Questions about Fish Fert and my HPS for veg?

[astronaut]

How is Alaskan Fish Fertalizer used for growing marijuana, and, how is it beneficial? Would you reccomend this product?

At the moment i am using 160 watts of tube flouro for veg. ( 2 shoplights, 4 40watt bulbs. ) I have a 400 watt HPS that I bought for flowering, But have been really questioning if it would be better than my flourescent setup even for vegging my plants? Does HPS, even though primarily red, pump out a higher blue spectrum than flouro? ( Consider, 400 vs 160. )


Also, I found a product in Home-depot called... Terracycle. ( I think that's it. ) It's a 100% organic fertalizer. Created from composted vermiculture, or whatever it says. I am curious about this product. It's cheap as hell.

Does one have to be careful using different types of fertilizers in unison? Will things react together negatively, or is the major warning factor simply just overfert?


I'm not too famililar searching ICMag, and the search feature never seems to give me what I want. That's my defense for all the questions.

 

[sunnyside]

The alaska will work fine as a fertilizer...although it stinks to high heaven...The terracycle is a vermicompost tea. All that is, is the liquid waste from worm composting. It is rich in mircroorganisms and is a wonderful addative similiar to worm castings. The advantage to the terracycle is that you can use it as a foliar for fast absorbtion. You can use both products together if you wish, they will do fine.

 

[astronaut]

Thanks for the encouraging reply, sunny. How is the alaskan fish ferilizer used? Is it just mixed into water for a certain feeding, once in a while? Could you explain this to me.

I'm happy to hear the terracycle is viable. They're both very cheap and very available.

edit. Oh, and not to sound pushy or anything. How about the HPS?

 

[sunnyside]

Does HPS, even though primarily red, pump out a higher blue spectrum than flouro? ( Consider, 400 vs 160. )

No...I would use the fluros for early veg, seed, and clone. Other than that standard fluro's are not sufficient to grow large plants. Once your plants are 8" tall I would fire up the HPS...just my opinion.

 

[astronaut]

Thanks sunny side. You've been very helpful. Yeah I figured the flouros would be a bit more forgiving to my baby plants than a HPS would be. Once my younger plants catch up i'll fire it up though.

Thanks again. =)

 

[sunnyside]

Thanks for the encouraging reply, sunny. How is the alaskan fish ferilizer used? Is it just mixed into water for a certain feeding, once in a while? Could you explain this to me.

No problem...that is why we are here... It is a good idea to set a schedule to feed your plants. The bottle should give a recommended dosage. Start at 1/4 stregnth of what the bottle says. Just mix with water and go. Get a calendar and keep track of feedings and waterings. So you dont forget that you fed yesterday...and then feed again <--happens to all of us if we dont keep records. Any other questions?

 

[Guest]

Alaskan fish fert, by itself, can carry you along happily during your entire veg cycle ^^

 

[astronaut]

I don't really have any other related questions at the moment. Personally I can't wait to go buy some fish fert. Lol.

I've looked through your grows in your sig sunny. Awesome, dude. Seriously.

Man, that blue moonshine. I want to grow a very colorful strain after these. I started this grow off poor, but i'm making good money again, so I can't wait till next time already. Would you reccomend this strain, or know of any others that are just truly pretty plants? =P

Here's a pic of my 2 big plants a few days ago. It's hard to keep accurate shots, they're growing so vigorously. I need to raise my lights every morning and every night, sometimes in the afternoon too.

Edit: These are Oaxacan Sativa, freebies I got with my nirvana northern lights purchase. I'm very excited about them. The plant on the right has such a thick stem already.

 

[Guest]

astronaut, The fish fertilizers work great but as a note if you want to use them outside be careful I had the raccoons and cats loven me outside one year LOL. Your babies look nice I wish you the best in your grow and you can use your HPS when they get older I like to use both HPS/MH at the same time thru out my grows I have found for me the MH helps to keep the stretch down at the start of 12/12.Peace to you my friend and stay safe dequilo

 

[Verite]

fyi too, 1tblsp of AK fish 5-1-1 added to one gallon of 7.0ph water will drop the ph to an avg of 6.0

 

[lumbo]

The nice thing about compact flourescent bulbs is that they kick out a lot of light with very few watts, they screw into a regular light socket and they're great for vegging plants. I do all my vegging with CFLs. I start with one 43 watter and add another one as the seedlings begin to grow. I plug the third one about a month into veg and can grow up to 8 plants in one-gallon pots for 2 months with about 130 watts of CFL light in a ventilated cabinet.

