By continuing to use the website or clicking Accept you consent to our cookies and personal data policy. For details please see Privacy Policy
Accept
Flipping Day or Flower day? Nutrients
Sonic_Ystarted grow question a year ago
Hi.
I flipped my plants to flower 12/12 yesterday.
I'm growing on coco and planning fertigation once a day.
My nutrient company chart is showing me the flowering nutrients.
Do i have to start at flipping day or the day, they actually flower? thxadv..:)
Solved
Week 5 like
Sit_Ubu_Sit_Good_Doganswered grow question a year ago
there are several studies that show that going over various concentrations don't do anything but waste fertilizer.. "Boosting" usually doesn't have an effect unless you were underfeeding prior to that point.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8635921/
-- among other good sources of information.. google is a good search engine.
One note: in this study they are using N-sources unlike that used in soilless/hydro nutes (or something to this effect, if slightly off in explanation). You only need 110-130 ish PPM of N with readily available sources that don't rely on a microbe or whatever to break it down before it is plant-available and can enter through the roots. They mention this in the report at some point. They also point out the limitiations of the study, but it paints a good picture, nonetheless.
Force feeding a plant more than it can use doesn't help anything. Doies a plant need slightly different formula in bloom? probably, but nothign like what these nutrient companies suggest.
soilless / hydro
1-1-2 NPK ratios
4-2-1 K-Ca-Mg
~100 ppm S
All adding up to 1.3-1.5 EC, possibly even higher in some cases, but same ratios needed.
i find i do have to drop N about 10-15% in flower, which i don't consider a drastic change... I also lower Mg in flower closer to the suggested ratios above... i give more prior due to how i see the plant react and grow while trying i different levels and maintaining levels everything else as well as i can. No idea if i'm right, but having good results so far.
these are not written in stone, they are loose ideas to use as a tool to hasten trial and error as you adjust formula and hopefully get better results or revert and retry again until you do. consistency is required not to create a fog of war... easy to misattribute cause to the wrong effect if changing several things at once.. personal bias typically dictates what people want to give credit. it's messy and complicated... these companies don't even hire a chemist, i bet... stick to knowledge that is based upon many, many people working in professional ways to figure things out... far exceeds any 1 human's perception.
Another interesting read that pokes hole in the generally accepted nonsense that you need to drasticalyl amp up P in flower...
https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/article/balancing-the-nutrient-equation-cannabis-cultivation/
Sit_Ubu_Sit_Good_Doganswered grow question a year ago
those ratios are not exactly precise... they are rounded... there are other relevant factors to consider.. but tehy are better than starting blindly. soil grows probably want 2-1-2 npk ratio unless they use soilesss/hydro nutes... also, probaly why the perceptions of the need to drastically drop N formed... due to that lag between adding N and it being able to traverse the roots and be used in the plant, you have a much higher potential of N in soil than a soilless medium that is just N on demand.
Much larger lag between cessation of adding N to medium and being used in soil... so even after you stop, the buildup of unavailable N is still be processed by microbes... where as with soilless/hydro, a rez change or thorough watering shifts concentration immediately in hydro and still much much faster in the case of soilless too.
some perception formed due to a context that does not apply to all grows... this is a common problem with anecodotes..
like
Complain
m0useanswered grow question a year ago
I would only start to do it once the main part of stretch is complete.
Flipping nutrients right away is normally not good as flower nutrients tend to cut out most of the N and its still very much needed in beginning of flower, not to say its not important later on, it is. just the bro culture of growing has made it seem like you have to reduce it down far to much and companies do this now as well in their bloom products formulation. One article I read showed that the amount of N used in veg and flower did not differ that much. maybe it used 10% less. but not the extent that some proclaim.
Good Luck!
2 likes
Complain
Organomananswered grow question a year ago
Personally, I wait until flowers are starting to form before changing.
This seems to help prevent nitrogen depletion at the end of flowering.
Cannabis still needs adequate nitrogen in early flower.
A lot of people who switch on day one seem to run into nutrient deficiencies, especially nitrogen, during late flower in my observation.
1 like
Complain