So I began last week researching and comparing beneficial bacteria. However, like the article on foliar feeding, in order to understand all the potential benefits microbes offer, first we have to talk about how plants eat.

When a plants life begins, it cracks open its shell, and sends it’s first set of leaves called cotyledons out to look for light, and it sends down it’s first root to anchor it into the ground. Although it appears the plant is sending out little straws to look for water, it is the structural role of roots that is important.

A tree mirrors it's roots

A tree mirrors it’s root structure. This is what makes your rooting time so important, in order to maximize yeild, you have to grow alot of roots in a small amount of time.

I am not a fan of big plants. They are inefficient, they compete for light, and anything below the canopy becomes susceptible to mold.

Using small plants is much easier, the pots can touch, so there is no wasted space. However these small plants are limited in their production by the size of their root structure.

When a clone is first placed into a new medium it undergoes transplant shock as it’s roots make a new home. This rooting period is basically all the vegetative time necessary. However, since it is so short, lets discuss some ways to minimize shock, and maximize root growth.

1. Chemical Root Pruning – When a plant is placed in a pot, the first thing it does is find the borders. Roots run straight down, and around the sides of the pot. However this causes the stems to likewise stretch out, increasing the distance between nodes. Certain chemicals, such as SpinOut contain Copper Hydroxide which causes roots to die on contact. By spray coating the inside of your pots with Copper Hydroxide, it sets up a barrier for the roots, so they instead grow denser root balls within the soil. Denser roots mean denser plants.

2. Avoid Transplant Shock – Adapting to a new setting is always tough on a plant. First off, and most importantly, be mindful of the roots. Try not to touch any of them as your finger oils will kill roots on contact, as will too much air, so try to minimize transplanting time. Anytime a rooting plant looks dry, it is ready for more water. Transplant shock will occur anytime you change the plant’s growing media, however the quicker you can get past it the healthier your plant will be in the long run.

3. Feeding – Once the plant is in its new media, water with a small amount of dissolved Sugar and a few drops of a rooting hormone (IAA, IBA, and NAA are readily available in comercial cloning gels and liquids, I personally recommend Dyna’s K-L-N). Also trimming off a few of the lower leaves will signal the plant to begin growing roots to support new growth.

4. Ascophyllum nodosum – Also known as Norwegian Sea Kelp, Ascophyllum nodosum is a form of algae known for its agricultural benefits. It is full of plant hormones, and amino acids that get your baby off to the right start. It helps to stabilize chloroplasts for more efficient sugar production. It also increases amylase production which helps the plant break down its food into useable sugars. Ascophyllum nodosum contains large amounts of cytokinins which are hormones your plant already produces that tell it to stay bushy and node closer together, preparing the plant for a strong flowering phase. It is found in many available products including B-52 (a blend of Norwegian sea kelp and water soluble B-vitamins) and Roots Excelerator (which mixes Norwegian sea kelp with beneficial micro-organisms).

5. Beneficial Bacteria – I think advanced nutrients phrased it the best by calling their blend of beneficial bacteria “Voodoo“. Micro-organisms are all around, and have evolved a symbiotic relationship with plants. They have a multitude of different effects ranging to more efficient feeding to fungicides that keep your root zone safe. I will break it down in a little more detail in my next post, but lets suffice it to say this stuff is great!

6. Pinching – The old school way to grow more roots is to stop upward growth, and let the plant fill in some more. The top of the plant is where most of the growth is happening, if you tell the plant that its top is gone, all the branches around it will fight for dominance. But no one wants to lose a perfectly good top node… Place your forefinger and thumb around the stem right below the top set of new leaves, and squeeze slowly until your feel the xylem pop. When you remove your hand you will see the node fall over limp, it’s ok, it’ll grow back. But in the meantime, the branches below it will shoot up to take it’s place. Make sure to feed it Ascophyllum nodosum during this time, as the cytokinin rush will greatly increase the number of heads that come up to become tops.

Foliar feeding is a a great way to supplement your feeding. Whether to correct a nutrient imbalance, get the plants eating through nutrient lockout at the roots, or just to get a little more food in there to boost your buds, feeding cannabis through the leaves is fast and effective.

BE CAREFUL: Start with lower than recommended dosages, it is really easy to burn your plants.

Conventional wisdom tells us that plants can absorb moisture through the stomata on the underside of the leaves, so small doses of nutrients can be diluted in water and sprayed on the underside of the leaf, where the plant (or weed) can absorb and use them directly where they are needed.

Now, since we are playing with more interesting things than conventional wisdom, I recommend a product called Penetrator by Dutchmaster.

Traditionally the only holes in the waxy cuticle are the stomata on the underside of the leaf, however what Penetrator does is create a series of tubes coming in through the cuticle into the mesophyll layer. These tubes are lined with water, and evaporate away when the feeding is over It also contains a chemical agent that helps maintain the stability of the reaction. With traditional foliar feeding, the leaf can only uptake nutrients until it runs out of electrical charge, then it begins to close up and reject whatever is left. With Penetrator leaves are able to uptake more nutrients through both sides of the leaf, and they receive more nutrients at each site.

