Organic nutes and symbiotic soil life

Thinking ferts are somewhat generic... yet I have some cutting edge, bio, soil life, additives that you can buy from outside the canna-business world... these soil organisms live everywhere in nature... abundantly... but they don't get time to colonize in sterile cannabis grow operations... in the Netherlands soil gets sterilized before it is allowed to be sold... to kill all fungi and bacteries... the bad as well as the good... so I add symbiotic fungi and bacteries of my choice to my fresh soil...

To start I add mycorrhizal fungi when transplanting the clones into big soil containers. These fungi are considered by plant scientists to be the biological cornerstone of plant life on earth.... and every 2 weeks I add beneficial bacteria to the water... These help make essential soil mineral elements, available to the plant; and help decompose organic matter and improve physical properties of the soil.

I got these products from my friend... his nick name is Sannie... and he is active on several cannabis forums showing off his excellent Jack Herer... real big buds... 12 weeks sativa pheno... he gets his gear from an american producer that doesn't want to be associated with cannabis... so you have to do your own research if you want this stuff... anyway, I am a believer... and next to top class genetics, this is the only ingredient helping me to differentiate from the masses...

info on nutes I use...

Canna Terra Flores - the BIO version is my basic component... all organic... don't see it on their website... I used to add Cannazym...
http://www.canna.com/site/dhtml/pro...es_cannazym.php

Now I've replaced Cannazym by Liquid Karma from American Agritech/Botanicare...
http://www.americanagritech.com/pro...=1&pro_id_pk=30

In the second half of the flowering phase, it gets more interesting... instead of chemical or mineral PK13-14, I add only organic nutrients... no residu build up in my medium!

Organic P: Guanokalong thea (still using the pack I got from Soma in 2005, he said he could taste the PK13-14 and offered my this alternative)...
http://www.guanokalong.nl/

Organic K: Vitrasol from BioNova... sweetens the buds...
http://www.bionova.nl/SiteEN/En/pag...il3EN.asp?ID=58

Curious for the experience of all you organic soil growers...

SB

Edit: as some have asked me for info on the soil I use... just for a complete view... medium, nutes and beneficial organisms...

Most used soil for cannabis in the Netherlands... AllMix from BioBizz...
http://www.biobizz.nl/menutekst.asp?MenuID=,425,430&ID=430

Currently I'm trying BatMix from Plagron... on the bottom... on the top half I still use AllMix...
http://www.plagron.nl/2005/Plagron_UK/UK_web/pages/batmix.shtml

Oh yeah... Preventief from Plagron fights powdery mildew effectively... and is totally bio... milk sour acid bacteries... smells like yakult... totally safe to spray on flowering plants!
http://www.plagron.nl/2005/Plagron_UK/UK_web/pages/preventief.shtml

Hi, sounds like you have a great set of nutes. I have been using bio canna nutes for my last 4 or so grows and been impressed. I have been looking for an organic way to increase the pk so will definetly have a look at those links. thanks its always good to hear what others are using.
Good luck with your grow! i doubt you need it though hehe.

Thanks for stepping by!

That friend of mine is growing some superb selected Jack Herer 12 weeks pheno... and gets over 1.2gr/watt... totally bio... really worthwile to check his thread... its a different forum, though... you need to login...
http://www.growshopalien.com/Forum/index.php?showtopic=818

all the bacteria and fungi you mention are available for free anywhere you find decomposing organic matter and earthworms. soil from the woods, or worm castings, or finished compost would yield those and much more in the form of water soluble nutrients if you just put it in a sock and placed that in a bucket of water with an aquarium airpump. there are even ways to propagate more bacteria or more fungi, basically using simple carbs (sugars) to favor bacteria, or no carb food source to favor fungi.

Your right Muddy,...I use molasses as my carb. Heres my compost tea recipe.
Mix in a 5gal.bucket.
1 fistful of QUALITY compost. ( make sure there is some leaf mold)
1 fistful of goat/rabbit manure. (lol)
2 tblsp. kelp meal (good microbs)
1 basterful of blackstrap molasses (feed grade with sulfer)

fill bucket with water
aeriate with airpump
check in 2 days...if it has a head like beer its done.
This is not concentrate. Use it straight. I use this mix as foliar feed.

Seed

Very interesting!... I know you can mix some forest soil with your potting soil to enhance soil life... I will have to try Muddy's advise on the sock in the water with an air pump... sounds clever!

Maybe I'm too easy... getting all these ready products... though, it should be the same as in nature... like that Vitrasol I'm using... it is potassium... made of molasses...

Thanks!

i prefer soluble kelp powder to kelp meal. its available faster. i use heaps of molasses, from the feed store.
sativabelieva you should definatly be using an air pump! your teas NEED air/oxygen. the nutes will become more available to your roots.

i would not mix straight soil into your indoor soil mix for the reason that you are likely going to bring in spider mites, nematodes, and other unhelpful pests along with some of the good bacteria and fungi. that's why i recommend making a tea using the sock method i described above (or even without the sock, it's just messier to clean up afterwards i find). no mites or nematodes will be transferred to your indoor grow space this way, but you will still reap the benefits of the microfauna you're currently spending big bucks to purchase. try it with some good worm castings and i promise you'll be a believer. it's a little more work, but the price and the satisfaction can't be beat.

things to add to the sock include: leaves of comfrey and alfalfa (research these--they're excellent for your plants), wood ash, coffee grounds, powdered egg shells, kelp (fresh or japanese grocer dried--best to cut it up a little for maximum leaching), and there are others. you could run an entire hydro crop using this aerated tea method, but it's an inexact science and certain minerals will be depleted faster than others, so i recommend using it with soil or an already lightly fertilized substrate of some kind.

