Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[setaemies]

Hi, this part of ICmag is a real library of nature, thanks! I would like to start experimenting with organics in the future, but there's one thing holding me back. I don't have access to EWC! Are there any options for teas and soil mixes that have similar properties, but don't use EWC? I suppose I could harvest some worms in the summer, but I would have hard time keeping the Ms's happy with a worm bin indoors

 

[BlueCheer]

Password, how many gallons is that going to make? Looks to me you need more dolomite lime, depending on how many gallons you'll have from that bag of Roots. I guess the Roots is PH balanced?

 

[Jobsworth]

I have read that I need to leave a home made organic soil mix to dry over 3 months before it is ready to use! Can anyone provide any insight into this as it seems to be a long time to wait.

 

[rolnik1]

I made lc1 with peat and add quite some lime to it since peat is like 3 or 4ph and i put seeds in it, after a week they looked like day 1 and had very red stem, mix was a bit fresh 4-5 days maybe and i decided to transplant them to some garden soil i just had and it worked great, plants started growing like they should and all that in my pcbox under 3x23w cfls. Meantime i made a mix with coco which don't have that bad ph which can't be stabilised with dolomite in a few days(i know you say it doesn't matter but it all looked like ph problems from my first soil grow). So when they had like 3-4 sets of leaves i transplanted them into that coco mix(coco, worm castings, perlite, meals and some mycorrhizae i could get) and a bigger 150 hps box and then the second fail started - leaves curled down plants stopped growing and got even lighter in color up to the photos state which is like 23days and about a week in 3gal pots with lc mix. Conditions seem to be ok, only humidity is around 30% but i guess it should be ok, i have quite hard water but i use it filtered with a jug filter. What helped the plants was adding worm castings on top around the plants and few hours of decent sunlight thru the window since it's still quite cold outside about 10C(inside the box temps are ok, or more is because i use 24/0), i did this 3 days ago, before all the leaves were curled down and almosc no growth at all. I think that even if the mix was a bit fresh now it has about 2,5 weeks so should be ok also.

Pics, pots are about 12-13inch in diameter so plants are quite small i belive and don't look to healthy, big ones are female seeds c99 and small one is white russian auto(i grew it before in soil wihout any nutes almost and it started flowering about the same time but after lst already had like 7 main tops).

What do i do wrong?

 

[IE2KS_KUSH]

Dolomite lime isn't only for Ph. Doesn't coco lock up Cal/mag?

 

[heady blunts]

LC#1 is a hot mix not intended for freshly rooted cuttings or young seedlings, especially 4--5 days after mixing. in the future, use the un-amended base for your newly rooted cuts and to germinate seedlings.

there's pages of people recommending a "cook" time of at least 4 weeks for LC#1 and the reason for that is because blood and bone both have a lot of "soluble" aka "immediately available" nutrients. the cook time allows the microbiology to "lock up" said nutrients (they basically eat it and then it's trapped in their bodies until the plant asks another microbe to eat the first one and poop out some soluble nutrients for its roots to take up).

just be glad you didn't use FFOF and LC#1 or you'd have burned your plants to a crisp.

the good news: your LC#1 mix will be awesome in a few more weeks. keep it moist and apply ACT if you have access to some.

in a month's time your plants will be sturdier and eating more, and they'll love being transplanted into some of that.

in the future, mix your soil ahead of time. let it cook. grow a cover crop. when you drop your babies into some perfectly prepared LC#1, they should rejoice.

i promise if you stick it out and follow directions, you will be richly rewarded.

 

[rolnik1]

So what do you suggest to do with what i have now(i already stared watering with worm castings tea(ACT?)), can i just wait some time and they'll start growing? I'm not i a hurry i can keep the veg longer no problem. Also i haven't rinsed the coco before use as i now see is recomended.

edit: figured i could also change to soil for some time, maybe just add some castings and then for flowering transplant back to the mix, soil is like for free and with 2 pots only it's not a problem at all.

 

[heady blunts]

the ones that are crisping up in the coco?

i'd replant them. carefully knock off as much coco from the roots as possible, then use that bagged soil for transplanting them. if you've never transplanted bare roots: fill the bottom of your container with soil, and make a mound in the center. *gently* spread the roots out and place them over the mound of soil. then fill in the rest of your pot.

your plants are hurting, so it will take a couple weeks for them to recover. take good care of them during this time, and when they are ready to transplant, your LC#1 (with the peat base) will be ready for them.

i'm not a fan of coco. i don't know what to suggest you do with the rest of it.

good luck!

