High Potassium is not necessary for flowering?

singlecoiled

singlecoiled

Well-Known Member
Good topic, I've been struggling with problems mid flower and would bet money that the "Bloom and Bloom boosters Ive been using do more harm than good. This grow, I'll be using Dyna-Grow Foliage pro without bloom at all until week 4 of flower. There was an interview with (Owner/Persident?) from Dynagrow that said that bloom was created only because people wanted it. He mentions that plants need Calcium and Nitrogen at a higher percentage than anything else, and there is no reason to add high levels of P and K in flower as they dont need it. (You need some, but not nearly as much as the plant needs Calcum and Nitrogen.)

As a newbie, I've always thought to myself that after flipping 12/12 things go into a "super vegetation" phase until after the stretch. The plant is producing massive amounts of leaves at this point and it seems Calcium and Nitrogen would be the best thing it can get? (along with micronutrients and reasonable amounts of P and K).

Yes, this is a huge contradiction to the folks that cut nitrogen down in flower. Many go this route, but I wonder...

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xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
High levels of potassium or any other nutrient are never needed. It's best to feed a balanced nutrient in moderation for the entire grow. One of the reasons so many people are constantly having issues with their plants is because they're feeding too much of something. You'll notice that the growers that don't feed with excessive EC or blast their plants with one or two elements while starving them of others are not the ones having problems.
 
Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
dank'd said:
many studies have been done on tissue samples of plants in veg and flower and the levels of n and k are always higher than p in both phases by about 3-4 to 1

the u of u team recommends 20-10-20 full cycle as there is no need for more phosphorus, except, in the last 4-5 weeks of flower where as has been said the phosphorus has been depleted by stretch and also the buds themselves which are p sinks

so an amount of p can be added at that time to replenish the p taken from the fan leaves by the buds and the stretch. this to stop the fan leaves from showing deficiencies before reaching senescence and thus keeping the plant healthier up until ripeness
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I really don't understand most of this yet, but I'm getting close, really close. 20-10-20 seems a little high in flower. amd maybe it wasn't intended for cannabis in mind when those numbers came out, but ... for organics, where the priority is soil health, would a high NPK feed indirectly kill of beneficial fungi and bacteria? Some say yes, that anything higher than 7-8 would cause the plant to stop feeding the mycorrhizae. Why would the plant want more of something if it's in abundance? The mycorrhizae is the core to adjusting the feedings npk values across the board correct? If we kill off the fungi system overfeeding phosphorous, then we have indirectly caused a nutrient lockout.
 
jimihendrix1

jimihendrix1

Well-Known Member
Hydro Gardens, who have been in business since the 60s, and have been making plant specific fertilizer since the 70s, came up with the NPK Ratio for marijuana of 19.5-20-39 going by tissue analysis, and they use it from start to finish.

They do add Monopotassium Phosphate in weeks 3-4 in an 8 weeks flowering strain as the buds set.
They also ever so slightly increase all base nutrients up until week 6, then they start cutting back. They also give extra Epsom salts in weeks 5-6. They say that the Sulfur at this stage increases Terpenes.

Some strains may also need extra Iron, but that is not the norm, just something to watch for.

Their base formula is 4-20-39, and then they add Calcium Nitrate, 15.5-0-0 and Epsom Salts.

But I think ( UH OH ) that if growing organic, if you have a basic very fertile soil mixture, that you really shouldnt have to add anything extra. Following something like COOTs Living Soil recipe, the best thing to do would just do as whats recommended to maintain soil fertility. Try and keep it as simple as possible.
 
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Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
sh0wtime said:
I tested high amounts of PK during flower, ...

... looked like i flushed a bag of cocaine through my soil.

:hump:
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How did you get your soil tested? Been looking into trying leaf tissue testing but there doesn't seem to be any labs around for soil or leaf testing around my area.
 
Reap911

Reap911

Well-Known Member
So I rate that the proof is in the pudding.

People trying to talk in absolutes is something I would be very conscious of. All guys that I feel are really good teachers have one common thing in mind, they do not believe in have a dogmatic approach.

Science, as we know, is an ever evolving process. We cannot lean on it if it is not giving us the results we want. It really depends on what information you land on. I have excluded focusing on Phosphorus before and it effecting my quality and not for the better. I have done runs with a focus on higher amounts of Potassium and I saw an increase in bud size but also an increase in plant problems trying to balance the amount I was adding in.

You really want to prove a theory to yourself? Journal. That is what has led me to finding balance. Journal what you throw in, the amount of it and note any positive or negative effects you notice. Then continue this process till you have a recipe for success. Its sad but there is so much conflicting information out there. It was mentioned that advertising and large sums of money go into making you believe that you need X or Y but at the end of the day, the only way you can filter out the BS is through application and observation.
 
Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
Reap911 said:
So I rate that the proof is in the pudding.

People trying to talk in absolutes is something I would be very conscious of. All guys that I feel are really good teachers have one common thing in mind, they do not believe in have a dogmatic approach.

Science, as we know, is an ever evolving process. We cannot lean on it if it is not giving us the results we want. It really depends on what information you land on. I have excluded focusing on Phosphorus before and it effecting my quality and not for the better. I have done runs with a focus on higher amounts of Potassium and I saw an increase in bud size but also an increase in plant problems trying to balance the amount I was adding in.

You really want to prove a theory to yourself? Journal. That is what has led me to finding balance. Journal what you throw in, the amount of it and note any positive or negative effects you notice. Then continue this process till you have a recipe for success. Its sad but there is so much conflicting information out there. It was mentioned that advertising and large sums of money go into making you believe that you need X or Y but at the end of the day, the only way you can filter out the BS is through application and observation.
Click to expand...
I'm on the camp that less is more right now (a change of heart), won't know till 6 weeks from now. And the journal is a great idea.
 
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