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Osmocote, my favorite plant food - easy peasy, complete

Captain Red Eye

Active member
I'm sorry, thought this thread was still about osmocote... please continue with your total fuckin derailment.



1714089830768.png
 

Darby Stash

New member
Thanks for this thread. Long time listener, first time caller.

Been growing in ProMix / Jack's for decades and am getting lazier by the day.

I'm going to give Osmocote a try on my next run with ProMix. I'll try a small handful of Osmocote and a bit of dolomite lime for good measure (I use a mix of RO and tap since my city water isn't the greatest).

I like the idea of just watering, suits my style well.
 

need4weed

Well-known member
Veteran
To me, this ratio looks fantastic for flowering and enough nitrogen to see it through for veg. The great thing about this, is if the osmocote does happen to get consumed you can ad liquid fertz to supplement but I think the 5 to 6 month release will be sufficient for a 4 month life cycle
 

oldworld

Active member
I have taken the plunge. 1x Strawberry Cough and 1x Panama x Malawi seedlings were put in 2 gallon pots of promix hp. 3 scoops in the top bit of each pot.

I waited a bit too long, so they are a bit worse for the wear. But they are bouncing back nicely. Fading has stopped and they are growing again. So far, it's working out. Really hoping this goes without issues. Couldn't ask for it to be easier... except if I had blumats. That will come eventually.

I am a bit nervous about it not having calcium, but the promix does, and my tapwater is basically calmag 😅
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
I have taken the plunge. 1x Strawberry Cough and 1x Panama x Malawi seedlings were put in 2 gallon pots of promix hp. 3 scoops in the top bit of each pot.

I waited a bit too long, so they are a bit worse for the wear. But they are bouncing back nicely. Fading has stopped and they are growing again. So far, it's working out. Really hoping this goes without issues. Couldn't ask for it to be easier... except if I had blumats. That will come eventually.

I am a bit nervous about it not having calcium, but the promix does, and my tapwater is basically calmag 😅

Your faves will luv ya.
 

oldworld

Active member
This is still going nicely. Very low maintenance. Happy plants. I might repot before I go to flower. But they have to wait a little longer. I can't wait to see how they do in bloom. I seem to get nutrient issues halfway through.
 

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blondie

Well-known member
I recently finished a grow with osmo and organic nutes. 4 female seeds of the same strain, two under hps - one had osmo, the other organics. Two more plants under led - one had osmo, the other organics. All in five gallon fabrics all with ac infinity self watering system. All in soil. Osmos were in brand new happy frog soil. Organics were in composted recycled happy frog/ocean forest soil.
Grown in 4x8 tent. Organics were Espoma combo of blood meal, bone meal, tomato tone, dolomite lime, gypsum. I didn’t do anything to these plants. No larf trimmed. They just grew. One snag... I caught a case of spider mites. It messed up my led organic plant pretty good. Other plants were mildly affected. End results in weight was my goal of this experiment. I also wanted to see taste difference if any and of course the hit, if any. Plants pulled within a few days of one another. I don’t taste or smell or see much of a difference to speak of. Everything is about equal except in yield. One difference I missed topping the hps osmo plant somehow.

These are wet weights in lbs. I flash froze wet . The led soil weight would have been higher. I don’t think it would get to the led osmo though. The hps osmo properly topped likely would have yielded better.

Based on this fairly simple experiment it seems osmo does better with yield. Can my organics regiment be improved for increased yield? Likely, but for me it’s not needed. The attraction for osmo is the fact I added a tablespoon or two of it to the soil and that was the only nutes given. No need for multiple types of nutes given different times. Once and done. Simple, with a respectable end product for a home grower. It is interesting though I didn’t add any nutes to the organics either.


led soil - .6
led osmo - 1.4
hps soil - .75
hps osmo- .75
 

xtsho

Well-known member
Plants are doing good. Very healthy. The Osmocote works fine. It's spendy though. The good thing about it is that it's slow release so I can give my plants plenty of water during these triple digit heatwaves and not wash it all away.

The plants are healthy and beautiful. Lets see if the Osmocote takes them all the way through flower. If it does then the cost is worth it to just be able to water with the hose.

I have better things to do than wasting time feeding plants. If I can mix something in and then just water with the hose that's what I want to do.

osmocote07052024.jpg
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
Plants are doing good. Very healthy. The Osmocote works fine. It's spendy though. The good thing about it is that it's slow release so I can give my plants plenty of water during these triple digit heatwaves and not wash it all away.

The plants are healthy and beautiful. Lets see if the Osmocote takes them all the way through flower. If it does then the cost is worth it to just be able to water with the hose.

I have better things to do than wasting time feeding plants. If I can mix something in and then just water with the hose that's what I want to do.

View attachment 19028149

Very nice. Too easy, eh. I used to buy 8# off Amazon for $12. Thanks to U.S inflation recently it has tripled. Goes a long way though.

If you're using a release term of at least 3-4 months you'll be fine. Am using the 8-9 month release which works with my main focus these days, feeding large tropical fruit trees in a greenhouse. You could always play games mid to late flowering with 1/2 tsp of potassium sulphate/gallon as an occasional drench.

