W
woodydude
Guest
Hi guys,
Ok, before I start here, I would like to say I fully expect to get shot down in flames here as this is one of the more controversial topics. Molasses in hydro.
I have been intrigued by the posability of using molasses since I read this thread http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5149 about it. Fascinating stuff and since I am an old hippy, the thought of being able to use something fairly organic in my otherwise chemical setup gave me a warm hippy glow inside.
Anyway, back to the point. My biggest fear was clogging up pumps & drippers etc, especially the drippers since they are the smallest bore.
The setup I used was what we call a Wilma system in the UK. It is a flood & drain table but the plants are kept in pots, which allows for movement, addition/subtraction etc, more flexibility that straight flood & drain. Each plant/pot has its own dripper, fed from a submersed pump.
Feed for the system I use is 15 mins 6 times a day including one in the middle of lights off. The growing medium I use is clay pellets (hydroton), which I like because they can be reused. It is this last point that made me think molasses may work, the fact the plants have a medium surrounding most of the root mass, meaning there would be bacteria in there and it is those I was targeting.
Lights, ventilation etc are not really important for my purposes here but the light is a 600w hps in a cool tube with 6" ducting. Extraction is from a powerful 6" Ruck inline fan (715cfm) giving me 3x air exchange per min and a carbon filter. An oscilating fan providing air movement.
Nutes were An Sensi A+B, with Big Bud and Overdrive. B-52 and Voodoo Juice had been used previously.How much molasses, well I disolved about 20 ml into a litre of boiling water and added it to a 20L res which makes it about 1000:1 concentration if my maths is any good.
Ok, down to what I was looking to achieve, objectives. I just wanted to see what effect adding molasses would have on a, my plants and b, my equipment.
Today was cut down day, 30% amber on both plants so it had not delayed anything, having grown about 20 of each of these strains, I know more or less what to expect now from them and 53-56 days is when they hit the magic 30%.
Basically, I was disappointed with the plants, I ran this test during the final week of flowering since I did not want the plants to be harmed. The two I chose had had problems at various stages, including me dropping a 4-tube, 4foot T5 HO on the Strawberry Cough, almost chopping it in half. The other had been my original Blue Cheese clone I had kept hold of as an insurance policy so whatever they produced was going to be a bonus.
A couple of days ago, I noticed if the buds were touched, then you tasted the residue on your fingers it was extremely sweet, having never done this before, I have no comparison and do not know if this was down to the molasses or is what usually happens. The other thing of note was the stability of the plants. I have had to support branches of both plants as the buds were weighing them down a little (yippeeeee) but 2 days ago, the SC was falling over from the roots, something I have never seen before from one so it concerned me. It started happening yesterday with the BC. Also yellowing. I know late in flower to expect some yellowing of the leaves but these plants have been very green until 4 days ago. Is 3 days with molasses enough to cause this? I dont know.
So thats the plants, overall some concerns without seeing much in the way of benefits. I do not believe any extra weight was gained, if anything, I think it caused a slowdown.
As for the equipment, nothing of note. There was a bit of gunk in the res and there had been a lot of frothy bubbling on the surface (I use an airstone in the res) but the pump did not clog up, the drippers were all relatively clean and I would be happy to let the stuff near my equipment again.
Conclusions, well the effect on the plants on its own, enough to make me not want to use M again! Which is odd because my main worry had been the equipment, that was all fine and dandy, just needed a clean. I clean everything through at least once a fortnight and if you are as fastidious as me, then go ahead and use molasses in your hydro, it wont kill it! But it may kill your plants!
Depending what kind of hydro you use, flood & drain, Wilma, Ebb & Flow, NFT, RDWC fine, there are pumps involved in all those and I would say it will not clog up if you clean regularly. On the other hand, DWC with just an airstone, I think you may have problems, even with air rushing through the stone I think the temptation is to let things go a little longer without cleaning which could f... sorry, mess things up.
So, would I recommend Black Strap Molasses to a hydro grower? No but not for the expected equipment reasons. Having read this thread today http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55296&highlight=molasses and the link between plants not feeding while sugar is present in their food stick to pouring it on your pancakes.
