WW - when to fertilize

[Strawberry Cough]

I have WW seedlings. I have read that WW doesn't like too much fertilizer. Does anyone know when is good time to first fertilize plants, and then how often? I have 20-20-20 fertilizer.

Thanks.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hi SC...


For the WW I've grown at around week 3-4 when they have several sets of 5 bladed 'true' leaves they will be ready for some light feeding if your soil mix is regular potting mix with little nute value. What kind of soil are you growing in? Is it pre fertilized? Is the soil rich with organic amendments? Feeding regardless of strain depends greatly on the plant's needs and if you are growing in a rich organic soil like Foxfarm Ocean Forest your WW will only require occasional light feedings to get dank results. Basically, the more nute value your soil mix has the less that you need to feed them fertilizer/nutes.

What kind of 20-20-20 fertilizer is it? That NPK will work well for vegging and for the transition to flowering stage. If you're in a relatively light nute soil mix I'd suggest giving them 1/4 to 1/3 strength nutes for the first app at around 3 weeks or a month. I like to alternate soil feedings with plain water if I'm using FoxFarm Ocean Forest out of the bag for my grow. Usually a feed, water, water, feed, water, water, etc. feeding routine works best for me. When I grew WW in straight FFOF soil I had the best results feeding somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 strength when they were vigorously growing. Anything over 1/2 strength and I'd start having some nute burn issues. If you grow in a less amended, non fertilized soil potting mix a more regular feeding routine may be needed but with WW I'd always keep each feeding on the light side and increase the frequency of nute applications rather than up the nute strength of the feedings.

I'm currently growing a new WW pheno for the first time and she leans toward her sativa genetics. I'm using a very hot organic soil and I only give my WW water and occasional carbos for the beneficials in the soil and some Liquid Karma for humic/fulvic acid... WW seems to be more tolerant of heavy organic feeding in the soil mix than it was when I used synthetic nutes from a bottle and grew in FFOF. Be patient with your WW... Mine is currently at 70 days of 12/12 and has about 2 weeks left until perfection imho... There is about 15% amber trichs but they are building more and more every day so now is the time this pheno puts on the majority of trichs... The good news about this pheno is the yield is worth waiting for... I think I'll get 6-8 zips from this one WW plant in a 10 gal pot...

Happy Growing!

 

[robbiegy2k]

Hi SC...

What kind of soil are you growing in? Is it pre fertilized? Is the soil rich with organic amendments? Feeding regardless of strain depends greatly on the plant's needs and if you are growing in a rich organic soil like Foxfarm Ocean Forest your WW will only require occasional light feedings to get dank results. Basically, the more nute value your soil mix has the less that you need to feed them fertilizer/nutes.

What kind of 20-20-20 fertilizer is it? That NPK will work well for vegging and for the transition to flowering stage. If you're in a relatively light nute soil mix I'd suggest giving them 1/4 to 1/3 strength nutes for the first app at around 3 weeks or a month. I like to alternate soil feedings with plain water if I'm using FoxFarm Ocean Forest out of the bag for my grow. Usually a feed, water, water, feed, water, water, etc. feeding routine works best for me.

non fertilized soil potting mix a more regular feeding routine may be needed but with WW I'd always keep each feeding on the light side and increase the frequency of nute applications rather than up the nute strength of the feedings.

I'm currently growing a new WW pheno for the first time and she leans toward her sativa genetics. I'm using a very hot organic soil and I only give my WW water and occasional carbos for the beneficials in the soil and some Liquid Karma for humic/fulvic acid...

Happy Growing!

:yeahthat: Great explanation, I think you'd get the same explanation from any grower that knows their stuff. The point about the amount of nutes the soil already has determines how much you need to put in and when really sums it up.

An easy way to not get this wrong is just buy bog standard potting soil, this normally has enough all round nutes for the first 2-3 weeks, after that as DOS says introduce your nutes by a quarter at a time. This way if you start to see nute burn it'll only be minor (and unlikely) and you can ease off the nutes and you won't cause any harm and then start again and build it up again.

An even easier way to do it is to get hold of soil without any nutes in, that way you can just follow the feeding guide on the bottle for your veg and flowering nutes. Not forgetting to build up the amount slowly as mentioned.

Sadly im not an expert enough to know different strains and which may be more tolerent to different feeding habits, like with all growing it's a case of doing your best to keep them happy and learning from the experiences... Bit like women really :bolt: g'luck!

 

[Strawberry Cough]

Thanks for replies.

I am not in USA.

The bag of potting soil says it contains soil, aeration additives, tufa/tuff, and fertilizer - but I really don't see the fertilizer balls, so I added about 1/4 - 1/3 worm castings to the soil mixture for each of the seedlings.

The reason I asked this question is because today I notice one of the plants was a little dry (yet green) on one of the leaves so I didn't know if it was because I didn't water yesterday, or because it was lacking nutrients.

Also, the seedlings look a bit yellowish-green in color, and I didn't know if lacking in nutrients or because of natural light tint of this WW strain.

Thanks for replies.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hi,

Healthy plants in general should grow more of a 'lime' green color than a deep dark 'hunter' green. If they are growing very dark green it's more than likely due to too much Nitrogen in the soil mix. As long as they don't show burn they should do okay and in time the soil will hopefully get weaker and give you control if it's not very slow release fertilizer. If you notice any leaves starting to crisp up and dry off you may want to 'flush' the soil by rinsing about 10x the water that would fill your pot and drain it well.

Peace!

 

[Strawberry Cough]

Yes, that plant that started to show dry leaves is now today WILTING despite being watered/soaked yesterday - yet the other seedling in the same pot is doing fine!

More leaves at bottom are drier (yet still green), and now the plant is wilting. I don't understand why. All other 13 plants in same mixture are doing fine. Are some plant genetics just weaker and more susceptible and I should just let this one die out?

 

[PencilHead]

Yes, that plant that started to show dry leaves is now today WILTING despite being watered/soaked yesterday - yet the other seedling in the same pot is doing fine!

More leaves at bottom are drier (yet still green), and now the plant is wilting. I don't understand why. All other 13 plants in same mixture are doing fine. Are some plant genetics just weaker and more susceptible and I should just let this one die out?

Oddly enough, over-watering looks like under-watering. Be cautious. WW is very forgiving, I assume--I learned to grow with WW. I could do no wrong with the Widow strain I've been doing, but a WWxNL cross I grew side by side suffered horribly at my beginner's heavy-handed nute-ing.

Just jarred the 3rd crop from those seeds. I let each crop go a week or so longer and the results are staggering--no, I mean litterally staggering down the hallway to bed. This last crop--as DOS noted, this was a heavily Sativa strain--went 12 weeks. It'll put your unit in the dirt if you don't watch it.

Peace and luck and don't sweat it too much--it's an amazing plant that loves us much. You'll get there if you pay attention.

 

[Strawberry Cough]

I liked your reply Pencil Head.

QUOTE: litterally staggering down the hallway to bed