The Nutrient Program

We'll be feeding the plants by way of two mechanism; 1.) organic ingredients that form part of the soil mix we are using and, 2.) supplemental liquid fertilizers.

I generally use organic ingredients as these will work best should you want to enhance the microbe activity in the soil. The liquid fertilizer is a concentrate by General Hydroponics, but is derived from organic ingredients.

Initially I would suggest not using microbial boosters and going with the bare minimum needed to achieve successful results. Once you have established a "baseline" of knowledge and how your specific variety responds to favorable conditions, you can experiment with additional aspects. When you do, add only one at a time so as to keep your ability to troubleshoot potential problems relatively simple. Should you add a bunch of variables and something goes wrong, it will take much longer to figure out the problem than if you were dealing with just one unknown element.

Making Your Soil Mix

Your planting medium blend should be decent ratio of top soil to aerating components like perlite and peat moss. This will largely depend on the density of the top soil one is working with; you'll want an end product that when you compress it in your hand breaks up easily upon release.

As you water the plants over time the dirt mixture will compress which can lead to starving the roots of air which makes the plants very susceptible to over watering and sub optimal growth. You cannot do much to change the mix after the plants get big, so getting it correct in the beginning is imperative. Take the time needed to properly mix the various components to avoid potential "hot spots". This is particularly important for blends being used for younger and more fragile flora.

If in doubt about how light the soil is, no harm will come from adding more aeration; it just won't hold as much water and will simply require it to be added more often.

Elements like peat moss or vermiculite (which is very expensive in Hawaii) not only lighten the soil but also add a buffering capability. This means that when you feed the plants with liquid fertilizers or teas, the extra nutrients the plants don't initially need will be absorbed by the buffers and released back into the soil later when levels become low.

The ingredients we will be using to create our organic mix will be; bat guano, worm castings, Sunshine #4 (a peat moss and perlite blend) and a soil blend by Scotts. I tried using local soils but since they are all derived from relatively young volcanic activity the dirt tends to be very heavy. In fact, it was so dense that it required more than 50% soil lightener making it simply too expensive to use.

For adding organic elements to provide plant food we use the following.

Nitrogen - worm castings, desert dwelling or any insect eating bat guano

- Alternates: bloodmeal, fish meal, kelp meal

Nitrogen (N) is critical for cannabis to produce leaves and branches during the vegetative phase.

Phosphorus - tropical dwelling fruit eating bat guano

- Alternates: Bone meal (must be sowed into mix early as possible as it has a long breakdown) and liquid supplements

Phosphorus is for flower and root development.

Potassium - Bat guano

- Alternates: Seaweed meal, wood ashes, seabird guano

Potassium (K) is associated with the movement of water, nutrients and carbohydrates in plant tissue. It's involved with enzyme activation within the plant, which affects protein, starch and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. The production of ATP can regulate the rate of photosynthesis.

Soil recipes for seedlings should have almost no extra organic fertilizers (maybe a 50/50 mix of worm castings to Sunshine #4) and then adjust the amount as you up pot the plants. The “Best Hawaiian Soil Mix” recipe we provide is ideal for adult plants, so you can adjust from that and, eventually, start experimenting with your own mixes.

The Watering and Liquid Feeding Regiment

You will need to water plants in 5 gallon containers, at the very least, every other day; however, every day may end up working better. Marijuana thrives when its roots have access to both air and water. To achieve this you'll want the plant to go through wet and dry cycles. You don't want the roots perpetually sitting in wet planting medium, nor do you want to wilt the leaves by denying them access to water. More of either is bad, a happy medium is what is required. You'll need to get a feel for the rate at which your garden consumes water so that you can develop an effective watering regiment.

For feeding I use a product called FloraNova Bloom. General Hydroponics also makes a "grow" version with more nitrogen, however, we have no need for that product. The bloom recipe includes more than enough nitrogen for our needs. In fact, this one product will provide all the nutrients cannabis will require for its entire life cycle.

Figuring out when and how much to feed is somewhat of an art. Some plants eat more than others. Many factors influence this like the length of exposure to sunlight every day, genetic tendencies or even the general condition of the plant. It is best to start conservatively, say one liquid feeding per week (at 1 tablespoon to the gallon of FloraNova Bloom). Fully saturate the pots until you see small amounts of liquid seeping from the bottom drainage holes.

If you suspect that you're not feeding enough to the plants you can experiment with one at, let's say, 1.5 times the rate of the others. If the higher fed subject does better than the others, increase the feeding rate of the entire garden. If you cannot see any difference then back down to the prior frequency so as to not toxify the soil.

Be very careful when increasing the feed rate. It is very easy for plants to recover from not being fed enough fertilizer, however, near impossible to bring a plant in soil back from an overfed condition. We're trying to provide all the food the plant needs, but very little beyond that.

Towards the end of the growing cycle the plant's feeding needs will drop off significantly. It is probably not necessary to feed them for the last 2-3 weeks prior to harvest.