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First foray into organics

Bmac1

Well-known member
Veteran
Here we are again, ready for another round. I like the idea of getting away from the over priced bottled nutes and just letting nature do its thing. I have made a soil that I hope to get to the finish line with just water and the occasional ACT.

The mix is:

1- bail of Promix HP
30l - organic EWC
1- bag EasyBake

The EasyBake is an 3kg organic amendment mix designed to be mixed as above and good for the entire life cycle. It contains kelp meal, neem meal, rock phosphate, alfalfa meal, aerobically composted turkey manure, feather meal and diatomaceous earth.

I mixed it up in a kiddy pool, should have bought a bigger one cause this one was a little small and boy did I make a mess. I used the full recipe but have used less than half of the mix so I will store some and also use some for some tomatoes and maybe some peppers in the garden.

I am awaiting arrival of an Elemental O2 951gph air pump to begin constructing a tea brewer with an air lift for the teas which for the beginning at least will be EWC and molasses.

It is my usual MO of the 600W vert grow in a 5 x 5 tent. It is also my first try with fabric pots. I have 5- 5 gallon pots and the strains are as follows:

2- ChemSour x SSCDH f2 #1
1- Purple Dream
1- DSD #2 (Rez- Double Strawberry Diesel)
1- ChemSour x SSCDH f2 #2

The ChemSour #1 and the Purple Dream are being run again from my last run. The DSD #2 and the ChemSour #2 are both seperate phenos that I didnt have room for last time.

Here is a quick pic. The cups are because I am out of the little label sticks for the pots and want to make sure I can identify them properly till I get more.

They were just put in the tent yesterday and potted up. The 600W is at 50% right now and I will ramp it up to 100% over the next week. I Will veg these for about 1-3 weeks and then flip. Hoping to get a nice harvest in before the summer shutdown as I dont like going through the heat of the summer.

picture.php
 

Bmac1

Well-known member
Veteran
Im wondering if I could put a top layer of hydroton clay pellets on top to use as a mulch? I want to try and keep the top from drying out too quick.

I dont have access to straw and would stick out like dogs balls bringing a bail of hay into my place anyway, lol. I like the idea of the living mulch but dont have the seeds on hand and Im thinking that would be something I should get started before transplant.
 

7thson

Member
Im wondering if I could put a top layer of hydroton clay pellets on top to use as a mulch? I want to try and keep the top from drying out too quick.

I dont have access to straw and would stick out like dogs balls bringing a bail of hay into my place anyway, lol. I like the idea of the living mulch but dont have the seeds on hand and Im thinking that would be something I should get started before transplant.

They have small bails of straw at Michaels,if one is near you and in different sizes too.
 

Bmac1

Well-known member
Veteran
Ill look into it. There is one close by providing we are talking about the Michaels craft store.
 

Former Guest

Active member
I bought a 2 cuft compressed cube of roots organic coco chips for around $16USD. The bale is small and light :) works great as a mulch. I put down a top dress of insect frass 2-2-2 then crab meal then chips. I'm looking for a 10:1 carbon (chips) to nitrogen (crab and frass) ratio. If you don't provide a decent ratio, nitrogen will be consumed faster. I didn't work the ratio out exactly but figured it would help.

Tagged!!
 

Bmac1

Well-known member
Veteran
I probably should have had these ducks in a row before I got going but im the kind of person that the longer I wait, the more I over analyze so I needed to jump in the pond so to speak.

Im sure I could find coco quickly but not sure about the insect frass or crab meal. I will look for straw at Michaels today but I can see I am going to have a hard time dealing with keeping the top layer of soil moist. Ive always run wet and dry cycles in the plain promix with bottled nutes so this is new for sure.

I need to get some cover crop seeds for a living mulch for next time. I looked at build a soil but the shipping is more than the seeds themselves. I have local sources but just need to figure out exactly what to buy and mix together.
 

Former Guest

Active member
Any source of nitrogen like grass clipping, nettles, and comfrey are other sources for mulching. Hydroton works but it's spendy so you could look at expanded shale called grow rocks. It houses beneficials, provides a plant available form of potassium silicate while still keeping the soil moist.
 

Bmac1

Well-known member
Veteran
I already have the hydroton so I may give it a whirl. I usually put an inch of it in the bottom of my pots to help with drainage and have a bunch sitting around.
 

Ph-patrol

Active member
Veteran
:2cents:For a living cover crop you could use Clover.Check local grain and feed store.

four-leaf-clover.jpg

Happy stpatties day
 

Bmac1

Well-known member
Veteran
I will look into getting some clover maybe for next time. For now I Will cover the top of the pots with hydraton as I have a bunch laying around.

Todays mission is trying to get the stuff to build an air lift brewer. My pump arrived this week so I just need to hit up a hardware store to find what I need. I am going to try to replicate the mini microbulator that Tim Wilson sells. I had a quick look at home depot last week and noticed they didnt have any 1-1/4 pvc pipe or fittings.
giphy.gif


I will try another hardware store or maybe a plumbing wholesaler. Hopefully I can put it together in a similar fashion and get some nice tea brewed up for the girls. They are now starting to settle in and seem to have adjusted to the transplant. I will get some more pics up this weekend but veg isnt all that exciting.
 

Bmac1

Well-known member
Veteran
Could be, lol. I asked the guy at home depot if what I saw was all they had and I Was quite shocked that they didnt have this stuff. Not sure if it was just that location or what but hopefully I have better luck today.
 

Former Guest

Active member
Each location here has different merchandise. Down south for ventilation, north has best PVC plumbing stuff and even further north has a huge wood dept. they ship to your home for free too.
 

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