Osmocote, my favorite plant food - easy peasy, complete

[I Care]

Do you happen to have a link for me?



The idea is to find something simpler. Cost is already low and this might cost a buck more per plant but if my reservoir maintenance is only to add more water instead of weighing nutes and making stock solutions it reduces effort.

Modifying your substrate to have more water retention will help you a lot,

 

[I Care]

It is sublime-mix from ProXL, it is supposed to be soil with a percentage of Coco coir to improve drainage.
The soil itself contain some nutrients but more likely a light mix

Spanish page with the details:

Sublime Mix - Tierra con Osmocote | Pro-xl

Venta de sacos baratos con mixto de turbas, perlita y Osmocote como abonado de lenta acción. Incluye tutoriales y consejos de uso.

comprarsustrato.com

@ORANGE's Just found this on a page In the infirmary.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

I think I used about 25 grams per 3 gallons and mixed it in with the soil. I found additional usage instructions which I posted in my last post that were more informative than the directions on the 8lb consumer bag I purchased. We had an extremely hot July and I was watering multiple times a day. I'm sure the soil temp was 90°F for quite awhile. So the osmocote lasted longer than they claim.

As I've said, it was my first time growing with just a timed release fertilizer. Now that I've learned from the experience if I use it again I'm confident that I can make it work through the entire season. I probably should have mixed some more into the top of the soil after the 2 month mark but that would not have been possible because by then the pots were just one solid root mass all the way to the top. My only recourse now is to give an occasional liquid feed every few waterings. I'm definitely going to 5 gallon pots for my outdoor plants for that extra volume.

I've got no complaints with the osmocote at all. I went months with just watering with the hose and not having to deal with mixing anything up. I also had a hard time keeping the pots watered properly as they were drying out so fast in the heat.

It's grower error on my part not the osmocote. I just didn't use enough. I erred on the side of caution because I had never used the product. I'd rather use not enough and have to add later than use to much and fry the plants. As it is they're doing great. The information on it's usage and how it broke down and released in different temperature ranges was out there. I just didn't do my research and adjust.

Live and learn. Next year I know I can make it work flawlessly through the entire season now that I understand how to use it properly.

Add it to the last of the backfill whether in the ground or a pot. Salts flow top to the bottom and out the drainholes. Label context is written for the commercial grower's convenience who is working with massive amounts of soil to pot up acres of plant material.

It's pretty hard to overdo it. Depends on the strain too. I'd go light on sativa landrace stuff, medium on the mutts.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

As I said. I'll report back in a few months and then we can argue the details.

If it releases too little I can always supplement and if it releases to much I change the reservoir. "Wasting" nutrients is no concern of mine. I have a small grow and 5 or 10 Bucks for fertilizer doesn't harm me or the environment.

As I said. I'll report back in a few months and then we can argue the details.

Details? No, we'll look at your stressed plants and sigh. Tag me please. Again, Osmocote was not designed for any kind of water culture. It is designed for soil culture where excess salts leach out of the drain holes so they don't collect in and around the root zone.

Trying to save your butt, but you're not listening, like too many cannabis noobs you're off on a "new" gimmick that is doomed to fail. Having 40 years of experience has its merits too but you do what you're gonna do cowboy.

Homepage - Grow with Osmocote

Superior fertilizer for long-term growth The most technically advanced controlled-release fertilizer of its kind, Osmocote’s resin-coated nutrient core delivers vital nutrients at […]

www.growwithosmocote.com

Keep it simple,
UB

 

[TerpOrDie]

What, no 8 bottles of this and that and draining your bank account?

Easy peasy.........

Maybe you should grab a rookie starter kit and learn the basics old man. Anyone feeding the same bag of nuts start to finish really shouldn't be on a specialty grow forum talking about nutrients.

40 years and you know nothing about nutrition. While the kids who bought the AN lineup know what to feed and when.

 

[xtsho]

Maybe you should grab a rookie starter kit and learn the basics old man. Anyone feeding the same bag of nuts start to finish really shouldn't be on a specialty grow forum talking about nutrients.

