Need advice on how strong I should be feeding.

[Loc Dog]

I have been growing nothing but GG4 for a long time, which was great since I was told exactly how to feed, starting at 300 PPM, then never more than 650 PPM through flower, or it would turn out badly.

I just got 5 new strains - Has anyone grown any of these strains - Gush Mintz (purple city), Bruce Banner #3 (Delta9). NYC Piff #3 (purple city), Chemdawg #4, or GMO Cookies (Dark Heart). Any info would help. but most interested in PPM that it likes Veg and Flower.

I feed the GH hydro series fertilizer. What do you look for that says it needs more or less strength feed??

Will find the lineage for those strains in case anyone has grown the parents. TIA.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Cannabis has a very large gap between enough feed for healthy and vigorous growth, and enough feed where it begins to look overfed. Cannabis is an accumulator plant, and one characteristic of accumulators is absorbing excess without actually showing it until levels get very high. Unfortunately, the quality of your end flower begins to decline as soon as you pass "fed enough."

This means you can easily overfeed and ruin end quality by feeding till it looks "overfed" and back off a bit. Instead, to keep end quality as high as possible, I feed new genetics lightly and slowly increase strength until healthy and vigorous growth happens. You will need to increase this level slightly during flower. (of course)

Hope that helps.

 

[Loc Dog]

Cannabis has a very large gap between enough feed for healthy and vigorous growth, and enough feed where it begins to look overfed. Cannabis is an accumulator plant, and one characteristic of accumulators is absorbing excess without actually showing it until levels get very high. Unfortunately, the quality of your end flower begins to decline as soon as you pass "fed enough."

This means you can easily overfeed and ruin end quality by feeding till it looks "overfed" and back off a bit. Instead, to keep end quality as high as possible, I feed new genetics lightly and slowly increase strength until healthy and vigorous growth happens. You will need to increase this level slightly during flower. (of course)

Hope that helps.

Is the runoff in coir being higher than feed, a sign of over feeding???

 

[Switcher56]

Is the runoff in coir being higher than feed, a sign of over feeding???

Yes! It is usually an indication of residual feed left behind which concentrates in the media used. FWIW (mind you I don't grow in coir) I have dialed in my watering/dry and feed cycles, to where it needs to be, pretty much regardless which strain I am growing. I hope that helps

Forgot to add, I am really anal when it comes to maintaining proper VPD throughout the growing cycle, which IMHO is an extremely important factor.

 

[Loc Dog]

Cannabis has a very large gap between enough feed for healthy and vigorous growth, and enough feed where it begins to look overfed. Cannabis is an accumulator plant, and one characteristic of accumulators is absorbing excess without actually showing it until levels get very high. Unfortunately, the quality of your end flower begins to decline as soon as you pass "fed enough."

This means you can easily overfeed and ruin end quality by feeding till it looks "overfed" and back off a bit. Instead, to keep end quality as high as possible, I feed new genetics lightly and slowly increase strength until healthy and vigorous growth happens. You will need to increase this level slightly during flower. (of course)

Hope that helps.

What are signs of under feeding??? GG4, was fed same grow max as flowering max. Why I was hoping for people with experience with those strains. I suck at reading plants. Took a lot of experimentation to figure out.

 

[unnamedmike]

What are signs of under feeding???

In my case, every time, the first nutrients to show up deficiency are calcium in grow, and potasium in bloom (coco + led) Ca and K are easy to spot

 

[Creeperpark]

Talking about pro mix hp, I never go over 300 ppm counting everything from Beginning to End. I feed with a low ppm with every watering. Using pure water is what matters most when it comes to counting nutrient EC. Everyone I know overfeeds their plants. Even at a low ppm I still burned my plants a little.

 

[troutman]

Increase nutrients slowly to avoid problems.

 

[ridoo]

I use canna coco nuts and always feed slowly at first, 1ml/1L is the minus i give to the girls never water with 0 nuts, this is the starter plate , then after 2 or 3 watering i will see by the plants reactions if this is okay for now or if they want more, if okay i usually keep it at 1ml for some watering before starting pushing up slowly, like very slowly, 1.1ml, 1.2ml, but always wait for reactions, it takes little time but i feel it safer like this... also when plants start stretching vegging strong getting large i don't push them on nuts more than usual i only water them more often and keep a good drain all the time, also i read my past grow journals for know what i was given at what time at which strain, i write all this for all my grows since many years and keep those little booklet for next grow, it is for me the best way to not make mistakes...

 

[bushed]

Every grow is different, people who grow I'm very intense light can get away with higher feed.
My advice would be to keep feeding the same as you did for GG, if a plant looks over fed adjust next time around.

