snowdude

Hello!

I have 8 plants, each in 5-gal containers of Fox Farms Ocean Mist soil (mixed with fistful of worm casings and perlite). They have been vegging under 300 watts of fluoro for about 5 weeks, and the canopy height is approx 12-15 inches from the soil, and is about 3x3' in size. I have not given them anything but water this entire time, as they have not exhibited any signs of nutritional deficiencies.

I switched them over to a 400W HPS on 12/12 yesterday, and put it about 2.5 feet above the canopy. I have a few questions about flowering.

1) Everything I read tells me to fertilize during flowering (and in fact, a few weeks prior... oh well, next time), and to use clear water the last couple of weeks before harvest. Ok! I saw some flowering-specific fertilizers at my Hydro store, named using not-so-subtle connotations to marijuana, so I was planning on picking one up and simply following the instructions on the back. Does this sound like a safe bet? My grow book says, "The best fertilizer to use during flowering is potassium nitrate." I'll probably look for this if they have it. I want to keep it strictly organic too.

2) Once I sex the plants, I'd like to take cuttings. Is there any problem with taking cuttings after a plant's sex has been exposed? I've read that you're supposed to take cuttings before flowing and keep track of them, and then throw out those that ended up coming from a male plant. Sounds like a hassle to me!

Thanks for the help! I'll put some photos up when they start to bud.

-SD

shelbert008

read this
great info for ferts

http://yahooka.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111547

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snowdude

Thanks for the info. I ended up getting a bottle of Fox Farms Big Bloom, and just followed the directions on the back for 4 plants, and then did half strength for the other 4, just to see which dilution the plants respond better to. It feels weird putting fertilizers in the plants even when they don't show any signs of nutritional deficiencies, but hopefully it increases the yield.

Still not sure about cuttings. I guess I'll just take them after the plants are sexed and see if they grow or not.

-SD