Plant tone

[CoolBreeze87]

I recently discovered an unused bag of espoma plant tone in my garage the other week and wanted others opinion on using this in a soil mix. Its got a lot of good stuff in it with an NPK ratio of 5-3-3. Ive been feeling that my mix could use a little extra and i think this might do the trick. The only thing is i dont know how much to add per gallon of soil mix. I was thinking maybe 1-2 tbsp per gallon of soil. I looked at espoma's website and notice they have a flower tone too, does anyone have experience using that either?

My current veg mix per gallon of soil:
-2 tbsp mexican bat guano(10-3-1)
-1 tbsp indonesian bat guano(1-12-1)
-2 tbsp kelp meal (1-0-2)
-1 tbsp dolomite lime
-1 tbsp greensand
-1/2 tbsp powdered molasses
-1/4 tbsp epsom salts

 

[Mayor Uhana]

ive usit outdoors with a ratio 16oz cup pt/ 16oz lyme mixed in the soil and it does great for the plants, and the taste is terrific. dont know about indoors tho.

 

[gromer]

PLANT TONE RULES

PLANT TONE RULES

I have used this product 4 years and I have 2 say it rules several hydro fert companies including Fox Farm have attemted to recreate this mix. I usually add about 1 to 2 cups pr bail of pro-mix.They also have a new product out called Bio tone which is the Plant tone with Mycorrhyzal fungi added. Really good stuff and cheap and available at your local Wal mart. I lovvveee the smell it gives my soil mix after it sets 4 awhile I dont know if its just me but it gives it this like spicy scent I could almost eat it. But then again Im an Organic freak anyway.

 

[kush07]

I would definitely reccommend you get and use Espoma Plant Tone. Also, if you happen to find some Flower Tone I would also suggest you use that as well. Espoma has some of the best products available widely and are very successful.

Happy Toking

 

[mtnjohn]

espoma products are very reliable and work great
plant/flower tone is some very good stuff....but it is not 100% organic

i use both in my vegetable/flower garden , and i use the holly tone on my rhodedendron and azeala's

i dont currently use them for my cannabis...but i am thinking about it
i have seen some great results from these products in other peoples gardens
the nice thing is that they are widely availiable in the US

mj

 

[Guest]

I enjoy playing whats not organic from the labels...

As far as I can tell the only derived from in the label that isnt considered organic....is

sulfate of potash magnesia


But its considered natural....

Anyone else have a different opinion????


Derived from: Dehydrated Manure, Feather Meal, Crab Meal, Cocoa Meal, Corn Gluten, Bone Meal, Dried Blood, Sunflower Meal, Kelp Meal, Alfalfa Meal, GreenSand, Rock Phosphate, Sulfate of Potash, Sulfate of Potash Magnesia, and Humates.

 

[Guest]

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...ia,+and+Humates+omri&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us

Here is the list for omri...

Here are the last several items in the derived from list....

and their status...

GreenSand Allowed
Rock Phosphate Allowed
Sulfate of Potash Allowed
Humates Allowed....


Sulfate of Potash Magnesia not allowed....

Let me recheck this once I post....

I think this is correct...

disagree????

 

[Guest]

Derived from: Dehydrated Manure, Feather Meal, Crab Meal, Cocoa Meal, Corn Gluten, Bone Meal, Cottonseed Meal, Dried Blood, Sunflower Meal, Kelp Meal, Alfalfa Meal, GreenSand, Rock Phosphate, Sulfate of Potash, Sulfate of Potash Magnesia, Humates, Ammonium Sulfate, and Triple Super Phosphate.
Rose-tone is a complete plant food. It contains all the essential plant nutrients. The Espoma Co.


Sulfate of Potash Magnesia, Ammonium Sulfate, and Triple Super Phosphate

I think flower tone has 2 more items not considered organic....

I should say.... Im not playing gotcha.... just trying to figure this organic thing out....

Some Im not sure why they are considered organic while others not....

Sulfate of Potash Magnesia is a natural mined product... like sulphate of potash... one considered organic...the other not....

as are a couple others..... we get a list and not many whys....

 

[Guest]

Espoma Plant-tone 5-3-3 fertilizer for flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs, lawns. All natural and organic.

Rich in organic material, Espoma Flower-Tone is the premium plant food flower lovers have been waiting for!

