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Certified Noob Recycled Organic Soil Test Grow A Rama

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
unfortunately , i havent a clue why its so acidic.

since you put it like that , i guess ill continue to put this mix on hold and start from scratch

meanwhile , i need to get these mothers in a soil mix thats gonna make em happy for a few more weeks. i hate to lose em having come so far with em.
im off tomorrow so i guess ill mix up a batch of new soil, whats a good no burn in mix?
 

BigBozat

Member
unfortunately , i havent a clue why its so acidic.

since you put it like that , i guess ill continue to put this mix on hold and start from scratch

meanwhile , i need to get these mothers in a soil mix thats gonna make em happy for a few more weeks. i hate to lose em having come so far with em.
im off tomorrow so i guess ill mix up a batch of new soil, whats a good no burn in mix?

Maybe it just needed to be pH-balanced, like you're doing?
I wouldn't completely toss it... just concerned that if you don't know the reason for the low pH, you may need to keep amending in lime (and thus risk Mag excess) until/unless you remove/remedy the cause. With liming and some 'cooking' time, maybe it will stabilize & be fine...

Er, by 'no burn in' you mean no mixing up your own & letting it 'cook' for a while? So, straight out of a bag, eh?

[Disclaiming all endorsement... YMMV]

FoxFarm Happy Frog?
Since you're transplanting, maybe cut that 1:1 with their Light Warrior?

I've used b4 (b4 I started building my own), fine...
I've heard/read good, bad and everything in between (incl occasional production quality differences/problems at their diff plants), but in the couple bags I had gotten, no probs.

Their Ocean Forest is a bit hotter (not OK for clones, so wouldn't recommend for sensitive transplants either). But, honestly I've never put plants directly into anything straight out of the bag, literally (always involved amending and/or time).

Maybe the best things you can do, since you're going for the emergency bagged soil, is to utilize inoculants & biostimulants that promote strong root growth (rooting compounds/auxins/IBA = Clonex & such), and perhaps secondarily induce/trigger some sort of systemic plant defense/immunity response (eg, salicylic acid, chitin/chitinase).

There are organic sources for these (eg, willow water & birch twigs for SA; kelp meal/powder/liquid for auxins; shrimp/crab/lobster shell meals & insect frass for the chitin... maybe also alfalfa meal for triacontanol [tho its not very bioavailable]... and maybe later after roots fully established, coconut water for cytokinins to promote shoot growth?).

Also, some auxins are manufactured by mycorrhizal fungi, so if you use broad spectrum myco products (and/or beneficial bacteria), that should help... which reminds me: worse comes to worse, look for bagged product that comes pre-inoculated w/ mycos (a lot of the Pro-Mix sphagnum products are, among others). Otherwise, grab some Great White or similar. For bene bacteria = Azos.
 

BigBozat

Member
don't forget theres also calcium in lime.


Yup, that's how it raises pH of acidic soils, by adsorbing onto available negatively charged soil particles [clay, organic matter]...

Ca++ cations, which are alkaline, replace [primarily] H+ cations, which are acidic, and essentially 'push' them out, freeing them to be washed out by the next soil drench.

In the realm of the EcoAg movement, Albrecht's base cation saturation theory says that if you fill a soil's CEC (cation exchange capacity) with a particular range of Cal, Mag, K and Na (sodium) [among other things], then the soil will [almost?] automatically self-adjust to a stable 6.4 pH... which ostensibly yields better, healthier crops & higher long-term sustainable output.

Whether the theory works is the subject of much :dueling:
I find it interesting, compelling even... but I claim no clear scientific evidence, and in the interest of full disclosure thought I should highlight the controversy. There is an EcoAg thread elsewhere, with some excellent dialog by a number of folks that I have much :respect: for... YMMV
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
i picked up a bag of vermicompost and ffof yesterday
along with some birb and bat guano
some kelp meal and some lime

brewed up about 3 gallons of tea to water my girls and these germing seeds.

mixed the vermi and ffof into my old soil
and planted my flower beds and some veggies today woot!

i need more water so im brewing 5 gallons right now to make some water for the veggie pots and my girls.

gonna need more guano and will pick up some more amendments over the next few weeks as well.

gonna make 3 more gallons of tea tonight too.

feels good to start another garden , even if its on my proch this time.
dirt all under the nails and stuff is dope.

