feeding/flowering/fox farm

[hero4u2b]

Hi everyone. Im in my first week of flowering. I was using Fox farms grow big. big bloom for veg and then last week started with tiger bloom and some cal/mag. I recently noticed a little nute burn even thou I used 2 not 3 teaspoons ( on regular feeding ,not heavy feeding) of big bloom and tiger bloom.. In checking out the feeding schedual from Fox Farm I noticed they say to flush with one of their products called Sledgehammer prior to flowering and then use supplements called Beastie bloomz and cha ching..These both being high in P. I am having to water tomorrow and just want to use plain old PHed water so as not to burn again and I am a little confused as to all these supplements . flush's ect. The plants are starting their 9th week, 1st week of flower on a 12/12 cycle and I am growing in FFOF. I have a local hydro store that sells just about everything and am wondering what other soil growers do? Do I need all these things? should I flush the soil before they begin to flower and before harvest? Thanks everyone.. Hero

 

[Trojan46312]

If you see nute burn flush it with ph'd water quickly. I've been reading the forum and pretty much everybody says fox farm nutes run very hot so I don't use their schedule exactly. It also depends on the strain so you will have to do some experimenting. I don't use the micro nutes yet and I'm doing ok with just the 3 part regiment. If it was me I would flush really good and feed a teaspoon or so less a day or two later.

 

[Trojan46312]

I also might add that you want to leave some veg nutes in the mix for the first two weeks of flower so your plants won't suck up all the nitrogen so quickly. So u can flush but use a little veg nutes for the first couple weeks.

 

[Old_SSSC_Guy]

i have tried the added 3 supplements of sesame/beastie/cha ching and did not see that much difference, although others swear by them. they are very potent and will cause nute burn easily.

i stick with Gro Big for grow and Big Bloom & Tiger Bloom for flowering. you might flush the plants like Trojan said, then bring back the Big Bloom only, then add 1/2 strength Tiger maybe a few days later. ramp irt up to full strength and back it down if/when you see burning. they are very mild ferts so you might just be seeing a soil build up than a neutral flushing will heal. just remember that a good leeching of the soil will also rinse out a lot of badsic and trace nutes already in the soil. in many ways a heavy flushing basically takes you to an inert growing medium.

some also depends on the container size... a plant will burn faster in a small container compared to a larger one.

 

[hero4u2b]

Hmm well I have them in 7 gallon pots.. I have noticed that when I first transplanted into the 7 gallon pots I would use 1 gallon of water and that it would run out of the bottom and drip out as well ,for over a half and hour.. Now the roots and plants have grown and 1 gallon is barly tricking out of the holes in the bottom of the pots..I think I will make a trip to the local hydro store and get some sledgehammer and flush with that.. Then do as suggested and go with lower dose's of eveything. The supplements such as open sesame. beastie and cha ching have a really high P value.. like 40 or 50.. I guess I will think about those later on into flowering. Thanks Hero

 

[Old_SSSC_Guy]

that's a lot of soil, you should not be seeing problems. lots of soil normally means a soft buffer for soil salts loading. if you get into the sesame/beastie/chaching be real careful - they can burn the plants like a mofo. expensive as heck too.

a gallon of water onto 7 gal of soil should not run off that easy (just a guess though - i've not grown in 7 gals). i used to advise folks to leech container soil at a rate of 1 gallon of water per gallon of soil mix. it will rinse the buildup and "floculate" (love that word) the soil, allowing it to wet more easily and thoroughly. you can also put 1-drop per gallon of Dr Bronner's unscented liquid soap or simply Dawn dish detergent in your leech water. it breaks the surface tension and makes sure that the soil wets completely, 1 to 2 drops per gallon can help more than you might first think. myself, i don't pH correct the first 3/4 or so of leech water. figure its a waste of time because it will be rinsed away with the last gallon or so - and definately if you completely re-wet the soil with 1/2 strength nutes too.

but remember - leeching that much will rinse many/most trace elements from the soil. be ready to do a final-final flush with 1/2 strength to not starve the girls...

just my opinion...

 

[hero4u2b]

It is morning and the lights went on.. I watered with plain PHed water. I am going to go down to 1/3 reccomended dose's of the fox farm nutes.. and ofcourse only use every other watering which does make it once a week to feed . Maybe I fed twice.. not too sure..anyways Thanks SSSC guy. appreciate it.. Hero