Top feeding

I’ve looked for a thread about top feeding but haven’t found one that’s active. Anyone? I’m growing auto flowers inside and was wondering how much to top feed them with chicken Shit compost and at what age? I use 3 gallon fabric pots. I’ve had good results before but wanted to see if I could get thicker bigger buds. My profile pic is what I’ve been ending up with.

Well it all depends. Technically there is not set amount requierment. When i top feed with organic fertilizer i spread a good amount all over the top and then mix it in the top soil.. Same for compost.. Less more often is better then more at once less often.. Start with a small amount and increase and it grow.. I've dump half of kilo of guano as a top feed once in a 30 gallon and everything went great.. Half an inch of compost is fine per top feed..

Grab Dr. Earth Homegrown or Life ..... 2 - 3 tablespoons for 3 / 5 gallon container / spread ( scratch in ) , water in.

or Bag of FFOF ..... small handful topdress water in or cheesecloth bag it ( bubbler ) and drench as tea .

About that simple.

Autos do not need heavy feeds since their life span is preset and will usually finish around 90 days or so.

I run No Till bagged soil mixes ( layered ) and water ONLY . I use 50/50 mixes of EB Stone recipe 420 soil / FFOF .
And perlite bump. Nothing else. Tap water .... No RO or distilled crap. Most municipal water sources have calcium / mag intact.
PH water 6.3 - 6.5 No More No less .

I run more autos than I care to mention and find many overthink the requirements for a shorter grow.
Overfeed and Overwatering are the most common problems auto growers run into.
A properly ammended bagged soil will carry an auto for an easy 6 weeks before any noticeable depletion of medium.
I then recharge medium with same bagged soil and water in.

Instead of a Bloom Booster ( and other nonsense bottles ) I merely water in some myco to RECHARGE the microbial
activity ...... which in turn breaks down elements for plant to keep on using. It’s better to keep the symbiotic balance of the medium over DUMPING excess products ( sweeteners / boosters and other ) . You will find plants are hardier because they have become acclimated to the host medium and it merely is recharged.

There is nothing to flush or leach since medium is alive and thriving. Its when you start any synth Nutes that you have to break up the excess salt.

Frigault said:

Well it all depends. Technically there is not set amount requierment. When i top feed with organic fertilizer i spread a good amount all over the top and then mix it in the top soil.. Same for compost.. Less more often is better then more at once less often.. Start with a small amount and increase and it grow.. I've dump half of kilo of guano as a top feed once in a 30 gallon and everything went great.. Half an inch of compost is fine per top feed..

Click to expand...

Thanks! I mix cow compost and FF Happy Frog but was thinking I could get a better harvest top feeding chicken compost. Maybe a couple of table spoons just before flowering.

Snail1976 said:

Thanks! I mix cow compost and FF Happy Frog but was thinking I could get a better harvest top feeding chicken compost. Maybe a couple of table spoons just before flowering.

Click to expand...

Compost is great any type is good. Its the humic acid (humus) and and the bacteria that are great and useful. So if you top feed adding compost has well can only be great... Id top a lot mor the 2 spoon.. I would civer a good half inch and mix

I dont know if you have a worm bin or not, but what i do is mix worm castings with tupur/coco/peat moss, along with whatever top dressing, like bat guano or alfalfa. I find the castings will moderate the PH and prevent burn if you over do it.

T

Frigault said:

Compost is great any type is good. Its the humic acid (humus) and and the bacteria that are great and useful. So if you top feed adding compost has well can only be great... Id top a lot mor the 2 spoon.. I would civer a good half inch and mix
[/QUOTE Thanks ma

Frigault said:

Compost is great any type is good. Its the humic acid (humus) and and the bacteria that are great and useful. So if you top feed adding compost has well can only be great... Id top a lot mor the 2 spoon.. I would civer a good half inch and mix

Click to expand...

n! That’s what I was thinking. A couple of spoon fulls.

Click to expand...

Snail1976 said:

T

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Thanks again. I misread your reply and thought you said “a couple of spoons would be good.” I understand now but the plants are actually looking pretty good right now. I think I’m going to go with a couple of tablespoons because I don’t want to over do it. It’s easier to go less than too far. It’s only 3 gallon pots. I might be overthinking it. I’ll keep this thread updated and check in.

I

jcurtis912 said:

I dont know if you have a worm bin or not, but what i do is mix worm castings with tupur/coco/peat moss, along with whatever top dressing, like bat guano or alfalfa. I find the castings will moderate the PH and prevent burn if you over do it.

