Foliar Feed Help

[DCLXVI]

Hey guys,

I attempted to use and mix a foliar feed for the first time today. I know both @St. Tom and @Mañ'O'Green highly recommend using them, and have good success. I wanted to follow the MoG recipe but it needs a gallon of mix created and uses very very small amounts of product. I don't think I would get through the gallon before it goes bad. I am too small of a grower.

I am looking for advice, and if I've done it wrong or you see something, do feel free to criticize and correct.

Products used:

NPK industries RAW humic acid power
NPK industries RAW kelp powder
Distilled water

I read that a 5:2 ratio of humic:kelp was a good number to shoot for. I don't have a sensitive enough scale to go by tenths of a gram and none of the fractional measuring spoons I looked at were listed as accurate. I thought PPM might be a good way to get the ratio correct and use tiny amounts at a time.

I mixed up 500ml of distilled water and added the humic acid until it reached 75ppm. 75/5 = 15 so 2 parts kelp would be 30ppm? If this is wrong math or it doesn't work that way let me know.

I then added kelp powder until it reached just over 90ppm and stopped. I didn't think about it but the longer it sat the more the ppm number rose as the powders dissolved fully. I did stir a lot but I guess this is part of learning.

Final numbers: 110ppm and 6.5pH

Question: Is PPM a reasonable approach? And is ~100 ppm a decent target?

Timing: I sprayed 1 hour before lights out. Both top and underside of the leaves.

This evening a few hours after lights on I took pictures and noticed some dried spotting. Is this normal? Should I spray them down with distilled water to remove the deposits? Crap mister? Sprayed too much? Or did I just absolutely bodge the whole thing! - high possibility.

Other questions: How often to use foliar feeds? Humic/kelp blend? Humic alone? Kelp alone?


- Thanks for reading and do let me know your thoughts on the whole process and what I should do from here.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Hey guys,

I attempted to use and mix a foliar feed for the first time today. I know both @St. Tom and @Mañ'O'Green highly recommend using them, and have good success. I wanted to follow the MoG recipe but it needs a gallon of mix created and uses very very small amounts of product. I don't think I would get through the gallon before it goes bad. I am too small of a grower.

I am looking for advice, and if I've done it wrong or you see something, do feel free to criticize and correct.

Products used:

NPK industries RAW humic acid power
NPK industries RAW kelp powder
Distilled water

I read that a 5:2 ratio of humic:kelp was a good number to shoot for. I don't have a sensitive enough scale to go by tenths of a gram and none of the fractional measuring spoons I looked at were listed as accurate. I thought PPM might be a good way to get the ratio correct and use tiny amounts at a time.

I mixed up 500ml of distilled water and added the humic acid until it reached 75ppm. 75/5 = 15 so 2 parts kelp would be 30ppm? If this is wrong math or it doesn't work that way let me know.

I then added kelp powder until it reached just over 90ppm and stopped. I didn't think about it but the longer it sat the more the ppm number rose as the powders dissolved fully. I did stir a lot but I guess this is part of learning.

Final numbers: 110ppm and 6.5pH

Question: Is PPM a reasonable approach? And is ~100 ppm a decent target?

Timing: I sprayed 1 hour before lights out. Both top and underside of the leaves.

This evening a few hours after lights on I took pictures and noticed some dried spotting. Is this normal? Should I spray them down with distilled water to remove the deposits? Crap mister? Sprayed too much? Or did I just absolutely bodge the whole thing! - high possibility.

Other questions: How often to use foliar feeds? Humic/kelp blend? Humic alone? Kelp alone?


- Thanks for reading and do let me know your thoughts on the whole process and what I should do from here.

No PPM does not measure kelp or humic acid. There must be some thing in there but you use dry weight for those products.

For one gallon mix 1/4 teaspoon of humic acid and 1/16 teaspoon of kelp and 1/32 teaspoon of yucca powder or a drop of soap (not detergent).

Then what you do not use in the foliar application just feed it to the pots or your outdoor plants.

 

[DCLXVI]

Ah so I was totally wrong! hahaha, as suspected. Ok jewelers scale it is.

 

[St. Tom]

i only spray with remo velo kelp bro as I can just mix that 3ml per litre but @Mañ'O'Green is the recipe man and when it comes to the knowledge he's maybe at the very top of the tree also I swear by foliar feeding especially in veg its like steroids

 

[Death The Cultivator]

I do a 5:2 of Fulvic: kelp with yucca but I lower the pH below 5.5. I foliar every day through the 3rd week of flower adding nitrogen and or phosphorus when warranted.

I also use Botanicare's Liquid karma when I don't have kelp and still do all the other things I mentioned earlier.

You can check the effectiveness pulling a few leaves and spraying one with the foliar and the other being a control. The one with the foliar should remain juvenile longer than the untreated one.

 

[BII]

Get a cheap digital scale that read in 1/10ths or ideally 1/100ths of a gram, and maybe only goes up to 10 or 100 g.

Also since sooner or later, particularly with foliar feeding being in solution, you will want to accurately measure out small amounts of liquid nutrients. Consider getting 1 and 10 mL graduated pipettes, either 'disposable' plastic or glass. The pipettes are actually very accurate, in their own way more accurate than the cheaper scales; and I find using them is simpler and quicker than weighing out powders. If you can make a reliable stable stock solution (using an accurate scale), you can use pipettes to measure out from there.

I use 10 mL plastic serological pipettes, meant to be used once in actual medical lab. use. The plastic used is somewhat brittle, and I clumsily tend to break them over time, with a pack of 10 lasting me 3-4 years (others may last a lifetime). I also have a load of 1 mL disposables (should be <$.10 each, such as https://www.ebay.com/itm/282072432051?hash=item41acd3bdb3:g:q9gAAOSwnNBXZh2R&LH_BIN=1). If you look on Ebay or other such sources, you should also be able to find mixes of sizes, sets, etc.

 

[EP3]

Does ph matter?
Cheers
EP3

 

[DCLXVI]

Very cool, thanks for the input from everyone. Definitely what I was hoping for posting a thread. Get some opinions and different ways of approach.

I've got plenty of lab equipment, just need to invest in a jewelry scale, gun powder "grain" scales look to be similar. Trying to add one new thing per grow.

 

[BII]

Does ph matter?
Cheers
EP3

Yes, having a suitable media/soil pH is critical. For foliar feeding, I don't ever recall anyone even mentioning testing or adjusting pH of their foliar feed solution. Usually, the foliar solution will be more dilute than regular feed, so the pH of the water used is not going to be affected that much.

f you are asking about adjusting media/soil pH, that is much more complex, including depending on your media/soil, expectations, available equipment, etc.

 

[DCLXVI]

I think as long as it's not terribly acidic or way alkaline it would be ok.

EDIT: the spray I mean