Types of Fertilizers for Marijuana. Choose Wisely
Every living thing needs to feed, and our beloved plants are no less. Human beings eat food to transform and assimilate nutrients. The same thing happens with marijuana plants, cannabis needs a complete diet which it receives with fertilizers. To have a good harvest in both quantity and quality, the use of fertilizers for marijuana (they provide fast assimilation nutrients), as well as the use of other supplements that improve or increase the qualities of our favorite plant, will be highly recommended. Get a medical marijuana card from a verified doctor to buy marijuana legally.
All this about marijuana fertilizers may seem somewhat complicated, but you will see how knowing a few things you will understand it easily and you will understand everything better. We are going to classify fertilizers in an easy way in order to better see what the advantages of each product are and how to take advantage of them. We will also give you a few tips related to the fertilization of marijuana plants.
There are all kinds of specific fertilizers for marijuana, but it is necessary to have an idea of what each product can offer us for the nutrition of our plants.
Classification of fertilizers for marijuana according to their function on the plant
Base fertilizers:
They are usually distinguished in growth fertilizers and flowering fertilizers. These suppose the basic feeding of the plant. Its function is to provide the basic micro and macro nutrients in the correct proportions in each phase of the plant. That is why there is usually a growth fertilizer and a flowering one since the nutritional needs of the plant are not the same in each stage of the plant. There are also base fertilizers that are for the entire cycle (growth and flowering). Although these usually have a mixture that is good for growth and flowering, they are not usually the most indicated due to the nutritional needs in each phase.
Enhances and stimulators:
The flowering enhancers and stimulators are used to give an extra contribution to the nutrition of the plant to achieve an increase in the number of shoots, in the quality, in the weight, and in the final volume of the buds. These products promote and improve the development of the plant, gaining in speed, production, and quality. Through different formulations, they stimulate the plant to be able to eat more food and transform it into flowers. There are stimulators and enhancers for almost everything; To induce flowering strongly, plant growth, to increase weight and volume, amount of resin, etc.
Protectors:
The protectors or preventives are perhaps the least used and surely the most essential. They are commonly called insecticides since they also act by contact against certain bugs. This helps prevents or protect the plant against all kinds of diseases and pests, activating and stimulating the defense system of the plant. There are numerous products that can help you control disease or plague, but you will already have to fight with it, it is much better to use these preventives and thus prevent them from appearing. They are very useful, a very easy and cheap way to ensure the success of a crop.
Enzymes:
Of the enzymes, I always say that they are like a mixer and that’s the way it is. The enzymes are responsible for breaking down the remains of fertilizers that are in the substrate or deposit into smaller parts and leaving them in a more assimilable form by the plants. Thus avoiding the concentration of salts in the substrate and the root zone, ensuring that there are no blockages of nutrients and overfertilization.
Supplements and vitamins:
There are all kinds of supplements and vitamins for marijuana such as humectants to improve irrigation, humic acids, and fulvic acids that improve the interactions of the plant with nutrients, flavor enhancers, proteins, and many more supplements designed to improve specific aspects of the plant.
Fertilizers for Marijuana according to the substrate or growing medium
The substrate where it will spend its entire life is very important for the plant. And it is also for fertilizers. Depending on the marijuana substrate you use, there will be special fertilizers for that type of substrate and with which you will achieve better results.
Crops on land:
Growing on land is the most common among marijuana growers. The cultivation on land is very grateful and simple. It is also capable of regulating pH imbalances and buffering imbalances in temperature and excess fertilizer.
Crops in coconut:
Coconut cultivation requires the use of base fertilizers throughout the plant’s cycle since it is an inert growing medium, which does not contain food. Before they used to come in a mixture that you had to make with two bottles A and B and that is valid for both phases of the plant, although there are already one-component coconut fertilizers nevertheless single-component fertilizers are designed for one single phase of the plant.
