Organic grow in pots on terrace

Discussion in 'Growing Organic Marijuana' started by chomperhater, Sep 8, 2010.

  1. Hi, and greetings from S.India. I had 5 plants in different pots which are fertilized using vermi-compost that I purchased from a gardening supply place. I mixed the compost in with the soil and the pots have decent drainage. I fertilized with extra compost on the surface once thereafter. One turned out to be positively male, so he was culled and is now drying in preparation for hash/oil. All of them were sprouted from random seeds about July 10 2010. One of the plants of unknown sex has been topped. The rest were LST'd quite well. I've ensured older fan leaves were trimmed to ensure good air circulation and sunlight exposure to lower branches. The plants show about 10-12 growing tips and look healthy.

    My question is regarding one of the interesting females I have. She has consistently (since August 2010) had some leaves on the top grow tip not open fully. It started with one out of the seven segments not opening fully and now it seems to be happening to all the segments (but only at the top growing tip). Is this some kind of disease? Also, the plants were not watered for a day when I was away and failing the rains, they drooped down a bit. After watering, they came back to their normal healthy state, but this particular female had a lot of yellow leaves which I waited for a couple days before trimming (and using for oil). She's quite healthy now and it seems like the yellowing leaves were a result of sunburn and under-watering, because she does get more sunlight than the others. She has a nice spicy smell to her and is the only one of the lot to have any discernable smell so far.

    From what I can tell, the two female plants are in pre-flowering stage and since they look like Sativas, they might take a while to stretch and flower. There is an LST'd suspected male which will also be culled shortly to leave me with 2 fems and one topped unknown (was planning for a late second harvest). The pre-flowers on the suspected male look like miniature leaves or like a bunch of bananas. The 2 females show nice pear-shaped pre flowers although the pistils are yet to emerge from the calyxes.

    These two pictures are of my female sativa that has the yellowing and the half-developed leaves.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    These two pictures are the suspected male. If you think its a male for sure, let me know.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    This is an older picture of the plants in their pots.
    [​IMG]

    This is the topped plant of indeterminate gender:
    [​IMG]

    Peace and goodwill to all.
     
  2. hola brother chomper. It reads like you haven't used a complete (N-P-K) fertilizer and thus far are only using the vermicasts? if so, in all likelihood you're going to have to supply some additional nutrients - organically sourced if possible. It's a pretty safe bet you will need some and soon perhaps...
     
  3. The fertilizer I am currently using is called Nitroplex AG Vermicompost with the following composition by weight:

    N: 0.5-0.55%
    P: 0.65-0.68%
    K: 0.2-0.25%
    Ca: 0.6-0.4%
    Na: 0.3-0.5%
    S: 0.6-0.9%
    Fe: 0.5-0.6%
    Mg: 0.3-0.9%
    Mn: 400-450 ppm
    Cu: 150-300 ppm
    Zn: 200-250 ppm
    Cl: 0.06-0.12%
    B: 90-110 ppm
    C: 0.25-0.28%
    pH of 10% solution: 7-7.2
    C:N = 35:1

    What other organic fertilizers do you recommend? I don't think I can obtain Guano in India, unless I go spelunking anytime soon. I can think of coffee grounds and vegetable matter off the top of my head but I didn't see the need for it.
     
  4. Hi, you're plants look healthy but small... almost like they were planted too close to the end of the season? If they are tiny in stature, not vegged for a couple of months until the preflowers come in while in 24 hours of light only, when they are made to start to flower and they then have to mature in size also (their primary growing) and have to concentrate on making flowers/buds at the same time, they don't grow to their massive size at all and they grow differently. Even with the LSTing, they look unformed or incomplete in some manner, so healthy but limited. Or root bound.

    Soil is something that we can keep recreating and adding to in order to make it fully stocked, your's is a great start and not fully stocked. Dirt binds if it doens't have some filler in it, think of a dirt pie in the sun, you need something to keep the air flow in and the binding away, to let the roots be able to wonder freely... like coco coir from coconuts, i use cocoa(like as in chocolate) pods, the spent shells from the chocolate industry, peet moss, vermiculite which i can't use because my sinuses hate it, perlite which is fantastic. Just mix it into the soil on your next round.

    For amendments look for some blood meal (porcine in your case), bone meal(source for porcine in s.india also), that's your N and your P, no need to go spelunking :D and some shells like oyster, or bird egg shells. Find some ground rock and till that into your dirt too, for the fungi to hang onto, the more variety the better. Can you find K-mag for the K and the magnesium needs of the plant? If not, you will need to source something with more k than you have presently. I think that sativa's require less amended soil overall than the indica's so just add what you find and see what you produce, usually the plant will tell you what defficient and what's abundant and you fix the soil for the next round.