thanks for your help bozat and ilbh
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
so its time for an update
i used all that old soil , and found that my clones... actually liked it , even at 5.5 ph
my seedlings .... not so much. they have cal mag lockout , so i mixed some powdered lime in a gallon of water for a watering (2.2L) pots , a week later they are stable
meanwhile , I mixed up a btrand new batch of soil.
I used lc's #2 recipe. 60 gallons worth . Im letting it cook now , but used 20 gallons for my beans and cucmbers , as well as repotted a herijuana clone in 7g pot to see if Id have poests to deal with oor imbalances.
the recipe came out at 6.3 ph and seems to be perfect so far , now , I need a second batch to get aging asap
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
so its time for an update
i used all that old soil , and found that my clones... actually liked it , even at 5.5 ph
my seedlings .... not so much. they have cal mag lockout , so i mixed some powdered lime in a gallon of water for a watering (2.2L) pots , a week later they are stable
meanwhile , I mixed up a btrand new batch of soil.
I used lc's #2 recipe. 60 gallons worth . Im letting it cook now , but used 20 gallons for my beans and cucmbers , as well as repotted a herijuana clone in 7g pot to see if Id have poests to deal with oor imbalances.
the recipe came out at 6.3 ph and seems to be perfect so far , now , I need a second batch to get aging asap
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
hey erbody.
I forgot about this thread - my bad.

Im into my third grow and after the dwc buckets are hatvested in the next few weeks, ill be 100% organic.

I didnt set out to do it this way, it just "happened"

I like dwc just fine, just gonna stash the gear away for the time being. Ill revisit the technique later on.

Im on my third batch of soil. Its cooking till middle of next week. Shits easy to make, not too pricey , and recyclable. Using LB's#2 mix. I didnt think this through , so IM pretty sure Ill be making soil for the next 6 months or so , as I plan on using some for my second attemp at a raised bed garden, later in the fall.

This mix is 60-20-20 bxmix - perlite - ewc (neighborhood sourced)
it drains extremely fast - once the soil becomes soaked, it drops thrugh in seconds.
using the bone/blood meal recipe for amendments. i have a feed n seed maybe 5 minutes away and sourced these things for maybe 60% what im paying at the hydro shop. thing is , you gotta buy 40-50 lb bags of it at the time. next years outdoor veg and flower garden are gonna be soo fucking on

since i plan on flowering in 5 or 7 gallons to start , I picked up grow bags, the plastic bag types , like a 25 pak for 5 $ maybe ? anyways , my plan is simple now. seedling go into 3 gal bags to veg and two weeks till flower get dropped into most likely 7gl bags, dpending on how many i can get into the flower room currently , the room could hold 15 girls in 5gl buckets if I can squeeze the 7's in the same space , then fuck this shit, im flowering in 7s

anyways, im gonna upgrade and get another 600w hps, and quite possibly a third and or a 1k for "testing". im not gonna use the led to flower anymore, she would be fine on a 3x3 single girl but shes just got no horsepower for what im doing. the flower room could prolly use the extra boost tho

anyways heres some pix
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Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
as you can see , im mulching with hay and clover.
i top dressed the soil with skeeter dunx twice to try and control the fungas gnats - no luv. they are still around 3 weeks later . soooo, i pulled out the nukular option and ordered scanmask ,aka bennie nematodes off ebay and pow, im waiting on those lil bugs to get settled in

this rols will be absolutley phenomenal wthin 6 months im guessing. i cant wait to see the flower results

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stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
I have been recycling my soil for over 15 years...had to start a new batch when I moved...on 4th run .. I make sure and add fresh compost and wormcasting on each run and other goodies as needed...it takes some fine tuning and a few hard lessons but eventually you get it dialed in..rock on man its worth it in the end..yeehaw
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
Hey, how did this grow turn out?

its still growing - heres some pics

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I upgraded the lights and took that led down.
Im 100% organic atm. I used LC's #2 mix from the 101 thread,
because the guanos are more expensive, and I can get the blood and bone meal at the feed and seed or lowes

the nematodes significANtly reduced the fungus gnats as theyve settled into their new home

i have 2 c99 boys out of the three and im currently looking to rehome them .however , ive been unsuccessful and will prolly chop them down today. that'll be ok since i will then officially be rols ing out and mix that soil on up with the virgin batch thats cooking now .
it will enjoy the addition of those nematodes.

thanks for the support trout
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
oh , and ive started my bim/imo for the bokashi bin as well.
in about a month my worm bin will be eating like kings

ive noticed my buds have gone from loose and larfy to tight and denser.
also , the dwc burn is mostly gone from these girls, my plants seem to be far healthier
in soil than in hydro.

I prefer watering every 3-4 days to buckets and bottles and pumps and fussyness.
fuck that shit
 
R

Robrites

purty purty...thanks for the pics and update.

also, what does "dwc burn" mean?
 
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