Always read the cannabis fertilizer label entirely and follow the fertilizer’s mixing directions to keep yourself from burning, stressing, and killing your plants. Containers that have little growing medium to hold nutrients can develop toxic salt buildup and may be a problem for your plants.
Adding too much fertilizer to your plant will not make the plants grow faster. Plants grow their best under certain growing conditions so anything more or less than those conditions will inhibit their growth and production.
Cannabis Fertilizer Application
Some cannabis varieties can take higher doses of nutrients than others which grow best with a minimum supplemental cannabis fertilizer. To determine if plants need fertilizer:
- Make visual inspections of the plant leaves, buds, stems, etc.
- Take an N-P-K soil test
- Or experiment on test plants.
Visual Inspection – if plants are growing well and have deep-green, healthy leaves then they are probably getting the necessary nutrition needed. If the leaves are yellowing, curling, or contorting in some way then your cannabis plants are probably lacking certain parts of the nutritional requirements.
By taking an N-P-K soil test, it will help you tell how much of each major nutrient is available to the plants and then you will be able to better narrow down and determine which nutrients are needed. Experimenting on two (2) or three (3) test plants is great for gaining experience and developing your skills.
Now that it has been determined what the plants’ fertilizer needs are then you will want to mix the cannabis fertilizer solution as the instructions explain what to do. It is often difficult to explain how often and how much to apply fertilizers since large plants use more nutrients than small plants.
Soils that are mixed well with amendments will need less of certain things than a container of store-bought pre-mixed soil. Other growers who use only organic soils and mixes for the first part of the plants’ life will not add any supplemental fertilizers until super bloom formula is needed for the flowering cycle.
Fertilizing Cannabis Plants
Fertilizing plants in the ground is easier than fertilizing containerized cannabis plants since growing outdoors they search out additional nutrients, while indoors plants are provided with only what they have in the container.
When using synthetic fertilizers, it is extremely important to read the label and follow the instructions that they have provided for you. Many synthetic fertilizers have several different label terms that you should know.
The initials ‘WSN’ stands for water-soluble nitrogen and ‘WIN’ stands for water-insoluble nitrogen. WSN will be easily dissolved and taken up by cannabis plants as soon as it is in the soil while WIN will not easily dissolve and will be absorbed over time.
By using a siphon applicator, you can find it in most hydroponic stores, then you can regulate the mix of fertilizers with water. Applicators are connected to a water hose with the siphon submerged into a concentrated fertilizer with the other end.
Applicators are set at a ratio of 1 to 15 ratio, which means every 1 unit of cannabis fertilizer is mixed with 15 units of water. When the water is on the fertilizer is siphoned into the system and flows out the hose to the plants that you are watering.
If you want to build a gravity fertilizer system for indoor or outdoor use, you can easily use a large 55-gallon barrel or a trash can. Near the bottom of the container place a bulkhead fitting and/or a garden hose fitting to the tank that is connected to a PVC tube and a garden hose fitting and/or directly to the water hose.
Place the container about 3 – 4 feet off the ground and mix cannabis fertilizer with water inside of the tank. Fertilizers are generally applied during each watering but in less concentrated doses.
Also, having experience with specific cannabis varieties and growing systems will tell the growers more than anything else. There are many different fertilizer types, brands, etc. and each of them works in its way.
But it is always best to check on website forums to get recommended nutrients or talk to the salesperson at the grow store about which ones they would recommend. Once you have chosen the type of fertilizer that you want to use follow the direction to a tee.
Adjust them as your plants require and your experience grows. Be sure to leach soil 1 – 2 gallons (4 – 8 Liters) of mild nutrient solution per gallon of soil every month. By doing this you will help to ensure that your plants are thoroughly flushed and prevent toxic salt buildups in the soil.
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