    I'd totally throw out the males, they aren't good for smoking, oiling or much anything THC in my opinion. The girls are the big bearer's of the THC.

    Nice plants, don't give up at all, they will make buds, little ones that look really cute.
     
  5. Whew! That's a tall order to try to fill for me. I've got some ideas but I'm not at all familiar with your local horticultural habitat. By chance can you get product delivered from Autstralia reasonably inexpensively? They export a truly fabulous line of organics. If so, I can point you to some that posts here in The City from an Aussie grower that has access to tremendous organic resources. If not, IDK..we'd have to suggest other routes like kelp, humus, alfalfa, barley, comfrey, dandelions, etc. quite a long list. There are a lot of plant options to use for fertilization I just don't know what all you've got access to. I'll find a list I have and come back and edit this post and you can check it out. But for sure, if you have access to alfalfa meal, seed, or plant, put it on the very top of your shopping list.

    The vermicompost lable is an excellent looking choice and you no doubt did good to start with that product. You've got all 14 of the nutrients albeit in small and trace amounts. That's ok, in fact that's great. Now here is the "but", you are going to need to supplement your feeding because the weight of the nutrients (the percents listed) won't support the hungry appetite of your growing plants. They're gonna need a boost!. Until that gets sorted out fairly quickly I suggest you top dress with some of the vermicompost asap.

    Have you read up on brewing an AACT (actively areated compost tea)? You would see some immediate benefit from that. Also, do any of the products you have access to have mycorrhyzae in them or can you source that seperately perhaps?

    I'd really like to see you pull this off man. If you are growing S. India genetics I for one think it would be a real treat to see a land race pheno grown out. Is that what you're growing - an indigenous strain? If you are I think it would be a real treat for us types that typically see Dutch seed grows...just saying...it would be kewl!

    I'll be back.......
     

  6. Hi and thank you all for your replies. I realize the plants are tiny (they are so on purpose, kinda). I planted late in the season because I lost my initial attempt to some stoner pigeons (that's right! some f**king pigeons ate my initial saplings and shat in the pots). This prompted me to start indoors and transplant them once they were strong enough so the pigeons didn't bother them. It is quite possible that they are root bound because I used the newspaper planter method to minimize transplant shock but that might have limited root growth.

    As for soil aeration, I added some light airy rocks to the bottom to ensure good drainage and mixed in the vermicompost with a red soil that is clayey/rocky. I could possibly have used coconut husks since they are abundant here (next grow, lol). As for any kind of blood, bone or shell meal, that's out of the question for me since I'm vegan (I know!). I could possibly find alfalfa meal because I think they feed that to dairy cattle around here. I think Perlite may be available as well if I actually went looking for it.

    The seeds were from a stash of outdoor Sativa I scored this summer, probably grown in Kerala or somewhere else in the Western Ghats. I could have SCROG'd it indoors but I wanted to keep costs down as much as possible. For the K boost during flowering I was going to add this organic fertilizer they sell for flowering rose plants. How do y'all feel about diluted human urine for N-P-K? (1:8).

    As for yield, I am least worried about how much I can harvest, since good outdoor is available pretty cheap around here. I just wanted some sensimilla since that is almost impossible to find around here, let alone organic sensimilla. Needless to say, since I'm growing it on my terrace in a large city, I want to attract the least amount of attention and LSTing seemed like the best way to go about it. I just topped the weakest plant I had because it snapped when I tried to bend it, so I fixed the stem and topped it (not all at once, lol).
     

  7. Thanks man. I'd love to pull this off as well. I'm going to pull the suspected male today because I'm about 99% sure about the gender. Shipping internationally is not an option (I'm growing the whole thing for under $4 worth of compost as a challenge!). I'll go out today to this horticulture place and look for alfalfa meal (or ask some dairy farmers I know). BTW, I am top dressing them but only if the leaves show deficiencies so only once so far. I want to keep veg growth to a minimum!

    I *almost* bought Dutch seeds but I love the local Sativas here.. so....cerebral! I was worried they'd shoot up so I LST'd them from a young age (first grow, so they look choppy). I reckon these will finish in 2 months from now at most, so not too shabby. I think this is the archetypal S.Indian Sativa since the plants I've seen in N.India look nothing like this. This appears to be a local strain but its hard to tell exactly what (Kerala gold is supposed to be the shit around here). Brew AACT what? LOL. Yeah I read about it and its too much work for me, for now. Next grow for sure!
     