^^^^

I would agree.

minds_I

Thanks again Muddy... indeed pest and deseases are the reason I don't mix forrest soil with my potting soil... and that's one reason why I'm keen on buying the microfauna in concentrated form... another is speed of colonization... (one a side note: nematodes eat scarid flies' larves!)

I very much like your sock idea and the extra additives like alfalfa... I have looked into Yarrow for a decomposing additive that also may help speed up the curing process... yet for brewing my own thea my setup may be too small... I flower 4 or 5 plants at a time... and I feed manually... mixing the nutes in a 10 L bucket...

Out of interest, how organic is kelp?

Yarrow/Achillea Millefolium

Yarrow/Achillea Millefolium


Yarrow can be used as decomposing additive to bio nutes and as liquid plant feed itself... next to that, growing Yarrow is said to help surrounding plants resist deseases and deepening their aromas... taste and smell!!!... if I'm correct it works via the roots, so the plants need to share the same container... some sulpherus cycle?!... and last but not least, I wonder if Yarrow can be used to speed up the curing process...

This info I've gathered from different websites on macrobiotic farming... I have yet to test it with Cannabis... is there anyone that has tried growing with Yarrow or other symbiotic plants?

Kelp

Kelp

Mace, kelp is seaweed...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelp

(one a side note: nematodes eat scarid flies' larves!)

Click to expand...

there are beneficial nematodes and there are pathogenic nematodes. one can buy the beneficial nematodes to eat scarid flies/fungus root gnat, those particular nematodes are probabaly not in your backyard/forest soil

Herbal Compost Activator

Herbal Compost Activator

I like looking outside the cannabis world... and learn a lot from the macrobiotic approach... check the work of Maria Thun and Rudolf Steiner... and let me share some more info I've found on natural bio nutrient additives...

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/QR/QR6.html

'The herbal activator holds the following ingredients, which contain among them the chief elements needed by plant life':

* Yarrow (Iron, Lime, Potash, Soda, Phosphorus, Sulphur, Nitrates)
* Chamomile (Potash, Lime, Phosphorus, Sulphur)
* Dandelion (Iron, Soda, Potash, Phosphorus)
* Oak bark (Potash, Lime)
* Valerian (Formic Acid, Acetic Acid)
* Nettle (Oil, Formic Acid, Ammonia, Carbonic Acid, Iron)
* Honey (Glucose)

Another list of plants used for activating compost heaps, providing biomass for composting, using as instant compost etc.
http://www.pfaf.org/database/search_use.php?K[]=Compost

Muddy, I see that Comfrey is listed as well!... and I'm curious if some more are experienced using any of these ingredients with growing cannabis...

Mace, kelp is seaweed...

Click to expand...

Hello SativaBelieva,

thats the reason i ask.

Isn't it important where the seaweed came from?
I mean, its akting as sponge, getting the dirt/toxins out of the oceans... then you put it on your plants and say its organic?
I was never really a friend of using hormones (in this case cytokins) for growing my plants, but the fact that kelp might be polluted really worried me.
Anyone with any reliable info out here?

peace,

mace

thanks for that info re: yarrow, SB. also, from what you describe of your setup, a small batch of compost tea would work wonders. 4-5 flowering plants is in what, 30 liters of soil? easily innoculated with a single batch in that 10 gallon bucket you mention. i'd go with one fistful of castings or compost or even soil from the woods, add a little molasses and bubble it for 48 hours.

re: kelp - i don't believe kelp accumulates heavy metals. other than that any "toxins" would be superficial--you should rinse off the kelp, anyway, before using (to get rid of salt). i dont think agricultural products get much more benign and purely beneficial than kelp. that's just my non expert opinion though.

i'd be much more concerned about the hormones and anti-biotics found in manures--that can alternately destroy your soil's microfauna or lead to mutations and increased immunity in pathogenic bacteria. in general, manures, before being compost, can be the site of all sorts of nasty things. that's a product i'd be careful of. some people do aerated teas with raw manure--i personally do not risk it. i did in the past and nothing happened but now i've read too much to consider it safe.

Thanks Irie for elaborating on beneficial and pathogenic nematodes... I guess this is true also for bacteria and fungi...

Mace, I eat ocean fish myself... I'm not an expert either... and the whole world is polluted... it is good to be sceptic... but don't get paranoia...

Muddy, I grow my plants big... using 5x35L or 4x50L containers... and I mix only 10 liters water most of the time... I got some ready products to use, but still are interested in your bubble technique... can you post a good link that explains all about bubble thea?

Rhizosys

Rhizosys

My friend sannie has helped develop this product for the MJ business... lucky me, I got to try it... and have been a happy user for more than one year... the mycorriza root fungi extends the reach of your plants' roots... and the bacteria help free up nutrients from the soil... I believe these beneficial additives bring me an edge in growing...



Another success factor is ofcourse the genetics... and I've got some Sour Diesel vegging on my balcony...