Ok, before I start here, I would like to say I fully expect to get shot down in flames here as this is one of the more controversial topics. Molasses in hydro.
I have been intrigued by the posability of using molasses since I read this thread http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5149 about it. Fascinating stuff and since I am an old hippy, the thought of being able to use something fairly organic in my otherwise chemical setup gave me a warm hippy glow inside.
Anyway, back to the point. My biggest fear was clogging up pumps & drippers etc, especially the drippers since they are the smallest bore.
The setup I used was what we call a Wilma system in the UK. It is a flood & drain table but the plants are kept in pots, which allows for movement, addition/subtraction etc, more flexibility that straight flood & drain. Each plant/pot has its own dripper, fed from a submersed pump.
Feed for the system I use is 15 mins 6 times a day including one in the middle of lights off. The growing medium I use is clay pellets (hydroton), which I like because they can be reused. It is this last point that made me think molasses may work, the fact the plants have a medium surrounding most of the root mass, meaning there would be bacteria in there and it is those I was targeting.
Lights, ventilation etc are not really important for my purposes here but the light is a 600w hps in a cool tube with 6" ducting. Extraction is from a powerful 6" Ruck inline fan (715cfm) giving me 3x air exchange per min and a carbon filter. An oscilating fan providing air movement.
Nutes were An Sensi A+B, with Big Bud and Overdrive. B-52 and Voodoo Juice had been used previously.How much molasses, well I disolved about 20 ml into a litre of boiling water and added it to a 20L res which makes it about 1000:1 concentration if my maths is any good.
Ok, down to what I was looking to achieve, objectives. I just wanted to see what effect adding molasses would have on a, my plants and b, my equipment.
Today was cut down day, 30% amber on both plants so it had not delayed anything, having grown about 20 of each of these strains, I know more or less what to expect now from them and 53-56 days is when they hit the magic 30%.
Basically, I was disappointed with the plants, I ran this test during the final week of flowering since I did not want the plants to be harmed. The two I chose had had problems at various stages, including me dropping a 4-tube, 4foot T5 HO on the Strawberry Cough, almost chopping it in half. The other had been my original Blue Cheese clone I had kept hold of as an insurance policy so whatever they produced was going to be a bonus.
A couple of days ago, I noticed if the buds were touched, then you tasted the residue on your fingers it was extremely sweet, having never done this before, I have no comparison and do not know if this was down to the molasses or is what usually happens. The other thing of note was the stability of the plants. I have had to support branches of both plants as the buds were weighing them down a little (yippeeeee) but 2 days ago, the SC was falling over from the roots, something I have never seen before from one so it concerned me. It started happening yesterday with the BC. Also yellowing. I know late in flower to expect some yellowing of the leaves but these plants have been very green until 4 days ago. Is 3 days with molasses enough to cause this? I dont know.
So thats the plants, overall some concerns without seeing much in the way of benefits. I do not believe any extra weight was gained, if anything, I think it caused a slowdown.
As for the equipment, nothing of note. There was a bit of gunk in the res and there had been a lot of frothy bubbling on the surface (I use an airstone in the res) but the pump did not clog up, the drippers were all relatively clean and I would be happy to let the stuff near my equipment again.
Conclusions, well the effect on the plants on its own, enough to make me not want to use M again! Which is odd because my main worry had been the equipment, that was all fine and dandy, just needed a clean. I clean everything through at least once a fortnight and if you are as fastidious as me, then go ahead and use molasses in your hydro, it wont kill it! But it may kill your plants!
Depending what kind of hydro you use, flood & drain, Wilma, Ebb & Flow, NFT, RDWC fine, there are pumps involved in all those and I would say it will not clog up if you clean regularly. On the other hand, DWC with just an airstone, I think you may have problems, even with air rushing through the stone I think the temptation is to let things go a little longer without cleaning which could f... sorry, mess things up.
So, would I recommend Black Strap Molasses to a hydro grower? No but not for the expected equipment reasons. Having read this thread today http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55296&highlight=molasses and the link between plants not feeding while sugar is present in their food stick to pouring it on your pancakes.