Then I do a final transplant and put them under a 400 watt hps. The problems with trying to veg with an hps are:

1.) more light than you need for most of the veg cycle;
2.) 400 watts of electrical drain and heat 27/7--whether you need it or not;
3.) my hps is busy flowering another crop.

CFL bulbs (the 43 watters) can be had at Home Depot or Walmart for less than $10 a pop.

 

[Guest]

very good points about the CFLs and great advice peace and be safe dequilo

 

[astronaut]

Thanks for the info Lumbo. You're another one I definately trust, just because I'm and overgrower too and I know you give lots of good advice.

Stretch is another concern i'd have to consider for vegging with an HPS. And you're right. WTF was I thinking? Do I really want to keep my HPS on 24 hours a day? Not. At. All. Lol

I have CFL's, Lumbo. I've got.. 3 or 4 of them, the 32 or 34 watters, whatever they are. Got them at Lowes. I tried growing a bagseed with them last time, and I must say, I really like the tubes better. ( My last grow was just a complete failure all around and I do not blame it on the lights. ) But, for some reason, when I see grows under CFL's, it's like you can tell that's what they're being grown under by looking at the leaves. They get this crusty appearance. Maybe it's just me.

I dont' have any extra lamps that I can plug my CFL's into. Do you know if Homedepot or lowes sells any type of light socket, that you're familiar with, that I could easily add to my grow operation. I was thinking a CFL or two on the sides would really help light up my inner growth. :: Shrug :: But all in all, I find the tube flouros to be easier. They stay cooler. You can fit more plants under them. You can keep them closer. And they look nicer. lol.

Verite, as far as the PH of my water when mixed with Alaskan Fish Fert. Well, I'm simply using tap water for my grow. But i've come to the conclusion that I am lucky with my water. The plants are such a dark green, that I'd be so bold as to say my PH is just fine. Would a vary in PH once a week, when I used the fish fert, hurt my plants? Should I or Can I use the fish fert when they go into flowering? How old shuold my plants be before I start to use this?

 

[astronaut]

Also thanks for the kind words and advice, everyone else.

 

[Opt1983]

Sup Astro, yes, you should be able to find some type of fixture to screw your CFL's into. At my local store they have them which is simply a socket that u plug into a wall, the cord..then at the end of the cord the socket with a switch, almost like someone took apart a lamp if u kno what i mean. The fish fert actually doesnt smell that much in my opinion, i have the exact same stuff your talking bout, though im not using it at this go around, all my ferts are already in the soil , dont really need the fish no more. It does smell like dead fish, but in my experience u really cant smell it alll that much unless u put ur nose down and actually smell the water, it sure wont smell up your whole house. lol -Opt

 

[astronaut]

I have more questions! Slightly somewhat and sort of urgent/important.

So I have my plants all in 16oz styrofoam drinking cups. I have 1 gallon buckets that i'm going to transplant to after they are done here. My 2 big babies needed to be watered, so I just pulled them out of their cups like I was going to transplant them before I watered to check how they were doing rootwise.

Well, to my suprise, I could see roots everywhere. Not rootbound, I believe, becuase I think rootbound is when the roots start to travel in circles becuase of no where else to go. Not all dirt was taken by roots yet. But I could definately see a lot of roots. ( As much as this worries me it makes me happy. ) My other 7 plants are just babies yet and still need to stay in their drinking cups. How much longer should I allow these guys to grow in these cups or should I transplant as soon as it's possible? I NEED 1 MORE WEEK. Lol, till I get paid. Till then i'm virtually broke. I have the buckets and enough soil mixture for my 2 big guys though. I had orginally thought the drinking cups would last longer than 18 days. I measuered them, They are only 6 inches and 4-1/2 inches accordingly. One is much taller and lankier than the other, however, the shorter one has more nodes, thicker growth and leaves, and a thicker stem. ( i'm really loving this pheno, it's absolutely studly. Looks like it could win in a cannabis royal rumble. Graahh!

My soil Mixture contains Scotts Potting Soil W/ Osmocote, 10% perlite, 2 1/2 table spoons Blood Meal, 2 tablespoons dolomite lime. ( Per Gallon. ) I REALLY wanted to wait till this upcoming friday, because I wanted to buy Bone Meal to add to my recipe. Maybe even some spagham peat moss ( Or whatever. I dont even know how this is used, or what it's for, I just know a lot of organic soil recipes include this. ) Is it okay to hold out for AT LEAST a few more days? Maybe I can bum some money from my mommy. h:

I guess I could transplant, and just elevate all the other small plants so that they are at the same height. You guys have NO idea how much I wish I started this plants at the same time. It's caused nothing but stress. XD The only good thing is, I know what to expect with my other babies. I'm new at this and this was #1 my newbie mistake. Later.

