Synganic garding

Chefdave

Tree of Life Genetics
Good Morning all
Wanted to start a thread on synganic gardening techniques and results. Synganic gardening for cannabis is a relatively newer grow style, that is growing immensely in quality commercial, and personal cultivation operations. It combines using salts as base nutrients, and organic inputs, usually in foilar feeding applications. In my opinion and most who have tried, it is the best of both worlds, achieving the speed, yield and control of salts, with the taste and smell benefits of organic cultivation, without the intensive ipm, slower growth and smaller yield that are drawbacks of organics. It is a growing style best achieved using a Coco perlite substrate. I have been using this technique for years, but not in a crop steering method. I used to hand water, which was not only time consuming, messy, labor intensive and more importantly inconsistent. It seems in the canna world, growers generally are either organic or synthetic. I know the personal feelings of many for being fully organic due to a plethora of reasons, and respect that immensely. This is for growers who want to try new things and are not tied in to one style. As a grower with 40 yrs under his belt, 85 percent of that time being a home grower, I have tried every method out there from soil organic, coco organic, ebb and flow, dwc, DTW etc. This method for me , has been game changing in terms of quality, speed and best yield of any method. Although not necessary, multiple daily fertigation is recommended with this method. Most problems I see with salt growers are caused by lockout, leading to nutrients defiencies. Multi fertigation with limited runoff eliminates this problem. In addition when using beneficials you reduce the need for exacting pH requirements of salt only hydroponic techniques. Coco is a excellent substrate for cannabis, it offers all around unparalleled qualities not found in other sustrates. The amount of coco/perlite ratio is dependant on fertigation frequency and personal preference, but find 50/50 mix to be ideal for 3x a day or more fertigation shots . My method is salts as a base, calcium and magnesium included, then using drench Bene's, and foilar spraying organic inputs such as fulvic, seaweed etc. It has been a game changer for me personally and encourage anyone that's not a newbie, to give it a shot. It is a simple, time saving and high performance style. Cheers Chef
 
I guess this is my method. I use salts because they behave in the reservoir in the Vgrow and I can count on the pH staying the same over time when I prefill jugs for watering. This current grow is an 80/20 mix of coco to living soil/worm castings. I chose that because I wanted microbes from the start.

This next run on the testers for 1212, I'm going straight coco, but adding microbes in when I hydrate the coco bricks.
 
I guess this is my method. I use salts because they behave in the reservoir in the Vgrow and I can count on the pH staying the same over time when I prefill jugs for watering. This current grow is an 80/20 mix of coco to living soil/worm castings. I chose that because I wanted microbes from the start.

This next run on the testers for 1212, I'm going straight coco, but adding microbes in when I hydrate the coco bricks.
Definitely would try foilar spraying some fulvic acid, seaweed and magnesium 2x a week up to week 4 of flower, if time permits. Really makes a difference.
 
I'm just a little shrimp with a few plants.
Shrimp_(Big_League_Bob).jpg

But after going through a bazillion (it felt like) different grow methods incluiding aquaculture. Lol. And mom had an awesome bamboo tree growing from her 50gal. fish tank. Maybe qualifies as...
Lol

Naw. I use salts in combination with organic inputs. More of those later, really. The combo grows tasty weed, and damn fast. For me, it has seemed easy to control and monitor, even with rez_s to watch over and keep balanced, clean, aerearated and beneficial.

I'll just sit in an be quiet. Thanks for sharing @Chefdave
 
I'm just a little shrimp with a few plants.
View attachment 223498

But after going through a bazillion (it felt like) different grow methods incluiding aquaculture. Lol. And mom had an awesome bamboo tree growing from her 50gal. fish tank. Maybe qualifies as...
Lol

Naw. I use salts in combination with organic inputs. More of those later, really. The combo grows tasty weed, and damn fast. For me, it has seemed easy to control and monitor, even with rez_s to watch over and keep balanced, clean, aerearated and beneficial.

I'll just sit in an be quiet. Thanks for sharing @Chefdave
Yes brother me too, finally have products and method locked in, makes my cultivation life a whole lot easier, I look back to way I grew 2 yrs ago and say wtf was I thinking 🤔 I worked for the plants, instead of the opposite. Used to tell my newer line cooks, you will never be a great cook till you learn to control your food, instead of the food controlling you. Cheers
 
I Also grow synganic. I like to use organic soil mix and use salts to push plants or correct early fade. Often if i see any defeciencies in flower I will do a general feeding and top dress at the same time. I think it just makes things easier.
To be more details i use general hydro trio plus cal mag and recharge. For top dress ammendments i use pridelands bloom and also their vegtible blend With small pots using both has gotten me some great quality stuff.
 
I've asked this question of a couple of nutrient manufacturers and haven't gotten an answer. Why not foliar feed past the first 3-4 weeks of flower? I must be missing something...
Ask the question - Do I wanna smoke/eat this?

When I was using the Phyloscape program I could see a lot of benifits. In general I'm a fan of foliars except for the labor involved and on a small scale I think it can be difficult to justify cost. It really allows you to see what a plant needs and in my case I was able to adjust my soil ammendments for the most part.

Iron is the one that gives me particular fits though so I use an amino chelated supliment with fulvic and if I dont want every plant to get it I don't spray them. Calcium and magnesium are nice to be able to foliar as well.
 
Honestly, this is really just normal salt fertigation with a couple foliar biostimulants tacked on. Foliar fulvic + seaweed can help a little, but they won’t replace real nutrition.

Fulvic acid (foliar): can chelate micros and slightly improve leaf uptake; it’s a mild stress buffer. It’s not a macronutrient source.
Kelp/seaweed (foliar): mainly hormones (cytokinins/auxins), trace elements. Useful for rooting, stress recovery, and early vigor.
You cannot deliver meaningful N‑P‑K through foliar alone; you’d need frequent wet sprays and still won’t meet demand. In flower, frequent foliar raises mold risk and can dull resin. I stop all non‑IPM foliars by day 14 of flower indoors; day 21 at the latest if VPD and airflow are perfect.

Of course you are already giving the plant all it needs to bulk up with a normal coco/perlite grow. Do you mean to tell me that applying seaweed and fulvic acid through foilar spray is going to make a bigger difference in flavor than if you just used salts ?

I just don't see how it would make that big of a difference.

The way I run my synganics is as follows:
Synganics on a living soil base and how to also protect the herd

I keep the soil solution EC reasonable: I try to aim for 1.0–1.8 mS/cm. Microbes get stressed by high osmotic swings more than by the presence of minerals per se.
I use “Mineral nudges” as dilute drenches that won’t scorch biology:
Ca/Mg: 40–60 ppm Ca + 15–25 ppm Mg via CaNO3/MgSO4 or Cal‑Mag, 1x/1–2 weeks if leaf sap or visual cues say so.
For P/K during stretch and early flower: MKP for 10–20 ppm P + 30–60 ppm K, or potassium sulfate 40–80 ppm K. Keep the total drench EC ≤0.6–0.8 and follow with a microbe‑only irrigation next time.
With Iron/micros: EDDHA/EDTA Fe at label‑low rates if chlorosis shows; fulvic helps.
Use Organic, fast‑acting complements (root drenches): ferments
FAA (fish amino) 0.5–1 ml/L for N in veg if pale.
Kelp/aloe/fulvic 0.5–1 ml/L weekly in veg/pre‑flip.

I usually Stop rich ferments by mid‑flower to keep terps sharp.

That sounds like a lot but it really isn't once You've done it a while and this regimen will make the buds swell like you're in DWC but taste and smell like no salts were ever used.
 

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