How to get the most out of your foliar spray

[dpn]

1. Spray the bottom of the leaves (where most stomata's are located). Spray with a fine mist, and do not create droplets on the leaves. Fine mist is electrically attracted by the foliage. Even young marijuana plants have waxy hairs that impair liquid penetration.

2. Do not spray plants that are hot or when the atmosphere is too dry. Spray in low light, either before the lights go off or just as they are coming on. If spraying in hot conditions, first spray everything with cold water until the temperature of the room and foliage drop, before applying the real spray. Spraying when the plant foliage is hot causes the spray to crystallize on the surface and it stops penetration. Spraying with water 10 minutes afterward often increases penetration. Mobile nutrients move freely within a plant. Immobile nutrients move slowly, but once deposited, they stay.

3. Apply mobile nutrients sparingly. Immobile nutrients- sulfur, boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc- often require two or three applications. Calcium and boron are poor candidates for foliar feeding because they translocate poorly, But urea nitrogen applied as a spray in high humidity, penetrates almost instantly into leaves. Be careful when spraying urea based fertilizers, and keep them diluted. Urea also carries other nutrients into the plant and works well for a base in the mix. Foliar feeding should turn the plant around in less than a week. A second spray could be necessary at the weeks end to ensure the cure sticks.

4. Boron, calcium and iron move slowly during flowering. A supplemental foliar dose often speeds the growth when it slows. A foliar spray of potassium can also help flowering, especially if the temperatures dip below 10oC or above 15oC

5. Always spray new growth. The thin waxy layer and a few trichromes allow for good penetration.

6. Measure the pH of the spray and keep it between 7 and 8.5. Potassium phosphate (K2HPO4) becomes phytotoxic below pH4 and above 8.5. Stomata are signalled to close within these pH ranges.

7. Use a surficant with all sprays, and apply these as per the instructions on the label.

8. Add the proper amount of surficant so droplets do not form on the leaves. Once formed, the droplets roll off the foliage, rendering it ineffective.

9. Stop the application before droplets form on the leaves. Make a test spray on a mirror to ensure the spray is even and does not form droplets that roll off the mirror.

10. Spray with as fine of a mist as possible to minimize the size of the drop

(taken from soft secrets issue 3 2005)

[dpn]

Please feel free to post your foliar spray recipes, i would love to hear them :sun:

[Green Supreme]

Thanks for the info dpn. Peace GS

[The Cannarchist]

http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Product.asp?PG=1271

[gojo]

Hey,

Nice list :D

> 1. Spray the bottom of the leaves (where most stomata's are located)

I have read current research which suggests the stomata does not absorb nutrients or H2o from foliar feeding. I don't remember exactly what does absorb h2o/nutrients but I seem to remember it is super-micro-pores located between the stomata on the leaf...I believe an electron microscope was used to find these super-micro-pores. I'll try to find those studies or at least the names of the actual processes which absorb h2o/nutrients.

Stomata allow water vapor to diffuse into and out of the leaf, but not water itself like a foliar spray. Stomata are for gas exchange like expelling H2o vapor (transpiration) and Co2 and o2 exchange (respiration).
For example: When stomata abosrbs Co2 it expels H2o vapor.

> 2. Do not spray plants that are hot or when the atmosphere is too dry. Spray in low light,

These same studies indicate that the greatest absorption rates are at night.

cheers, :D

[gojo]

Hey again,

More random foliar stuff:

-Heres a link to a thread I posted regarding how using Fulvic acid in foliar will increase the amount of chlorophyll in leaves :D As per cannarchist's directions: use 10/ml gal of fulvic acid
https://cannabis-world.org/cw/showthread.php?t=3741

-I like to spray with 15/ml gal of filtered earthworm casting tea once every two weeks during veg. It is useful for it's micobial content/benefits like helping prevent leaf molds, P.M., etc. These teas are really weak in regards to ppm of npk.