Since foliar feeding is topical, it allows the plant access to the nutrients it needs, at the location it needs them. It allows the plant to recover from any kind of deficiency quickly with minimal energy loss.

Foliar sprays should be alternated, to help the plant thoroughly ingest every feeding. I recommend foliar feeding 2-3 times a week during weeks 2-6 of flowering. I use concentrations of about 400-700ppm of about half nutrient/half Penetrator. Start at the low end, or even a little lower. Always use pH neutral water, whatever the pH of your medium is, 5.6-6.0 for hydro, and 6.0-6.3 soil. Since Penetrator allows your plant to absorb more food, use lower than recommended doses until your plants adjust to foliar feeding.

Products I use to foliar feed:

B-52 – B-vitamins and Norwegian Sea Kelp extract make this a great source of trace minerals. Also B-52 helps you plants be more tolerant to heat and drought. There are two essential plant hormones, auxins and cytokinins. Auxins encourage apical dominance, telling your plant to shoot straight up from the tallest point. Cytokinins do just the opposite, they signal the plant to stop elongating, and to start bushing, and noding closer together. Norwegian Sea Kelp is rich in cytokinins, so wait until you are satisfied with your plant’s height before you spray this one. Start around 200ppm B-52 200ppm Penetrator, and work your way up.

Revive – Advanced Nutrients gift to frustrated cannabis growers everywhere. It is a special blend of super chelated micro-nutrients. If for any reason your plants start to yellow, add 200ppm of Revive to the reservoir, and mix up 100ppm Revive 200ppm Penetrator in a foliar spray. You will see your plants returning to green in less than an hour. This stuff is amazing, and it works before your eyes. (In a pinch, substitute Ca-Mg+, same idea just not as immediately effective)

Humic/Fulvic acid – These are the decomposing remains of peat bogs, refined from leonardite (WARNING: exposure to bare skin may cause skin and eye irritation, handle with gloves). They contain loosely bonded elemental remains that your plant uses to break down its food. Humic acid helps with the breaking down of trace elements, where as Fulvic helps with the breakdown of sugar. Foliar feeding of these basically chemically induces hunger. These natural acids create a demand for nutrients wherever applied, so when applied in small doses directly to the flower, it tells the plant to send more food to the buds. Foliar application also helps your plants get through nutrient lockout at the roots. These two can be combined when added, but start off light, its way easy to burn your buds.

Note: I discontinued foliar feeding at the beginning of week 7, and began spraying pH 6 water on the leaves to help them intake the rest of their food. About 3 days later I found the beginning signs of powdery mildew. It is too late to spray fungicide, so I have to attack the mildew itself. I turned the air conditioner up to impede growth, and dry out the air. Anywhere that is already infected with powdery mildew (in the shade, near the bottom) it can be cured with a foliar spray of 1pt whole milk to 9pts water. The lactic acid will eat the powder mildew alive.

Foliar feeding is feeding your plants through their leaves. I think the best way to explain it is by first explaining the leaf itself. Warning, for those interested in growing weed, and not so much the science of it, here is the article on foliar feeding. Here’s a diagram:

• The Cuticle is the waxy protective layer on the top side of the leaf, it helps the plant retain water.
• Next comes the Upper Epidermis (botany: Adaxial Epidermis) this is made up of clear epidermal cells only a single cell layer thick. These cells are jammed side by side to offer protection from the outside world. Epidermal cells contain one of the precursors (cutin) for the cuticle. The Epidermal cells are also responsible for my personal part of the plant, the epidermal hairs aka trichomes.
• Under the Epidermis lie the Palisade Mesophyll cells. These are large cylindrical green cells. These contain the chloroplasts, they absorb sunlight, and turn it into sugar.
• The Spongy Mesophyll is a bunch of funny shaped loosely packed cells used for gas exchange.
• The Veins are contained within the mesophyll layer. The Bundle Sheath cells create passageways throughout the plant. Xylem is water containing nutrients brought up from the roots to the leaves. Phloem is the sap containing all the sugars made by photosynthesis which the leaf sends back to
• The Lower Epidermis (botany: Abaxial Epidermis) contains 2 different types of cells, stomata and guard cells:
• Stoma (plural: stomata) is a pore between a pair of guard cells that allow plants to breathe. Leaves need CO2 (carbon dioxide) for photosynthesis, and create O2 (oxygen) as a byproduct. Since the inside of a plant is mostly composed of water, in order to ‘inhale’ CO2, it has to displace (‘exhale’) water vapor from within the leaf, this is called transpiration.
• Guard Cells are bean shaped cells that control the stomata. They contain chloroplasts, so they manufacture sugars, their job is to sense how much water is being released by the plant, and close the stomata to stop transpiration. This is a really complicated process, for more information here’s Wikipedia, scroll down to ‘opening and closure’.
• On the bottom is a another, thinner, cuticle layer.

So, now that we THOROUGHLY understand the leaf, lets explore methods of feeding our plant through the leaves.

Foliar feeding is a a great way to supplement your feeding. Whether to correct a nutrient imbalance, get the plants eating through nutrient lockout at the roots, or just to get a little more food into a healthy plant, feeding through the leaves is fast and effective.

BE CAREFUL: Start with lower than recommended dosages, it is really easy to burn your plants.