ScoobiesDoobies
Member
Though this is my first time posting in the forums (paranoia - as a DBA I trust nothing is truly anonymous or ever deleted on the web) I've Guest ghosted them for over a year now. After several small scale grows I decided to try some often-speculated techniques, both in flowering and and decided to report back on what I found with my current experiments. I started with 6 seedlings, then cut back to 4 sprouts and finally 3 plants in 5 gallon potters. The seeds used were random finds (I like bag seeds, it's like proving your better than the other guy every harvest that packs twice the punch the bag it came from had). I used a 50% perlite/miracle-gro organic potting soil and had to add a 2 inch layer of pure perlite to the top (more on that later). The grow space used is about 3'/3', fan, two 12" floro grow lights to fill out light spectrum and provide side light and three 23w cfl's (one per plant, 2 metallic 10" work light hoods, one flat-white reptile lamp hood). Now, let's break this down and look at treatment, impact, results! NOTE: I'm not by any means pro at this, if I state how something works and I have it wrong please correct me - my knowledge is the product of the interwebs and experience, not science or knowledge on plants. Things not made of silicon confuse me.)
First up...
Miracle-Gro Organic Soil: This soil is great, if you wanted a fantastic herbicide. The stuff was awful, it packed down even with 50% perlite. Nutrients didn't last long. Root growth was lame at best. I'll say this - I feel this soil was SO BAD it helped with all my other experiments as the impact of the treatment was immediate - the plants were so hungry constantly and the soil was so awful for root growth. By the second day after my nursery transplant (using just a plain old potting soil in solo's) they hatched... fungus gnats, by the HUNDREDS at first, thousands within another day. Then came the mold. Watering 1 gallon a week and waiting for the soil to be bone dry at least to my second knuckle with the added perlite drainage and that junk was white as snow and fuzzier than my cat (this is before any additives, just watering with....WATER! Bottled...Water. Anyhow - back to the review. Don't use this - if my options are miracle-gro Organic or a pile of cigarette butts I'd go with the later. Avoid it like herpes.
Next up...
How to Kill Fungus Gnats CHEAP: First and most important...LET THE TOP OF THE SOIL DRY between every watering. You will panic at first if this isn't your style (you should anyhow, dry soil allows air to get trapped and dissolved by water into the soil). Grow comfortable with recognizing when your leaves indicate a watering is needed, they should start to look dull and droopy when it's time. Once you no longer need to poke the soil to confirm get yourself a bag of perlite. Now, being careful not to let any soil mix into the perlite lay down about 2" on top of the soil. This will now prevent the gnats from getting to the soil and laying new eggs, within 2 watering cycles every last gnat was left. To further trim the herd in the meantime I mixed water, bright green (as bright a green or yellow as you can get is best) latex paint and sweet scented dish soap (again try to stick with bright green or yellow) in equal ratios to form an irresistible gnat death trap. I went from about a thousand to a puddle of black water and a nice flat white reflective layer of perlite (helped my lumens noticeably). I'll label it a win.
Now for...
Hydrogen Peroxide: OK this is a rarely discussed one. I came across it researching fungus gnat kill methods but I ended up using it for growth. I would add about 1 tsp per gallon, if not slightly less (a drop too much and expect instant death of your roots). I received fantastic results, about 15% growth rate improvement during veg for several days after every watering as well as death to all my mold in that awful soil. I discovered a downside though, any organic nutrients will be drained heavily with each watering. I quickly encountered a nitrogen deficiency during flowering that I had to scramble to correct but I know better for next time. Due to the havoc this plays with nutrients I would recommend you don't do it during flowering, at least the first time, and you dedicate only one plant to it until you get the hang of it. Mess it up and over-fertilizing is no longer the worst thing you can do to a plant, but results were so good I stopped using it on just my one test plant and used it on all three.
The oft debated...
Brown Sugar: I've used molasses before and I will say molasses is incomparably better but using a small amount of brown sugar seemed to be fine. I don't believe it helped much with budding, definitely calling molasses the better option. Also promotes major mold.
And the terrifying...
