I didn't read every post here....but this is my experience with molasses...It does the same exact thing as "Sweet" You only use it in the later stage of harvest to help your buds become more sparkly and frosty!!! I usually bring it on in small amounts during about week 3 of flower and gradually increase using it until a week-10 days before flower which is when I start to flush... Oh, and I only used molasses once for a huge outdoor because these guys I was growing with had a bunch of extra jars...I think its a little cheaper than sweet....but sweet works way better...It doesn;t increase yield it just increases the crystals and resin on your buds...use sweet not molasses tho....works better EDIT: whoever is saying to use molasses in veg is wrong!!! all molasses does is increase resin, and the only time you have resin producing on your BUDS is the later stages in flower...don't use in veg!!
this is almost exactly what I did last year. w3 started using unsulphured molasses and gradually increased up till they got stolen. I hear tons of people saying it does nothing others saying it does. my first ever grow last summers colas were so much stickier than this first indoor im on. I havnt used molasses this time. both are the same strain last grow was organic this grow is bottled. so im not sure. wish someone who actually had some scientific data to back up what they had to say could give me some insight here. ment to quote shortstuff sorry.
Shizmot, I will try to make this as short and sweet (like my kine) as possible. I have been growing cannabis 30 years, and yes I am an evil grow genius when it comes to the sticky icky. The big Mo is fantastic in soil, should be totally avoided in hydroponics, period. Will it increase your yield 30%, highly unlikely. I could agree with 10% yield increase, maybe 15% if all other conditions are perfect as well. The big mo is great for the soil as it provides food for microbes with are very important in the process of making nutrients available for your plant to uptake. It also provides much needed carbohydrates which are in high demand during budding. Surprisingly making buds sweeter is probably the smallest of the benefits provided by the big mo. Many "sweeteners" incorporate the big mo in their ingredients. The key to sweet buds is actually shit! Yes thats right shit, or manure for this situation. Bat shit, sea bird shit, chicken shit, cow shit are the primary types of shit you want to use. There are some other manures that also work well, but these four are the most readily available everywhere. Be careful as manures can make your soil "hot". Couple of keys to using the big mo are only buy pure black strap molasses, sometimes grocery stores will have it in their organic foods section. Also make sure you mix it into water very thoroughly. I use a 5 gallon bucket, a power drill, and a non-used paint mixing bit. Doesnt take to much of the big mo to achieve the right color. Your mixture should be a golden brown once mixed. I will even throw in a bonus secret tip for you, I also mix in a silicate supplement with the big mo. That really gets the resin and crystals production into high gear. I attached a photo to demonstrate what I am talking about. This is a pic from my garden last year. Not a great pic, but notice how white the bud is. That is all crystal goodness!! The bud in this pic is only half way through flowering! Good luck and may you be home half an hour before the devil knows your dead. Ciao.
Over the years I really haven't seen a difference using molasses. I use it anyways. The few people here who say to use it dont have any facts to state it other than comparing one grow to another. Mollasses is a legend passed down from dummy to stoner.
Sorry to disappoint you all but i too though molasses was going to help with all the above. The truth is plants can only absorb at a cellular level and molasses in. But the bacteria in soil can eat it then shit it out and only then can the plant uptake it
Here's the second part . You can only give it very little because the molasses will literally make a barrier on the roots and not allow anything to get in
Here is another bad thing when your bacteria eat and multiples very fast due to the molasses if there is not enough nutrition in the soil for the bacteria they will die because of over population eating everything available in a short time So it is best used in a living soil out door in very little quantity
i use raw cane sugar instead because u have to heat the water to dissolve the molasses down and raw cane sugar dissolves in cold water no problem and there about the same thing
I'm gonna tell you all the big secret to molasses and increased yield... You ready?... It only works on some strains and not others, that's it. Oh yeah, and it wont work in hydro. I've been screwing around with molasses on and off for the past 10 years and I've seen it give me a decent 10-15% increase ON CERTAIN VARIETIES while doing absolutely nothing on others. My GSC absolutely loves molasses in flower, but if you gave the same treatment to my Master Kush you wont notice a damn thing different AT ALL. I think it has a lot to do with the method in which the plant was bred, was it a hydro grow for generations? or was it organic? The best impact is hands down with the organically bred plants due to the fact that those plants have more 'experience' in how to handle those conditions since their parents and grandparents were grown in similar conditions. Since its only decent application is in organic soil, you cant treat it like a normal fertilizer either. Just 1.5 tsp per gal in the beginning of 12/12 and another application about halfway into flower is all you really need to see an increase in microbial activity. The point isn't to get the plant to take up the molasses, its to feed the microbeasties in your soil who in turn process nutrients faster for your plants to use resulting in larger yields. So in short, organically bred plants. Use organic soil(duh). Might work with some varieties, might not in others. 1.5 tsp in the beginning of flower, 1.5 tsp halfway through flower. MOLASSES IS NOT A FERTILIZER. Hope this helps clear some stuff up.
I've been gardening organically for 30+ yrs now. so has my father and grandfather before me. we always used molasses in the garden. its NOT a fertilizer but does contain some trace minerals. its mostly natural sugar which is carbs that feeds the fungi and good bacteria in your soil that are attached to your root hairs. they in turn help increase the uptake of nutrients to the plant, giving you better yields and a more nutritionally diverse plant which improves flavor, wether its tomatoes or weed. you must brew it with a bubbler in water w/ nutes and a mycrozial fungi supplement like great white for at least 48 hrs. before using. and don't use much! 1/4 tsp. per gal. is more than enough. its concentrated sugar. too much will draw in bugs and make your ph bottom out , rotting the roots! used correctly molasses will definitely give bigger yields and better buds in soil grows! should help also in coco but not as much as you're flushing it out each watering. some will remain in the root ball tho. hope this helps.
Molasses is food for the micro organisms and provides a bit of iron. Hopefully people read through this whole thread and realize it's full of incorrect information. It's from the point of view of what is it going to do for my plant rather than what will it do for my soil.
Thanks. I feel the same way. There are great pieces of knowledge in here but you have to dig pretty deep. Perhaps it's the weakness of the forum style of information that helps it to fall apart.