Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

Katatawnic said:

Right... they need sleep!

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Uncle Ben said:

I started this draft and then quit after finding out I can't edit what I start. I need the flexibility to make future additions and revisions, which is not granted to the thread starter here at RIU. So for what it's worth, here are a few tidbits written about 6 months ago.

Enjoy,
Uncle Ben

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Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks

After 40 years of gardening experience, a ton of applied book learning, and a whole lot of research and personal experience I thought I'd share some pointers or tweeks. Feel free to comment. This will be a work in progress as I recall “gems” I might have inadvertently left out.

Light - Plants needs a rest. Recommend 20/4 for veg. Plants do better (produce more carbos) with less light over a longer period of time than alot of light for a shorter period of time. There is a point of light saturation where more light will work against you by bleaching out the lifeblood of the plant - chlorophyll. Learn to "read your plants" and keep those leaves healthy and green until harvest. Also, contrary to forum paradigms, in general you want to give your plants more light during veg and less during flowering, think nature. The flowering response is not the time to bleach out the leaves with high light intensities (and high P foods). Ultra low levels of N found in bloom foods will generally not support leaf health.

Temperature and the importance of day/night differential - In general, a 85/70F (32/16C) day/night temp is best for most hybrids for maximum carbo production. What's really important is a good drop in temperature at night, of at least 15F/4C. If night temps are too high, the plant will use up the carbos manufactured during the day to the process of respiration as opposed to plant cell division/elongation (tissue production).

Watering technique - contrary to popular belief, wet/dry cycles are NOT good, especially for organic growers. Keep the soil medium moist but not saturated to the point where air is excluded. When you water, don’t be shy. Water until there is a good runoff. The issue is not overwatering, it's watering to the point of the exclusion of air.

Fertilizers - I don’t use “cannabis specific” plant foods for many reasons. If you do, make sure you’re able to find the NPK and micro values and understand the relationship between those elements. An overage of one element over another will create an antagonistic affect. For example, too much K tends to create a deficiency of N, Ca, and Mg.

Foliage production - Grow for the most amount of foliage you can going into the flowering response. Maintain those leaves in a green and healthy condition up until harvest, even if it means switching fertilizer to a high N value, like a 9-3-6.

Upcanning (repotting) - Score the rootball - pop the ball out and using a razor blade or sharp knife insert it about ½" into the rootball at the top and slice thru the exposed roots from top to bottom concentrating on any root spinout at the bottom. Rotate the rootball and do this about 4 times. Bury the “trunk” as deep as you can even if it means pulling off some of the lower leafsets. This will induce root output all along the buried trunk.

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Uncle Ben said:

With what consequences. Plants need a rest and during darkness alot of root growth occurs. There are (natural and genetically scripted/fingerprinted) processes that can only occur during the dark cycle. I use a 20/4 because it is a compromise between 18/6 and 24/0. Look at the growth in this garden as an example. Any faster than this and it gets ridiculous. From popping a seed to flowering it is anywhere from 3 - 4 weeks for me resulting in large bushy plants.
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/9114-spin-out-chemical-root-pruning.html

Again, one must find their plants' light saturation point and stay just below it.

Stay free,
UB

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Uncle Ben said:

It's nature's way.

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BurnDatShit35 said:

SO my question is should i perhaps add a little more nitrogen to the mixture during flowring to keep leaves alive.

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WIch also brings me to another question...does that effect bud production?

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also i think u mentioned that u dont flush....do u grow organicly cuz when i dont flush my buds are fucked since i use chemicles

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Bob Smith said:

Just interested because everything I've read and the anecdotal experiences I've had over the past decade, all the signs point towards 24/0 dominating any other vegging times.

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Bob Smith said:

Bob Smith said:

So, you're saying that although the 24/0 plants grow faster (I do believe you conceded that point by not trying to refute it), that you "feel" like your 20/4 plants are "healthier"?

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I said that plants need a rest and don't concede to anything. It's an issue about light saturation, a point that you have to find for yourself. 20/4 grows plants plenty fast for me and they end up with fat colas and excellent root systems..

Hope that helps.....

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Uncle Ben said:

Bob Smith said:

I said that plants need a rest and don't concede to anything. It's an issue about light saturation, a point that you have to find for yourself. 20/4 grows plants plenty fast for me and they end up with fat colas and excellent root systems..

Hope that helps.....

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Thank you much.

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shrigpiece said:

although you didnt reply to my post i get it, im mixing my grow and bloom ferts to keep the fan leaves alive, thanks bro!

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southern homegrower said:

i use pureblend pro from botanicare and the flower nutes are 2-3-5 and the veg nutes are3-2-4. would i be better off using 3/4 bloom nutes and 1/2 veg nutes. im growing hydro. when i use to grow outside my leafs staid nice and lush green right up to harvest time. now that i switched to hydro my leafs start looking kinda bad yellowing about the 5th week of flower . im growing a pure indica strain. and what books would you recomend on growing

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Uncle Ben said:

I didn't understand the question - "with the nutes in question, what would you recommend?"

What is your final NPK values "to keep the fan leaves alive"?

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shrigpiece said:

although you didnt reply to my post i get it, im mixing my grow and bloom ferts to keep the fan leaves alive, thanks bro!

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southern homegrower said:

i think this ? might have slipped by you

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shrigpiece said:

sorry dude, i meant what do you recommend using as a nutrient as in you dont use cannabis specific nutes, because of micro nutes that plants become defient, i have noticed my plants becoming defient of micro nutes because i use cannabis specific nutes!

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Uncle Ben said:

3-2-4 is NOT a decent ratio for veg. They have it bassackwards. A 4-2-3 would be more like it. Typical ratios for veg are 30-10-10, 9-3-6, 20-10-20.

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Bob Smith said:

I really don't think that's correct - will wait for others to comment to come to a conclusion, but this post disagrees with everything I've ever read.

I do believe it's pretty inarguable that a 24/0 plant will grow faster then a 20/4 or 18/6 plant.

That, as far as I understand it, is just a fact (any study I've ever heard/read of has come to this conclusion, although I've never run an experiment personally).

That being said, I'm wondering if UB (or anyone else) has taken it a step further and flowered those two groups, and come to the conclusion that even though the 24/0 plants grew faster and were flowered larger then the 20/4 or 18/6 plants, that for some reason the latter produced more and/or higher quality herb than the 20/4.

I guess that was basically the question I was asking.

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Uncle Ben said:

3-2-4 is NOT a decent ratio for veg. They have it bassackwards. A 4-2-3 would be more like it. Typical ratios for veg are 30-10-10, 9-3-6, 20-10-20.



Peters makes good fertilizers. Those found at Walmart or Sam's is fine. Nurseries sell decent fertilizers. Dyna-Gro is hard to beat for hydro and soil.

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