foliar feeding outdoors?

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

does anyone do it? if so what products do you use that are available at the local hydro store?

also when you foliar feed the plant takes in the food thru the leaves and grows bigger, do the roots grow with it by size? or can the plant up top out grow the roots down below if you foliar feed to much? i wont foliar spray when its budding thats what im wondering.

Just wondering if it will offset the balance

 

[Blaze]

I always give my plants a weekly foliar feeding outdoors. It gives them a big boost in growth rate, sap levels, and yield from what I have seen. Doing it regularly can literally add pounds to your harvest.

This last season for veg I used Liquid Karma, Nitrex and Pure Blend Pro Grow. For transition, I did Liquid Karma, Cal Mag Plus and Nitrozyme. It helps give them a nice boost if you foliar a bit during early flower too. I always foliar with Pure Blend Pro Grow, Liquid Karma, and if my K+ levels are low, Nitrozyme. A lot of nutrients out now have foliar feeding directions on them so many of the products you may be familiar with already could work.

From what I've seen the roots will keep up with the canopy growth as well. The only thing you need to watch out for with foliar spraying is that sometimes you can get your EC too high if you over-do it.

Another nice thing about foliar feeding is that you can feed your plants with much less nutrients than if you were to do a soil drench. For example, it takes 300 gallons to soil drench all my plants. If I foliar feed I can do it with about 50-75 gallons so it is VERY cost effective. This is very important when using expensive products like the Nitrozyme and Liquid Karma. Also, about 90%+ of the nutrients are absorbed when foliar fed, vs. only about 10% when applied as a soil drench.

 

[markscastle]

I was thinking of buying a yard fogger that runs off propane gas.it is made to kill flying bugs but I think it would be great for outdoor foliar feeding plants and to neem them if needed. I don`t buy the store bought ferts and prefer guano and tea made from different stuff. To use in this kind of fogger I`d need to filter the tea and delute it some.What would be the best filter?

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

I never do but most of my stuff is guerilla so I don't visit that often. The ones I can visit get in ground ferts. You can top dress with stuff and let the rain work it in if you don't want to or need to carry water. I mostly mix with water because when I go to the plants I can visit I like to give them as much water as I can. It is easy to hide containers near the creeks in the bushes.

IMHO foliar feeding is mostly an indoor thing where you are worried about root zone ph causing problems. Outdoors in the ground with natural soils or amended natural soils foliar feeding would be a hassle and not much benefit. The biggest benefit you can add to an outdoor, in the ground plant, is probably water. As much as you can ever carry they will drink it all. That will give the biggest size and yield boost. So if I am carrying an water with me it is getting poured onto the ground not sprayed on the leaves.

Backyard containers is a different story though because you can visit every hour if you want.

 

[Blaze]

You might take a look at this:



I have not used it myself but I know someone who has one and they like it. It is specifically made for foliar applications of tea.

For my garden I use one of these:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200347993_200347993

Best investment I ever made on my garden. It literally is about 5 times faster than a Solo backpack sprayer. I put a 75' hose extension on mine so I can reach everywhere in my garden without having to move the tank.

 

[Blaze]

IMHO foliar feeding is mostly an indoor thing where you are worried about root zone ph causing problems. Outdoors in the ground with natural soils or amended natural soils foliar feeding would be a hassle and not much benefit.

I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on that one Tobor. Myself and many others have been abel to confirm with hard scientific data via sap analysis as well as growth and yield records that foliar feeding has a tremendous impact on outdoor plants. Myself and many other growers I know here in NorCal have confirmed these results and have a good 10 years worth of data to back up these conclusions. Foliar feeding is arguably the single largest contributor for increasing yield - it boosts nutrient uptake FAR more than top dressing and soil drenching.

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

Well in my experience it doesn't. But I couldn't do it as often as you. However with a guerilla grow or a remote grow when you visit I firmly believe if you carry in whatever amount of water you need to foliar spray with and I take that same amount of water and water the base with it and use ground ferts the extra water I give combined with the ferts I give will yield more than you not giving that extra water and foliar feeding.

California doesn't have the soil Pennsylvania does either. That's why you guys are always scooping out holes and filling with a soil mix or using baby pools and smart pots full of soil mix. Maybe that is why you see a difference.

I did a big outdoor thread a few years back and had a bunch of plants in the corn, I could visit them everyday. I used gourmet ferts like Advanced, Flora Nova, Liquid karma, kool Bloom and whatever foliar stuff I bought on a bunch of them. The ones I just watered (plus the water I used to foliar spray the others with) and gave some bat guano to were the biggest plants. I wasn't really testing foliar feeding I was just comparing using basic stuff with expensive stuff and the expensive stuff suggested foliar feeding. I also had one plant that had a dead groundhog under the roots and I just watered it. That didn't work so great. LOL!

