Too Tired of Messing With It

This is how they started March 2012


I can't find the thread but in August 2013 the low K (low everything) feeders were only slightly ahead.


But as of July 2014 the difference is more obvious. Group on the left my old feeding regime of weekly feedings of 1/2 tsp/gal MSU using only RO water for fert makeup and in between irrigation. Plants on the right get whatever the rest of the GH gets. For the last year about daily feedings of enhanced K lite (boosted with a Mg/PO4/SO4 solution) at 10ppm N max. (conductivity <100 uS/cm)


Here's another comparison of the biggest potted low K fed versus a couple I put in baskets just before starting the split feeding trial.

The two in baskets are big enough to bloom. They've also accelerated since hanging them up in brighter locations earlier this spring.

Time and space demands made me too tired to keep up the project. I was also feeling sorry for the MSU plants that seemed to be having a lot of problems staying in the pots and looking a bit haggard.

The plants on the right are fed a balanced fertilizer? on the left low k, all other variations are thr same?

Interesting, nonetheless.

troy said:

The plants on the right are fed a balanced fertilizer? on the left low k, all other variations are thr same?

Click to expand...

You have it reversed. The bigger plants are fed with low K.

Where did you get them and how much did you pay for them? You nursed them back to health

troy said:

The plants on the right are fed a balanced fertilizer? on the left low k, all other variations are thr same?

Click to expand...

No, the plants on the right are getting the enhanced low K (K lite + extra Mg/PO4/SO4). The plants on the left are getting the old MSU regime I used for years.

But same size pots, same potting mix, sitting next to each other on the bench.

In the last picture with the baskets....
Are all 4 fed low K and the size difference attributed to being in the baskets??

troy said:

Where did you get them and how much did you pay for them? You nursed them back to health

Click to expand...

They all came from the same compot I produced from a breeding I did several years ago.

Huh, big difference, the last few months alot of people have been talking about cutting back potsssium in fertilizers, they take it up excessively and causes the cell break down in leaves right? Inhibits the other good stuff from beiing absorbed?

gonewild said:

In the last picture with the baskets....
Are all 4 fed low K and the size difference attributed to being in the baskets??

Click to expand...

Yes for feeding regime.
The 2 in pots are the two largest of the 5 from the feeding trial.

The 2 that went into baskets were already growing faster than the plants in the feeding trial, so can't attribute the difference strictly due to basket vs pot. But they never slowed down, and possibly could be claimed I was able to increase growth potential by flooding more light/warmth and water to them. While I still was trying to be careful not to turn the pot substrates to mush.

troy said:

Huh, big difference, the last few months alot of people have been talking about cutting back potsssium in fertilizers, they take it up excessively and causes the cell break down in leaves right? Inhibits the other good stuff from beiing absorbed?

Click to expand...

That was the theory I proposed in 2011 that ultimately came up with Klite. Check out this link from May 2011

http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20716

Rick said:

Yes for feeding regime.
The 2 in pots are the two largest of the 5 from the feeding trial.

The 2 that went into baskets were already growing faster than the plants in the feeding trial, so can't attribute the difference strictly due to basket vs pot. But they never slowed down, and possibly could be claimed I was able to increase growth potential by flooding more light/warmth and water to them. While I still was trying to be careful not to turn the pot substrates to mush.

Click to expand...

Now will you put the other two into baskets?
Would be interesting to see if they catch up to the bigger ones. Then you can attribute it to the baskets.

The faster growth could also be genetic.

Thats yur formula?

How often do you water? Plants in baskets

gonewild said:

Now will you put the other two into baskets?
Would be interesting to see if they catch up to the bigger ones. Then you can attribute it to the baskets.

The faster growth could also be genetic.

Click to expand...

Probably not unless I find more GH space, and a reason to keep this many lowii.

I know the basket system works, but I'm also curious how much easier potted systems can get with reduced feed rates. Based on these results with matched lowii, growing potted is more resilient with low K and frequent low N applications than the old "weakly weekly" regime I used to follow.

troy said:

Thats yur formula?

Click to expand...

The specific K lite formula was a collaboration of Slippertalk members (namely Ray and Lance, Gonewild)

Potted plants the fertilizer soaks in the media, in baskets it runs off, I have to agree with you about baskets, in native habitat they transpire and absorb light in small amounts but enough to make a difference I use clear pots just the light penetration makes big difference

troy said:

How often do you water? Plants in baskets

Click to expand...

Daily is certainly possible. I have a lot of mounted plants that are definitely daily sprayed. The baskets get at least a daily spritz, and a heavy water 3 or more times a week. Pots generally less than that. Anything under a hanging plant gets at least something daily.

It's definitely like driving a car. Brakes/gas based on conditions.

gonewild said:

The faster growth could also be genetic.

Click to expand...

Certainly not impossible factor, but consider these all came from a single compot of a selfing. Also the two in baskets were usually in different places in the GH than the others (so also potentially brighter/warmer or whatever).

I was checking records and the pollination was in 4/2009, and they came out of flask around November 2010.

They were all pretty abused until I started my own low K adaptation in May 2011. I may have found a couple of resilient high K adapted in the group that ultimately went into the baskets, but given I was looking at roughly 50 seedlings at the time, I don't recall anything doing orders of magnitude better than the others. I don't recall when I put these two into baskets, and it could have been before I started playing with K.

Klite didn't come out till around December/January 2011. But I had already started playing with baskets a full year before in December 2010.
http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18566