Using Honey

[JackTheGrower]

What I have used was fish emulsion + honey and brewed coffee. I add liquid kelp and what ever else I feel will be good

The smell of the fish + coffee ( hot that is ) changes from yuck to yum in a fish + coffee sort of way..

The plants have grown really good with it. I do add some lime but I need to get a proper ph meter for liquid mixes like this.

One thing that seems to make it go minty is EJ bloom.

Anyway I'm not knocking molasses. Not at all. I am thinking honey is different.

Also I use raw uncooked natural honey.

I sure wanted to see if there is some danger but, my experience so far are positive ones.



.

 

[jaykush]

http://www.honey-well.com/composit.html

Vitamins: A, beta-carotene, B-complex, C, D, E, and K.

Mineral Salts: Magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, calcium, chlorine, potassium, iodine, sodium, copper, and manganese.

Also in Honey are: water (15-18%), live enzymes, proteins, carbohydrates, organic acids, hormones, and anti-microbial and anti-biotic factors.

Honey is composed primarily of sugars and water. The average honey is 79.6% sugar and 17.2% water. The primary sugars are fructose (38.2%) and glicose (31.3%). These are 'simple', 6-carbon sugars that are readily absorbed by the body. Other sugars include maltose (7.3%), a 12-carbon sugar composed of 2 glucose molecules, and sucrose (1.3%), a 12-carbon sugar composed of a glucose and a fructose molecule.

Honey also contains acids (.57%), some protein (.26%), a small amount of minerals (.17%) and a number of other minor components including pigments, flavor and aroma substances, sugar alcohols, colloids and vitamins. This latter group of materials constitutes about 2.2% of the total composition.

As a food, honey is a tasty and easily digestible source of carbohydrates. It is a natural food and a good source of quick energy. However, it is not, as many people would like to believe, a good source of vitamins, minerals and proteins. For example, a number of vitamins are found in honey but none of significant concentration. The vitamins identified in various types of honey include vitamin C, vitamin B,(thiamine) and vitamins in the B2 complex such as riboflavin, nicotinic, acid, B6and pantothenic acid. Vitamin C is often the most abundant vitamin, but a person who wished to use honey as a vitamin C source would have to consume 5.5 to 6 pounds of honey a day to obtain the minimum daily requirements. This is also true for minerals. Numerous minerals are found in honey (i.e. calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and zinc) but even with the more abundant minerals such as iron one would have to consume from 1 to 40 pounds of honey per day to obtain the minimum requirement.

Properties. Honey has several important qualities in addition to composition and taste. The low moisture content on honey is one of its most important characteristics as it influences keeping quality, rate of granulation and body. Honey is hygroscopic (absorbs moisture) and will remove moisture from the air if the relative humidity exceeds 60%. Care must be taken in the handling and storage of honey to be sure that this does not happen. However, hygroscopicity is one of the traits the makes honey desirable for baking; goods sweetened with honey will stay moist longer. The low moisture content of honey also forms an important part of the system which protects honey from attack by microorganisms. Honey's hyperosmotic nature (due to the high concentration of solids and low moisture content)prevents the growth of bacteria and yeasts as it draws water out of the organisms, killing them by dessication.

The high acidity of honey also plays an important role in the system which prevents bacterial growth. The pH of honeys may vary from approximately 3.2 to 4.5 (average pH= 3.9) making it inhospitable for attack by most bacteria.

Finally, honey has an antibacterial or inhibine system. Bees add an enzyme glucose oxidase to honey and this enzyme reacts with glucose to produce hydrogen peroxide and gluconic acid, both of which have an antibacterial effect. This system is most active in dilute honey and probably helps preserve honey diluted for brood food use.

as far as i see it, theres no problem with using it in a tea but the more i read the better i see it as a rooting hormone the pluses keep adding up. no wonder it works so damn good.