I was answering from strictly a guerilla grower point of view. If the person was carrying in 300 gallons of water to just water and 70 gallons to foliar spray with they would be better off just watering with 370 gallons of water. That extra water is crucial.

If you can root feed a plant until it shows tip burn (you know it has enough) how can foliar feed add anything else?

 

[dican01]

compost tea is really great. you can make a pretty inexpensive compost tea brewer with a 20 dollar air pump and 5 dollar air stone. can be made inside of a large trash can or anything that would hold water really. paint strainer bags from the hardware store or wedding veil material has the best mesh for putting your compost into. adding a couple handfuls of worm castings would be good too. the more variety of compost you can use the better, maybe a mix of store bought and some from your back yard. brew for 24 hours. i also add a little bit of maxicrop soluble seaweed powder at this point (after it has brewed). the compost tea must be used right away within 12 hours.
i use a gilmour sprayer and spray weekly in vegetative outdoors. amazing results. can't say enough good things about compost tea. really magical stuff. if you can use RO water, that would be best.

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

compost tea is really great. you can make a pretty inexpensive compost tea brewer with a 20 dollar air pump and 5 dollar air stone. can be made inside of a large trash can or anything that would hold water really. paint strainer bags from the hardware store or wedding veil material has the best mesh for putting your compost into. adding a couple handfuls of worm castings would be good too. the more variety of compost you can use the better, maybe a mix of store bought and some from your back yard. brew for 24 hours. i also add a little bit of maxicrop soluble seaweed powder at this point (after it has brewed). the compost tea must be used right away within 12 hours.
i use a gilmour sprayer and spray weekly in vegetative outdoors. amazing results. can't say enough good things about compost tea. really magical stuff. if you can use RO water, that would be best.

is there any teas i can just buy and not have to brew?

I always give my plants a weekly foliar feeding outdoors. It gives them a big boost in growth rate, sap levels, and yield from what I have seen. Doing it regularly can literally add pounds to your harvest.

This last season for veg I used Liquid Karma, Nitrex and Pure Blend Pro Grow. For transition, I did Liquid Karma, Cal Mag Plus and Nitrozyme. It helps give them a nice boost if you foliar a bit during early flower too. I always foliar with Pure Blend Pro Grow, Liquid Karma, and if my K+ levels are low, Nitrozyme. A lot of nutrients out now have foliar feeding directions on them so many of the products you may be familiar with already could work.

From what I've seen the roots will keep up with the canopy growth as well. The only thing you need to watch out for with foliar spraying is that sometimes you can get your EC too high if you over-do it.

Another nice thing about foliar feeding is that you can feed your plants with much less nutrients than if you were to do a soil drench. For example, it takes 300 gallons to soil drench all my plants. If I foliar feed I can do it with about 50-75 gallons so it is VERY cost effective. This is very important when using expensive products like the Nitrozyme and Liquid Karma. Also, about 90%+ of the nutrients are absorbed when foliar fed, vs. only about 10% when applied as a soil drench.

i just baught the liquid karma and few weeks back the nitrozime. i was suing the nitrozime but then read about all the gilliberines(spelling) and auxins in it and got worried about spraying with it weekly. do u just use the recomended dosage for the liquid karma?

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

tobar there is a spot i have with 6 plants right near a pond that i can get to easily. these are the ones im gonna experiment with, with the foliar sprays the ones in the prickers are just getting water and hail Marys

 

[Blaze]

I was answering from strictly a guerilla grower point of view. If the person was carrying in 300 gallons of water to just water and 70 gallons to foliar spray with they would be better off just watering with 370 gallons of water. That extra water is crucial.

If you can root feed a plant until it shows tip burn (you know it has enough) how can foliar feed add anything else?

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm speaking from a medical point of view which is a bit different. We can grow more openly, which means it is a lot simpler and more practical to get everything on a drip and fertigation system.

If you got the time and ability to do it, foliar feeding does help in most cases though. It does also seem to be more effective with certain products/nutrients. It is particularly helpful in boosting the levels of Nitrogen when growing organically in my experience.

One thing I forgot to mention as well as that foliar feeding is also the fastest way to correct nutrient imbalances, which can be most helpful in certain situations.

 

[Blaze]

i just baught the liquid karma and few weeks back the nitrozime. i was suing the nitrozime but then read about all the gilliberines(spelling) and auxins in it and got worried about spraying with it weekly. do u just use the recomended dosage for the liquid karma?