40 years and you know nothing about nutrition. While the kids who bought the AN lineup know what to feed and when.

Created a new account just to troll. I'd say more but OUB doesn't need my help dealing with fools like you.

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

Details? No, we'll look at your stressed plants and sigh. Tag me please. Again, Osmocote was not designed for any kind of water culture. It is designed for soil culture where excess salts leach out of the drains. They don't collect in and around the root zone.

Trying to save your butt, but you're not listening, like too many cannabis noobs you're off on a "new" gimmick that is doomed to fail. Having 40 years of experience has its merits too but you do what you're gonna do cowboy.

Homepage - Grow with Osmocote

Superior fertilizer for long-term growth The most technically advanced controlled-release fertilizer of its kind, Osmocote’s resin-coated nutrient core delivers vital nutrients at […]

www.growwithosmocote.com

Keep it simple,
UB

Feeling judgemental tonight? If the plants get sick it's easy to flush and reset the medium. You know. I might not have farted for 40 years but looking at a plant and measuring run off EC is something that can be learnt in a day.

And what is that link supposed to tell me? Their marketing material is on par with cannabis programs. Promising the world without anything specific.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Added some Os. to my new little faves.

26 year old seeds.....here's how to start seeds, RIGHT :)

Been doing my conventional way of planting seeds for decades. I can never recommend the lame damp paper towel/baggie drill so prevalent in cannabis forums. Went thru my old stash of seeds and crosses going back to the mid to late 90's the other day and soaked some of the first seeds I got...

www.icmag.com

 

[Brother Nature]

Feeling judgemental tonight? If the plants get sick it's easy to flush and reset the medium. You know. I might not have farted for 40 years but looking at a plant and measuring run off EC is something that can be learnt in a day.

And what is that link supposed to tell me? Their marketing material is on par with cannabis programs. Promising the world without anything specific.

Uncle Ben may be a bit blunt but the guy knows what he’s talking about. What you’re proposing isn’t going to work, a number of us have tried to politely tell you it’s a waste of time, but in the end experience is the best teacher I guess.

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

Uncle Ben may be a bit blunt but the guy knows what he’s talking about. What you’re proposing isn’t going to work, a number of us have tried to politely tell you it’s a waste of time, but in the end experience is the best teacher I guess.

But how is it going to fail? Calcium deficiency? Salt stress? Malnutrition?

All things that can be addressed during an experiment and at the end I can judge if it is worth the effort.

 

[Brother Nature]

The reason to grow in coco is the high cation exchange capacity, in order to achieve this the medium needs to be regularly flushed with a nutrient rich solution sitting at the correct ph and ec values. If you have the nutrients sitting in the medium in a controlled release form you have no way of controlling this, your input values will be all over the place and you will be unlikely to provide adequate nutrition to the medium leading to all sorts of issues.

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

The reason to grow in coco is the high cation exchange capacity, in order to achieve this the medium needs to be regularly flushed with a nutrient rich solution sitting at the correct ph and ec values. If you have the nutrients sitting in the medium in a controlled release form you have no way of controlling this, your input values will be all over the place and you will be unlikely to provide adequate nutrition to the medium leading to all sorts of issues.

I don't think this is true. Cation exchange capacity is meaningless if it's fertigated 5 times per day. It is more important when conditioning new media or low fertilizer application frequency, especially outdoors.

The osmocote has a controlled release. If concentration in the media/water is low it has a higher release rate than if the concentration is high. That's why I want to use a recirculating system to buffer against not optimal release rate.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

I don't think this is true. Cation exchange capacity is meaningless if it's fertigated 5 times per day. It is more important when conditioning new media or low fertilizer application frequency, especially outdoors.

The osmocote has a controlled release. If concentration in the media/water is low it has a higher release rate than if the concentration is high. That's why I want to use a recirculating system to buffer against not optimal release rate.

