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Why Foliar Feed your plants?
Considering foliar feeding your plants? Foliar spraying is a
valuable way to give your plants a varied and balanced diet by applying
any number of different products to the leaves of the plant.
You can manipulate a fast and very
positive response from any plant through an easy to apply foliar feed
application.
The delicate leaf tissue will absorb
whatever it is that you're applying, and put it to use immediately for
an increased vigor in growth and fruit or flower development, and an
increased resistance to insects and fungal issues.
Some care must be taken when applying
foliar sprays as you can overdo anything (if you're not sure about any
foliar product, please don't hesitate to ask us!). The
concentration of whatever you're applying must be very weak in
comparison to a root application, but when applied with care, just watch
your plants respond almost immediately!
WHAT TO USE:
We're true believers in foliar
feeding, and we got a huge selection of
foliar spray products.
They all have great descriptions of
what they can do for your plants, but there are a couple of basic
products that we apply religiously ourselves.
The first is any seaweed type product
(Nitrozime,
Maxicrop Seaweed,
Age Old Kelp...).
Seaweed contains a huge supply of natural hormones, and these
hormones when applied to the leaves will cause increased growth
rates, and increased fruit or flower size. Try a seaweed
foliar spray on a mother plant 3 or 4 days before taking your
cuttings from the plant. The increased hormones will cause the
cuttings to root faster and more vigorously.
If your plant is experiencing
mysterious nutrient deficiencies (as they all do on occasion), try a
foliar application of humic or fulvic acid. This will help the
plant to use the nutrients that you're already giving it through
root feeding, and usually only takes a day or two to correct the
deficiency.
Another of the most useful foliar
feeds is the application of live beneficial products like Mycorhizal
fungus (Plant Success
Soluble, or Great White)
or General Hydroponics Flora
Blend with all of it's live microbes (or use your own homemade
worm casting or guano tea). These will give your plants a
built-in defense against insects and fungus issues by increasing
their resistance to the onslaught of these problems. Say
goodbye to spider mites forever!
HOW TO APPLY FOLIAR SPRAYS:
We recommend applying your foliar
feeds no more than twice a week (usually rotating between a couple
of different products).
Try to avoid drenching your fruit or
flowers. Mist or slight over-spray on your fruit or flowers is
OK, but the plants leaves and stems are where the foliar feed is
most valuable.
They don't need to be dripping when
you're done applying, but just a nice light misting is all that's
really necessary to gain all of the foliar benefits.
Just like with insecticide
treatments, turn off your HID lights, or back them away from the
plants to decrease the intensity of light until the application
slowly dries as this will allow for better absorption.
Keep good circulation moving
around your plants after a foliar application to prevent mold issues
from developing in a stagnant wet environment.
APPLICATION RATES:
If the product that you're going to
apply has foliar feeding instructions, just follow the instructions
very carefully.
If the product doesn't have foliar
instructions, you can still usually apply it in a foliar
application, but apply the product at a rate of 10 to 15% of the
maximum root application instructions (especially if the product has
any respectable N-P-K, like "grow" or "bloom" nutrients- again, if
you're not sure, please ask us).
It's probably best to avoid the
really high N-P-K chemical nutrients which are best left for root
application.
