can i do nothing but Foliar feed?

[reddevil6]

Hey i want to stop feeding my outdoor plant by pouring the nute solution through my soil, cos im using chemical hydro ferts and i have had PH lockout a few times now this grow just flushed 2 days ago and Foliar feed it this morning.

I was wondering if i could just do this ONLY from now on?

If so just folow the directions on the bottle? or is that ment for if you are watering it with the nutes aswell?

[brick]

From what I have learned/read in here, hydro nutes aint any good for soil grows. Get some Yates fish emulsion fert.

[TRD2JZ]

Using hydro nutes in soil for the last two rounds and have witnessed a noticable improvements in all stages of growth compared to regular soil nutes(Yates, Manutec And Searles brands). Does have to be approached differently than regular ones though, I found that a VERY fast draining soil is needed (using50/50 soil to clay balls seems to work for me) and watering is needed every day, nutes one day and plain water the next. The nutes do have to be regulated pretty well by the user though as it is so easy to over fert and get lockout, I run 5ml to 10l as opposed to the recommended 10ml to 20ml.

Back to the original question in theory i guess you could foliar feed exclusively and have success but if it any decent sort of size it would be a nightmare to keep up with imo. Have foliar fed ferns and things inside without ever feeding the roots (just made sure soil was still damp at all times) and had no worries, got to hose off the leaves regularly though to get rid of any build up. Just think that a plant outside and copping full on sunshine would need to be fed pretty regularly and would be a hassle to try to keep the food up to it this way. Most foliar feeding is used as a supplement and i guess this is for a reason.

 

Sorry about the off topic ramble at the start reddevil .Be sure to make a thread about this if you do try it. Love to see the results.

Edited February 12, 2010 by TRD2JZ

[everest]

water with nute mix , then water with fresh water .. then repeat

 

ev

[reddevil6]

water with nute mix , then water with fresh water .. then repeat

 

ev

Are u talking about during the same watering, or r u saying nute 1 day water the next and so on?

 

 

also should i watch out for the buds foiler feeding? and just srpay the leaves?

[everest]

heres what i do

 

make say 10 l of nute mix up ... water .. let dry out totally say 3/4 days .. then re water with plain water at the correct ph .. let dry out say 3/4 days then hit withe nute mix ..

 

cheers

 

ev

[MongyMan]

You need to be very careful using hydro nutes in soil, as you found out it's easy to get salt buildups and ph problems. You cant flush soil easily like you can hydro mediums either as they tend to hold onto the salts. Make sure you only use a weak mix if you use them and as ev said, water with fresh water regularly between the nute waters. I'd water with fresh water on a 3 to 1 ratio to nute mix myself, if i watered with nutes that often even.

 

Peace MongyMan

[Frazz]

well i never use over 500ppm concentration of hydro nutes on sandy soil, and i give it to them within 12hrs of their last normal water

and only once every 10 days

 

chemicals in the nutes often prevent and destroy alot of hormones and biotas (microbial inhabitants that release, transform and transfer nutrients within the soil) from becoming active

organic compost and worm-wee and seaweed extract condition the soil and stimulate a whole microcosm of life within the soil

the soil supports life on many different levels, other than just supportting a living plant

health of your soil is reflected in the health of the plant

adding hydro nutes defeats all these life-nurturing qualities of a living soil and reduces your soil to just another 'medium' being fed by chemical nutrients

 

foliar feeding is great way to supplement plants needs

i use dutch master Saturator as a delivery agent when foliar feeding anything

its supposed to translocate plant stimulants an nutes from the outside of the leaf surface to the inside

 

[reddevil6]

how ive been doing it is nutes 1 day then leave it the next day water the day after that and nute again.

 

frazz my soil was cheapo potting mix fount out its quite shit going to but top quality soil for my next grow and only organic nutes and compost, will have to go shoping for next grow.

been using halve strength with the hydro nutes um 700PPM it says that is on the bottles

[TRD2JZ]

well i never use over 500ppm concentration of hydro nutes on sandy soil, and i give it to them within 12hrs of their last normal water

and only once every 10 days.

10 days, cool. I cant leave them that long even when using nothing but soil and no extras. What size pots do you use? I only use 20l pots, so with straight soil I still got to do it every 3rd-4th day.

Can let them go to every second day with the soil/clayball mix I am using now but look pretty sad by the time I do them. With the everyday water they always have leaves up and only droop for about 1 maybe 2 hours after being watered, then they are reaching for the sky again (well ceiling actually)and looking sweet. I guess basically I just use the soil to stop the balls from wanting to move when I move the pot and to hold the whole lot together. Gotta admit it is by no means the most efficient setup, go through more nutes than you could get away with in different soil mix. But as stated I can see a noticeable difference in vigour from the same strain.

Anywho it gives me something to wake up to before work, cause waking up for work sux

 

Missus just walked in with a carton of the finest