Supplemental Foliar Feeding with Fox Farms???

dont do it man. I see no reason to mist plants with water, let alone with a nutrient mix.

I think if you peruse the forums, you will see that most people do not recommend misting plants. You might see some who say that during veg, it is ok to give them a misting with water if in a dry environment. I really haven't seen posts where foliar feeding is either touted as being awesome or even really recommended.

I'm also not sure if plants really have the metabolic capability to intake "nutrients" from the leaves. I dont know though, that seems like what the roots are for.

Are you flowerin or veggin?

If you think you plants are hungry, get a TDS/PPM meter and take a runoff reading, or if in hydro, you should readily know how to adjust the strenghth of your solution.

 

Depending on the plant nutrient uptake is as much as 900% more efficient then root uptake. Plants however need far too much N,P,K for this to be an effective form of feeding for macronutrients.

Foliar feeding also increases risk of fungus especially inside your buds during flowering and can also cause leaf burn which is why its suggested to foliar feed during lights off. The major advantage to foliar feeding is that plants will absorb nutrients through the leaves even if your soil PH is WAY off so it can be helpful if used in combination with correcting PH to provide an immediate improvement. I was told not to foliar feed unless your temps + humidity are <135 and only during veg or to correct a specific micronutrient deficiency.

I havn't seen any noticable benifits to foliar feeding except in a case of mag deficient bonsai but I do it anyways cause it makes me feel better if I have something to do lol.

 

More sensitive a method.

Not a bad idea to 'wash' your leaves on occasion, cleans dust and things off the leaves, just like a solar panel.

Neeming is done as a foliar application, and must be washed off afterwards.

If you feel you want to, make sure you have adequate ventilation to prevent mildew/fungus problems. And I'd suggest a pure water wash after the feeding, maybe an hour or so later to prevent material buildup and respiration blockage.

 

i also read that foliar feeding should only be used on an as-need basis to fix a BAD deficiency. if and when you do, dilute it it like crazy... like 1/8th tsp per gal

 

I learn new stuff every day, that is fo sho.

Do you happen to have a link or some recommendation where I could pursue some additional information regarding foliar nutrient uptake?

 

How far along in flowering are you?

 

Some basic articles about Foliar feeding.
http://www.dramm.com/media/fish/Foliar Feeding Reprint.pdf
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/foliar.pdf

More advanced paper from the National Research Center in Cairo Egypt.
Fulltext

You could also try and look up some of the tests Dr. H. B. Turkey did to prove the effects of foliar nutrient uptake. I believe he used radio active phosphorus and a geiger counter to measure the progression of the phosphorus through the plant. I think it was absorbed by the leaves in under 5 mins progressed to the stems in 15 mins and reached the roots in under an hour.

Also if you're into the science aspect of growing you should look into the emerson enhancement effect. I'm sure you can find a bunch of information by googling it but the short version is that if you can get the right ratio of light to stimulate both photosystems in a plant you can increase photosynthesis by 35%. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

Thanks for the info, I read both articles and the concept certainly is worth learning more information about.

Apart from doing it for a specific deficiency, do you do foliar feedin during veg?

 

I do but not because of any noticeable results, I just like to spend time with my plants and it gives me something to do.

 

food for thought... i met this man with a pHD in horticultural science, i think it was.
he was telling me that if u mist ur plants with beneficials, he used 23 different ones. with a pH of 6.4 ur plants will do what they are ment to do, and that is intake food from roots at 20% and intake food from the atmosphere at 80%, and they saw an increase in yield by 200%, they were growing bananas.
ive heard alot of people say that plants cannot intake food from leaves that is incorrect. they can and do it all the time, (have u ever hear of an air fern) also sea kelp takes in nutes from its leaves, and only has roots to hold on to rocks.
so spray away but be sure to follow instructions

 

Correct me if I am wrong, Don't plants get moisture from their leaves in nature? Rain, dew etc!?

Since I started misting my plants they have greened up and grow a quite a bunch. I WILL CONTINUE using my spray bottle. Each to his own...

 

I live in the desert so I felt misting was very beneficial. My problem is I used too much ferts when I misted and I think I caused some burning. I tried to overcome what I felt was nute lock out, but I am way too much of a newbie to have figured that out correctly.

If I do not mist I am constantly battling a 20% humidity issue in my tent. I hang wet towels etc., which helps also. Plants definitely uptake water and I would guess nutes in a water solution would, also. I know my plants would perk up with only water mist before I would water the soil.

Jak

 

I know alot of people are agains misting plants. But i mist minr and there doing FANTASITC. I MIST them(regular water) 3-4times a day depending on the temp.
I dont know about using nutes and misting like the tiger bloom bottle says. But my plants are doinflg amazing

 

Idk if this pic will show up

 

Im no scientist (magnets, how do they work), but heres my take on foliar feeding.
Only do it in dire circumstances of deficiencies (ya know, after flushing n such)
I think that supplying nutrients to the leaves would somewhat give your root system a handicap.
Lets suppose it does increase "something". The percentage is probably negligable and wont really matter unless youre growing on a large scale. (2% increase in yield aint shit on 4 plants, but 100+ it can add up. Maybe? Ime stoned)
Its not worth the extra time and risks to do it for any other reason than correcting a deficiency.

 

I don't mist my plants with nutes, just straight water and there doing perfectly fine! I cut way back bc there flowering

 

don't spray anything on your buds