FOLAIR FEEDING- Cannabis Marijuana seeds Growing Guide
Folair feeding seems to be one of the easiest ways of
increasing yield, growth speed, and quality in a well vented
space, with or without elevated CO2 levels. Just prepare a tea
of worm castings, fish emulsion, bat guano, or most any other
plant food right for the job and feed in vegetative and early
flowering stages. It is not recommended for late flowering, or
you will be eating the sprayed-on material later. Stop foliar
feeding 2-3 weeks before harvesting. Wash off the leaves with
straight water every week to prevent clogging the stomata of
the leaves. Feed daily or every other day.
Best times of day to Foliar feed are 7-10Am and after 5 in
the evening. This is because the stomata on the underside of
the leaves are open then. Also, the best temperature is about
72 degrees, and over 80, they may not be open at all. So find
the cooler part of the day if it is hot, and the warmer part
of the day if it is cold out. You may need to spray at 2AM if
that is the coolest time available. The sprayer used should
atomize the solution to a very fine mist; find your best
sprayer and use it for this. Make sure the PH is between 7 and
6.2. Use baking soda to make the solution higher PH, and
vinegar to make the solution lower PH. It is better to spray
more often and use less, than to drench the plants
infrequently. Use a wetting agent to prevent the water from
beading up, and thereby burning the leaves as they act as
small prisms.Make sure you don not spray a hot bulb; better
yet, spray only when the bulb has cooled.
Perhaps the best foliar feeding includes using seltzer
water and plant food at the same time. This way, CO2 and
nutrients are feed directly to the leaves in the same
spray.
Foliar feeding is recognized in most of the literature as
being a good way to get nutrients to the plant later when
nutrient lockup problems could start to reduce intake from the
roots.
WARNING!: It is important to wash leaves that are harvested
before they are dried, if you intend to eat them, since they
may have nitrate salts on them.
NOTE: One grower who reviewed this document comments: "Fish
emulsion smells. Bat guano could be highly unsanitary. Stick
to the Rapid-Gro, MgSO4 (epsom salts), hydroponic trace
element solution. Nitrate salts (The "N" in NPK) are unhealthy
to smoke. Personally, I never foliar feed."
Above is a great comment, and there is great wisdom in an
organic, non-toxic garden. Personally, I use only CO2 on my
indoor hydroponic plants, and never folar feed. It simply does
not seem to be necessary when using hydroponics.
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