Osmocote, my favorite plant food - easy peasy, complete

[Tomatoesonly]

If you had to guess, how much osmocote (15-9-12) would you use in something that had little to no extra nutrients, like coco? If you had a gallon bag of coco, how much would you mix in and not burn anything?
I was fooling around with this stuff, thought I burnt the ever living crap outta some clones, but one I totally didn't care about, and sorta stuffed in the corner with god knows what in the 1 gallon pot, just TOOK OFF!! So now I'm trying to figure out just WTF I did. I examined the roots ball, and can see the osmocote beads in the "soil". I really think the osmocote did something miraculous.

 

[islandpreservation]

If you had to guess, how much osmocote (15-9-12) would you use in something that had little to no extra nutrients, like coco? If you had a gallon bag of coco, how much would you mix in and not burn anything?
I was fooling around with this stuff, thought I burnt the ever living crap outta some clones, but one I totally didn't care about, and sorta stuffed in the corner with god knows what in the 1 gallon pot, just TOOK OFF!! So now I'm trying to figure out just WTF I did. I examined the roots ball, and can see the osmocote beads in the "soil". I really think the osmocote did something miraculous.

here is a label, it says 32 grams ( 2 TB) of osmocote top dressed to a gallon of media is on high side. https://labelsds.com/images/user_uploads/Osmocote Label 2-27-17.pdf

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Dont let none stop ya. You owe yourself a visit to big island in durian season someday!

What time of the year? Been to Hawaii many a time but never seen Durian, then again didn't really seek it out cause I knew nothing about it then. BTW, biggest mistake tourists and residents alike make is never renting a 4WD and going up to the summit, Mauna Kea. By chance we were taken in by an astronomer and given a personal tour of the infamous Keck observatory. UNREAL! I have sunset pix beginning about 30 minutes prior to sunset and on. Ultra clear skies, never seen so much shiny "crap" going by in space as being up there at 14,000'.

Am growing Kona Sharwil in the greenhouse. A popular variety in Hawaii.

Sharwil cleft graft pushing March 2012. I've top worked most of my trees to multiple varieties, all SoCal style (Reed, GEM, Jan Boyce, etc.) My key lime has about 4 varieties of delicious oranges, and a persian lime on it.

Excellent fruit.

Uncle Ben

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

If you had to guess, how much osmocote (15-9-12) would you use in something that had little to no extra nutrients, like coco? If you had a gallon bag of coco, how much would you mix in and not burn anything?
I was fooling around with this stuff, thought I burnt the ever living crap outta some clones, but one I totally didn't care about, and sorta stuffed in the corner with god knows what in the 1 gallon pot, just TOOK OFF!! So now I'm trying to figure out just WTF I did. I examined the roots ball, and can see the osmocote beads in the "soil". I really think the osmocote did something miraculous.

Being that it's slow release it's hard to burn your faves. 2 tsp. for a 1 gal. pot would be about right in coco or soil. Yes, the vigor and health will be excellent:

Issue is the total ppm of the salts at the root system so you need to consider your water source quality too. My well water TDS (total dissolved solids) is really hard, like 800 ppm, mostly bicarbs of Mg and Ca with some sulfates. I water weed and tropical fruit trees almost exclusively with rain water using an ass kicking pump for delivery.

Nothing beats rain water. Contains microbes and some N, especially after a good thunderstorm. For whatever reason, probably because of anaerobic conditions in the tank, my rainwater pH is 5.8. Not acid rain either as I'm in the country 1,000's of miles from any factories. I have 2 tanks, about 3,600 gals. total. Collect off the greenhouse gutters. Greenhouse is large, over 1,000 s.f. Ridge is 18' high.

Good luck,
Uncle Ben

 

[Rgd]

2 tsp. for a 1 gal. pot would be about right in coco or soil. Yes, the vigor and health will be excellent:

nice

 

[Tomatoesonly]

Being that it's slow release it's hard to burn your faves. 2 tsp. for a 1 gal. pot would be about right in coco or soil. Yes, the vigor and health will be excellent:

Good luck,
Uncle Ben

Thank you. Looks like osmocote burn may not have been the issue I was seeing. I'll have to keep experimenting.

 

[islandpreservation]

Being that it's slow release it's hard to burn your faves. 2 tsp. for a 1 gal. pot would be about right in coco or soil. Yes, the vigor and health will be excellent:

View attachment 18925679

Issue is the total ppm of the salts at the root system so you need to consider your water source quality too. My well water TDS (total dissolved solids) is really hard, like 800 ppm, mostly bicarbs of Mg and Ca with some sulfates. I water weed and tropical fruit trees almost exclusively with rain water using an ass kicking pump for delivery.

Nothing beats rain water. Contains microbes and some N, especially after a good thunderstorm. For whatever reason, probably because of anaerobic conditions in the tank, my rainwater pH is 5.8. Not acid rain either as I'm in the country 1,000's of miles from any factories. I have 2 tanks, about 3,600 gals. total. Collect off the greenhouse gutters. Greenhouse is large, over 1,000 s.f. Ridge is 18' high.

View attachment 18925676

Good luck,
Uncle Ben

Thats a bad ass setup. Rain makes plants light up. I have always wanted to figure out the science of that, anyone have any leads on why this is. Seems like such a small amount of nitrogen must have something to do with absorption through the stomata or something

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Nitrates and some organics are available via the roots from rainwater. Notice how quickly turfgrass greens up after a good rain?

Stomata is not a great avenue for uptake as prevailing hype will have you believe. It's the entire epidermal surface that works, albeit lame compared to the root system.