Coffee: Wow, this is a strange one. My first attempt was on a two-node tall plant. I added 1/2 tablespoon instant folgers to 1 gallon of water. The plant immediately overtook the others in height but the growth was spindly and sad looking. I toned it back and found I could use it very readily to keep the plants at equal heights during veg. Coffee is extremely acidic though and I had to compensate to correct pH each use. Also it can help promote mold growth, works good if you first water with ph balanced coffee then next-time clean the soil with the hydrogen peroxide then hit it with light nutes.
Hope this helps encourage some growers to experiment. It's a hobby after all and just like beer if we stuck with German tradition I'd never get my delicious summer ale, pumpkin beer or any fun stuff like that. Expand on my research or start some of your own, I'll probably try it myself and report back to you if your results are good!
First up...
Miracle-Gro Organic Soil: This soil is great, if you wanted a fantastic herbicide. The stuff was awful, it packed down even with 50% perlite. Nutrients didn't last long. Root growth was lame at best. I'll say this - I feel this soil was SO BAD it helped with all my other experiments as the impact of the treatment was immediate - the plants were so hungry constantly and the soil was so awful for root growth. By the second day after my nursery transplant (using just a plain old potting soil in solo's) they hatched... fungus gnats, by the HUNDREDS at first, thousands within another day. Then came the mold. Watering 1 gallon a week and waiting for the soil to be bone dry at least to my second knuckle with the added perlite drainage and that junk was white as snow and fuzzier than my cat (this is before any additives, just watering with....WATER! Bottled...Water. Anyhow - back to the review. Don't use this - if my options are miracle-gro Organic or a pile of cigarette butts I'd go with the later. Avoid it like herpes.
Next up...
How to Kill Fungus Gnats CHEAP: First and most important...LET THE TOP OF THE SOIL DRY between every watering. You will panic at first if this isn't your style (you should anyhow, dry soil allows air to get trapped and dissolved by water into the soil). Grow comfortable with recognizing when your leaves indicate a watering is needed, they should start to look dull and droopy when it's time. Once you no longer need to poke the soil to confirm get yourself a bag of perlite. Now, being careful not to let any soil mix into the perlite lay down about 2" on top of the soil. This will now prevent the gnats from getting to the soil and laying new eggs, within 2 watering cycles every last gnat was left. To further trim the herd in the meantime I mixed water, bright green (as bright a green or yellow as you can get is best) latex paint and sweet scented dish soap (again try to stick with bright green or yellow) in equal ratios to form an irresistible gnat death trap. I went from about a thousand to a puddle of black water and a nice flat white reflective layer of perlite (helped my lumens noticeably). I'll label it a win.
Now for...
Hydrogen Peroxide: OK this is a rarely discussed one. I came across it researching fungus gnat kill methods but I ended up using it for growth. I would add about 1 tsp per gallon, if not slightly less (a drop too much and expect instant death of your roots). I received fantastic results, about 15% growth rate improvement during veg for several days after every watering as well as death to all my mold in that awful soil. I discovered a downside though, any organic nutrients will be drained heavily with each watering. I quickly encountered a nitrogen deficiency during flowering that I had to scramble to correct but I know better for next time. Due to the havoc this plays with nutrients I would recommend you don't do it during flowering, at least the first time, and you dedicate only one plant to it until you get the hang of it. Mess it up and over-fertilizing is no longer the worst thing you can do to a plant, but results were so good I stopped using it on just my one test plant and used it on all three.
The oft debated...
Brown Sugar: I've used molasses before and I will say molasses is incomparably better but using a small amount of brown sugar seemed to be fine. I don't believe it helped much with budding, definitely calling molasses the better option. Also promotes major mold.
And the terrifying...
Coffee: Wow, this is a strange one. My first attempt was on a two-node tall plant. I added 1/2 tablespoon instant folgers to 1 gallon of water. The plant immediately overtook the others in height but the growth was spindly and sad looking. I toned it back and found I could use it very readily to keep the plants at equal heights during veg. Coffee is extremely acidic though and I had to compensate to correct pH each use. Also it can help promote mold growth, works good if you first water with ph balanced coffee then next-time clean the soil with the hydrogen peroxide then hit it with light nutes.
Hope this helps encourage some growers to experiment. It's a hobby after all and just like beer if we stuck with German tradition I'd never get my delicious summer ale, pumpkin beer or any fun stuff like that. Expand on my research or start some of your own, I'll probably try it myself and report back to you if your results are good!
