hello, i was planning on adding some molasses to my pots, however, i run a very stealth grow and bringing in water is not an option. the pots are actually sitting in swamp muck so they stay wet all the time - but at this point in the summer there isn't much free standing water to fill a jug. yall think it would be okay to just put some molasses (and bonemeal) on the soil and hope for some rain? not much rain in the forecast. any other suggestions for getting it in there giving my conditions? mix up some swamp muck molasses slurry? idk? thanks.
guerrilla growing? nice! um, if you need to add them to your plants, that seems to be your only option. you could mix it in with a couple waterbottles and just pour a little bit on each of your plants. It wouldn't be that hard, just bring em in a backpack
I think I would mix up whatever molasses you decide on in the smallest amount of water you can carry in, and still water it in from the top. Even if your plants get their water by capillary action, gravity should still work. But being stealth, i would probably skip the molasses, due to critters being attracted to it, and the limited nature of just molasses, instead I would give them a well rounded dry fertilizer, such as espomas tone ferts or rainbow mix or one of the fox farms. They can be simply top dressed, then rain will melt them in......good luck......MIW
MIW has a very valid point. The gallon of Hi Brix molasses I have was being marketed as an attractant for deer hunters. Even has a nice buck on the label. Might not be the best thing to be dumping on your plants in the woods. Wet
not too worried about animals cause it's in the middle of a swamp. there are some muskrats and beavers and whatnot, but i honestly don't think deer will go out there. they'd be sinking pretty deep in the muck and i assume deer don't like to get bogged down or feel immobile at all. is that correct? i'm just assuming. any other NE animals i should be worried about smoking up my ish?
Trapper, even if the critters don't get to your plants, I think a dry fertilizer would be a more well rounded fert than just molasses. Espoma plant tone runs $5 for a 5lb package around me. That $5 could fertilize a shit load of plants. It is good stuff and resonablely priced. The molasses would be good microbe food, but not what i would consider to be complete. I guess if your soil is already heavily amended, and critters will not cause problems, than ya go for it.......MIW
I recently had the same style grow and also used molasses and as the others said, critters, small and large, start coming out to see what that nice sweet scent is. And just for the info, I also used fish emulsion once and came back to find a racoon or something actually dug the entire plant up. Digging after the scent it left behind. I eventually had to add a DIY cage around the lone survivor. Just something to think about. IMO, I would stay away from using it when your outdoors where you don't have much control over things.
Muskrats and beaver LOVE sweets! Toss out an apple or ten aroung the area, and see if any are left by morning! Swamp muck has plenty of microbes and such in it already.
For critters the dried molasses is THE worst thing you can use outdoors - talk about digging around to get to it. I have heard of outdoor growers using dried molasses around huge weeds and such - it works. HTH LD
ok - so molasses is a bad idea out in the bush. what about some bone meal for added phosphorus during the flowering period? i ask b/c i already bought the molasses and bone meal. thanks for all the advice - i hadn't read anything about attracting animals in all the molasses threads i read.
i'm with the rest... molassas might be a bit too tricky what with pests and stuff... besides, it's not quite a fertilizer, it just makes the plant happier with what it's got (and promotes a good soil microbe population which helps some fertilizer chemicals break down into easier to eat (by the plant) chunks.) maybe save the molassas and make cannabutter enhanced gingersnaps? they're dangerous though because they are the perfect munchie food (even if they're dosed.)
To combat those rodents, I tried alot of different ideas. I've tried a little mix of cayenne pepper, ground red pepper, and anything else uber hot I could find, then I spinkled it around my plant's. Even used some soap, copped up real good, and spread around the area. The more scented, the better. Now, I don't know 100% if it worked, but they definately stayed away for a while. I ended up putting a small cage around the plant, being it was short.
I've had skunks and coon dig around into the places I've topped dressed bonemeal in my gardens...not so much if it's mixed in.
Hate to tell you this but something is dead. Where do you think blood, bone and fish meals come from? I've planted outside using them and have had issues with animals.
Yeah, I knew there was dead animal "meal" in there. I said smells like something dead because it didn't smell like dead fish. Smells more like road kill. I've read where people had trouble with the fish ingredients and was hoping maybe the road kill smell wouldn't attract coons like the fish smell would. Just trying to console myself since I used it and I'm hoping that when I return everything won't be wrong side up. Scoob you can always get a job as a smart ass! Atleast the other smart ass answered my question. Thanks for the info killset.
I wasn't being a smart ass at all. There's really people who wouldn't know. I've seen way worse on here. If you think the smell isn't going to attract coons as much because you don't like it, you have lots to learn about wildlife. Animals are part of growing outdoors and lots of things they love you wouldn't exactly want yourself. Animals like coons are scavengers and eat far worse smelling things. Expect possible loss. I use the same holes now year after year in which I just amend with my own compost. It's not nearly as bad as when I tried things like meals and such but it still happens. Some try things like human and animal urine but wildlife can grow accustomed to that fairly easy. I hunt and quite often see animal tracks around where I peed the day before. If your on someone else's land please don't use chemical repellents as a hunter and nature lover it makes me cringe and they don't last
Didn't say I didn't like it, but that's a good assumption as most people don't like the smell of decay. When I first opened the bag I didn't give it a wiff test but I did notice an odor similiar to chicken litter. Anyway killset did you use fox farms dry fertilizer or some of the fish meal ? I'm only asking this question because I don't like the answer I give myself. Kind of hoping that the combo of bat shit and fish meal somehow negates a coons desire for that fish meal which is an ingredient in the fert.