Click to expand...

don’t have a worm bin but I’m thinking about buying some red wigglers and put the worm castings along with the worm in my pots.

Budzbuddha said:

Autos do not need heavy feeds since their life span is preset and will usually finish around 90 days or so.

I run No Till bagged soil mixes ( layered ) and water ONLY . I use 50/50 mixes of EB Stone recipe 420 soil / FFOF .
And perlite bump. Nothing else. Tap water .... No RO or distilled crap. Most municipal water sources have calcium / mag intact.
PH water 6.3 - 6.5 No More No less .

I run more autos than I care to mention and find many overthink the requirements for a shorter grow.
Overfeed and Overwatering are the most common problems auto growers run into.
A properly ammended bagged soil will carry an auto for an easy 6 weeks before any noticeable depletion of medium.
I then recharge medium with same bagged soil and water in.

Instead of a Bloom Booster ( and other nonsense bottles ) I merely water in some myco to RECHARGE the microbial
activity ...... which in turn breaks down elements for plant to keep on using. It’s better to keep the symbiotic balance of the medium over DUMPING excess products ( sweeteners / boosters and other ) . You will find plants are hardier because they have become acclimated to the host medium and it merely is recharged.

There is nothing to flush or leach since medium is alive and thriving. Its when you start any synth Nutes that you have to break up the excess salt.

Click to expand...

Thanks man! It sounds like you have it figured out. I’ve added no nutes on this grow. I’m going organic all the way.

Budzbuddha said:

Autos do not need heavy feeds since their life span is preset and will usually finish around 90 days or so.

I run No Till bagged soil mixes ( layered ) and water ONLY . I use 50/50 mixes of EB Stone recipe 420 soil / FFOF .
And perlite bump. Nothing else. Tap water .... No RO or distilled crap. Most municipal water sources have calcium / mag intact.
PH water 6.3 - 6.5 No More No less .

I run more autos than I care to mention and find many overthink the requirements for a shorter grow.
Overfeed and Overwatering are the most common problems auto growers run into.
A properly ammended bagged soil will carry an auto for an easy 6 weeks before any noticeable depletion of medium.
I then recharge medium with same bagged soil and water in.

Instead of a Bloom Booster ( and other nonsense bottles ) I merely water in some myco to RECHARGE the microbial
activity ...... which in turn breaks down elements for plant to keep on using. It’s better to keep the symbiotic balance of the medium over DUMPING excess products ( sweeteners / boosters and other ) . You will find plants are hardier because they have become acclimated to the host medium and it merely is recharged.

There is nothing to flush or leach since medium is alive and thriving. Its when you start any synth Nutes that you have to break up the excess salt.

Click to expand...

Since you grow autos a lot, I’m getting about 1 1/2 to 2 ozs of trimmed bud off of each plant. Is that good or no? Green crack and lemon skunk mostly which wind up being 24-30 inches tall. Good or no?

It varies ... light aerated mixes perform well.
Hydro / DWC seem to make larger autos as roots explode in these setups.
Some are strain specific and grow large ( Big Bud XL / NL / Mephisto / others )

One trick to getting them to VEG better ( start at a high cycle 20/4 or even 24/0 ) plant will energize growth faster under long
cycles THEN when transitioning to sex / preflower either leave cycle or go to 18/6. You want that shorter veg stage to get all it can get.
That’s why I just let medium feed it and light power it. I no longer feed ( bottle ) during this stage as a well ammended soil will do the work. Less chance of fuck up.

Once you start burning , overfeeding , overwatering, stressing these autos during this critical stage , you will notice less than stellar
returns. Autos do not have time to recover from any mishaps. Sativa leans do benefit from LST and some minor topping , but that’s about it. You can also Bend her over for a simple tie down ( 3 nodes growth ) and lateral branching will now grow upwards .



2-3 ounces per smaller autos is about average ... some can push 100 / 200 grams and better. Seen some outdoor autos really get large in 20gallon bags . Breeder estimates are to be taken with a grain of salt on yields ..... some say 600 grams ... but expect those are outdoor greenhouse monitored grows ( or lab ). I grew 4-5 foot indoors so it’s possible I guess.


It’s trial and error period . Some breeders are better some are bunk. You can have super autos that have strong parental
lines and shit like dwarfy strains ( perfect for SOG perpetuals ) ...

I recommend minimum 3/5/7 gallon for most indoor —— 1- 2 gallon ( bags ) for SOG grows.
They grow pretty much in any container ....

Solo grow for seeding / fem pollen experimenting....


