New Grower Foliar spray advice

[carl brutananadilewski]

So ive always wanted to know some things about foliar feeding and care.
One thing is can you feed your plants through their leaves with the lights off?
The other things is can you spary a product like organicide then spray with a light fertilizer or does one wash the other off??

 

[hotrodnyc]

Great questions.


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[carl brutananadilewski]

Anyone?lol

 

[blue]

Hi there */sprays face*

Just kidding lol - I'm not the foliar champion of AFN, but iif i tag @Waira into this post, then you'll probably get some really good advice when the grizzly bear wakes up (time differences)

I'm guessing the answers go "yes" .. "wait for one to dry before applying the other" - but you don't want a guess - you want the science!!

It will come if not by wonder @Waira then another foliar feeder

Hope this helps

Blue

 

[Waira]

Cheers @blue !

>> Carl-- foliar spraying is a very good skill/method to learn! It's great for feeding, a must for pest management, and for treating deficiencies. One thing that is a must to use with foliar is a water spreader/ wetting agent, of which there are several on the market; this stuff is used to take the surface tension out of the solution you're spraying, allowing it to coat and stick more evenly instead of just beading up and rolling off... it helps maximize the surface area covered, which means more stuff gets absorbed when treating or feeding, and it also helps penetrate the pest bugs natural water resistance, allowing the spray to get through and dose them! ... you'll need a good quality sprayer too of course,... For feeding/defc. treating, here's the deal: Access into the plant is through the stomata, regulated "pores' that are found on the leaf surface, mostly on the underside, so when you spray, make sure to get tops and bottoms! Nutrients can only get in when in solution too, once dry, they're stuck on the surface until re-dissolved.... I like to re-spray with RO/DI water lightly after the first round dries, to give a "second helping",... The solution for any feed/treatment must be more dilute than would be for soil/resv. application! Too much can burn... As for the spraying itself, it should be done during light hours, away from direct, intense lighting (HID/LED) to avoid potential lensing burn from accumulation droplets acting like magnifier lenses and burning the leaf surface (fluoro's won't cause this), and also, the heat and breeze from lights and fans will dry things too fast; you want the solution to have some time to get absorbed,... just be sure that the plant is dry by lights out, to avoid potential mold problems!
Treatments of whatever kind should be staggered a few days apart, and not mixed either, again to avoid burning and overwhelming the leaves,... All this is a snap when in veg, but as budding starts, foliar is less and less desirable because of both residue build-up and mold promotion,... it can be done, sometimes MUST be done when saving the buds from pests, but it takes special instructions specific to the situation,...

 

[TomAuto]

neptunes harvest organic seaweed 0-0-1, great as a folier feed

I like to foliar feed clones until they root, And autos up until real budding happens.

and I like to give any and all house plants a good just H2O spray down bout once a week or every other week, just gotta shake off and dry the gals with a fan afterwards...not really possible for bigger applications multi plant rooms and such....

dust can really clog up the pores.

 

[carl brutananadilewski]

What wetting agents do you guys recommend? I hear soap work does it matter what kind?

 

[TomAuto]

I don't use any wetting agents, the water seems to get them wet just fine lol. ..but I understand the concept, just dont think its really necessary

 

[carl brutananadilewski]

Can i foliar feed my clones a light organic solution to get them their nutrients? I think the npk value is 0.45 0.10 0.10

 

[TomAuto]

you can try....it really comes down to if your fertilizer works good as a foliar spray or not....only one way to find out....but plants do absorb something like 200%- 500% more through foliar than they do roots, so keep it pretty lite dose.A little goes A long way,,,I can tell you the neptunes harvest organic seaweed works great and so does MG tomato food....I think just about anything should work fine as long as you use the right dosage.