Hydroponic crops – aeroponics:
Hydroponics and aeroponics are about soilless crops, understanding the soil as a living element that lives in symbiosis with the plant. Mineral fertilizers are often used here due to their high solubility and easy dissolution, in addition, they do not clog droppers and tubes and are easily cleaned. But nowadays, more organic and biological fertilizers are emerging for crops, these systems that allow you to carry a totally organic crop.
Fertilizers for marijuana according to its composition:
Depending on the raw material from which they obtain the nutrients and the way in which they extract them, marijuana fertilizers can be classified into these 3 classes:
Organic fertilizers:
Organic manures and fertilizers come from elements based on forms of carbon or, in other words, they are fertilizers that come from some form of life-based on carbon. Crops of organic origin present a higher quality in the fruits compared to other fertilizers, due to the great biological activity they generate.
Mineral fertilizers:
The advantage of using fertilizers and mineral fertilizers is that they facilitate the availability of nutrients to the plant in high concentrations.
Organic mineral fertilizers:
These fertilizers are a mixture of the first 2, the composition of the fertilizer will influence the amount of nutrients available to the plant and the flavors of the flowers. Normally organic fertilizers give better quality and mineral fertilizers give more quantity. These are an intermediate between organic fertilizers and minerals, bringing together the best of each.
Fertilizers for marijuana according to the stage of the plant
Plants are constantly changing their nutritional preferences throughout their lives, demanding more than one type of food or others and depending on the phase in which the marijuana plant is.
We can distinguish 2 very marked periods in the life of the marijuana plant, growth, and flowering. But within these two phases, the plant does many processes, and understanding them and giving them what they need will bring us great harvests of great quality.
Rooting:
The rooting phase is the first stage. It begins from the first week of the plant’s life when the roots begin to expand through the substrate. Normally after germination, you can start adding root stimulator in your waterings which will be increased in dose until the arrival of flowering. A root stimulator will increase the size and number of your roots, which will help your plants absorb more nutrients.
Growth:
The growth phase begins when the seedling begins to develop its first shoots. Normally from the 2nd week of the life of the plant, you can start adding fertilizers or growth fertilizers until the arrival of flowering. As the plant grows, its nutrient needs increase. In the growth stage, plants consume a lot of Nitrogen, which is usually the main macronutrient in these fertilizers.
Pre-flowering:
Pre-flowering is an intermediate stage between growth and flowering, where the plant prepares to begin flowering. During this stage, the plant is between the end of growth and the beginning of flowering, so it will still need both nutrients. Growth fertilizers provide the nitrogen that is wasting and flowering fertilizer for the formation of pre-flowers. There are also fertilizers like Canna Boost or Advanced Nutrients Bud Ignitor that help speed up this process as it starts out stronger.
Flowering:
The flowering stage begins immediately after the pre-flowering, just when the buds begin to forge. When the plant begins to cast those pinheads that are no longer just hair and begin to have some volume. During the flowering phase, the nutritional needs of the marijuana plant are much higher and will increase as the plant forms the buds. These stimulators normally have carbohydrates and amino acids in their compounds that improve the quality and active principles of the plant.
Fattening:
Halfway through flowering, when the buds are already formed (3rd or 4th week of flowering), they begin to focus on filling the buds and compacting. This is the perfect time to add a fattening enhancer or bud enhancer to help the buds grow fatter. These flowering enhancers usually have a very high concentration of Phosphorous and Potassium (PK) in addition to other elements.
Harvest finishers:
Before cutting our plants it is important to give them a cleaning period. This way we make sure that there is no remaining fertilizer left in the plant and that our buds and the flavor of the marijuana will be the best possible. Well, there are also products that help you clean the suture and the plant, such as Flawless Finish by Advanced Nutrients or Final Flush by Grotek.
In addition, there are also harvest finishers that help the plants to mature at the same time. These finishers send a signal to the plant that it is finishing its cycle and they strive to finish maturing, thus achieving a homogeneous harvest in indoor crops.