Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[h.h.]

Ok after a couple calls to my local reps and a major distributor in sunlight they have assured me that Fox Farms has indeed NOT been acquired. I apologize for the slander.

However, when a company makes drastic changes to what used to be a great product, changes the label to a possible cancer causing product. I get concerned...

You can see how the 2 things go hand in hand, changing a major label and then the rumor of being bought out by a terrible conglomerate.

Either way, they won't be getting any more soil sales from myself.

T

Consumers Advocacy Group Inc.
http://caag.state.ca.us/prop65/pdfs/PeovCag_Settlement_1.pdf

Sued Fox Farms for improper labeling according to California.proposition 65

http://oag.ca.gov/system/files/prop65/settlements/2010-00529S1818.pdf

Apparently there is cadmium in bat guano and their label didn't reflect the fact. Fox Farms changed their label as a result.

 

[Midnight Tokar]

I guess this is where I can post my mix...I have a 'super coco' that worked very well on the first run. Little more watering than a peat based mix, but the roots were explosive. I had to reamend rock dusts that I forgot...dur. I also had lots of amendments I wanted to just get rid of too. Any advice would be appreciated.

1 x VERY rich EWC
2 x coco
1/2 x rice hulls
1/2 x lava rock
10% biochar

per cu ft:
1 cup kelp, alfalfa, neem, potash, fish bone, gypsum, dolo, blood meal, high n guano, crab shell, bentonite, calphos, and 2 cups oyster shell.

4 cups basalt/glacial rock

Should I expect steam coming from this hotness? Anything I should add or cut out next time?

That seems like a lot of Nitrogen to me, I would probably do away with the blood meal. You should have lots of activity with that if your EWC is fresh and good. I don't know about actually seeing steam but you should get some nice Santa's Beard fungus growth on the soil when kept damp and allowed to "cook".

 

[redclover]

Yeah I agree on the too much N. I'm hoping the cook will help. I'll be vegging for 6-8 weeks with it, then top dress more P. I might throw some clover seeds in to test it out after cooking.

 

[redclover]

Well after a week my mix is no longer warm at all. I think mixes are ready when it's ambient temp to the touch...no matter how rich. Since I have so much N, I'm going to cut mix with a little more peat, rice hulls, and VC. I'll moisten some more and cook another week.

My question is what if you cook with a bunch of N like the recipe I used? Won't it just be 'micro reserves' and not burn?

 

[BurnOne]

What are you guys talking about when you say "cook" as it refers to temperature? There is nothing to cook in the mixes and recipes I posted at the beginning of this thread. You guys seem to be talking about making compost which should get a reaction that causes heat but nothing I posted should cause that.
"Hot" can also mean too much nitrogen. But it's not hot in temperature. It "burns" the plants. Which is also incorrect because it doesn't really "burn" them.
Making a mix that contains bone meal takes about two weeks of being mixed and damp before the bacteria can start breaking down the bone meal enough to supply enough phosphorous to feed the plant when using bone.
I like to get the mix active, thriving with living bacteria by mixing it daily for some period of time before planting in it. But "hot" and "smoke" are not things I have ever experienced with the mixes I posted.
Burn1

 

[Ninjabread Man]

Great thread!

 

[redclover]

My compost tea moistened, high micro/macro, and aerated mix does get warm when it's 'cooking'. I will plant seeds right into this mix after 14 days. Sorry, no steam or hotness.

 

[Midnight Tokar]

Yea, I did put "cook" in quotations so people would not actually think cook...as in bake. When I mix my organic soil and dampen it the mix gets very warm for about 2 weeks, I'm thinking that is probably from the alfalfa. During that period the soil also gets quite a bit of fungi growing on it. I let my soil set (age?) for 4-6 weeks, by then it's no longer warm and smells only like rich dirt. I have both bone meal and fish bone meal along with crab meal in it so I'm fairly confident that they are now usable for the plant after the 4-6 weeks.

 

[redclover]

My above recipe is VERY hot before the 'cook'. I mixed it gently every couple days. It was warm for a week. Now it's ambient temp to touch, and has the rich earth smell...in less than two weeks! My EWC and CT that I use to moisten mix are already thriving with microbes. Don't see why you would need a long cook.

 

[Midnight Tokar]

The main reason I go 4-6 weeks is that is the time I transplant into the final pots (usually at 4).

 

[Kozmo]

Black worms

Black worms

Just learned about black worms. Going to put them in the aqua bed and red worms in the airpots.

 

[whiteberrieS]

What are you guys talking about when you say "cook" as it refers to temperature? There is nothing to cook in the mixes and recipes I posted at the beginning of this thread. You guys seem to be talking about making compost which should get a reaction that causes heat but nothing I posted should cause that.
"Hot" can also mean too much nitrogen. But it's not hot in temperature. It "burns" the plants. Which is also incorrect because it doesn't really "burn" them.
Making a mix that contains bone meal takes about two weeks of being mixed and damp before the bacteria can start breaking down the bone meal enough to supply enough phosphorous to feed the plant when using bone.
I like to get the mix active, thriving with living bacteria by mixing it daily for some period of time before planting in it. But "hot" and "smoke" are not things I have ever experienced with the mixes I posted.
Burn1

Hey BurnOne I've recently done my first soil build using coco, a KIS nute pack and a bag of castings but I made a rookie mistake...I was going to mix it in a 35 gallon barrel but it proved a little more than I bargained for, and it ended up sitting for a week with the nutrient pack and castings sandwiched in the middle of 4cu feet of coco while I tracked down some kiddy pools...it's in the pools now and it fuggin stinks...Is it safe to use or do I need to recompost in the kiddie pools? seaf0ur recommended lacto B on another forum, think EM1's a better choice than ACT w/ biowar root pack? Kangaroots has trichoderma @ 450 prop/cc which is supposed to hunt the pathogenic microbes so I was thinking about that one too. Appreciate any advice you might have for me

 

[h.h.]

