Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[grapeman]

Although it does not mention what bacteria or organisms offer benefit to what microbes from what rock minerals, I thought this article might interest the organic folks here. Maybe there is someone here who subscribes to "Physics Today" that can get us the full article.

http://blogs.physicstoday.org/newspicks/2011/02/subterranean-microbes-get-food.html

 

[GDK]

Guano Tea and Kelp: This is called a Nutrient Tea.

Seedlings less than 1 month old nutrient tea mix-

Mix 1 cup earthworm castings into 5 gallons of water to make the tea. You can also just use a Handful in 1 gallon of water if your needs are less. Add 5 tsp. Black Strap Molasses. You can use a fish tank aerator with a diffuser and bubble it for 24 hours @ 70 degrees.
Use it to water your seedlings with every 2nd or 3rd watering.

Veg mix-

1/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano (PSG)
or
1/3 cup High N Bat Guano (Mexican)
1/3 cup Earth Worm Castings (EWC)
5 tsp. Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract or Acadian Kelp extract.
(That makes the "dry mix". You can make all you want and save it to use later.)
Mix with water @ 1 cup of dry mix into 5 gallons of water to make the tea.
To that 5 gallons of tea add:
5 tbs. Liquid Karma or a good Humic or Fulvic acid
5 tsp. Black Strap Molasses

Use it to water with every 3rd watering.

Flowering nute tea mix:
2/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano
2/3 cup Earth Worm Castings
2/3 cup High P Guano (Indonesian or Jamaican)
5 tsp. Acadian powdered kelp extract
(That makes the "dry mix". You can make all you want and save it to use later.)
Mix with water @ 2 cups of dry mix into 5 gallons of water to make the tea.

To that 5 gallons of tea add:
5 tbs. Liquid Karma or a good Humic or Fulvic acid
5 tsp. Black Strap Molasses
Use it to water with EVERY watering.

I have been making teas before, but have always used em fresh. I am wondering if these would be able to be put in a reservoir with a airpump perhaps. Im contemplating using a reservoir with a pump and a hose with a wand attatched for watering my bed and it would be nice to make the tea and just dilute it in the reservoir. Would it start to go anarobic in the res?

Stay Safe

 

[BorkBorkBork]

Here is a curious one.

6 plants total, same batch of soil mix (Promix LC's with Dry Fert recipe) for all 6. 4 are in 2 gal SmartPots and all four show the same symptoms. 2 are in 6in square pots and they look right as rain.

Problem plants faded too soon, and some of the affected fans developed these brown spots.

Some items of note, don't know if they relate at all....

* Smartpots are re-used.
* Problem plants are directly under light, healthy plants are at the garden edge
* I may have been rougher with the smart pot plants when transplanting, but that was about two weeks before flower and problem did not appear until week 4ish of flower

Problem plants on the left, healthy on the right (not the clearest picture, but hopefully you can see the difference in color between the affected and the healthy)

Brown spots

vs a healthy specimen in a smaller container at the same age (the two in the smaller containers were actually the two runt clones of the batch to start with)

Too late to fix this run, but any thoughts on what the problem might be?

 

[schwagg]

smart pots "should" give you a larger root mass. bigger root mass "should" be able to eat more then a small root mass. they could need more food. richer soil in smart pots?

 

[guest2012y]

I had a couple of these on the last round. I determined it to be because they were root bound. The one's that were directly under the light did that while the others were just fine. I'm not sure why the light has that effect,something photosynthesis related. Ran out of root space/food.

 

[RipVanWeed]

Hey BorkBork,

Underfed, I've gone through this just recently as I increased the size of my plants going into flower, while changing from bottled organics to dry amendments and minerals.

The harvest on underfed girls was obviously affected, but some of plants still had taste, aroma, and efficacy. Bag appeal suffers as well.

Been topdressing with EWC and dry organic ferts and the garden has responded well.

Feed those big girls more next time.

Feelin' your pain,

 

[BorkBorkBork]

Thanks guys! Glad to know, I was worried the brown spots were something more serious.

Makes sense that smart pot = bigger roots = more need for food.

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

Same thing happened to me on the harvest before last. Did smaller containers for a run.

Caught it too late to fix it but the ewc and fish hydro got me through. Now I'm more on top of the teas and making sure the plants have enough container to carry through flowering.

Ugly pic

Still butt hurt about it

Smiley

 

[BorkBorkBork]

Looks about right, eh?

I guess the fact that they were runts is what's keeping my girls in the 6in square pots healthy (and less light pushing them)?

 

[beta]

.

 

[guest2012y]

looks to me like the ones under the light may be drying out faster. No water means no poop loop.

Good observation and hypothesis Mad,but in these larger gardens that's not always the case. Air is flowing either through the lamp hoods,or with fans moving the air in a room around so that overall room temps. remain under 80 degrees or less.. Each plant is often as dry or moist as the next. I have the feeling it may be linked to the distance from the light and the plants need to photosynthesize being retarded in some way from being rootbound..

Found this on rootbound plants,makes sense........I'm sure most of you know this stuff,but it's a good reminder.

