If you choose not to feed your plants at all (Just water) during its life cycle, would it be down on yeild adn potency ? Just interested, thanks all.
Leaves would turn yellow and die and would probably get deficiencies. The pot would yield less and be less potent without feeding a good fert. Using organics and ammending the soil with proper nutes etc would allow you to use a compost tea, ACCT tea two to three time during the grow and using just water the rest of the time. There are tons of good soil and tea recipes in organics forum.
none of these things are true if you have a good soil mix that has enough nutrients in it. i know some people organic people who just use plain water throughout the cycle, just remember the plant wants and needs those nutes so you have to get it to her differently.
this is all untrue. organic soil mixes, compost and shit, will give you all the nutes you needs. depends on the media, broseph
So then why do the majority of people use top end ferts ? Surely you cant force feed a plant. How do i know when all the nutes in the soil have been used up ? do i then re-pot with mnore fresh soil so it can use that. Thanks.
Start off with 1/2 the recommended dose on the label, or less....Keep an eye on your plants for signs of yellowing leaves(low N), nitrogen burn(high N) and general health. You can raise, or lower the dose according to how your plants look. Best to not overfeed and fert every other watering. There are other symptoms to watch for, but nitrogen is most common. Always check the ph of the water/solution and maintain a 6.5-6.8 ph to avoid any nute lockout... Unfortunately you really can't tell in a soil grow if nutes are depleated except for a visual appearance of the plant. In a hydro system you adjust the nutes in the reservoir to maintain a consistent ppm of nutes and requires a ppm tester..... You don't need a high end pricy fert like AN. Some cheaper priced ferts are General Hydroponics, House and Garden etc.....
He wasn't talking about amended mixes. 'Water only' mixes have the food in there, at least mine does. He asked about water only with no nutes in the soil or from a bottle. Wet
Thanks ColaFarmer some simple tips there, I was wondering what the PH parameters were but I have that answered thanks to you. If you planted a seed in a big enough container with quality soil then that would be enough for the plants life before it used all the nutrient.
I can't say for sure about not using any additional nutrients; however, I was skeptical on my first grow if I should even bother using them or not and they were worth every penny and then some. I went with the fox farms nute line in a soil grow and I noticed a huge difference within 12 hours of switching the plants from just water (foxfarms ocean soil which I believe had some nutrients in them). YMMV but to me they are completely worth it.
Thanks dejavu11 I'll defo go down the road of using nutes on my grow, sorry my replies aren't that long but I'm on an iPhone and it's soo fidley
Best to start the seed in a party cup first in humidity dome, or cover with plastic sw bags. The soil in the cuo will have enough nutes for a couple weeks. When the plants are about 6" tall you can transplant into larger container... Use potting soil that dose not have time release ferts added, or blend an all organic mix... FFOF is good soil, but might be a little potent for the seedling. I use MG seedling mix to start seeds and works well. Anything beyond their MG seedling mix and you may have problems....
Thanks Colafarmer, my seedlings are in 6 inch pots with john innes no.1 soil & some vermaculite for areation. 1 of 4 of the seeds has it's first leaves above the soil. I'm on 12/12 already and I use a mist spray bottle to moisten the soil every day until the seedlings are a little tougher.