I look at feeding as 2 distinct methods: either you feed your plants
chemical nutrients(by that I mean) raw materials that have been "chelated" by artificial means in a lab or chemical plant, or you use
organic feeding by adding raw materials like guano, bone meal, feather meal, poultry litter, etc. and let the naturally existing microbes(either already in the soil or added to the soil) do the
"chelation" in the soil.
"Chelation" is key to nutrient availability. Chelation is the process of decomposing the raw materials to a level that the plants can absorb. Its kind of like us chewing our food and having our stomache and intestine break it down so that the nutrients can be absorbed into the blood stream to be delivered to all the cells in our bodies. If we didn't have the digestive tract to break down the food, our bodies couldn't absorb it. The microbial life in natural soil does the "digestive" work for plants.
If you grow in hydro and use
chemical nutrients that have been broken down already for the plants, then you don't need the microbes, and the environment isn't suitable for the microbes to survive to assist the plants. In this case it is easiest to use "artificially chelated" nutrients such as GH's flora 3part, Technaflora's BC nutes, Advanced Nutrients hydro lines, just to name a few. If you are growing in
organic soil that has all of the ammendments that supply all of the elements needed by the plant in natural raw form, you are depending on the microbial life within the soil to break down these materials and make them available to the plants. In this case it is imparitive that you maintain a healthy "herd" of microbes to feed your plants.
There are a select group of people who use soil in an
organic setup but then add in
chemical nutes. This is where there has been a point of debate for many growers who believe that you can grow in natural soil that is organic in nature but still feed chemical nutrients. Many here and elswhere believe that the combination of the 2 methods causes the killing off of the microbe herd, rendering the amendments useless as they cannot be chelated further; however, at the same time, the combination can cause an overnuting issue if the herd isn't killed off soon enough.
I think this is a noobie mistake that many people make who want to apply general gardening skills and methods to growing MJ. I believe that the medium that your plants set in is far more important than just to hold the plant up and keep the roots accessable to water. I contend that it is critical that you choose your medium and nutrient regamine together, and make absolutely certain that the 2 components compliment each other so that they work together as best they can to serve the plants.
Please forgive my jaunt into the science of MJ. I tend to get a little left-brained every now and then.
