Hydroponic gardeners who want to reap the benefits of molasses during the flowering stage should use products designed for hydroponic systems, feed their plants by hand or foliar feeding.
Molasses is a great source of potassium during the flowering stage. However, using it in your reservoir can be difficult.
First of all, it will feed the bad bacteria that causes root rot and slime.
Second, if it’s not very diluted, it can clog pumps and drippers.
As a result, if you want all the benefits of using molasses without the headaches, I recommend using a product designed for hydroponic systems.
Two products that I have personally used are Liquid Carbo Load from Advanced Nutrients and Sweet from Botanicare. You can pour them right into your reservoir without worrying about slime or clogging your system. In addition, these products are much more than molasses. They contain beneficial trace elements and are more refined than molasses, making nutrient uptake by plants more efficient.
Another option is to use pure molasses diluted with water, but instead of putting it directly into your tank, manually feed your plants the mixture. Your plants will get all the benefits of molasses, but you won’t have to worry about slime or a clogged system. The best option is Blackstrap molasses (unsulfured).
Also, you can mix the molasses with water and put it in a spray bottle for foliar feeding. However, combining molasses with other ingredients in a foliar feed recipe is great because of its ability to chelate nutrients for direct uptake and use by the plant.
Although molasses contains high levels of potassium, if you’re trying to make up for its deficiency, a better option is seaweed.
On a side note, if you are foliar feeding your plants, be sure to turn off your HID lights during feeding. If you don’t, you risk a drop of water acting like a magnifying glass and causing your plants to burn.
People have known for years that molasses and other sugars are great for plants. Just because you’re growing hydroponically instead of growing in soil, you don’t have to miss out. Buy products containing sugars that are made for hydroponic systems or consider hand watering or pure molasses foliar feeding.