 

[Verdant Whisperer]

If you had to guess, how much osmocote (15-9-12) would you use in something that had little to no extra nutrients, like coco? If you had a gallon bag of coco, how much would you mix in and not burn anything?
I was fooling around with this stuff, thought I burnt the ever living crap outta some clones, but one I totally didn't care about, and sorta stuffed in the corner with god knows what in the 1 gallon pot, just TOOK OFF!! So now I'm trying to figure out just WTF I did. I examined the roots ball, and can see the osmocote beads in the "soil". I really think the osmocote did something miraculous.

was just looking at thread and it crossed my mind, if you used osmocote in a substrate like pure coco, since it lacks calcium, i think you would have undesirable results. im guessing uncle ben native soil is calcium rich and his potting mixes and thats why he has good results. maybe you could add some crushed eggs shells mixed in with osmocote to add a slow release calcium souce as well.

 

[Tomatoesonly]

was just looking at thread and it crossed my mind, if you used osmocote in a substrate like pure coco, since it lacks calcium, i think you would have undesirable results. im guessing uncle ben native soil is calcium rich and his potting mixes and thats why he has good results. maybe you could add some crushed eggs shells mixed in with osmocote to add a slow release calcium souce as well.

My water by itself is ~50ppm calcium. I have a cabinet full of stuff to add if I wanted more calcium. I'm still figuring out how I want to use this stuff. I'm not sold on just put it in some coco, and just water after that.

If I really did dial it in, I would do some sort of mixture of soil, inert filler, Osmocote, and amendments that you find don't make it to the end.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Crushed eggshells will never release Ca unless in an acidic medium. Useless, really.

Yesterday I threw together a batch of seedling mix and in about a gallon of mix I threw in a TB. of gypsum. After 36 hrs. of a soak some of my afghan seeds are showing a "tail". They go straight to soil now.

UB

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

My water by itself is ~50ppm calcium. I have a cabinet full of stuff to add if I wanted more calcium. I'm still figuring out how I want to use this stuff. I'm not sold on just put it in some coco, and just water after that.

If I really did dial it in, I would do some sort of mixture of soil, inert filler, Osmocote, and amendments that you find don't make it to the end.

What's so fine about coco for cannabis? Because "everyone does it"? Use a soil less mix. Only time I've used coco was for orchids.

 

[Sasult]

If I really did dial it in, I would do some sort of mixture of soil, inert filler, Osmocote, and amendments that you find don't make it to the end.

No other amendments needed. I use a peat, coco mix with pumice and expanded clay rocks. I add 2 scoops, the one that came with it, of osmocote per 10 gallon pot. Then just add water. They are in the large pots for about 16 weeks including veg, and fade out in the last two weeks.
I did a room expansion because laws for friendly, and did not have the money for guia green. So I gave this a shot, and i'm very happy with it.

 

[Tomatoesonly]

No other amendments needed. I use a peat, coco mix with pumice and expanded clay rocks. I add 2 scoops, the one that came with it, of osmocote per 10 gallon pot. Then just add water. They are in the large pots for about 16 weeks including veg, and fade out in the last two weeks.
I did a room expansion because laws for friendly, and did not have the money for guia green. So I gave this a shot, and i'm very happy with it.

Oh wow.. that's interesting. Do you mix the osmo in evenly top to bottom, or just throw it on top and water down? I'm a bottom waterer...

 

[Sasult]

I mix it in.

 

[Verdant Whisperer]

No other amendments needed. I use a peat, coco mix with pumice and expanded clay rocks. I add 2 scoops, the one that came with it, of osmocote per 10 gallon pot. Then just add water. They are in the large pots for about 16 weeks including veg, and fade out in the last two weeks.
I did a room expansion because laws for friendly, and did not have the money for guia green. So I gave this a shot, and i'm very happy with it.

are you using tap or well water?

 

[Brother Nature]

Osmocote Zkittles - day 43ish

If I haven't mentioned this before I have only fed these girls tap water or their entire life, since rooting as a clone. As of 2022 our tap water sits at 7.3ph and around .3ec. So far I'm incredibly happy with the osmocote results, yield is massively improved and quality looks just as good if not better than the organic runs of these plants. The only issue I can see is a slight cal-mag deficiency on the heavy mixed plant, but I would say that's due more to me not adding any lime into the base mix, ph is sitting below what it should be in that mix, though the light osmocote soil mix doesn't seem to have the same issue so perhaps the lower application rate is less acidic?

 

[Sasult]

are you using tap or well water?

I use tap water. I have 11 strains going perpetual and they all like it.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Osmocote Zkittles - day 43ish

If I haven't mentioned this before I have only fed these girls tap water or their entire life, since rooting as a clone. As of 2022 our tap water sits at 7.3ph and around .3ec. So far I'm incredibly happy with the osmocote results, yield is massively improved and quality looks just as good if not better than the organic runs of these plants. The only issue I can see is a slight cal-mag deficiency on the heavy mixed plant, but I would say that's due more to me not adding any lime into the base mix, ph is sitting below what it should be in that mix, though the light osmocote soil mix doesn't seem to have the same issue so perhaps the lower application rate is less acidic?

I doubt it the pH will be effected to any great degree.

Plants are looking good, good job!

 

[Tomatoesonly]

I have a bunch of the products similar to Jobes organics. It's the stuff that stinks and claims to have microbes and what not in it. Some come as pellets, and others it's all the ground up beaks and feet just thrown in a bag (Dr. Earth).
Is there any way this could included in a "formula" with the osmocote?