I always just used the recommended amount for all of the stuff I mentioned.

I wouldn't worry about this Nitrozyme having auxins or gibberellin's in it - those are both naturally occurring plant growth regulators (or PGR's).

Gibberellin stimulates cell elongation, breaking and budding, seedless fruits, and involved in the natural process of breaking dormancy and various other aspects of germination.

Auxins are compounds that positively influence cell enlargement, bud formation, root initiation. and promote the production of other hormones. In conjunction with cytokinins, another PGR, they control the growth of stems, roots, and fruits, and convert stems into flowers.

 

[dican01]

is there any teas i can just buy and not have to brew?

they sell bottled compost tea and bottled liquid worm castings but i do not think they will be as good. when you make your own, the tea is actually alive and extremely beneficial.
if you aren't going to brew tea, then i really recommend using some kind of seaweed as a foliar spray. i like ascophyllum nodosum (powdered or liquid although some liquids contain chlorine so check the labels.) i have used maxicrop's soluble powder (1-0-4) for years with really good results.
stuff works so good that i use it on my indoor plants too.

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

Hey I had a good sleep last night finally. I really only ever foliar fed that one summer and I had a store bought foliar spray. I shouldn't really make any claim as if it works or not. You guys that do it are brewing teas or mixing your own and can visit more often.

I don't want to come off as an expert on foliar sprays because nothing is further from the truth. Also when I see the Cali boys with their huge freakin holes or baby pools spread all over I get really, really jealous. You cali growers can really spend time with your plants and find out a lot more about what tricks work.

 

[Seamaiden]

Another foliar in the OD situation person here. I am almost embarrassed to admit I haven't been doing it with my indoor girls because there are so few, it's just another thing for me to remember. That said, this year I've spent the $$$ on some expensive nutrients, into the sprayer they go!

Kelp extract alone is a fantastic foliar, if you just want a little something to start with. Products I don't recommend are fish emulsion and molasses--both applied as foliar can be a little problematic depending on the situation. I did it once with some girls outside our bedroom and I could not sleep that whole night for the stink. Molasses applied as a foliar seems to attract more bugs and dirt.

 

[dican01]

Kelp extract alone is a fantastic foliar, if you just want a little something to start with. Products I don't recommend are fish emulsion and molasses--both applied as foliar can be a little problematic depending on the situation. I did it once with some girls outside our bedroom and I could not sleep that whole night for the stink. Molasses applied as a foliar seems to attract more bugs and dirt.

what kind of seaweed do you use?

 

[Doomsterx]

oh hell yeah bro u got to foliar outdoors no matter what. gorilla grow or not i have always done it. my first 2 grows outside were a gorilla grow and i would just bring a 2 gal pump sprayer. blaze is totally right it adds tons of weight on your buds to foliar. i spray weekly right up until crystals start to form then i stop. all organic all day!

 

[Seamaiden]

what kind of seaweed do you use?

Whatever I have on hand. Right now it's Liquid Kelp extract from PVFS, I think it's a bull kelp extract. Before I was using Maxicrop, I think it was. Smelled delicious, kind of like a super-rich soyu sauce. I can't remember what kelp they use, I think they just call it "Norwegian kelp", as though there is only one specie of kelp in Norway. Getting ready to order up both types of kelp (the liquid), this time also gonna get some Algamin liquid.... or dry, I haven't decided. I like the solubility of liquid, but it weighs more, ya know?

 

[Blaze]

Cold processed kelp is what you want in my opinion - it helps preserve the integrity of the organics, such as PGR's. Kelp harvested from deep, cold water (such as norwegian kelp) also tends to have higher levels of trace minerals, PGR's, etc.

 

[Skywalkin420]

i have been using maxicrop seaweed and its working wonders, i have been using it for about a month already and there is no trace of nutrient deficiencies on any of my girls, variety dependant watch your dosage, sativa dom's dont really like alot of the seaweed indicas seem to love it alot more, i did use fish emulsion as a foliar and did not like it at all, it caused some sort of deficiency in my skylwaker og and bubba kush when sprayed, everything else seemed to be okay after getting hit by it, the thing i like about it as well is it keeps bugs on their toes added with neem oil it works well too ive tryed that every two weeks and it seems to work very well, spray foliar only once a week with the seaweed. i usually will do neem oil first followed by the seaweed or in a mix of both, wait three days then hit them with foliar spray on the leaves, for those who do foliar any certain ph that would optimize absorbtion of nutrients? i ph my foliar spray water to 6.5