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reserve your ad hereHey, there high there ho there, amigos. Using tactical nitrogen for growing cannabis is just how to use, and when to use, nitrogen for growing; and let’s not forget the form of nitrogen to use—berry-berry important.
In today’s article, I will just explain to you some really cool ways to keep your nitrogen (N) levels proper, along with a few sources for N, some of which you may not be aware of. There are three basic groups you can place nitrogen problems into…
- Nitrogen Lockout—fast
- Deficiency of Nitrogen—slow
- Nitrogen Lockout—slow
Let’s go ahead and get this show on the road, beginning with a bit of in-depth regarding those three things listed above.
Nitrogen Issues
From the list above, number 1 and number 3 are related, but not as in different levels of the same thing. Number 1 is normally caused by something like your container’s soil going anaerobic from overwatering and/or compaction. Number 3 is normally due to excessive additions of nutrients—mineral salts— building up in the rhizosphere of the plant roots over some time. This locks out N due to pH changes caused by the residual nutrient elements that have built up.

Both number 1 and number 3 look the same as far as expressed plant damage goes, and the N issue shows up on the tops of the plant, yellowing with a limey tinge. Number 1 just gets there faster. Numbers 1 and 3 are also normally accompanied by other “deficiencies” such as calcium (Ca), and potassium (K). This type of N drop-off (number 1 and number 3) is never the result of a lack of nitrogen in your soil but can for sure be caused by way too much nitrogen in your soil and/or additives. Number 3 can happen from using groundwater on your plants that’s too high regarding PPM, over time, those excess mineral salts build up.

Using nitrogen for growing is essential to be sure, cannabis really loves her N. Overdosing your N values not only locks out your N from your plant but also interferes with Ca and K, then other things fall like dominoes until the plant dies an ugly death.
Tactical Nitrogen for Growing Cannabis Using Different Forms of N
As you likely know, running good N levels is a key to great big healthy cannabis plants/buds/yields. However, no single nutrient matters that much more than all the others. When one nutrient has a problem, it’s always a domino effect, and often times by the time the plant shows a problem, in reality, that’s more like the third problem down the line. Balance is our word for the day. The more complete the nutrient addition is, the better it is to use. You need to have a general “grip” on your total additions and their main constituents.
Adding smaller consistent nitrogen-rich additions is a great way to manage your N. As an example, I have grown great crops using alfalfa meal and kelp meal all along the way, in very small amounts. As with all other nutrient additions, you want to stop using anything when your plants are 2 to 3 weeks from harvest. I taper off in week 3 and stop any additions in the last 2 weeks.
I use small amounts of alfalfa meal directly mixed with water, also in TLO Micropond Growing, and as a top dressing, and/or mixed in The Churn (Rev’s perpetual TLO high PPM tea). Alfalfa meal is what I like to use for the first 3 weeks of flowering, then just change over to kelp meal. Kelp meal reduces the N input but adds a broadband of excellent micro and trace nutrients that flowering plants dearly love—along with a hella K kicker.
Sourcing Prime Tactical Nitrogen for Growing Cannabis
I’m going to share with you all a couple of my favorite ways to bring in very flowering-friendly nitrogen. Things like blood meal, alfalfa meal, and fish meal have a very available form of N at “burns” hot and can drastically lower pH if used in excess. It also powers up the soil life to supernatural levels causing insane growth rates for your plants. Skilled use of these things in moderation is highly beneficial. I like using a little bit (like 1/8th teaspoon per gallon) of blood meal in my Churn. I’ll explain a bit more about The Churn below.
The Churn is a perpetual tea of sorts. It runs always bubbling away. My Churn is 1-gallon in size. It often runs north of 250 PPM. I just use small amounts of my Churn water in my plant water. When I say small amounts, I mean enough to bring my plant water to about 62 to 64 PPM. Every time I water. I add a lot of things to my Churn, including fish tank water, blood meal, dolomite lime, bee pollen, alfalfa meal, kelp meal, even some bone meal, crab meal, and DE (diatomaceous earth).
You don’t have to add all these things, just about 1/8th teaspoon of dolomite lime, a couple of teaspoons of alfalfa and/or kelp meal, and you’re golden. You don’t have to care about the PPM of The Churn at all. All you have to care about is adding enough Churn water to your cannabis water every watering to hit that PPM mark, consistently. For a bit more about The Churn, check this article out: Letters to Rev – General Cannabis Growing.
Dosage and Form of Tactical Nitrogen for Growing Cannabis
To learn more about top dressing refer to Top Dressing to Leverage Mother Nature’s Powers. One of my very favorite ways to maintain an awesome level of not only nitrogen, but decent calcium as well, is by using Feather Meal. Feather meal has a unique couple of qualities that make it perfect for keeping N levels awesome throughout growth. The form of N in feather meal is mostly in its less available form. Perhaps I should say, less rapidly available form. This is a good thing, especially for flowering plants. The feather meal stays semi-buoyant in water. I don’t mean it floats; it stays easily suspended. I use about ¼ teaspoon of feather meal per plant mixed with the water, every time I water until two weeks before harvest, for container sizes of 1-gallon to 3-gallons. You could do exactly the same thing using top dressings and/or TLO Micropond.
Bone meal also makes an excellent small dosage top dressing after every watering, especially during the first half of flowering time. Calcium and phosphorous along with an N kicker, what’s not to love? Fishbone meal is my favorite.