Hey BurnOne I've recently done my first soil build using coco, a KIS nute pack and a bag of castings but I made a rookie mistake...I was going to mix it in a 35 gallon barrel but it proved a little more than I bargained for, and it ended up sitting for a week with the nutrient pack and castings sandwiched in the middle of 4cu feet of coco while I tracked down some kiddy pools...it's in the pools now and it fuggin stinks...Is it safe to use or do I need to recompost in the kiddie pools? seaf0ur recommended lacto B on another forum, think EM1's a better choice than ACT w/ biowar root pack? Kangaroots has trichoderma @ 450 prop/cc which is supposed to hunt the pathogenic microbes so I was thinking about that one too. Appreciate any advice you might have for me

Spread it thin, air it out. Hit it with some act to reinvigorate it.
Sounds like anaerobic protozoa. They don't like oxygen.
If the pools are full, prod some holes to help it air. If you have no or little aeration material, you can fill the holes with DE. Use a piece of pipe to prod with. Prod with pipe, flll pipe with DE, then remove pipe letting the DE remain in the hole.

 

[whiteberrieS]

Thinking about mixing in 5-10 gallons of pumice...Hit it with with og biobrew ACT already...still smells like a farmhouse full of shit haha. Gonna start tilling 2x a day til it smells like soil. Been using the garden claw so I can put a shitload of holes in it when I'm done tilling...Thanks h.h.

 

[whiteberrieS]

Got some perlite...have a bag of Mykos to complement the biowar but I've seen posts saying AM spores dont germ until roots are present any truth to this or will they start hyphenating? From google it sounds like they will but they dont like tilling and do better once they get symbiotic with some roots. Doesnt smell nearly as bad today. I can till it without the nausea, guess that's a good thing.

So to sum things up 1.) Get a composter going and B.) Go organic.

 

[h.h.]

Got some perlite...have a bag of Mykos to complement the biowar but I've seen posts saying AM spores dont germ until roots are present any truth to this or will they start hyphenating? From google it sounds like they will but they dont like tilling and do better once they get symbiotic with some roots. Doesnt smell nearly as bad today. I can till it without the nausea, guess that's a good thing.

So to sum things up 1.) Get a composter going and B.) Go organic.

Jump down to the tea article sticky and read MM's last post. Follow his link on mycorrhizae.

 

[analogcricket]

Powdered (NOT PELLETED) dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.

what do you figure tablespoons to lbs of dolomite lime is?

im trying to figure out how many lbs of dolomite lime i need for 3,000 gallons of soil.

 

[dank.frank]

This isn't one of those just do the math type scenarios...you really need to know what the pH is to start with when working with such large quantities of soil.

However:

If you are using 1 cup per cubic foot:

1 Cubic Foot = 6.42851159 Gallons (dry)

3,000 gal / 6.43 gal = 466.56 cu ft.

1 cup of limestone is .73 pounds

466.56 cups x 0.73 lbs = 340.59 lbs of lime

-------

It should be noted - the 1 cup per cu. ft. is a ratio used for peat based mediums.

I would not just amend "soil" with that much limestone WITHOUT getting a proper soil test and getting an accurate figure of how much lime you need to balance the pH of your soil.

Lime should not be considered the primary supplier of Ca or Mg - it's primary purpose is pH adjustment.

Without actually knowing the current pH of your soil - or if in fact you are actually using soil, ie DIRT, or a peat based medium, or purchased bagged soil, etc. Some peat mixes like pro-mix are already limed for proper pH balance as are most designer bagged soils, which are more often than not, mixed media and not simply "soil".

- HOWEVER - if you are working with a base peat moss and EWC combo that has nothing else in it at all...and you are not using a single soil bed, but splitting this mix into multiple large planters or smaller separate beds - you should be fine with the math at the top.



dank.Frank

 

[redclover]

I've been using SSTs around every other to third watering. I'm noticing a ton of fade around week 6-7 mark on 10 week strains. I have rich soil and very rich top dressing. Now my question is, do the enzymes make the plant suck up too much too fast? Should I topdress some EWC every time I water with SSTs?

 

[bigshrimp]

What are you guys talking about when you say "cook" as it refers to temperature? There is nothing to cook in the mixes and recipes I posted at the beginning of this thread. You guys seem to be talking about making compost which should get a reaction that causes heat but nothing I posted should cause that.
"Hot" can also mean too much nitrogen. But it's not hot in temperature. It "burns" the plants. Which is also incorrect because it doesn't really "burn" them.
Making a mix that contains bone meal takes about two weeks of being mixed and damp before the bacteria can start breaking down the bone meal enough to supply enough phosphorous to feed the plant when using bone.
I like to get the mix active, thriving with living bacteria by mixing it daily for some period of time before planting in it. But "hot" and "smoke" are not things I have ever experienced with the mixes I posted.
Burn1

The "smoke" is probably extreme anerobic activity. Like the center of that huge pile of wood chips that was never turned. Thats my guess.