Molasses

Discussion in 'Advanced Growing Techniques' started by suspect, Jun 20, 2007.

  1. does anyone know anything about the use of molasses as a source of carbs and secondary nutrients...please let met me know!!!!????
     
  2. I use molasses with every grow and love it. I got mine from amazon dot com - feed grade blackstrap molasses. Full of micronutrients and carbs. Great stuff
     
  3. You can also try botanicare's sweet or adv nutrient's sweet leaf. Might cost a bit more than mixing yourself, but they are ready to go!

    Good luck!
     
  4. Just get Advanced Nutrients Carbo-load....I mean come on- $15-20 for the stuff when you'll pay $10-20 for molassas. It was developed by people that use it on what we do and its tried tested and true. Stick with what works...If you use molassas and it works -use it -if you never have -Use something that does and is at least used for what you are useing it for..
     
  5. Multicellular plants can't absorb complex carbohydrates. Molasses may be useful for feeding microbes in soil (or helping along root diseases), but cannabis plants will ignore the stuff. The sugar molecules probably won't get past the root barrier, but even if they did- do you actually WANT to inhale burning sugar smoke? Not I.

    Clever marketers nick buzzwords out of everyday parlance to sell products. "Carbo-loading" is something a marathon runner may do; before a race, the runner may eat a bunch of pasta. The term is meaningless when applied to cannabis plants.

    Go ahead- check me out- just try to find a piece of peer-reviewed botanical research that says plants can use sugars as a fertiliser.

    Good luck searching!
     
  6. i did and didnt like what i found.i now have a gallon jug of heavy weight(molasses) I will never use on my pot.Though i may try it our for my organic tomato grow!!! on another note molasses is a great chelator.it also contributes some k and some micros.think of molasses as a food for the soil,not the plant.at any rate i will never pour this expensive ass crap into my res!!
     
  7. About all I have ever found that suggests molasses (or sugar beet processing waste) is useful in horticulture is in encouraging certain beneficial microbes- in soils. However, I don't know how one would encourage the beneficial microbes in soil without encouraging all of them.

    Regardless, one should simply never put sugars in a hydro reservoir. Leave a glass of sugary water on the kitchen counter for a week and you'll see why!
     
  8. From what I have read, products like botanicare's sweet or adv nutrient's sweet leaf enhance flavor. Both are organic too.

    [​IMG]

    Sweet: Cane sugar, citric acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, niacin, glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, serine, threonine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, asparagine, glutamine, lysine, arginine, histidine, cysteine, cystine, methionine, proline, phenylalanine, tyrosine, trytophan, Epsom salt, ferrous sulfate, agrimineral™ 76 micro complex.

    Good luck!
     
  9. if you want carbs use
    advanced nutrients Carboload
    [​IMG]
     

  10. Why not just save about 15 dollars and buy a bottle of Grandma''s Molasses from the market shelf. There IS NO DIFFERENCE except in the price
     
  11. *sigh*

    yeah, me too.

    Why not bury roast beef sandwiches in your soil?

    mmm.... saaaaaaandwiches.... :D
     
  12. if you dudes have never read a paper or research project that shows the benefits of added carbs in flowering mj plants you werent looking hard enough. maybe what i read wasn't studied at harvard, but in a side-by-side compairison, one plant using no added carbs and one plant using blackstrap, the plant that had added carbs had bigger buds that weighed more, sweeter smoke, and an all around more robust nature. of course this is as a suplement and not as a stand alone fert, but still. there are too many of use here who have used it and saw a difference to deny it.
     
  13. Link, please?
     
  14. i don't have an exact link, but it's in several HT mag articles by Jorge Cervantes-an accomplished grower we all know. also several of the most respected "heads" here use it. if it didn't work, they wouldn't. just because there isn't documentation of it by a PHD doesn't meant it doesn't work.
     
  15. No link, no proof.

    Maybe you're just not looking hard enough... :D

    You'd think if Jorge thought so much of molasses, he'd at least put it in one of his grow books like Indoor Marijuana Horticulture (ISBN 1-878823-17-5). Notable by its absence. I will also say that cannabis entertainment writers will discuss many a thing, but not even Jorge is in the business of double-blind scientific proofs.

    Don't get me wrong- I not only like Jorge but have met him on several occasions and we've discussed a collaboration, writing a new grow book on practical indoor growing.

    OK, so... you can't document any credible botanical science... and you're saying that just because other people use something, despite lack of any credible science, it suddenly "works."

    Well, that's helpful. :rolleyes:

    Simple as this, if something can't be proven scientifically to be useful in a grow op - leave it out.
     
  16. Just google: molasses photosynthesis

    and you can see some articles.


    http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/540carbohydrates.html

    Carbohydrate Functions:

    Carbohydrates are initially synthesized in plants from a complex series of reactions involving photosynthesis.

    -Store energy in the form of starch (photosynthesis in plants) or glycogen (in animals and humans).

    -Provide energy through metabolism pathways and cycles.

    -Supply carbon for synthesis of other compounds.

    -Form structural components in cells and tissues.

    Photosynthesis is a complex series of reactions carried out by algae, phytoplankton, and the leaves in plants, which utilize the energy from the sun. The simplified version of this chemical reaction is to utilize carbon dioxide molecules from the air and water molecules and the energy from the sun to produce a simple sugar such as glucose and oxygen molecules as a by product. The simple sugars are then converted into other molecules such as starch, fats, proteins, enzymes, and DNA/RNA i.e. all of the other molecules in living plants. All of the "matter/stuff" of a plant ultimately is produced as a result of this photosynthesis reaction.

    http://www.txplant-soillab.com/page29.htm

    NVIRONMENTAL FACTORS that affect when and how much sugar to use:
    a. How much nitrate is in the soil, and plant sap (petiole test).
    b. Soil moisture conditions. e. Wind
    c. Sunlight intensity. f. Fruiting stage / load
    d. Temperature. g. Growth / vigor [shade lower leaves]
    The right amount at the right time can improve fruiting and produce normal plant growth with less attraction for disease and insects.
    Needed for healthy plants - fruit production - plant development & maturity.