Blood meal is the nitrogen nuke of dry all-natural additions. Great care must be used when adding any blood meal anywhere near living roots. Throughout veg and especially at the beginning of flowering I like to top-dress with very small amounts of blood meal, like 1/8th to ¼ teaspoon per plant. Every week or so until about 3 weeks from harvest. This is a HUGE kicker to flowering, vigor, and yields.
Off the Beaten Path Tactical Nitrogen for Growing Cannabis
Freshwater fish aquariums are outstanding to have around. Just a little bit of this water will add a whole bunch of good things to your soil, including a decent nitrogen bump. I now add my aquarium water to The Churn, but I used to add it directly to my plant water at a ratio of about 2 to 6 oz. per 5-gallons of water. This will also raise your PPMs rapidly so keep an eye on that.
You can also very effectively use cannabis meal like you would use alfalfa meal. All you need to do for this is next time you trim or prune your plant(s) just lay those green leaves out in the warm dry grow room and allow them to rapid dry. They will remain green after dried this way, retaining their nitrogen, along with everything else cannabis loves—you savvy?
Using Nitrogen for Growing Cannabis Cautions
- Resist the urge to add nitrogen, or anything else to sprouts for their first 4 weeks above ground. You can kill sprouts easily, and even alter their sexual ratios.

- You can get in big trouble using blood meal, fast. Blood meal can fry your plants fast and ugly with just a small overdose. Be super conservative with any blood meal additions as top dressings, or Micropond. Never ever use any blood meal on your plants in any way during the last 21 days before harvest, or you will bone your resin production.

Afterword
I hope you guys enjoyed today’s article. Using nitrogen for growing cannabis is essential, cannabis is usually kind of an N hog, especially Indica/Hashplant varieties. Don’t forget to grab a copy of my TLO Book 2nd Edition for tons of info about growing cannabis all naturally (supernaturally). Swing by Kingdom Organic Seeds and get some of the latest releases in the Gamblers’ Section of the website.
I’m outty for now, but I’ll be back here next Tuesday for some more babbling, heh heh. Cheers, and L8r G8rs.
- REv 😊
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I'm The Rev, and I have been with SKUNK for about a decade now. I hail from Southern California, spent mucho time in Northern California, and now reside in Southern Oregon; always coastal. I am an all natural style cannabis grower and I have written a couple books on the subject - check out True Living Organics 2nd Edition on Amazon - I have been growing for over 45 years, and I have been breeding cannabis for over 30 years. Check out kingdomorganicseeds.com to see some exotic selections. Growing connoisseur cannabis is what I teach mostly, growing it in living soil without using liquid organic nutrients to feed the plant. I am also a highly skilled synthetics grower, hydroponics, aeroponics, DWC/SWC/NFT, Ebb and Flow, and soilless, but I cringe when smoking synthetic grown herbs, so for the last 15 years or so I preach the artisan style of all natural growing, specializing in container growing. Cheers and welcome aboard.