Thanks
I have ordered an Oasis gravity fed automated watering system for $70, I will play with it, document and share feeding, amounts, times and results. This is something I still struggled with as a noob, not knowing if I am watering correctly. Thank you Seamaiden for the info & the chart, I have referred to it often, plants seemed to be doing ok from what I can tell being a noob, they did have a slight curling and sharpening of the edges like poinsettia plants but I backed off nutes & heat from light and its almost cleared. Seamaide forgive me but when you refer to a vegging solution, do you mean coco canna or maxi grow for an example, plus an added amount of a product such as BioLink or Cal Mag? What happens after the roots penetrate through the media? do they drink directly from the bottom of the hempy bucket water? Does the volume of water uptake increase dramatically. Does any one have any advice on my left over plant from last try (last 2 pics) short, strong, bushy with a lot of under growth, can I or should I try to make it stretch?
This plant has been in that bucket since a seedling, I just keep watering & draining every 2 days for the last 8 weeks or so lol, it looks so healthy on top I'm not sure what to do with it.
It sounds like you're going to be getting the results you're after very soon.
When I say vegging solution, I mean any fertilizer, organic or not (in my world best=organic) that is highest in nitrogen in relation to the other major nutritional elements, phosphorous and potassium (N-P-K). However, I believe, as others do, that there are indeed other macroelements that should be addressed, one of the most important in my own experience growing weed being calcium (Ca). BioLink is calcium-only, this is very important when growing in coir, and also because it's an immobile element, which makes correction
very difficult. Thus, it is important to get it laid down in plant tissues from the very start, so while it doesn't have to be that specific brand, it must be additional Ca, used at recommended dosing rates. I detest combination
Cal-Mag products because the ratio of Ca:Mg is usually pretty poor, usually around 2:1-3:1, with the "best" products offering a ratio of 4:1. Better still would be a ratio of Ca:Mg of 6, 7, sometimes even as high as 15:1. I find with cannabis if you're getting around 4:1 as a minimum you can usually expect decent results, but if you can bump it to 6:1 you'll probably be happier, especially with total nutrient uptake and utilization.
If you were to add a chelating agent like humic or fulvic acids, (the higher the molecular weight the better), then you have to use even less nutrients, including immobile such as Ca, because it makes them better available for uptake and use by the plant.
As the plant grows the volume of water used will indeed increase
dramatically. I do prefer watering and feeding from the bottom, and that works well for me as an organic grower. However, with my outdoor plants, once they're in their final destinations I'm limited to root drenches and foliar feeding.
I hope this all makes sense.
