Feeding Molasses do I or is it a waste of time
- Thread starter Newgrow31
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Depends on why you are ising it.. Are you using it to feed microbes in the soil? Or are you using it as potassium boost? You didn't list any microbe source so I'm unsure if you have active microbes that the molasses will feed on. Week 4 of flower of a photo period plant is a little early for a K boost bit if your plants are healthy it can't hurt.
Just want add that recharge has molasses in it as well as microbes. I also want to keep the grow styles separate.. If you are feeding your plants bottled nutes, adding microbes and a food source like molasses will break down the organic matter in the soil, releasing nutrients for the plant to use when it's ready.. That's the basis of organic growing. Since you are using bottled nutes, it's more like giving your plant an IV like like you would a hospital patient. You are feeding the plant directly, whether it's hungry or not.. If you do both (adding microbes and a food source for them, and use bottled nutes), you run a high chance of over feeding because now the plant is getting food from two different sources. I just wanted to make that point. Molasses is fine to use as a sugar/carb source while using bottled nutes.
Maybe it's pointless in my case then as I'm using more or less the full Canna range of nutes including the PK and Bloom Boost Accelarator, it's only my first grow so I'm kinda ignoring the cost but I can't see myself doing that forever as the Canna range is one of the most expensive (but apparently also the easiet/safest for newbies to use)
Sour D
Cultivators Club
Being new, you might want to look at switching to organics. I started out with salt nutes and fell head first down the rabbit hole of chasing the "best" nutes. Gets expensive quick. I switched from coco and salts to SIPS (earthboxes) and organics. Currently I'm using Home Grown Microbe Bokashi HGMB with activated EM1 for watering on feed day and straight water on a 2nd day each week. Since making the switch, I spend a whole lot less money and time and my yields have at least doubled. The HGMB Seed to Harvest kit is like $50 and they always have discounts going---Black Fri is 40% off. It's also wicked easy. Every item is 1 tablespoon per gallon of water and you only use 1 or 2 items per week. Of course if you like messing around and tweaking stuff, there's plenty of things you can do.
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Yes, the plant cant take in some carbohydrates but for our purposes we want the root biome to continue making nutrients. Without the carbohydrates shared by the plant the biome "goes to sleep". The root microbes eat the carbohydrates for energy and then produce the ions that feed the plant so many other nutrients that the plant cannot produce themselves. If you have light, Co² and water the plant will produce it's own carbohydrates but it stops sharing them with the root Biome.
My understanding of this process is from Harley Smith and a study put forward from Advanced Nutrients (Bud Candy). This is a good read:
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If your coco/rock wool have not been overly flushed you will have an extensive root biome alive with many microbes that are actually initiated by the roots themselves. It is part of what makes these media so successful. I inoculate my rock wool at transplant with Mykos to give this process a head start. I started doing this many years ago when first doing some hydroponic lettuce because of my background in organic gardening. It was like old farmer Bro-science it works in soil why not hydro? It turns out I was doing the correct thing as science has proven that the plants themselves will create a robust root biome. So even if you only feed salt based fertilizers the plants entire life in these inert media the microbes are still present. When the plant stops sharing carbs we step in and feed the biome.