Would have showed you more but since this site update ......
BUT All my journals are pretty much gone apparently.
Pics and all .... FFFFFUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK

Just remember LESS IS MORE with these. GL

Budzbuddha said:

Grab Dr. Earth Homegrown or Life ..... 2 - 3 tablespoons for 3 / 5 gallon container / spread ( scratch in ) , water in.

or Bag of FFOF ..... small handful topdress water in or cheesecloth bag it ( bubbler ) and drench as tea .

About that simple.

Click to expand...

Top dress with FFOF?? Next time I order FF I’ll get a bag. On my next batch, could I use FFOF to grow in? I’ve been using FF Happy Frog mixed with cow compost mixed with perlite in about 1-2 inch layers. Actually, this is the first time I’ve done it in layers. The plants look good right now so hell, who knows, I might not even need anything different.

The one on the right

Snail1976 said:

Top dress with FFOF?? Next time I order FF I’ll get a bag. On my next batch, could I use FFOF to grow in? I’ve been using FF Happy Frog mixed with cow compost mixed with perlite in about 1-2 inch layers. Actually, this is the first time I’ve done it in layers. The plants look good right now so hell, who knows, I might not even need anything different.

Click to expand...

is a retard the seed didn’t germinate at all but I stuck it in a pot anyway and it’s a little deformed but I’m going to see what it does.

Snail1976 said:

Top dress with FFOF?? Next time I order FF I’ll get a bag. On my next batch, could I use FFOF to grow in? I’ve been using FF Happy Frog mixed with cow compost mixed with perlite in about 1-2 inch layers. Actually, this is the first time I’ve done it in layers. The plants look good right now so hell, who knows, I might not even need anything different.

Click to expand...

Yep ... you CAN run the plant in the milder HF then buy a bag of FFOF for top dress feeding.
Skip the manure .... you automatically unbalance the mix by adding MORE things to it. It’s rich in nitrogen and adding to an already HOT mix just runs the risk of issues. Not to say you can’t use a FULLY composted soil but just mixing and using maybe not. I even steer away from chicken shit. When I used that , growth was kind of wonky.

You can also ( when using HF .... ) in container ... grab a bag of Dr. Earth Homegrown or LIFE ( my current choice ).
Add a tablespoon or two ( depending on container size ) and mix into the Happy Frog for a long lasting medium.
They are OMRI cert organic and works very well. Water only at 6.3 to 6.5 and you are golden.

Megacrop will work in same way ... either by a simple water in or ammended right into medium.
BUT when I run FFOF straight I only top dress with FFOF as it is right at the cusp of burning some sensitive strains.
Easier to let plant become accustomed to ONLY the medium and its elements instead of throwing all kinds of things on top.

Happy Frog is goid soil just stay away from Strawberry Fields mix .... never could get reliable performance for some reason.

Budzbuddha said:

Yep ... you CAN run the plant in the milder HF then buy a bag of FFOF for top dress feeding.
Skip the manure .... you automatically unbalance the mix by adding MORE things to it. It’s rich in nitrogen and adding to an already HOT mix just runs the risk of issues. Not to say you can’t use a FULLY composted soil but just mixing and using maybe not. I even steer away from chicken shit. When I used that , growth was kind of wonky.

You can also ( when using HF .... ) in container ... grab a bag of Dr. Earth Homegrown or LIFE ( my current choice ).
Add a tablespoon or two ( depending on container size ) and mix into the Happy Frog for a long lasting medium.
They are OMRI cert organic and works very well. Water only at 6.3 to 6.5 and you are golden.

Megacrop will work in same way ... either by a simple water in or ammended right into medium.
BUT when I run FFOF straight I only top dress with FFOF as it is right at the cusp of burning some sensitive strains.
Easier to let plant become accustomed to ONLY the medium and its elements instead of throwing all kinds of things on top.

Happy Frog is goid soil just stay away from Strawberry Fields mix .... never could get reliable performance for some reason.

Click to expand...

Thanks! That helps a lot!

Budzbuddha said:

Grab Dr. Earth Homegrown or Life ..... 2 - 3 tablespoons for 3 / 5 gallon container / spread ( scratch in ) , water in.

or Bag of FFOF ..... small handful topdress water in or cheesecloth bag it ( bubbler ) and drench as tea .

About that simple.

Click to expand...

I bubble FFOF too

I follow bag recommendations for mixing and top dress if I notice deficiencies. Then HastaGro every third watering during bloom.

quirk said:

I follow bag recommendations for mixing and top dress if I notice deficiencies. Then HastaGro every third watering during bloom.

Click to expand...

Next time I order supplies I will certainly save this information! Thank you!