The Importance of Fertilizer

There are many different types of fertilizers for use in gardening and growing. Let's discuss the variety of fertilizers which cannabis growers may be interested in. First, if you are using a soluble fertilizer, it should not be added to your soil unless it has been diluted with water. It's important that this fertilizer is diluted to the right specification or else you risk harming your plants. Powders or liquids that require mixing are common examples of soluble fertilizers. Insoluble fertilizers can be applied directly to the plant but take more time to break down. Insoluble fertilizers are sprinkled around the plant and can last up to nine months. However, it does take a while before the plant begins to absorb the nutrients. Some people may opt into using insoluble fertilizers, over soluble, if they are growing outdoors. Insoluble fertilizers are good if you'd like to fertilize the plant and not worry about spending too much time tending to the soil too often or if you want to avoid using chemicals near surrounding plants.

While watering your plants, with the fertilizer dilution, it is important to skip every 4th day. For example: your teen plants are thirsty and require a watering per day, after 3 days of using a fertilizer-water mix you should feed the plant pure h2o. This is called flushing.

What's In Your Fertilizer - Parts per Million

Fertilizer content should be measured with a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter, and depending on the age of the plant, there are different baselines you cannot exceed. Small plants shouldn't be fed fertilized water that has a ppm (parts per million) of over 300, blooming plants can take from and up 650 - 900 ppm. But..

Tap water run from urban areas can have a mineral content as high as 500ppm before any fertilizer is even added! This spells disaster for your plants and so you should be checking your water source's base ppm before adding fertilizer. What about..

Reverse Osmosis is a process of water filtration that involves pushing water through a fine screen. It requires purchasing a filtration system. We highly recommend it. You can click here for our guide on reverse osmosis.

Chemical Fertilizers

Flora Nova - Made for cannabis growth. This is a highly recommended product from our team. The creators offer a product for bloom and a product for flowering. Be sure to follow the instructions depending on how old your plant is.

Dayna Grow is another great product to help your plants reach their full potential. Dyna-Grow comes in two varieties (grow and bloom). Be sure to pick up the correct bottle for your plants and follow the instructions carefully.

Miracle-Gro No! Miracle-Gro is not a good option for your plants. Avoid Miracle-Gro liquid fertilizer and Miracle-Gro soil like the plague. Both products contain far too much nitrogen and will kill your plant or severely weaken your harvest. However, if your plant is low on nitrogen, we have quite the solution for you..

Natural Fertilizers

Urine - Before you run, read! Tommy Chong mentioned it in the stoner movie Nice Dream. Human urine contains a lot of nitrogen urea. Nitrogen happens to be great for plant growth! It may be natural but it is potent. Remember to dilute it if used as a fertilizer. Urine is sterile when it leaves the body. If you plan on using urine as a fertilizer, make sure the source is hygenic and in good health. Diet also matters. Urine can contain a high salt content if you are eating a lot of canned soup or french fries.

Compost - Composted earth can consist of vegi-waste, animal feces, and many other things. It's been used for countless years to naturally improve our crops. Composting is the easiest way to have a lot of fertilizer on hand, for cheap. It's common for some households to save their compostable garbage and use it as fertilizer. You can find composting bins at your local hardware store.

No matter if you decide to stay all natural or to try out some of our recommended products, we hope your plants reach new heights - as always, stay botanical!