 

[sunnyside]

Not rootbound, I believe, becuase I think rootbound is when the roots start to travel in circles becuase of no where else to go. Not all dirt was taken by roots yet. But I could definately see a lot of roots....How much longer should I allow these guys to grow in these cups or should I transplant as soon as it's possible? I NEED 1 MORE WEEK. Lol

You should be able to wait a week and be fine, just pot em up at the same time...You can also top the bigger plants, cut em back to the size of the smaller plants to make your canopy profile consistent.

My soil Mixture contains Scotts Potting Soil W/ Osmocote, 10% perlite, 2 1/2 table spoons Blood Meal, 2 tablespoons dolomite lime. ( Per Gallon. ) I REALLY wanted to wait till this upcoming friday, because I wanted to buy Bone Meal to add to my recipe. Maybe even some spagham peat moss ( Or whatever. I dont even know how this is used, or what it's for, I just know a lot of organic soil recipes include this. ) Is it okay to hold out for AT LEAST a few more days? Maybe I can bum some money from my mommy. h:

I wouldnt worry about the peat moss...Be carefull adding a bunch of nutrients. You said that the soil has osmacote already, plus you've added lime and blood meal. This is going to be a stout mix...especially for seedlings and young plants. So watch out

 

[astronaut]

Thank you so much sunny. Okay, so f* the peat moss. Lol. I'm glad you think I can wait a week. I trust your advice, you know better than I. I think these plants are still too short to top. They're only like 5 inches tall. What would I cut off, half the plant? Lol. I'm too scared to do that to them anyway, yet.

When you say: "Transplant them all at the same time." Do you also mean my little plants? I can see your reasoning. Within a week the smaller plants will have grown some, Not enough to root the cups, But enough to transplant I guess. At least it will keep things somewhat uniform. If this is the case, I still need to wait till next friday for the cash.

Should I change my soil recipe? Get rid of the Scotts potting soil w/ osmocote and trade it with plain topsoil or Pro-Mix or something?

I want to stay and chat with you guys But i must go out. I'll be back to check this thread tonight though. Please leave any info you want. =P Thank you so much all.

 

[lumbo]

Astro:

I've found that the smaller plants will catch up over time with the older ones. You might want to tie the bigger ones down though.

With soil mixes, it's best to keep it simple. For starting seeds and young plants, I use only: 5 parts spagnum peat moss, 3 parts perlite, 2 parts worm castings and a cup of dolomite lime for every 5-7 gallons of mix to keep the ph in line. Young plants don't need fertilizing until they're about 3 weeks old. If you've got osmocote in there (it's a chemical fert), then I wouldn't add any blood or bone meal.

Any regular light fixture will work for CFLs. You can buy basic plastic or ceramic fixtures at any hardware store for a buck or two apiece. They do need to be wired. Or, any old lamp, just as long as it can take the moisture in your growroom.

Nice looking plants in the cups, BTW.

 

[Opt1983]

Astro, don't worry so much about the bone meal etc now. It takes at least 2 weeks for the bacteria to break it down in order for the plants to use it. your potting mix should be fine for a while, since it already has stuff mixed into it. The peat moss people use is when they are making there own mix from scratch, no need to throw it into the stuff u already got. About the blood meal in your mix.... since u do have a potting soil with ferts already added to it in the beginning anywayz, im pretty confident to say that 2 1/2 table spoons per gallon of blood meal in your mix is gonna torch your babies. I go from a soiless mix containing the same things as Lumbos, identical, but that is my "Basic mix" for seedlings and cuttings. In this basic mix i do add blood, bone , and kelp meals for my veg/flowering mix ...but this mix has no nutes in it before hand, unlike your potting mix, and i only add 1 tablespoon of blood meal per gallon of soil, so seeing that your using 2 1/2 tablespoons..already added to your potting mix with also has nutrients in it already, i think it'd be a costly mistake to transplant your seedlings into that. If i were u i'd just keep on using your potting mix, but dont add anything to it, no blood meal, some additional perlite would help maybe.Once your plants start turning a little pale, hit them with a 1/4 dose of the fish fert and see how they respond.

Theres really no reason to mix up a batch like me and lumbo uses since your already using your potting mix anywayz. Maybe next go around u'll wanna go with a soiless mix like us. We do it more for the control. since this is your first time, dont try to get too technical. Remember, they call MJ "weed" for a reason, it will grow even the harshest of conditions.Keep it simple, and u'll pull of some decent smoke, once u see how ur plants respond etc. it's all up hill from there mate! good luck bro -Opt