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Advancing Eco Agriculture, Product Science

Hemphrey Bogart

Active member
Veteran
I'm seeing the small inner leaves display what looks like a zinc deficiency...Brown tips and yellowing foliage...all the outer leaves look ok. I'm wondering if the foliar sprays I'm giving them are too much for my plants to handle. Soil PH is right around 6.5, so that's not the issue.

Wish that refractometer I ordered would hurry up and get here already.

HB.
 

milkyjoe

Senior Member
Veteran
I'm seeing the small inner leaves display what looks like a zinc deficiency...Brown tips and yellowing foliage...all the outer leaves look ok. I'm wondering if the foliar sprays I'm giving them are too much for my plants to handle. Soil PH is right around 6.5, so that's not the issue.

Wish that refractometer I ordered would hurry up and get here already.

HB.

Do you have a soil test? More likely K.
 

Hemphrey Bogart

Active member
Veteran
Do you have a soil test? More likely K.

No exhaustive soil test yet, milky. I've been using the cheapy rapid test kit with the pills of powder and the little test vials with color charts on them.

Not very high tech, but I've only got a handful of plants.

I'll check the soil tonight and see where my K levels are at (roughly).

HB.
 
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Bulldog420

Active member
Veteran
The first thing I would do is keep your soil alive with the tomato formula I posted. My basic take is 90% of the results come from the soil. The foliar is just a boost and ideally would be tailored based on observation at a min and mo better on tissue or sap analysis.

Having said that photomag, kelp and micropak for sure. The rest bases on what you see.

If you have a lot of compost then for sure liave out pht k

I have a premium mix of soil, which I could post if you would like, but without soil tests it wouldn't do much good.

I have 33% compost. Which a third is EWC and the remaining amount is Bu's Blend steer compost. Not sure if that equal's too high of K levels or not. Like I said, I need a soil test.

Thank you for the help, I am going to give this a shot on Monday.
 
C

CaliGabe

and the remaining amount is Bu's Blend steer compost
Steer manure/compost is good to lay some at the bottom of holes. Pretty high in salts. A friend a few years back tilled a bunch of bags of steer compost into his garden and I just groaned. Cheap yet ineffective. Was a pretty crappy year for him.
 

FatherEarth

Active member
Veteran
25$ + shipping...to get your soil tested fellas, well worth the investment and 3-5 day wait. If you want the most out of your efforts... The idea is to have the dial, hold the dial, control the dial. We are trying to fine tune or even just tuning is a start. It requires knowing what lies beneath and then reaching for your dial(s).. Brix meter isnt telling you much without knowing what your soil is up to. I mean you can test before you foliar and then after and say hey my brix went up, but you are still left wondering. Like in my case Im giving them all I can possibly give them and they still arent near perfect. My soil is out of balance and the colloid is likely full of K and interfering with the uptake of Ca and B. Creating problematic hollow stems and petioles. Thus hindering the transport of nutrients and keeping my plants from reaching full potential health yield and overall quality. Its all good to try the products and learn about them but also learn the methods in which these tools can be fully utilized. All the ppl behind these nutrients are teaching farmers how to step up their agriculture game. The first thing they tell them to do is get their soil tested. Lots of respect to you guys Im glad you are here and along for the ride. Please dont hesitate to share your info or whatever you like relating to the topic.


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FE
 

Bulldog420

Active member
Veteran
Steer manure/compost is good to lay some at the bottom of holes. Pretty high in salts. A friend a few years back tilled a bunch of bags of steer compost into his garden and I just groaned. Cheap yet ineffective. Was a pretty crappy year for him.

In all fairness this is really high quality compost. I would be very surprised if it contained high levels of salt, however when I get my soil tests done if it shows high salts, I know where it came from. When I have used coco in the past my soil tests were ALWAYS high in salts. Coco dried out better in my moist climate at the time.

Edit: after going to their website it isn't steer compost, it's dairy compost. Here is what is says:
Dairy cow manure endows the earth with powerful fertilizing and healing forces that chicken manure, steer manure, horse manure, and bat guano simply don’t have. Why? Because a dairy cow has an unequaled digestive process which is enhanced by cosmic-life giving forces in her hooves and horns that enable the nitrogen in her manure to re-kindle life within the earth.

Our products are certified biodynamic by Demeter® USA, the American chapter of the world’s only certifier of Biodynamic® farms and products. Demeter’s strict standards ensure crops are grown with the avoidance of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, utilize compost and cover crops, and set aside 10% of the total farm acreage for biodiversity. In order for our product to bear the Demeter logo, it must be made with certified Biodynamic ingredients and meet strict processing standards to ensure the purest possible product. These standards ensure the dairy cows that provide the manure that is the basis for our compost receive no genetically-modified feed and have access to the outdoors. Further, we ensure our farms grow at least one third of their cows’ diet on the property, make efforts to reduce pathogens, and make minimal turns on the compost, thereby enhancing compost fertility.

All of our Biodynamic blends contain ingredients of the highest quality and integrity. We find the best source for each ingredient, ensure the highest level of sustainability, and never ever ever use any fillers or fluff. We test all our products and carefully craft each batch of compost, potting soil, and compost tea to enliven and enrich your garden!

25$ + shipping...to get your soil tested fellas, well worth the investment and 3-5 day wait. If you want the most out of your efforts...