Gave you a link and all I got was an attitude about the link being some kind of marketing gimmick.

This came from the link. Do you get it?

 

[Brother Nature]

I don't think this is true. Cation exchange capacity is meaningless if it's fertigated 5 times per day. It is more important when conditioning new media or low fertilizer application frequency, especially outdoors.

The osmocote has a controlled release. If concentration in the media/water is low it has a higher release rate than if the concentration is high. That's why I want to use a recirculating system to buffer against not optimal release rate.

Ok buddy, below is a very good link on how and why coco works well as a medium. Your choice to read up and understand or not. Good luck in your future grows.

The Chemistry behind Coco Coir: a (strange) journey from ferts bottle to to buds

Growing is something strange as it can be as much complicated as you want. Beside that, some growing methods needs a better understanding of the involved chemical processes than others. Coco coir (in my opinion) is one of them. "Coco Coir tend to adsorb Calcium and Magnesium", "pH of nutrient...

www.icmag.com

 

[I Care]

Gave you a link and all I got was an attitude about the link being some kind of marketing gimmick.

View attachment 19051388
This came from the link. Do you get it?

Looks like some coir in there

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

Gave you a link and all I got was an attitude about the link being some kind of marketing gimmick.

View attachment 19051388
This came from the link. Do you get it?

That's coco, not soil.

I am looking for technical information and scientific understanding. Not copy that promises me the world.

 

[Brother Nature]

Do you happen to have a link for me?

Here's a similar link, not the one I was thinking of, but fletch did a pretty damn good job on this one. Wasn't osmocote only, but did have very minimum inputs including osmocoe so contains some pretty good info.

The Bio-Osmo-Coco Hempy Experiment

Having had success with Coco/Perlite Hempy buckets, i pondered on making a water/calmag only Hempy. 1 cup of Espoma Bio-tone 4-3-3 was mixed into a 3.5 gallon bucket and 2 capfuls of Osmocote 15-9-12 were scratched into the surface. Amnesia Lemon from Barney's is the test subject. The plant was...

www.icmag.com

 

[Maria Sanchez]

Thanks @xtsho for that info about how long it lasts at what temps.
I have been keeping my eye on my plants, home vegetables and 'secret' garden.
My temps are in the 28C-35C range, night to day.
The application seems to be holding out well so far, but suspect I may need a top up before the end.

Proof is in the pudding and all that, so I better show pics:

They are all much happier, and healthier, and greener, with the larger pots and the Osmocote.
Tallest one is about 200 cm, the other larger ones about 175 cm, and there's a single bud plant about 100 cm, plus a bunch of little seedlings in there (planted to find a male to make some seeds).

 

[I Care]

Here's a similar link, not the one I was thinking of, but fletch did a pretty damn good job on this one. Wasn't osmocote only, but did have very minimum inputs including osmocoe so contains some pretty good info.

The Bio-Osmo-Coco Hempy Experiment

Having had success with Coco/Perlite Hempy buckets, i pondered on making a water/calmag only Hempy. 1 cup of Espoma Bio-tone 4-3-3 was mixed into a 3.5 gallon bucket and 2 capfuls of Osmocote 15-9-12 were scratched into the surface. Amnesia Lemon from Barney's is the test subject. The plant was...

www.icmag.com

I wish they measured the run off there. Would be nice to know the final EC and pH.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Ok buddy, below is a very good link on how and why coco works well as a medium. Your choice to read up and understand or not. Good luck in your future grows.

The Chemistry behind Coco Coir: a (strange) journey from ferts bottle to to buds

Growing is something strange as it can be as much complicated as you want. Beside that, some growing methods needs a better understanding of the involved chemical processes than others. Coco coir (in my opinion) is one of them. "Coco Coir tend to adsorb Calcium and Magnesium", "pH of nutrient...

www.icmag.com

First sentence says it all LOL. "Growing is something strange as it can be as much complicated as you want."

Most of that "complication" is overthinking this stuff based on a simple psychological human trait - apprehension.

UB