For beginner growers, a common question is “how old should seedlings be before nutrients are applied?” However, more experienced growers will know that question should actually be “how old should cannabis cuttings be before adding nutrients?” The reason is that starting from seedlings is much more time-consuming than starting from cuttings from mother plants.
With that quick grower tip out of the way, let’s get into answering the main question:
How old should cannabis cuttings be before adding nutrients?
Choosing the right water-soluble cannabis fertilizers for your plants is important, but timing your fertigation is vital. That means that you shouldn’t start adding nutrients until roots are present. You also want to go easy on the nutrients initially. For reference, Plant-Prod MJ™ recommends starting with a low-nutrient concentration (20-50 ppm Nitrogen) such as Plant-Prod MJ™ Grow.
Additional cannabis fertilizer tips:
To recap, here are the steps you need to take to insure your cannabis cuttings or seedlings are ready for nutes:
- Apply nutrients ONLY when roots are present
- Seedlings should be fertilized when they develop their first true full set of leaves 2-3 weeks after germination
- Young seedlings are sensitive to high EC (electrical conductivity) so only a small amount of fertilizer should be added
- Start with a low-nutrient water soluble cannabis fertilizer concentration (20-50ppm nitrogen)
Mist or water enough so that the plant is wet, but not saturated
Utilize light to speed up the rooting process if needed
Following these tips should help improve your success with cutting product.
For more information on water-soluble fertilizers and cannabis growing tips, check out some of our other publications below:
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