I noticed you have pots of flowers. Great food for that stuff too. I'll be planting a Blue java banana plant I bought yesterday and it will get Os.

Good luck
 
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Maria Sanchez

Well-known member
Thanks @Old Uncle Ben for this thread, and everyone who has joined in.

I've decided to try some Osmocote for my subtropical guerilla grows.
Locally I can get 14-9-15-2MgO+TE which seems pretty much on point.

My original plan was a spring-summer grow, finishing about now.
But my plants -- some seed plants and some re-vegged from last fall-winter grow -- had other ideas.
They are Connoisseur Genetics sativas and hazes, mostly Neville's Haze crosses with Mullumbimby Madness, a couple of different Thais, Super Sour Silver Diesel Haze, Casey Jones, etc.

I usually do organic, its easy for me, but need to top dress every 3-4 weeks, as the rainfall and heat breaks things down fast.
So I thought a single application of Osmocote may solve the problem.

Questions:

I have the 5-6 month product, but now my temps are from 28C-36C daily low-high.
How long do you think the product will last for?
Plants are still vegging now, and flower for about 12-16 weeks.
I hope they flower from Aug or Sep, through to Nov-Dec.

How much dosage do you recommend?
Labels say about 2g / L, and my pots are about 30-50 L or so.
But I'm still doing the organic 2-5-5 product as well.
I also have dolomite lime for Ca Mg.

My girls today, when I first applied the Osmocote:
I grow on the balcony of abandoned apartment buildings.
The balcony below has become a natural pond of rainwater!
But a typhoon ( = hurrican / cyclone) is coming, so I've put them inside in my 'work area' out of direct wind.
PXL_20240723_015303119.jpg
Left: two re-vegged Super Silver Sour Thai Neville (named 'Sticky' and 'Fluffy') (NvHz Thai x SSSDH)
Middle: two Grail (NvHz x Mullumbimby) x ThaiFrican (NvHz, Thai and Zimbabwe Kariba); one L'n'L Jones (SSSDH x Casey Jones)
Right: one re-vegged Grail (NLD pheno) (NvHz x Mullumbimby)

Tallest is about 150 cm tall = 5' tall.
The revegged plants are now over 9 months old, germinated last year mid October.
The Sticky SSSTN is just divine! The Grail NLD pheno is also amazing!
 

Old Uncle Ben

Well-known member
Thanks @Old Uncle Ben for this thread, and everyone who has joined in.

I've decided to try some Osmocote for my subtropical guerilla grows.
Locally I can get 14-9-15-2MgO+TE which seems pretty much on point.

My original plan was a spring-summer grow, finishing about now.
But my plants -- some seed plants and some re-vegged from last fall-winter grow -- had other ideas.
They are Connoisseur Genetics sativas and hazes, mostly Neville's Haze crosses with Mullumbimby Madness, a couple of different Thais, Super Sour Silver Diesel Haze, Casey Jones, etc.

I usually do organic, its easy for me, but need to top dress every 3-4 weeks, as the rainfall and heat breaks things down fast.
So I thought a single application of Osmocote may solve the problem.

Questions:

I have the 5-6 month product, but now my temps are from 28C-36C daily low-high.
How long do you think the product will last for?
Plants are still vegging now, and flower for about 12-16 weeks.
I hope they flower from Aug or Sep, through to Nov-Dec.

How much dosage do you recommend?
Labels say about 2g / L, and my pots are about 30-50 L or so.
But I'm still doing the organic 2-5-5 product as well.
I also have dolomite lime for Ca Mg.

My girls today, when I first applied the Osmocote:
I grow on the balcony of abandoned apartment buildings.
The balcony below has become a natural pond of rainwater!
But a typhoon ( = hurrican / cyclone) is coming, so I've put them inside in my 'work area' out of direct wind.
PXL_20240723_015303119.jpg
Left: two re-vegged Super Silver Sour Thai Neville (named 'Sticky' and 'Fluffy') (NvHz Thai x SSSDH)
Middle: two Grail (NvHz x Mullumbimby) x ThaiFrican (NvHz, Thai and Zimbabwe Kariba); one L'n'L Jones (SSSDH x Casey Jones)
Right: one re-vegged Grail (NLD pheno) (NvHz x Mullumbimby)

Tallest is about 150 cm tall = 5' tall.
The revegged plants are now over 9 months old, germinated last year mid October.
The Sticky SSSTN is just divine! The Grail NLD pheno is also amazing!

Should feed your faves for 5 months Being light feeders I'd maybe go about 2 teaspoons for those pots. Depends on the totality of your foods.

Good luck
 

Maria Sanchez

Well-known member
Again, it's a cumulative thing. 13 gal. is way too big for starts unless you're growing 15' trees
They started in small pots, then went into 20-30 L containers for a few months.
Thought at my latitude they'd flower over summer (according to past experience with other cultivars).
I was wrong.
So recently potted up to the bigger 30-50 L containers.
They didn't start in these pots.
Partly it's because I can only water once a week, maybe, and the medium volume helps a lot.
Considering they'll veg for at least another month, then 3-4 months flowering, they may just be 10' tall by the time they finish in Nov or Dec.
 
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