"At what point do plants stop growing in a pot? It's a bit involved, but the simple answer is that new growth stops or slows when they become rootbound. So what's rootbound? Rootbound is when there is no effective space for new roots to occupy. Roots effectively occupy the entire volume of space between the soil particles. One of the first symptoms of being rootbound is, in fact, that plant growth slows despite favorable environmental conditions (light, water, fertilizer, etc). The second symptom is that rootbound plants begin having difficulty taking up fertilizer. This is undoubtedly related to the inability to form new root tissue. You see this as a chlorosis despite the fact that they have been properly fertilized."

Something else to note is that I've also seen the differences the effect has under the light of MH and HPS. For quite a # of years I have seen this "under the HPS light" yellowing. I had a 5k garden with both MH and HPS bulbs,only the ones that yellowed despite being rootbound were under the HPS bulbs.
My overall "fix" was to give each plant adequate rootspace and flower them with the projected growth in flower as a factor in making the appropriate decision at what height to go into 12/12

 

[guest2012y]

I wonder if more light doesn't speed up transpiration, not just heat?

No doubt,there may be more transpiration in that area. Whatever is going on some form of signal is being sent to those cells to stop making chlorophyll, a key part of that process being interupted somewhere. Dunno...rootbound mang.

 

[mad librettist]

There is an interesting note on gardenweb about rootbinding and smartpots, from Al of course. He points out that even if there is no circling, eventually a greater and greater percentage of root mass becomes thick old root, instead of the little teeny roots that do all the work getting water and nutes. Of course you can help this by cutting back the roots, taking care to remove the thick old stuff.

 

[headshot]

Quick Newbie Question:

For Recipe #3 do you add the humic acid and the blackstrap after the tea has finished brewing or do you brew it with the earthworm and the kelp??? Please help a noob in need

 

[SecretGardener]

Quick Newbie Question:

For Recipe #3 do you add the humic acid and the blackstrap after the tea has finished brewing or do you brew it with the earthworm and the kelp??? Please help a noob in need

Brew it all up together. The molasses serves as food for the microbes.

 

[SmokinErb]

Hey guys, can anyone offer some knowledge here?

I'm putting together a shopping list for my latest grow, and I'm building an LC #2 mix. However, there's not much available locally. I've been searching but I can't seem to find a straight answer to this:

http://www.sungro.com/products_displayProduct.php?product_id=104&brand_id=17

Metro Mix 300 can be found at a local gardening store at a reasonable price. Would this be a suitable alternative to ProMix or Sunshine mix? And looking at the website, would there be a better Metro Mix for needs? I'm hoping I could ask the garden store if they could order it and stock it for me. I've used the Metro Mix 300 before with good results straight out of the bag with chemical ferts. First time organic grower, and I'm not sure if this is acceptable or not?

Edit: After review of the product list, it seems that the 838 or even 820PC may be best for my application. However the 300 is what the garden store/nursery uses for all of their potted plants. I'm betting the 300 is perfectly suitable for my needs, I'm only asking because it says "mid to large sized containers" when I plan on growing SOG.

 

[GDK]

I have been making teas before, but have always used em fresh. I am wondering if these would be able to be put in a reservoir with a airpump perhaps. Im contemplating using a reservoir with a pump and a hose with a wand attatched for watering my bed and it would be nice to make the tea and just dilute it in the reservoir. Would it start to go anarobic in the res?

Stay Safe

BUMP

Stay Safe

 

[grapeman]

Here is a curious one.

6 plants total, same batch of soil mix (Promix LC's with Dry Fert recipe) for all 6. 4 are in 2 gal SmartPots and all four show the same symptoms. 2 are in 6in square pots and they look right as rain.

Problem plants faded too soon, and some of the affected fans developed these brown spots.

Some items of note, don't know if they relate at all....

* Smartpots are re-used.
* Problem plants are directly under light, healthy plants are at the garden edge
* I may have been rougher with the smart pot plants when transplanting, but that was about two weeks before flower and problem did not appear until week 4ish of flower

Problem plants on the left, healthy on the right (not the clearest picture, but hopefully you can see the difference in color between the affected and the healthy)

Brown spots

vs a healthy specimen in a smaller container at the same age (the two in the smaller containers were actually the two runt clones of the batch to start with)

Too late to fix this run, but any thoughts on what the problem might be?

I'd raise my lights. I have this now and then on taller plants and always under hot spots from my hoods or where I get a bit too much over lapping light. I believe the plants cannot keep up with the excess radiation they are getting and need more carbon/nutes. When I raise my lights, the problem slowly fades away or gets no worse. Plus this is why I got away from the dry mix nute regimen. I don't believe that these soils have enough nute availability...... which may change over time as you improve your soil and re-use. But for the first several uses the blood/bone are still breaking down and offer little to your plant which is demanding more.
My 2 cents/

 

[beta]

.

 

[headshot]

Another quick question: So I'm in flower and I need to give about 24 gallons of water every watering, do I need to follow the recipe and times it by 4 or can I not make as much and just mix in like say 10 gallons of tea for the 24 gallons of water neccesary. Also is it smart to not put in guano like once every couple of waterings in flower to give the ladies a break?