    Roots take nutrients from the soil and transport them up the stalk thru the petiole (stem) to the leaves where the sunlight aids the production of photosynthates (sugars are not the ONLY product of photosynthesis) carbohydrates (C, H & O), principally glucose (C6H12O6) and then other sugars and photosynthates are formed.
    Plant Sugars and other photosynthates are first translocated (boron is essential to the translocation) to a fruiting site. If fruit is not available, the sugars, along with excess nitrates, spur the rapid vegetative growth of the plant at the expense of creating fruiting bodies (first sink) for the storage of the sugars. Once the proper balance of environmental factors (heat units, light intensity, soil moisture, nutrient balance, etc) are met the fruiting buds form and then fruit formation gets the first crack at the sugar supply.
    Any excess sugars are then translocated to the number two sink, (growing
    terminals,) to speed their growth. The left-over sugars, etc then go to the
    number 3 sink, (the roots,) to aid their growth. Here the new root hairs take up
    nutrients to help continue the cycle of sugar and other photosynthate
    production, fruiting, growth of terminals and roots.

    ADDED SUGARS CAN AID THE PLANT IN SEVERAL WAYS:
    - MOLASSES is probably the best outside source of many sugars, such as table
    sugar, corn syrup and several more complex sugars such as polysaccharides
    found in humus products.
    - Sugar can be added to the soil in irrigation water, drip & pivot being the most
    effective.
    * In the soil it can:
    - Feed microbes to stimulate the conversion of nitrates to the
    more efficient NH2 form of N to synthesize protein more directly by the
    plants.
    - The roots can directly absorb some of the sugars into the sap stream to
    supplement the leaf supply to fruit where it is most needed, and ALSO
    directly feed the roots for continued productive growth.
    - This ADDED sugar can also help initiate fruiting buds in a steady-slow
    fashion while maintaining normal growth.
    -EXCESSIVE amounts of ADDED SUGARS applied foliarly can shock the
    plant resulting in shortened growth internodes, increased leaf maturity &
    initiation of excess fruiting sites. This can be a short term effect lasting only
    a few days. Pollination, soil moisture, nutrient balance and sufficiency as
    well as adequate light for photosynthate production decide how much of
    the induced fruit can mature.

    ADDED SUGARS can be beneficial when:
    # Nitrates are excessively high in the soil and plants
    - SOIL - The NO3 form of N must be converted to the NH2 form for the
    development of protein N for the plant to properly assimilate. The conversion
    requires energy so the plant's supply natural of carbohydrates (sugars) is
    utilized at the expense of better fruit development. Adding extra sugars to the
    soil supplies energy for the soil microbes to convert the nitrate so that the
    naturally produced sugars in the leaves do not have to be wasted supplying
    energy for the photosynthesis processes in the leaves, but then can directly
    support producing fruit.
    - Also, roots can utilize the extra sugars for their normal growth and plant
    functions, especially when the leaves are not producing adequate sugars for
    fruit, root and shoot growth, which causes plant cut-out.
    - Sugars can be added to the soil in water and fertilizers.

    - PLANT - Sugars applied foliarly to the plant are utilized much faster than soil
    applied, and there can be a shock effect if overdosing occurs. Sugars can be
    directly assimilated into the photosynthesis process occurring in the leaf,
    speeding maturity and producing more natural sugars. This reaction occurs
    within hours of application and fades in a 5-10 day window. It supplements
    the Naturally produced sugars and excess is transported to the fruit
    producing areas to initiate fruiting buds or supply fruit development: excess
    then goes to the growth terminals to sustain new growth and future fruiting
    sites: the remaining sugars go to the roots to sustain their new growth. (Young
    root hairs take up most of the phosphate which show up in the sap with the
    petiole phosphate tests thus predicting plant cut-out).

    # Cloudy days and low sunlight intensity - reduces natural sugar production causing
    less fruit set or sloughing young fruit, longer space between nodes and fewer
    fruiting buds.

    # Source of energy food for beneficial soil microbes. Microbes existing on soil
    organic matter can multiply faster when there is an abundant energy supply.
    Sugars supply energy for rapid microbial decomposition of raw organic matter
    and thereby release plant nutrients, and conversion of nitrates to the organic
    form amine nitrogen (NH2) that can be directly and efficiently assimilated.

    # Prevent leaf burn from repeated foliar sprays - Carbon (carbohydrates) buffers the
    caustic effect of many chemical nutrients and pesticides. Sugars, humus
    compounds, Urea and other carbon-containing compounds can protect leaf
    surfaces from damage and increase efficacy; must use proper amounts!

    * This is an oversimplification of very complex biological plant functions based on many published articles and on many trial & error crop-log petiole programs on hundreds of fields across thousands of acres.
     
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  17. looks like psionblue did my work for me! thanks! i was at work and couldn't stop my job to dig up some links because someone is so closedminded to not even entertain the idea. you say you've met Jorge? got any proof? any pics? if not, must be you didn't meet him. it wasn't documented.
     

  18. [​IMG]

    Well, my vision isn't very good and I'm not very smart, so it probably wasn't him. :D :D :D
     

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