 

[magiccannabus]

Why are you not a fan of coco? I have been using it in my soil mixes for a few years now, and have been getting better results with it. Is there something better still?

 

[heady blunts]

lots of people use it and report good success.

it just makes more sense to me to use peat, which is biologically active, or better yet, great compost, as a base for my mixes.

 

[guest2012y]

I use a mix of coco and peat...coco makes my indoor potted medium a bit more loose/fluffier than peat alone. I think of it as a component like perlite..

 

[wang]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone could explain how they calculate the NPK ratio of their soil mixes. I see in the first posts that a 3-1-2 ratio is good for veg, but how do you calculate this when there are different amounts of nutrients (for example, a cup of this, a tablespoon of this). Do you just add them together or is there more to it?

 

[magiccannabus]

Like Capt., I also use a mix of coir and peat. I don't use a lot of peat though. My mix is not precise, but it always contains at least 30% coir. Since I started doing this, I have not been able to over-water the plants. I can water them 6 times a day, or once a fortnight. For biology, I have a small amount of peat, quite a bit of composted manure, bio starters, and I have a few used cubensis substrates in there(coir/horse manure/gypsum). I have some perlite in the mix too, but I'm probably going to replace it with calcined DE(Napa 8822) soon. I might track down some pumice too. I have some scoria(lava rock) in the mix too, but not in significant amounts. It's mostly tiny chunks and dust, but it's heavy and I wouldn't put it in there again(had some left from an older grow). I also have some marble dust and tiny rock chunks in there. I have mixed in pond enyzme and I treat the soil bins with AACT regularly. I also monitor the moisture in the bins and turn it with a shovel every couple days. I really think care of the soil bin is an under-appreciated. I also just started using some charcoal, and some good midwest topsoil in the mix, so we'll see how that affects things. So there's enough coir in there to get the benefits, but enough other stuff to support diversity.

Wang, the N-P-K numbers are measurements of available nutrients. Many organic food sources contain much more actual food than a similar chemical source, but their N-P-K numbers will always be a lot lower. N-P-K measurement favors chemical salts, as they are immediately available to the plant(and generally will feed the plant like it or not). With organic sources, you want to seek diverse substances that are known to provide certain things. Like steamed bone meal will give you almost pure calcium and phosphorus, and certain guanos some other manures may give you almost nothing but nitrogen. There's a lot of great threads on here about sources of food for your organic soil. With organics, you feed the soil, then let the plants and the soil do their dance. It's simple once you get the swing of it.

 

[dirkdaddy]

I used LC's #1 with both coco and peat, and to be honest if coco wasn't so much more expensive for me to get (I can only get it via mail order whereas I can go to Lowes to get peat moss) I would choose to use coco all the time. The watering characteristics are much better with coco I found, peat has a tendency to dry out and really harden up, with coco it seemed like it was always willing to take on water and never assumed a hard, dried out state like the LC's mix with peat did.

Another vote for coir over peat here.

 

[minds_I]

Hello all,

I just purchased from my local nursery the following items to be used to fill a 3'X9'X22"
tall raised bed planting box (approx. 42 cubic foot).

3 bags of 3.8cuft of peat (bought an extra was planning on using only 2 or less)..~12 cuft.
3 bags of super chunky perlite @ 4cuft/bag ....................................................12 cuft.
10 bags of stutzman's chicken shit @ 1 cuft/bag..............................................10 cuft.
4 bagts of ebStone worm shit @ 1 cuft/bag .....................................................4 cuft.
50# powdered dolomite (approx 42 cups are needed)
10# kelp meal
10# steamed bone meal

I need 42 EDIT "cubic feet". Do you think I will be ok?

minds_I

 

[BurnOne]

Is the chicken guano enough nitrogen? Their Nutri-Rich may be a better choice.
You have everything there except dried blood that you could use in the recipe from the first page here.
Burn1

 

[minds_I]

Hello all,

B1, Hey thanks for your quick reply.

As to there being enough N in the Stutzmans...it is labeled as 3.2.2 (Sup'r Green) so I do not know.

There is ACT tea with fish emulsion if necessary.

Since I am mixing these together I was wondering if making the bottom half more rich in chicken, kelp and bone meal to meet the needs of the more mature plants while affording the new seedlings/clones a less hot of a mix.

This makes sense on one hand while it occurs to me that the nutrients are going to leach down to the bottom of the bed anyway so is there any real benifit?

What are your thoughts on the matter B1.

minds_I

 

[BurnOne]

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. The roots do.
Burn1

 

[minds_I]

Hello all,

The "roots do" what? I don't undertand.

minds_I

 

[BurnOne]

Mix, the roots grow throughout the soil.