This will allow me to meet my target nitrate in veg while reducing it for flower. I'll just mix it into a standard two-part fertiliser where I can add 2ml/L to each to meet my target EC. Just like your off-the-shelf two-part grow and bloom nutrients.
There's no evidence that adding huge amounts of PK at the end does anything, but I've used shooting powder and it does work. It's a form of crop steering where you shock the plant into ripening. Personally, I think there's no point. You will gain weight, but not quality. Just some pretty nugs for instagram. If anything, it has a decremental effect on the overall flavour. There is some evidence however to suggest pushing Mg, S towards the end will improve quality.
Fun fact, if you give your plants a shot of that just as you change the light cycle, it will also reduce stretching and the plants will start to build flowers earlier. AN used to sell the same product under the name "bud blood" same pk 39/25. Its all just crop steering. If you use a three-part fertiliser, then you can do all of that without using the powders.
I've looked over A LOT of data over the last few months, and I can tell you that Cannabis is a hyper accumulator of nutrients. It will gobble up all of the shit you throw at it even if it doesn't need it. I'm guessing this is why its very easy to overfeed Cannabis. Unfortunately, this can lead to a situation where you're overfeeding for a while without knowing or symptoms, then when symptoms present, it's too late to do anything about. I've leant the hard way using Terra Aquatica. Ca lockout due to Mn accumulation. Really fucks the plants up. Check these out. The buds are fine, but the leaves are fucked due to the toxic build-up of Mn. It also leads to that dark green look due to the plants holding onto nitrate. Starts with flecking on the older leaves, but around the mid to top of the plant. Once you see that, it's game over. You can flush all you want, all you'll do is make things worse.
This is especially true for a lot of the immobile micronutrients. Something to consider when formulating nutrients for Cannabis. This also presents some issues when coming to conclusions from data points. An agronomist might look at sap analysis and disposition rates and come to the conclusion that Canna likes a lot of N towards the end as well as high P and K. This is because Cannabis loves feeding and it will love life. The agronomist will say job done and here's a recipe based on the results. That's great, but only if you're looking for weight. It turns out Cannabis is a greedy plant that will get lazy when you feed it too much and not produce secondary metabolites. This is where a lot of the belief that PK is required for cannabis. Looking at sap analysis, you can see the plants are trying to take up all of the K thrown at it and the plants will start to canabilise the leaves for all the P. This is why "fading" occurs if you don't push the fertiliser too much. Many of these companies like Canna must have looked at the data and concluded that Cannabis needs lots of P and K in flower, however, recent studies suggest that this is a natural occurance and should happen without supplementation for optimal results. If you don't push the P and K, flushing is no longer required. If you have and the plant has been busy producing primary metabolites, you will need to flush.
You can think of it as fat vs muscle. If fed a diet of high NPK, the plant will get fat, but if fed a balanced diet and given a bit of stress, it will produce muscle. We want muscle not fat :)
Another thing to consider, turns out its very cultivar dependent on how they respond. I've seen quite a bit of sap analysis data now and indica strains (fat leaves) will stop accumulating Ca much earlier in the generative phase than a sativa (thin leaves). Its funny because when you see enough data, you can tell by looking at the leaves :) I'm sure there's much more to discover though.
Anyway, tl;dr version, it works, but it's not optimal for quality IMHO. And all PK is bad for the environment. PK bloom boosters need to be laid to rest