 

[Loc Dog]

I use canna coco nuts and always feed slowly at first, 1ml/1L is the minus i give to the girls never water with 0 nuts, this is the starter plate , then after 2 or 3 watering i will see by the plants reactions if this is okay for now or if they want more, if okay i usually keep it at 1ml for some watering before starting pushing up slowly, like very slowly, 1.1ml, 1.2ml, but always wait for reactions, it takes little time but i feel it safer like this... also when plants start stretching vegging strong getting large i don't push them on nuts more than usual i only water them more often and keep a good drain all the time, also i read my past grow journals for know what i was given at what time at which strain, i write all this for all my grows since many years and keep those little booklet for next grow, it is for me the best way to not make mistakes...

That is my problem, that I have no experience reading plants. It seems to be an art, and I have no artistic ability. Was nice with GG4, that I just followed what I was told. I guess I will have to take 4 clones of each, and try different strengths. Is the flower PPM usually the same as max growth PPM?

 

[Loc Dog]

Every grow is different, people who grow I'm very intense light can get away with higher feed.
My advice would be to keep feeding the same as you did for GG, if a plant looks over fed adjust next time around.

Just got 2 new LED panels and setting up a second 4 X 8 tent. Have Vero 29 Gen 7's in the other and can not run full strength or I get bleaching. I do not run CO2 so have to max out at 1000 uMols.

 

[bushed]

Reading the plant is something you will learn over time. You are already taking a less is more approach, which is the right approach. I don't know anything about the new strains you are growing but I doubt as poly hybrids they will be particularly sensitive. You've got this.

 

[ridoo]

That is my problem, that I have no experience reading plants. It seems to be an art, and I have no artistic ability. Was nice with GG4, that I just followed what I was told. I guess I will have to take 4 clones of each, and try different strengths. Is the flower PPM usually the same as max growth PPM?

i usually put some little PK after one week in flower period, very slow like 1ml/L, and keep my basic food at same level as it was at end of vegging, most important for me is drain, and keep watering 1 or 2 times a day, even more if possible/needed (during some hot weather the air can be very dry in y place and coco will dry faster... so i adapt by watering once more)
I remember that with some sativa i had even reduce slightly the basic nuts in flow while adding little PK.
Babes must be green all the time, big leaf always looking for light, stems must be strong for big flowers.
Sometimes you will find a strain that love nuts and will eat a lot and look amazing, but some other strain will like light/low feeding and feel good as well... but if you go slowly, step by step, keep a good drain, and the girls are looking green and strong then you good, always watering at least once a day and never flush with 0 nuts.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I recommend using only basic nutes till after a few runs.

This way, when you try adding a p/k booster or anything besides your basic NPK profile, you'll actually be able to notice the difference.

 

[Loc Dog]

Never updated when I got them, but could also use advice on Chimera #3 Beleaf cut, Fatso, MAC1, Oreo Big Stuff, and Rainbow MAC if anyone has experience. Last 2 were S1's of Copycat Genetix. Also forgot to mention I am growing in coco which is considered drain to waste hydro. I feed GH flora series using their chart. My new clones look so much healthier than the originals, which were infested with spider mites due to one clone having them and I was using fan due to high summer temps. Not sure if spider mites prefer some strains, but they love Chemdawg #4, the 2 spot variety which came from CT.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

What are signs of under feeding??? GG4, was fed same grow max as flowering max. Why I was hoping for people with experience with those strains. I suck at reading plants. Took a lot of experimentation to figure out.

Sorry, I missed this one. Underfeeding will bring about deficiencies. Increasing the nutrient level will see the deficiencies go away. Higher will see a faster growth rate happen. If even more makes for even faster growth than the first growth spurt, bump it up again.

At some point you will notice that adding additional nutrients does not translate to an increase in growth rates. This is the sweet spot I shoot for. It takes time and definitely worth the trouble.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Almost forgot... Flowering will definitely see higher nutrient needs than veg, so that's another work up on it's own.

Should you test it, you'll find there's a HUGE amount of extra nutes you can feed a plant (past the slowdown of vigorous growth) before it begins showing signs of overfeeding. So, when you can visually see the plant has too much nutes in flower you can bet your quality is already tanked out. Blacker ash, hotter smoke, lower terpene/cannabinoid profiles.

 

[iStruggle]

Im doing my first grow in coco and i was terrified of the idea before i read ‘coco for cannabis’. Does a good job of explaining the basics and target ec’s.

As others have said just read the plant. Good thing about coco is if you over/under feed you can fix it quick. Im an organic soil grower and depending on what you feed you might have to just be along for the ride.

 

[-OSAKA CASIO-]

I use canna coco A & B and allmost never go over 1.2 of total ec. maybe for some hybrids, but I usually grow landrace sativas. less is more!