How to Pick the Best Fertilizer for Cannabis

Choosing the right fertilizer for your cannabis plants is essential for achieving optimal growth and high-quality yields. With a variety of options available, it's important to understand how to select the best one. This guide will help you navigate the process, using insights from Organics Alive's dry soluble powders and liquid fertilizers.

Understanding Plant Growth Stages

Cannabis plants go through distinct growth stages, each requiring specific nutrients. Organics Alive V series products are designed to cater to these stages, ensuring your plants receive the right balance of nutrients at the right time.

Vegetative Stage

During the vegetative stage, cannabis plants focus on building strong roots and lush foliage. High nitrogen content is essential for promoting vigorous growth. Nitrogen is crucial for photosynthesis and helps in the formation of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Organics Alive V-N and VS-Veg are a great source of nitrogen.

Transition Stage

This stage bridges the vegetative and flowering phases. A balanced mix of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium supports the plant's shift towards producing flowers. Phosphorus aids in energy transfer and storage, while potassium enhances water uptake and enzyme activation. Organics Alive V-TR Dry Soluble Powder is designed for plants transitioning into flower or beginning to set fruit.

Flowering Stage

In the flowering stage, plants need higher levels of phosphorus and potassium to develop robust buds. Phosphorus is vital for blooming and fruiting, and potassium strengthens the plant's immune system, improving overall health and resistance to diseases. Organics Alive VP-K, V-K, VS-Bloom are excellent sources of phosphorus and potassium to carry your plants through flower.

Pre-Harvest Stage

The final stage before harvest requires a boost in potassium to enhance flower density and resin production. High potassium levels at this stage help increase the size and weight of the buds, contributing to a better yield.

Additionally, Organics Alive offers a high- phosphorus booster for situations where extra phosphorus is needed, ensuring that plants have all the nutrients required for optimal development.

Choosing the Right Fertilizer

When selecting a fertilizer, consider the following factors:

Nutrient Composition

Cannabis plants require different nutrient ratios at various growth stages. The NPK ratio (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium) is a key indicator of a fertilizer's suitability. Organics Alive products provide tailored NPK ratios for each growth stage, ensuring your plants receive the optimal nutrient balance.

Solubility and Availability

Organics Alive fertilizers are 100% soluble, making nutrients readily available to plants. This solubility is crucial for efficient nutrient uptake, especially in hydroponic systems or when using neutral substrates like coco coir or rockwool. Readily available nutrients ensure that plants can absorb what they need without any delays, promoting faster and healthier growth.

Microbial Support

In living soil environments, microbes play a vital role in nutrient breakdown and availability. Organics Alive products, derived from microbial fermentation byproducts, support microbial activity, enhancing soil health and plant growth without disrupting the soil microbiome. This support helps maintain a balanced ecosystem in the soil, which is essential for long-term plant health and productivity.

Flexibility and Precision

Organics Alive products offer flexibility in application, allowing you to adjust nutrient mixes based on your plants' specific needs. This precision is essential for optimizing growth and maximizing yields. For example, combining VS-Bloom, V-N, and V-K can create a tailored NPK value to meet the plant's requirements at a specific growth stage. This customization ensures that plants receive exactly what they need at each stage of their growth cycle.

Salt-Free and Animal Bioproduct-Free

Organics Alive’s products are created using a unique microbial fermentation process that ensures they contain no salts or animal bioproducts. This results in clean fertilizers free from heavy metals and other contaminants, making them safe for both plants and the environment. By avoiding salts and animal byproducts, these fertilizers prevent the buildup of harmful residues in the soil, promoting a healthier growing environment.

Calcium and Micronutrient Products

Calcium is an important nutrient required by all plants. It plays a vital role in developing stronger cell walls and activating enzymes in photosynthesis. Most growers use CalMag, which can lead to over-application of magnesium while calcium remains deficient. Organics Alive's V-Cal 15 ensures that calcium can be adequately supplemented without this imbalance.