I think the difference in the product descriptions are interesting....

Plant tone is made of either natural or organic procucts...


while flower tone is rich in organic materials.....


so it appears like 3 classes...

organic...

organic and natural....

rich in organics.....

 

[GDB]

5-3-3 will leave your medium N rich so you will need to dial that in appropriately.

Sounds like the bio tone would really be good for indoor soil gardeners. I'll look around and try to pick some up and see what happens.

Gromer, regarding spicy soil I know what you mean sometimes when I use liquid karma and additional bio-fulvics the soil has this smell like as if electricity where flowing through the roots!

 

[Dr Herbivore]

i know this thread is old, but maybe someone can help me. I already have plant-tone, and plan to mix it into my soil mix before i transplant...i was wondering though....if i use the plant tone, could i also use the flower tone during flowering? or will the plant tone be enough throughout the whole cycle? thanks for the help!

 

[SquintMan]

I use Plant tone because its available at all of the garden centers here. I haven't seen flower tone but I have seen Bulb Tone. At 4-10-6 would it be good for flower?

http://www.espoma.com/content.aspx?type=p&id=28&intCategoryID=4

Also, I've heard that Palm Tone is excellent veg food 4-1-5. I haven't seen it locally.

http://www.espoma.com/content.aspx?type=p&id=42&intCategoryID=2

 

[Dr Herbivore]

how do you administer your plant tone? People just say put some on the top of soil and water. Others say mix in a certain amount with transplant soil.....and then when feedings are needed do the "on the top" method. Palm tone sounds interesting, im sure its only in nicer climates in the south though....no sense for that product to be around in new england where i'm from. My local center has all the espoma products but the palm tone, and some of the other bio tone products. flower tone just sounds interesting to me.

 

[bakelite]

i know this thread is old, but maybe someone can help me. I already have plant-tone, and plan to mix it into my soil mix before i transplant...i was wondering though....if i use the plant tone, could i also use the flower tone during flowering? or will the plant tone be enough throughout the whole cycle? thanks for the help!

Plant-Tone is 5-3-3 (NPK) which is fine for vegging plants. During flower you want a ratio that is higher in P (phosphorus). For flowering you just could use Flower-Tone straight (3-5-7).

I use 1/2 Plant-Tone and 1/2 bone meal which gives an NPK of appx. 4-7-1.4. I then add a small amount of Sulfate of Potash (0-0-50) to give you a final NPK of appx. 4-7-5.

I wrote Espoma a while ago and they suggested adding it at 1 part Plant/flower-Tone to 25 parts soil which works out to 4% on soil. Based on that recommendation you could add about 2/3 cups of Flower-Tone (per gallon of soil) by itself (or) 1/3 cup Plant-Tone, 1/3 cup bone meal and about 1 tbsp Sulfate of Potash (per gallon of soil) to balance it out (which is what I am using). Best bet is to mix it in the soil, wet it a bit and let it compost for a week or two (mixing daily) prior to using it.

This stuff is awesome as it has all of the primary, secondary as well as trace nutrients in it. I've been using it for a few years now. One of the only issues is that is designed to break down slowly over time, more slowly than the time it takes us to grow so not all of the nutrients are available to the plant. This can be offset somewhat by composting prior to use as I mentioned and by grinding it to a fine powder in a coffee grinder before you use it (that may be overkill though and would be a PITA if you had a larger grow).

Hope this helps
-bakelite

 

[Dr Herbivore]

thanks alot, it really does help. i"ve been "cooking" my recent soil mix with bonemeal, plant tone at a little lower than reccomended, and sulfate for my next transplant....only thing is I will still be in vegetative state then....i was planning on doing just one transplant so i wouldnt be able to work in the flower tone to the same mix, would i? i would have to transplant again....or admiminster on-top of the soil. thanks for the insight though, i'll definitely pick up the flower tone soon.

 

[bakelite]

thanks alot, it really does help. i"ve been "cooking" my recent soil mix with bonemeal, plant tone at a little lower than reccomended, and sulfate for my next transplant....only thing is I will still be in vegetative state then....i was planning on doing just one transplant so i wouldnt be able to work in the flower tone to the same mix, would i? i would have to transplant again....or admiminster on-top of the soil. thanks for the insight though, i'll definitely pick up the flower tone soon.

