Flowering problems in early veg? | Organic Growing

Flowering problems in early veg?

It happens to us all at one time or another. Real life just keeps getting in the way of our hobby and the plants dont get watered and end up in a wilt.

If you catch the wilt before it actually kills the plant outright, recovery can be extremely quick and you can almost watch the plants as they recover their turgor and stand upright again.

And with the plants fully recovered we can get on with letting real life get in the way again, until the next wilt happens along...and so on and so forth.

Autopots - looking after things when you're not around..

"But WTF does this have to do with flowering?", I hear you ask!

Coming from a strictly organic perspective there are a number of rules which need to be adhered too, which are not applicable if you grow using hydroponic methedology and nutrients. Most noticeable of which relate to the up take of the nutrients by the roots.

Whether you like it or not, hydroponic chem based fertilisers such as the Ionic range, are better than their organic counterparts. Its a fact, and on a number of levels too.

Ok, maybe better isn't the right word to use, ("JackB" - the organic terrorist, will be spinning on his head about now =).

The constituent elements of a hydroponic solution are blended in such a manner (chelated) so as to make all of the elements more readily available to the roots. A bit like having a smooth blended scotch whiskey up against a ropey old brew of moonshine.

There's no doubting the moonshine gets you falling down just as much, or more than the whiskey, but its delivery method leaves quite a bit to be desired where as the Whiskey blend is smoother, more refined, appealing to a wider demographic.

Ever noticed that the NPK values on organic feeds are always a lot lower than those on comparable chem based ferts? Reading 7-7-7 as opposed to a chem based nutrient which can read 30-30-30. The numbers apply to the percentage of the respective nutrient in the solution or powder. The rest (upto 100%) is just carrier. Bulk material to aid the transport and distribution of the nutrient - in the same vein as peat has no nutritional value. Its just the carrier.

So maybe instead of better, it should read "more efficient".

Organic nutrients require a symbiotic relationship between the micro-herd of organisms and bacteria living in the medium, and the roots. To get the micro-herd fizzing and doing their thing we feed them an organic "soup". In return they work in the medium, creating the nutrients ready for the roots to take on board, feeding and fuelling the plants growth.

As a rule, plants find Nitrogen widely available. It tends to come in a more soluble form and the medium gives up its supplies of nitrogen readily, until its all gone, at which time we take over by feeding the herd with our soup. Phospherous and Potassium however, are a totally different beast altogether, and at 6 weeks in flower, all those wilts you suffered early on, could be about to come back and haunt you.

To harvest the necessary supplies of P+K to complete flowering, the roots find and absorb these important nutrients by moving through the growing medium. If more supplies are needed the roots need to move/absorb more. Bear with me because we're getting to the good bit.

Everytime your plants suffer a wilt, thousands of tiny feeder roots wither and die, lost to the plant for ever.

Sure the plant stands up when its watered but the damage can be irreperable in terms of lost rootage.

Over a couple of wilts you can lose 50% of the root mass. Just take a look at your own roots and see how many are healthy white as opposed to an unhealthy brown or god forbid, a slimey browny-green.

That means the roots that are left are having to try to create 50% more P+K, which isnt going to happen. The plant shows as deficient so we end up throwing more and more feeds at the plants in a bid to fend off a worsening deficiency when the truth of the matter is, no matter what we feed, the roots are already working flat out on the P+K front, and we're most likely frying the tips with a nitrogen excess to boot, and at 6 weeks flowering.

A nightmare scenario all to easy to arrive at.

If you are finding your plants suffering wilts either in veg,or in flower, look into one of the many automated irrigation systems on the market, such as Autopots (www.autopot.co.uk) and make late flowering problems as a result of earlier dry wilts, a thing of the past.

Your plants will thank you come harvest time.

http://cannazine.co.uk
http://www.autopot.co.uk

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