 

[Guest]

Finally, honey has an antibacterial or inhibine system. Bees add an enzyme glucose oxidase to honey and this enzyme reacts with glucose to produce hydrogen peroxide and gluconic acid, both of which have an antibacterial effect. This system is most active in dilute honey and probably helps preserve honey diluted for brood food use.

That equals bad news for the microherd. On top of that, isn't honey worth more than gold these days?

 

[JackTheGrower]

Looks like the most it offers then is sugar and aroma.

The peroxide aspect of 1 to 2 cups honey in 5 gallons of fish, Coffee and kelp may not be much.

Here is one that is fed the mix with honey.






Last season she smelled like watermelon when fresh cut. She didn't smell like that the two previous grows.

 

[JackTheGrower]

I'll order Molasses and see what I think.


I cannot say that Honey used as I have has done harm but, I read molasses offers more in the way of nutrients.

 

[green_grow]

i'm pretty new to this, but i have never heard of using honey as a rooting gel before . can you tell me more about this as i am having trouble getting cuttings to root .

 

[jaykush]

simply cut the clone, dip, apply to medium(i use peat pellets) add the humidity dome and throw it under some flouros and forget about it, watch the roots grow.

 

[green_grow]

good stuff, thanks, jay.

 

[- ezra -]

Forget the Honey, use molasses. Also Malt extract is good too (expensive though) Blackstrap is what you want.

- Ez

 

[JackTheGrower]

Forget the Honey, use molasses. Also Malt extract is good too (expensive though) Blackstrap is what you want.

- Ez

If this is a struggle of who's right and who is wrong we are missing the point.

The sugars play a role in a better produce.

Since Honey has only two... well.....


I must not be telling the truth if honey doesn't raise the brix indirectly..

The Brix is the point...

I say it does... In the mix I mention.


Anyone care to confirm?

 

[- ezra -]

Brix? I am sory I dont understand your post. I dont think there is a struggle Jack. I cant confirm anything about Brix Jack as I dont know what your talking about.

- Ez

 

[JackTheGrower]

Brix? I am sory I dont understand your post. I dont think there is a struggle Jack. I cant confirm anything about Brix Jack as I dont know what your talking about.

- Ez

I googled

Brix is a term popularized by Carey Reams. When used on plant sap it is primarily a measure of the carbohydrate level in plant juices.

Here is another link http://www.crossroads.ws/brix/index-page2.html

THE BRIX STORY
THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD BRIX
Professor A. F. W. Brix was a 19th Century German chemist. He was the first to measure the density of plant juices by floating a hydrometer in them.

*BRIX is a measure of the percent solids (TSS) in a given weight of plant juice.

*BRIX is often expressed another way: BRIX equals the pounds of sucrose, fructose, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, and other solids in one hundred pounds of a particular plant juice.

-----------------------------

It's related to how well a plant benefits from the soil. An organic living soil.


I believe what I experienced with my last harvest was a high brix.
Did honey contribute to a high brix? It's possible since it was the new thing I tried last time out.
I had a plant whose juice smelled like watermelon last time and not in previous grows of the same F1 seeds.

I'll take the word on molasses. I will also try it later on.

One thing. I am not telling people that putting honey on is the thing. I used it in a mix of fish emulsion and kelp. I think mixing honey and water and watering the plant will be the wrong thing to do.

I could be wrong but I think adding high sugars direct like that may cause problems. Molasses too.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[JackTheGrower]

Think brix is the overall weight harvested. Not sure, anyway if it does kill microherd. I am sure the hydro people will still be able to use it. Maybe honey in hydro will offset bad bacteria's, etc. Who knows, doesn not seem like something alot of people have tried like yourself Jack. I don't really go for the quantity though, for me it is the quality. Do you think the quality is helped, the same, or lessened? Watermelon huh? I've been waiting for a watermelon strain to come out. What strain was that again?

