Molasses opinions, yay or nay?

[Eyerealeyezd]

Hey folks, I've been reading about using Molasses in my grow and since this is my first grow I'm just looking for everyone's thought for and against using, thanks in advance.

I've been growing for years and yes to molasses, I use humboldts secret product line but last 2 years I've cut out one of their bottles , the sweet and sticky, because its literally just diluted molasses. I go down to local Grange buy 5 gallon bucket of it, I mix in a 55 gallon drum and use quarter of a gallon to half gallon per 55 gallons, I start using this the 2nd week of flower when the white hairs start showing up. To night I mixed kelp and molasses, the girls are hungry and are burning through their nutrients fast.

 

[Mrb53]

molasses is not for the plant. Plants create sugar through photosynthesis..It is for the soil...It extends the life of the soil, ads bacteria and helps the living portion of it which in turn makes it easier for the roots to absorb nutrition. It does affect Ph of the soil so test Ph often. The soil breaks the sugar down to carbohydrates which feed beneficial microbes in the soil. The soil microbes then produce CO2 that’s used by your plants to grow larger. You can also use molasses as an organic insecticide. Insect bodies can’t process sugar, and die when they ingest it. The whole purpose of molasses is to feed your soil microbes, meaning it’s critically important that you only use unsulphured molasses. Sulphur dioxide, the ingredient in “sulphured” molasses, kills off microbes, and therefore you wouldn’t want it in your soil. Calcium and Magnesium are also in molasses...an important part of the flowering stage

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

I feel pretty certain that I have noticed the quality of my flower increase around the 30 day mark in the jar. This could be an indication that I'm not treating it properly before the jar, of course.

That is when the chlorophyll is gone. It's where the fresh cut grass flavor and smell come from.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Feeding plants sugar is not going to impart flavor to your plants. If you feed with french fries it doesn’t make a Happy Meal flavor. If it did, then we would all use fruit juices, candy, spices, etc to make yummy flavored buds. I think where people get confused is the use of molasses for feeding microorganisms. If you make Active Aeration Compost Teas (AACT) you need a source of sugar to feed (and grow) microorganisms, and while you can use any kind of sugars, molasses is the most prevalent. The idea being that you get a source of microorganisms (compost), and soak it in water, add oxygen (with an air pump) and sugar (molasses) and after a few days the population explodes and you have a big bucket of microorganisms that you can add to your soil. The thing is you normally only add enough molasses to feed the critters for a few days (at which point the microorganisms will start eating each other), so by the time you use your tea it shouldn’t contain hardly any molasses.

This ^^

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Don't put wood ashes on your plants. This is where lye comes from.

 

[Aqua Man]

Molasses in direct addition.... no

Molasses as an addition to a brewed tea... yes can be beneficial if needed.