-When foliar feeding to increase growth (e.g. seaweed, etc) spay during periods of vigorous growth and not too often. Spary 1/2 way through veg and at beginning of 12/12; these are the periods when plants best utilize these types of foliar sprays.

-Limit use of cytokinins, gibrillians, etc as plants only utilize these compounds if they are lacking them, more is not better...it just goes to waste and can injure plants. I can verify this by my use of "Rush Biostimulant" foliar and it's withering effect on leaves when applied following package directions. Rush uses the cytokinin "Glycine Betain" which is an anti-stress agent and is easy to over-apply.

cheers :D

[gojo]

Hey cannarchist...where you reading my mind???

I was thinking that using a fogger with micronized foliar nutrients would be the best method to apply sprays ;) Better yet would be to have a fogger that adds a negative charge to the spray so it is absorbed better.

cheers,

[The Cannarchist]

Gojo,

Go ask C-ray about his Magnetised blender set up......

[dpn]

thanks for the info gojo :up:

[The Cannarchist]

600ppm of diluted seawater will get rid of powdery mildew.

[Green Supreme]

Wonder if you ran sea water through a brita first, if it would remove too much good stuff. Peace GS

[The Cannarchist]

A couple of layers of coffee filter will do it.The Brita would take out the living organisms

[nuggdigger]

Foliar feeding seems to be one of the easiest ways of increasing yield, growth speed, and quality in a well vented space, with or without elevated CO2 levels. Just prepare a tea of worm castings, fish emulsion, bat guano, or most any other plant food right for the job and feed in vegetative and early flowering stages. It is not recommended for late flowering, or you will be eating the sprayed-on material later. Stop foliar feeding 2-3 weeks before harvesting and make sure to wash off the leaves with straight water every week to prevent clogging the stomata. Feed daily or every other day.



Best times of the day to Foliar feed are between 7:00am and 10:00am, or after 5:00 in the evening.



This is because the stomata on the underside of the leaves are open then. Also, the best temperature is about 72 degrees, and at over 80, the stomata may not be open at all. So find the cooler part of the day if it’s hot, and the warmer part of the day if it’s cold out.



You may need to spray at 2:00am if that’s the coolest time available. The sprayer used should atomize the solution to a very fine mist; find your best sprayer and use it for this. Make sure the pH is between 7 and 6.2. Use baking soda to make the solution higher PH, and vinegar to make the solution lower PH. It’s better to spray more often and use less, than to drench the plants infrequently. Use a wetting agent to prevent the water from beading up, and thereby burning the leaves as they act as small prisms, essentially refracting the light. Make sure you don’t spray a hot bulb; better yet, spray only when the bulb has cooled.



Perhaps the best foliar feeding includes using seltzer water and plant food at the same time. This way, CO2 and nutrients are feed directly to the leaves in the same spray.



Foliar feeding is recognized in most literature as a good way to get nutrients to the plant later when nutrient lockup problems could start to reduce intake from the roots.

WARNING: It is important to wash leaves that are harvested before they are dried, if you intend to eat them, since they may have nitrate salts on them.


http://www.maximumyield.com/article167.htm

great post and topic dpn:pimp:

so I'm wondering about the accumulation of salts, nutrients, and other dried materials on the surface of the leaf. If its dry, its not going in anymore and is only blocking plant cells. I now rinse the foilage off after every application with the exception of fulvics. I started doing this to reduce damage done from botanicals after application. After a few folair feeding burns i now rinse after consistently.


And you asked about our foliar recepies?..

well i like to apply most ingredients one at a time, mostly depending upon what the plant needs most. I like botanicals, fulvics, nutes at 1/4 of full rate, botanical bug spray,organics like worm juice and metanaturals N in very low doses, etc.

I find if i get carried away with the foliar routine my leaves always tell me and look off. Some manuals recommend every second day, some once a week. I aim for close to a week to give the plants/leaves a chance to recover.

great sharing thread..

peace:pipe: