Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[Dawn Patrol]

And burn one is right on flowering times advertised vrs actual times. All my plants do better at 9-10 weeks over 8.....scrappy

Respect to you both for this observation - I have yet to see a strain that I'm happy with at less than 65 days and that is the bare minimum for me. I grow outdoors and have had to harvest earlier than 65 days due to the weather, but those harvests were disappointing to say the least.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Anybody ever use Rid-X in a compost pile or soil mix? It contains bacteria cultures, enzymes, micronutrients, and inert ingredients. It is marketed as a septic tank cleaner, but I can't help but think it would be a beneficial ingredient to an organic mix. Before I added this to some organic medium I just wanted to see if anyone else had tried this before.

I've tried it in teas and have not been impressed. Someone with more knowledge will hopefully chime in here, but I don't think it is the right kind of bacteria for the purpose we are seeking.

 

[BigTex]

Yea after looking into rid-x I think I'll just stick to Bush Dr. Microbebrew.

 

[Grosgourdin]

Awesome thread! I am loving it

 

[Midnite Toker]

Hey Burn1!! Thanks dude. I have been all over this thread learning alot and I am convinced. I am converting to LC mix and have been making teas with your recipes. Can you speak to "dailing in" please? I have a few strains vegging 6 weeks now, Tea every 3rd watering. Haze & Green Poison kicking ass! Trainwreck seems stunted, half the size. A couple lower leaves turning yellow w/brown edges. Sorry, no technology, no pics.
Suggestions? I'm sorry if you covered this, again I've been all over this thread.
Also, I have been doing everything I can to follow directions to the letter!

Again Thanks, Toker
~some people call me Maurice!

 

[BurnOne]

Lavender Cowboy used to recommend staying with one strain until you figured out how to "dial in" the feeding routine for the plant. This is best done with cuttings from the same plant. You will begin to see when the plant is overfed and underfed. You will then be able to give the plant what it needs and then see the plant bounce back to health. You will find out what helps and what hurts. This is also best done using the same ingredients in the recipe. In other words, don't substitute one ingredient for another until you know how your plant will respond. Start with one plant, one soil recipe and one nute recipe (guano teas are my suggestion because they are fast acting).
Burn1

 

[greenspace]

I am loving this thread as well, read just about every page.

Many thanks to BurnOne and Vonforne (way to rep the Show-Me State) and all the other helpers, this thread changed my mind and convinced me to turn away from the chem nutes.

I started reading about 2 weeks ago and was convinced a couple days into it that I would try what I thought was the easiest mix to obtain, LC's#1 plus blood/bone/kelp and my first batch of soil has been cooking for about a week now. I have just one strain, Jack Herer. I will give it a couple of grows and then I would like to try the guano teas as well.

If anyone is on the fence about this at least try the EWC tea. I had some plants already going in basically just Miracle Grow and perlite and I was feeding them PBP/FFTB. They were already looking bad and having deficiencies only 2 weeks into flower. I nailed em with a EWC + molasses tea and they responded within 36 hours. A week and a half later and they are a foot taller and all the leaves are a rich, dark green right to the base of the plant, something I haven't seen in a while. Needless to say I am impressed.

I got fresh EWCs from a local farm so I am sure this makes a difference, and that has me looking at all the info that I can about composting and harvesting castings myself, stuff I never even considered as little as 3 weeks ago.

 

[IE2KS_KUSH]

Hey guys tell me what you think, I have been running the LC w/ the first recipe now and am just getting my 4th run going...(I have made 2 batches, and since both have been recycled and mixed together, I have also added back any plant waste materials to the batch as it sits in the rubbermaid waiting to be used)

Everything has been great really, can't complain and it's easy as fuck...my question is, I am starting to notice a little rust color spotting on some leaves and assume that it is likely a cal/mag issue, maybe the peat has gotten too acidic IDK, more on some plants than others, the worse one is the pure looking sativa, but I am wondering should I go ahead and apply a tblspn or so to the girls that are in flower now, (Powder DL) to balance that soil out a little? Should I go ahead and add some PDL back to the batch as well? Just curious..I have top dressed w/ kelp meal once last round, and once this round, and I usually hit them w/ some EWC as well, but other than that never re-amended w/ anything ever. I am wondering in the back of my mind how long will this shit take care of my gals! The only negative that I have noticed, and this is more due to my choice of medium than anything is that it is getting a little bogged down now and compacted. Still working fine, just not as fluffy and light as it used to be..but I just used a cheap block of peat from Lowes, whatever the had handy...I got perlite in the mix as well as per the instructions, but regardless it's getting thick, what's a pimp to do..I wish I could get some char rice hulls that I hear so much about. Well theres my rant/ramble, hopefully out of all that someone may be able to give me some advice, if you can figure out what I am asking huh..I am just a lonely grower pimp that wants someone to talk to really lol..

 

[mad librettist]

Hey guys tell me what you think, I have been running the LC w/ the first recipe now and am just getting my 4th run going...(I have made 2 batches, and since both have been recycled and mixed together, I have also added back any plant waste materials to the batch as it sits in the rubbermaid waiting to be used)

Everything has been great really, can't complain and it's easy as fuck...my question is, I am starting to notice a little rust color spotting on some leaves and assume that it is likely a cal/mag issue, maybe the peat has gotten too acidic IDK, more on some plants than others, the worse one is the pure looking sativa, but I am wondering should I go ahead and apply a tblspn or so to the girls that are in flower now, (Powder DL) to balance that soil out a little? Should I go ahead and add some PDL back to the batch as well? Just curious..I have top dressed w/ kelp meal once last round, and once this round, and I usually hit them w/ some EWC as well, but other than that never re-amended w/ anything ever. I am wondering in the back of my mind how long will this shit take care of my gals! The only negative that I have noticed, and this is more due to my choice of medium than anything is that it is getting a little bogged down now and compacted. Still working fine, just not as fluffy and light as it used to be..but I just used a cheap block of peat from Lowes, whatever the had handy...I got perlite in the mix as well as per the instructions, but regardless it's getting thick, what's a pimp to do..I wish I could get some char rice hulls that I hear so much about. Well theres my rant/ramble, hopefully out of all that someone may be able to give me some advice, if you can figure out what I am asking huh..I am just a lonely grower pimp that wants someone to talk to really lol..

your peat is breaking down, and while it may not be the source of all your problems, you need to address the change in air porosity your medium has undergone.

Here are some strategies people use:

1)replace the perlite that has been worn down - add perlite, rice hulls, or (best of all) turface or calcined DE screened to be chunky
2)refresh your peat, treating the old broken down peat as peat humus
3)get some local soil and incorporate your mix into a living soil with a local component

if you go the calcined DE route you can skip adding more peat. that's because those products offer both increased air porosity and increased water holding capacity.

if you add more peat you need to add more lime

as always, whatever you do a living mulch of clover will make it easier, because roots give you increased air porosity

 

[IE2KS_KUSH]

Re: Organics for Beginners

I need to get my living mulch going for sure ...more peat and dl it is then. Probably use the last of my perlite as well...thank god I am heading into the big city next week u can re-up on some shit...

 

[mad librettist]

probably best to go by feel with the peat but keep track of how much you add for the liming

 

[IE2KS_KUSH]

Roger that. I really need some more big Rubbermaid bins lol

 

[prowler]

Hi ya fanatics!

I'm currently turning from Canna Coco to all organics. The first steps i took was Cannas Vega and Flores and regular potting soil. The result was a bit harsh smoke due to not completely reading the f***ing manual.



Well i decided to ditch the Vega and Flores and bought some Bio Sevia and natural thricoderma cause i want to run both soilless and soil mixes or should i say that i use what ever i have currently: Coco, perlite and soil - let's just say enough.

Also i just started a compost and a leaf compost to co-op with my gardening. Have to say that i can't wait for next spring to get my all purpose gardening going. What comes to ganja - it has to be grown indoors at the moment.

So now i have all kinds of amendments but the big question is how should i use them? I. ex. i can't get hold of any worm castings and for now i don't have any compost and other organic stuff that i have does not match any products you guys have listed so could you guys help me out to produce some good quality mix from the things i currently have?

1. Giva Bloodmeal 14-0-0
2. Giva Bonemeal 8-7-0
3. Dolomite lime
4. Bat Guano ~5-10-0
5. Neudorf Bio-Berry fertilizer with mychorrizae ~0-0-5
6. Neudorf Radivit compost activator with mychorrizae and natural thricoderma and stuff i don't even know about (bacterial & fungi i guess)
7. Neko liquid seaweed
8. Piranha & tarantula
9. Another compost activator which is grinded lava/volcanic rock.
10. GHE BM natural thricoderma

So what i don't have is wormcastings/compost and kelp meal - also the NPK's are quite different than you what you guys have.