Dr.H, You should be fine using the Plant-tone, Bone meal and S of K mixture when vegging. Using just straight Plant-tone during veg probably would have been optimal because of the higher nitrogen level etc. but you should be fine.

One thing about most of the Espoma mixes is that they are slow to moderate release fertilizers. They contain ingredients that break down fairly slowly in the soil over time. This is why I like to grind mine up and let them "cook" or "compost" prior to using. (Of course it remains to be seen weather it actually makes a difference or not, at least it makes me feel as though I am doing more good for my plants).

Whatever it is worth although Flower-tone is organic based, it does contain ammonium sulphate and triple super phosphate which aren't considered kosher for organic gardening (although they still work fine for growing plants).

Also I've been using Plant-tone @ 1% in my germination mixes and I consistently seem to have a higher ratio of females when growing from seed.

Hope this helps
-bakelite

 

[Dr Herbivore]

it really does help, in another thread I figured out i could administer small doses to my seedlings and they seem to be loving it so far. I mixed in my plant tone to my next set of soil, and i'm going to just transplant into that for the duration of veg, but i still need to know, CAN i still use the flower tone, and SHOULD I? or will the plant tone be OK for veg and flower because its moderately released? thanks for the help, i think i just needed to clarify on my actual question more thanks bake.

 

[bakelite]

it really does help, in another thread I figured out i could administer small doses to my seedlings and they seem to be loving it so far. I mixed in my plant tone to my next set of soil, and i'm going to just transplant into that for the duration of veg, but i still need to know, CAN i still use the flower tone, and SHOULD I? or will the plant tone be OK for veg and flower because its moderately released? thanks for the help, i think i just needed to clarify on my actual question more thanks bake.

Dr.H,
It depends on how much Plant-tone you already have added to your soil. Since you already have plant-tone in the soil, you could add the same amount of Flower-tone on top of that (combined NPK~4-4-5) OR better yet, throw the same amount of Bonemeal on top of it (NPK~4.5-7.5-1.5).
You could grow the whole thing from seed to harvest using just straight Plant-Tone OR just straight Flower-Tone as they both have N,P+K and all the secondary and micro nutes needed for plant growth. For example there are many people here using Fox Farm Ocean Forest potting mix for both veg AND flower with no additional fertilizer, just water and they get excellent results. Optimally and preferably most people opt to use ferts that are higher in Nitrogen during veg and higher in Phosphorus during flower. Doing so would more than likely result in a better yield.
If it were me, I would throw bonemeal or Flower-tone on top of the Plant-tone that you already put in your soil and not worry about it. Neither of those are hot so you should be safe.
I hope I answered you question, if not just re-ask it. We are all here to learn right?
-bakelite

 

[Dr Herbivore]

haha awesome, now I can make a good decision. I only added about a cup of plant tone, so I could add one more cup of flower tone for the soil mix and I think i should do well. So if i understand correctly, i could add more bone meal too? I added another couple ounces of a seed starter mix that has 40% perlite with 30%vermic and 30% light peat to add some more areation to the soil mix also. The darker color it was is lighter now, and I feel as though i really have a perfect mix.....once i do my flower tone and a tid more bone meal i'll be ready.

thanks for all your help, check out my thread in micro grows too if you have a chance, ill be updating tomoorrow! maybe a transplant too if things are nice and solid !

 

[Guest]

I got a pack of this Plant-tone i think i will mix this in my next soil recipe. I use a soil recipe i got on overgrow .its vics super soil recipe.


Original recipe:

1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix
2 L Bone Meal - phosphorus source
1L Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolomite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
1/2 - 1 bag chicken manure (steer, mushroom, etc) - nitrogen & trace elements
Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.

Revised recipe - after several failures due to bad manure sources, I now use the following recipe. Results have been excellent and the clones seem to take off right away instead of having a slow growing settling in period.

1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix (3.8 cu ft)
8 cups Bone Meal - phosphorus source
4 cups Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolmite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
4 cups kelp meal.
9kg (25 lbs) bag pure worm castings

Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.

Substitutions - The original recipe was a success, but I simply needed to experiment. In addition, sometimes not all ingredients were always available. Therefore, here are some possible additions and/or substitutions.


and would it hurt it if i added some seabird guano. this time i will make into powder.