In addition, V-Micro 7 is a high-quality liquid micronutrient product that contains seven essential micronutrients in readily available forms. This specially formulated blend includes copper, boron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, iron, and molybdenum, ensuring your plants receive a comprehensive range of necessary trace elements. These micronutrients are crucial for various physiological processes in plants, including enzyme function, chlorophyll production, and overall plant metabolism.

Liquid Booster Line

Organics Alive’s Liquid Booster line is specifically designed to provide additional nutrients that are crucial for the growth and development of cannabis plants.

VS-Veg Liquid Booster

The VS-Veg Liquid Booster contains a 10-5-3 NPK ratio plus 3% sulfur. Sulfur is one of the 17 essential nutrients for plants and is crucial for the growth and development of cannabinoids, terpenes, hormones, and flavonoids. This product also includes primary metabolites such as carbohydrates, organic and amino acids, vitamins, hormones, flavonoids, phenolics, and glucosinolates, which are essential for plant growth, development, stress adaptation, and defense. These metabolites also determine the nutritional quality of food, color, taste, and increase aromatic compounds, enhancing the overall quality of the plant.

VS-Bloom Liquid Booster

The VS-Bloom Liquid Booster features a 0-10-3 NPK ratio plus 3% sulfur. Similar to the VS-Veg, it includes a natural source of sulfur, which is critical for the development of cannabinoids, terpenes, hormones, and flavonoids. The activation of enzymes, which aid in biochemical reactions in the plant, increases crop yields and improves flower quality, both of which determine the market price a farmer would get for their produce.

Application Methods

Soil

In soil environments, use dry soluble powders as base nutrients and liquid fertilizers as boosters. This approach maintains the balance of soil microbiology while providing essential nutrients. The dry powders provide a steady release of nutrients, while the liquid fertilizers offer a quick boost when needed.

Neutral Substrates

For neutral substrates like promix or coco, liquid fertilizers are recommended as base nutrients due to their detailed composition and ease of use. This method ensures consistent nutrient delivery and supports precise nutrient management. Liquid fertilizers can be easily mixed and applied, ensuring that plants receive the nutrients they need in a timely manner.

Foliar Feeding

Organics Alive fertilizers can also be used for foliar feeding. This method allows for quick nutrient corrections and is beneficial on off-water days. Foliar feeding involves spraying the nutrient solution directly onto the leaves, which allows for immediate absorption and rapid nutrient delivery. The carbon-based nature of these products makes them suitable for foliar application without the risk of overfeeding. This method is particularly useful for addressing nutrient deficiencies quickly, as the nutrients are absorbed directly through the leaves.

Scientific Foundations

The microbial fermentation process used by Organics Alive stitches macronutrients to carbon atoms, allowing passive facilitated diffusion of nutrients into plants. This method is more efficient than traditional active transport, which requires energy (ATP). Consequently, measurements like electrical conductivity (EC) and parts per million (PPM) are less relevant, focusing instead on the weight of the product and plant health indicators.

Passive facilitated diffusion enables plants to absorb nutrients more efficiently, reducing the energy expenditure required for nutrient uptake. This efficiency translates to better growth and development, as plants can allocate more energy to producing flowers and fruit.

Conclusion

Selecting the best fertilizer for your cannabis plants involves understanding their nutrient needs at different growth stages and choosing products that offer precision, flexibility, and support for soil microbiology. Organics Alive’s V series dry soluble powders and liquid fertilizers provide a comprehensive solution, ensuring your plants receive the optimal balance of nutrients for vigorous growth and high-quality yields.

By following the guidelines in this post, you can make informed decisions about your cannabis fertilization strategy, helping you cultivate world-class cannabis with rich profiles of cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids. Whether you are growing in living soil, rockwool, or coco, Organics Alive’s products can support your plants' health and productivity throughout their lifecycle.

Organics Alive’s commitment to producing salt-free and animal bioproduct-free fertilizers, along with their advanced formulations like V-Cal and V-Micro 7, makes them an excellent choice for growers looking to achieve the best results. With the right approach and the right products, you can ensure your cannabis plants thrive and produce top-quality yields.