Mollasses, the good ol' staple. Gotta love the malt extract, a bit o' volacanic ash on the side maybe. Anyway, those are some of the things sweet leaf has, but the mollasses is to help the microherd for certain. Have never tried honey, never even crossed my mind till you tried it. I can get a good feel for the microherd, I could test 1 and report if anything looks off. No biggie. But honey would probably be too natural for chemical hydro growers, they would use mollases instead if not just a synthetic carbo or simple sugar source.

I don't have a watermelon strain.. The sap/juice of the plant when cut smelled like watermelon.

The quality was different. It was very smooth.
I grind bud through a screen and roll with a roller. It makes for a uniform smoke.


The picture is of that strain Rainbow.


I've seen no problems with my soil and new materials being processed.
I sprinkle coffee sometimes as well as other things and it looks to me that it gets processed.

If you try this maybe save some before soil from your microbe herd and keep it moist and then put it back later. If you are worried that is.



Well what I'm after with all this is to learn more. I am hoping that there are some super gardeners around that can teach me things about nutrient uptake and the brix of a plant.

I'm hoping to learn about what things aid MJ to be a healthy plant and produce the best quality.
Brix may be part of that answer.
Honey may provide sugars yet how it is utilized in a living soil I don't know. Same with molasses.

 

[glock23]

It might be worthwhile using a mix of honey and molasses. I might well try this. I use kelp, fish emulsion and high P Indonesian bat guano.

 

[JackTheGrower]

It might be worthwhile using a mix of honey and molasses. I might well try this. I use kelp, fish emulsion and high P Indonesian bat guano.

Cool..

I sure thought more folks would be using fish and kelp..

I've read some interesting things about organic soil and brix. Seems that if the soil is doing right nutrient uptake is high.
Poor soil activity poor uptake.

The idea that we can measure the performance of our organic soils is a good one IMO.

 

[JackTheGrower]

Whoa Wikipedia

Whoa Wikipedia

It would seem that this Brix issue has been thought out.

Wikipedia has a Grow entry.

[edit] Harvest and processing
Close-up of a female marijuana bud in flowering stage. White trichomes can be seen coating the surface, which will darken as flowering progresses.
Enlarge Close-up of a female marijuana bud in flowering stage. White trichomes can be seen coating the surface, which will darken as flowering progresses.
Buds are typically harvested when fully ripe. Generally, ripeness is defined as when the white pistils start to turn dark yellow, orange, light to mid red, etc. and the trichomes, "crystals", barely begin to turn milky from clear. These trichomes can range from completely clear (generally deemed underdeveloped), to amberish-red. Ideally, professionals will use a decent power magnifying glass, a brix meter (to measure "sugar" content), and a microscope. The potential seed pods swell with resins usually reserved for seed production, thus improving the quality of the buds (called colitas), which will swell to form full "colas". If harvested early on with only a few of the pistils turned color, the buds will have a more pure THC content and less of the cannabinoids CBD and CBN. The later psychoactive substances will create the bouquet of the marijuana, and influence the overall nature of the high from anywhere from purely psychedelic to purely sedative.

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The brix is measured for harvest?


Way to go Wikipedia.. Lets see Encarta do better!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)_cultivation

 

[JackTheGrower]

I started a Brix thread.

There has been other threads but I hope a Organic soil specific thread will be helpful.

 

[JackTheGrower]

Big leaf and lighter

Big leaf and lighter

Anyway I didn't want to come off as a kook.

I feel good about the fish, kelp and honey mix base.

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Thanks

 

[BudZad7]

Honey=OK Molasses=Better!

Honey=OK Molasses=Better!

Hi All !
Used both last year, and molasses won! It's a natural chelate....
Everything turns out BETTER!!! with BLACKSTRAP MOLAT.....LOL!!!

Your gurlz will LOVE IT!!!check this out: just six weeks into a 10 week flower...Grapefruit x Haze

Peace!

 

[JackTheGrower]

Yeah I hear molasses makes a difference in flowering!

I'm going to try it for sure.

I use the Honey in the fish and kelp veg feed.

That cola looks nice!