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Kutztown, PA

I've been watching Youtube like a crazy man and reading some old articles and growers diaries related to feeding/foliar feeding. It seems like methods range from "When I see the plant just cant take anymore, (the eyeball method), I quit feeding them to " I make sure never to go over 200 ppm". I assume the later is a measurement of dissolved solids of a single addition, e.g. pottasium. I can see advantages to both methods and some down sides too. For example, the eyeball methods seems doable but it only tells you when you've gone overboard, not when you're just right. Speaking only about feeding after pollination, how do most people determine how little and how much is good enough? Eyeball or measurement and schedule, or both?

2/18/2022 3:51:38 PM

Jericho Vermont

For those of us that grow in cooler climates, there are so many other variables to put in to consideration and ppm does not usually come in to play. For instance, if we are going through a time of cool nights like 50 degrees or lower I do not want to feed the same percentage of fertilizer as I would on 60 plus nights. I take the approach of measuring daily gains and feed every time that I water along with a paper diary that takes into account: amount of sun the day before, soil moisture, night time temperatures and where the pumpkin is in days after pollination. All of these variables can be graphed so I can see if the pumpkin is holding in the same pattern or falling off. Regardless of how much you research, your climate, soil fertility, hours of sun and plant size is going to be unique to most other growers. I suggest to take great notes, try new ideas one variable at a time and ultimately enjoy the process. It can be a wild ride.

2/18/2022 4:52:07 PM

Ironton, ohio

Sorry Garwolf, im gonna piggy back on your message. How about soil EC to determine when or how much to fertilize? If so what's an ideal range?

2/18/2022 5:18:11 PM

Kutztown, PA

Good advice VTJohn - Thanks

2/28/2022 11:10:53 AM

Grittyville, WA

I'm trying to learn to eyeball things but yeah, once I notice "hey my leaves are showing signs of low potassium" I may already be on a half-the-optimum-size trajectory. I'm moving towards anything that will bump my lbs per day up, and that includes adding small amounts of fertilizer to every watering.

2/28/2022 7:02:33 PM