FE

I know, I am on it. I just got my plants in their final pots, so I am very late to the game. They are in a greenhouse getting extra light to prolong the season, but I am behind. Not sure if any of that was directed at me or not, but I appreciate the advice. :tiphat:
 

FatherEarth

Active member
Veteran
LOL steer or dairy cow both in the same bovine family, not much difference. Dairy farms are quite the unsightly thing IME,(twas once a family bussiness) if its not a factory farm, its mah and paw squeezing utters with hired help, which is rare these days. Im in the opinion of the only kind of poop you want in your soil is from earthworms.. If I was to consider anything in the realm of manure the only thing worth having is chicken manure, well composted none the less.

OB is that you?
 

Bulldog420

Active member
Veteran
OrganicBuds here.

So a cows, a cow. Dairy or steer, lol, must admit, that was a lame difference I pointed out.

So EWC as the main compost source, does that mean your mix has different ratio's? I have always been of the school of thought that you don't want more than 15% EWC in a soil mix. That means I usually add another form of compost to get that ration up to 33% total compost. For a total soil mix of 33% aeration, 33% compost and 33% Peat.

Chicken compost in my past experience has always been super hot, and high in K.

Garden compost just seems blah to me and I never use it on cannabis.

What compost do you use, chicken right?
 

reppin2c

Active member
Veteran
There is a difference between cow and steer manure. Alot of the nutes in dairy cow manure has came out they're udders. But that's splitting hairs and not splitting hairs would be that they're both high in K.

After my BaS K epidemic I think Id rather start with a neutral medium, tea and liquid feed em. Compost is out from now on. Its still a constant battle here on the farm. I may scrap 40 yards of soil and start fresh next year.

A soil test is a no brainer after you do it once you'll wonder how you lived with out it
 

FatherEarth

Active member
Veteran
I dont use any manure based compost. Currently Im running green waste compost but am about to jump ship and go compostless as Reppin2c mentioned. Consistent compost that is made right is super hard to find. Yea yea you can make it yourself.. I need far too much compost to make it myself. One of those bad ass machines to turn rows that MJ's bagged medium comes from is whats up. I dont even want to know what the ticket on that is..
Im leaning on 45% emerald promoss 30% EWC 25% pumice as my base but I havent decided for sure yet I will be leaving out N sources all together and going with microbes instead..
How do you balance C:N ratio when your input comes from microbes is my question... ?
 
C

CaliGabe

In all fairness this is really high quality compost. I would be very surprised if it contained high levels of salt, however when I get my soil tests done if it shows high salts, I know where it came from. When I have used coco in the past my soil tests were ALWAYS high in salts. Coco dried out better in my moist climate at the time.
You can have high quality compost yet more difficult than peeps generally believe IMO. I think it causes more problems than it solves. EWC castings are not much better yet better. When it comes to manures I'm not a fan composted or not. When it came to coco I always soaked and rinsed before using.
 

reppin2c

Active member
Veteran
It's reppin2K to you buddy. I rock the 15.2 % K for a reason....big yields lmao oh and pest and disease. Watching the health of my plants diminish between corrective foliars is saddening. I totally bought that shit too. If I wasn't on top of this shit every single day trying to correct what's wrong this place would be a sad state of affairs. I just want to skip all the work next year and start off on the right foot. HaVing a EC of 4.6 and unbalanced is like having a supercharged drag car running on 87 octane and firing on 5 cylinders. This shits about to grenade...retarded. But being able to foliar AEA and albion ca may be my only saving grace
 

milkyjoe

Senior Member
Veteran
Well said...know exactly what you mean. Credit where it is due though...the aibion really is the bomb
 

Pangea

Active member
Veteran
I dont use any manure based compost. Currently Im running green waste compost but am about to jump ship and go compostless as Reppin2c mentioned. Consistent compost that is made right is super hard to find. Yea yea you can make it yourself.. I need far too much compost to make it myself. One of those bad ass machines to turn rows that MJ's bagged medium comes from is whats up. I dont even want to know what the ticket on that is..
Im leaning on 45% emerald promoss 30% EWC 25% pumice as my base but I havent decided for sure yet I will be leaving out N sources all together and going with microbes instead..
How do you balance C:N ratio when your input comes from microbes is my question... ?

$16-20K plus a tractor.

Though there is a youtube video of a guy who made his own turner that works off of his small riding lawn mower, no details other than two videos of it working well.

Alfalfa ftw as a base.
 

FatherEarth

Active member
Veteran
1 tsp of Albion Ca powder = 2.2 grams

Thats what Im giving em once a week per gallon..


CGabe,

Im already using 20% EWC in my current mix with 40% compost 20% Peat 20% Perlite so removing the Compost all together and only bumping the EWC up 10% should get the K levels about where Id want them. Im also leaning with milky on the K levels possibly being closer to 7% for cannabis.
The beds I have sitting just under 7% certainly appear to be the most healthy of the bunch.. Hopefully I can nail the mix next round with this mixing company. We shall see...
 
Did of my last feed on a light dep that I introduced AEA to around week 4. Did every bottle at 1ml per gal, 1.5 ml pht potassium and 2ml rejuvenate. Loving the results never had buds so dense and huge.

Its working wonders on a mendomix full season. Had some problems with bat gauno oxidizing my coir and giving off ammonia, Gary reccomended a good dose of humacarb to help with the problem.
 
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