late bloomer

[d&bfiend]

Hi boys and girls,

long time smoker, first time poster, first serious attempt at growing. loving the resources that oz stoners is providing. F#@ken wicked community. I was just given a little plant as a housewarming present and ive been giving it a whole lot of TLC.first photo was just after i recieved it 2 weeks ago and second photo was taken today. i was wondering a) can anyone tell me what strain i have got here and b)is she , if infact is a she, too small to expect any buds this season. I've been watering her once a day (very hot in SA) and giving her seasol once a week. also trying my hand at LST but im not sure if it is to soon. any advise would be wicked.

[mungas]

g'day mate and welcome to OS. you're not doing a lot wrong. I'd change to Thrive 'cause Seasol is more of a soil conditioner than a fertilizer. Don't be afraid to feed 'em more often. They will love ya for it! good luck. Edited February 27, 2011 by mungas

[d&bfiend]

Thanks for the quick reply mungas. How often should I be hitting them with the thrive?

[Auntynorm]

I also like seaweed based nuts. Fertilizing every week is ok, but when small don't go full strength, try about 1/2 strength. Little and often for starters. The good thing with organic fert is that the plants won't burn so easy. Keep plenty of water up to them when it is hot and if they show wilting move out of the direct sun. I don't believe in heat stressing my plants. I like an easterly aspect for growing anything as they will stll get the light but not full on arvo sun, and any ambient temp over 35-36 is going to do more harm than good. They will grow and sweat plenty under these conditions. If it does turn out to be a girl, then you may get some buds this year. You can get a liquid fert when buds show from Bunnings called Rose Focus, use a full strength of 10ml/ltr. works a treat, I got the info about rose fert from another area on this site. It kinda looks like a sativa, but hard to be sure at that size. Lotza luck.

[demistify]

auntie, I agree with you about feeding them carefully when they're small. and when they're small I don't care if they're not getting full sun.

 

however, when they've grown a bit I make sure they get as much sun as possible and begin a program of water one day, thrive the next day and chook poo dissolved in water the next day. then I begin all over again and do this until start of flowering when I switch to indoor thrive (called 'flower and fruit' nowadays). this is massive amounts of water and nutrient. (which may be the difference between yr seven footer and my ten, as you commented when you saw my pic the other day.)

 

I NEVER EVER water the top of the plant. I simply dump the water or nutrient on the growing medium. when the plants are pumping they will use ten litres water/nutrient a day.

 

this much nutrient means the growing medium must have perfect drainage. it should run in and out of yr pot and into the three inch deep saucer under yr pot ... or in and out of yr plastic lined trench almost immediately. when it's hot and the plants are pumping I even block the drainage of the trench and give them so much water/nute that the plants are left standing in three inches of water/nute. no wories, they'll pump it out in two days.

 

to make liquid chook fertiliser without spending a fortune get a bag of pellets. put a quarter of the bag in a hessian sack. hang that sack in a dustbin full of water for a coupla days. no accurate formula for this ... apply a mixture that looks like black tea. very hard to overdose them with this.

 

anyway, different strokes for different folks ... whatever works for you and me ... good luck newbie ... much peace to all.

 

PS. forgot to mention soil PH. 7 is what you need. get a PH kit from the hardware and follow the directions.

Edited February 28, 2011 by demistify

[Skunkxxx]

You can also use molasses but but sure it is all natural and unsulphured blackstrap molasses is even better. It has all of these calcium 117.53 mg 11.75

copper 0.28 mg 14.00

iron 2.39 mg 13.28

magnesium 29.38 mg 7.34

manganese 0.36 mg 18.00

phosphorus 5.47 mg 0.55

potassium 340.57 mg

selenium 2.43 mcg 3.47

sodium 7.52 mg

zinc 0.14

sugar - total 5.85 g

monosaccharides 2.09 g

disaccharides 3.68 g

other carbs 2.46 g

riboflavin - B2 0.0

 

VERY IMPORTANT

 

riboflavin - B21 mg 0.59

niacin - B3 0.15 mg 0.75

niacin equiv 0.15 mg

vitamin B6 0.10 mg 5.0

Molasses is used by organic farmers to feed the micro-herd in their organic soils. The carbohydrates feed the bacteria which, depending on the time of the grow/flower cycle, can be a good thing or it can be overdone at the expense of the bacteria breaking down phosphorus for uptake by the soil's fungai. Like any other organism, bacteria prefer sugar and if that's available then all other of their processes come to a grinding halt until the sugar is consumed.

 

'Less is best' when it comes to applying molasses to the soil. 1 or 2 tsp. per gallon as a soil soak and 1 tsp. as a foliar spray is more than adequate.

 

Molasses as a foliar application is helpful in fighting powdery mildew (due to its sulphur content among other reasons) and for feeding the aerobic microbe colonies on the leaves, branches and stems.

 

Molasses is not a soil amendment. It's not a fertilizer. It can best be described as a food for the things that make your organic gardens go 'pop'

 

Livestock molasses usually runs about $11.00 for 3 gallons (about 50 lbs.) at a feed/farm store.

[d&bfiend]

all very useful info. thanks heaps kids, hopefully i'll have something to report back with.

Cheers

[mungas]

Hey d&b. Everyone's different...I feed mine EVERY day. I always water them first until the water runs out of the bottom of the pot. I then wait 10-15 mins then hit 'em with thrive. As a rule when the seedlings are looking more like a plant ie 5-6 branches I will double the dosage. Always water thoroughly first. That way you spread the fert down through the soil & not just on top where it'll burn the roots. Hydro growers feed far more frequently than that. During my brief dabble under lights the feeding schedule was 15mins every 2hrs.

 

I use Thrive during veg & Manutec Bloom Booster in flower. Hey...I might be wrong but damn my plants are the greenest & biggest anyone's ever seen up close. Last time I got busted the cops even posed & took photos of each other!!! no bull!!!!

[demistify]

Mungas, I 've fed them the same as you but I found adding the dilute chook poo bulked up the heads. and instead of bloom booster I add sulphate of potash to my water or dilute chook poo. much cheaper. the only thing with sulphate of potash is that it won't dissolve easy so you have to crush it up to a powder first. cheers.

[d&bfiend]

Mungas and Dimistify , got my chook poo dilute under way and I'll give that a good go. Might combine both of your ideas together and water first, then rotate the chook poo water and the half strength thrive. Roughly how many litres of the nutes do you guys think I should be adding. Put 5 litres of the half strength thrive yesterday. pretty happy with the growth over the last week. I never thought I'd find a passion for gardening =) already can't wait for next season so I can start from seed. Anyone know where I can get seeds from locally? Again much love for the OS and thanks for the continued input