I plan on starting a tea brewery someday but for now i'm going to use Bio Sevia, pure blackstrap molasses and diamond nectar (humic and fulvic acids) for feeding until i learn the basics of organics. Also prepared to try out some lacto bacilli. Other additives: Beneficial bacteria, Bio Nova enzymes and whole lot of plain nature (can gather some horseshit, mushrooms...what ever i need).

Water comes from a drilled well (~60m deep drilled rock well) and has proven itself. Ain't going to measure any EC from that but pH is around 7,5. Still I aerate it before applying.

So help me out first to build a good LC type of mix?

Thank you beforehand!

 

[mad librettist]

compost/castings needs to be 20% of the mix. no way around it.

 

[prowler]

Thanks buddy! Let's start on that. I guess the first load of compost will be ready around 2-3 months? Talking about a commercial "quick composter". That fits to my schedule - just have to run plain coco + canna coco until that. But how about those other amendments - any ideas with the mix ratios?

 

[mad librettist]

Thanks buddy! Let's start on that. I guess the first load of compost will be ready around 2-3 months? Talking about a commercial "quick composter". That fits to my schedule - just have to run plain coco + canna coco until that. But how about those other amendments - any ideas with the mix ratios?

honestly I would seek advice on the regular soil forum, or ask habeeb. The castings/compost aren't just nutes. They make the whole system work. Without that, you need to monitor pH and do all the other stuff chemy growers do.


Sorry, I know that's a shitty answer but it's the truth. Just about any advice you find here comes from people using compost/castings, and whether they know it or not everything else they do depends on the compost being there.

 

[delerious]

Thanks buddy! Let's start on that. I guess the first load of compost will be ready around 2-3 months? Talking about a commercial "quick composter". That fits to my schedule - just have to run plain coco + canna coco until that. But how about those other amendments - any ideas with the mix ratios?

If you're in the US, you can buy. I've used the castings from Yelm Farms (think it's called Barefoot). The bags I got were good, but I prefer fresh - got me by.

I've also used Peaceful Valley Organic Compost (with the castings). They have a few other products there that sound interesting. http://www.groworganic.com/fertilizers/composting/organic-compost.html .
Their prices are great for bulk, but shipping can be a real killer if you're not on the west coast.

 

[prowler]

I live in northern Europe and as i said i have purchased a commercial compostor and the first batch should be done by the time i run out of my Canna coco nutrients. Second to that is that someday i will construct a worm bin. I'm not most definitely gonna buy those because i can someday soon have my own.

I am asking you to help me out with the amendments as i do not fully understand the whole NPK and microbiological structure of organic soil. How much and what to add to the mix to get shit done. This is the question. Now i have made some soil mixes and my Kali Mists are showing some infamous clawing - otherwise they're fine in all ways. No pH problems and or lockouts or anything. This is the thing i need help with - what to do with those amendments. I can't buy the same resources you guys have because it's a whole different line of available sh*t up here.

Thank you beforehand.

 

[Scrappy4]

Prowler, Mad's advice should help you, but remember you are talking about two different things here.

A soil with good quality 20% humic content, is what we refer to as a living soil. A living soil has lots of microbes that cycle the nutrients in that soil. We enhance those microbe numbers with compost/ewc tea. These microbes then have a relationship with the plants. The plants will signal the microbes what the plants want by roots exuding what the microbes want, then the microbes provide to the plant what it wants. When your soil mix is has that humus content and the soil is rich with both microbes and microbe food, things go swimmingly well with little human input.

When you are using most bottled nutrients, you are bypassing this relationship and directly feeding your plants. For me, this sometimes worked very well, and sometimes when bad without me knowing why.

Sometimes having enough nutrients through commercial nutrients is not enough, or too much, and you will see the famous lockouts, burns, deficiencies, and so on. It really gets madding trying to figure it all out. This may help explain your lack of advice you are asking for on this forum.

Making nutrients already in the soil available is probably more important than simply adding more and more. Compost, ewc does just that. Chelating agents, like humic acid can help too.

I realise this is not the answer you want, but I hope this helps you.......scrappy

 

[prowler]

Okay guys! I'm gonna learn to make some wormcastings and brew teas. First things first - gotta learn how to run organic (though with commercial nutrients) coco successfully. Trust me i'm gonna be back soon with some tight ass questions!

Thank you for these and we'll meet again.