  8. I want your weed :D

    Urine is too salty and diet dependant but probably ok if you have little to nothing else on hand, but others would know more,,, i was bottle and box dependant for years of my inside growing history, new to organics. I have always peed on outside plants though :eek:

    For your substitute for blood meal you can use alfalfa meal or pellets, i do, see if you can find it where they sell horse supplies. For the sub for bone meal you will might try composting something high in P in this chart soemone posted and i love. I'm looking at making some ash from some of the various skins listed. As an addition to compost maybe.


    Alfalfa Hay: 2.45/05/2.1
    Apple Fruit: 0.05/0.02/0.1
    Apple Leaves: 1.0/0.15/0.4
    Apple Pomace: 0.2/0.02/0.15
    Apple skins(ash) : 0/3.0/11/74
    Banana Residues (ash): 1.75/0.75/0.5
    Barley (grain): 0/0/0.5
    Barley (straw): 0/0/1.0
    Basalt Rock: 0/0/1.5
    Bat Guano: 5.0-8.0/4.0-5.0/1.0
    Beans, garden(seed and hull): 0.25/0.08/03
    Beet Wastes: 0.4/0.4/0.7-4.1
    Blood meal: 15.0/0/0
    Bone Black: 1.5/0/0
    Bonemeal (raw): 3.3-4.1/21.0/0.2
    Bonemeal (steamed): 1.6-2.5/21.0/0.2
    Brewery Wastes (wet): 1.0/0.5/0.05
    Buckwheat straw: 0/0/2.0
    Cantaloupe Rinds (ash): 0/9.77/12.0
    Castor pomace: 4.0-6.6/1.0-2.0/1.0-2.0
    Cattail reeds and water lily stems: 2.0/0.8/3.4
    Cattail Seed: 0.98/0.25/0.1
    Cattle Manure (fresh): 0.29/0.25/0.1
    Cherry Leaves: 0.6/0/0.7
    Chicken Manure (fresh): 1.6/1.0-1.5/0.6-1.0
    Clover: 2/0/0/0 (also contains calcium)
    Cocoa Shell Dust: 1.0/1.5/1.7
    Coffee Grounds: 2.0/0.36/0.67
    Corn (grain): 1.65/0.65/0.4
    Corn (green forage): 0.4/0.13/0.33
    Corn cobs: 0/0/2.0
    Corn Silage: 0.42/0/0
    Cornstalks: 0.75/0/0.8
    Cottonseed hulls (ash): 0/8.7/23.9
    Cottonseed Meal: 7.0/2.0-3.0/1.8
    Cotton Wastes (factory): 1.32/0.45/0.36
    Cowpea Hay: 3.0/0/2.3
    Cowpeas (green forage): 0.45/0.12/0.45
    Cowpeas (seed): 3.1/1.0/1.2
    Crabgrass (green): 0.66/0.19/0.71
    Crabs (dried, ground): 10.0/0/0
    Crabs (fresh): 5.0/3.6/0.2
    Cucumber Skins (ash): 0/11.28/27.2
    Dried Blood: 10.0-14.0/1.0-5.0/0
    Duck Manure (fresh): 1.12/1.44/0.6
    Eggs: 2.25/0.4/0.15
    Eggshells: 1.19/0.38/0.14
    Feathers: 15.3/0/0
    Felt Wastes: 14.0/0/1.0
    Field Beans (seed): 4.0/1.2/1.3
    Feild Beans (shells): 1.7/0.3/1.3
    Fish (dried, ground): 8.0/7.0/0
    Fish Scraps (fresh): 6.5/3.75/0
    Gluten Meal: 6.4/0/0
    Granite Dust: 0/0/3.0-5.5
    Grapefruit Skins (ash): 0/3.6/30.6
    Grape Leaves: 0.45/0.1/0.4
    Grape Pomace: 1.0/0.07/0.3
    Grass (imature): 1.0/0/1.2
    Greensand: 0/1.5/7.0
    Hair: 14/0/0/0
    Hoof and Horn Meal: 12.5/2.0/0
    Horse Manure (fresh): 0.44/0.35/0.3
    Incinerator Ash: 0.24/5.15/2.33
    Jellyfish (dried): 4.6/0/0
    Kentucky Bluegrass (green): 0.66/0.19/0.71
    Kentucky Bluegrass (hay): 1.2/0.4/2.0
    Leather Dust: 11.0/0/0
    Lemon Culls: 0.15/0.06/0.26
    Lemon Skins (ash): 06.33/1.0
    Lobster Refuse: 4.5/3.5/0
    Milk: 0.5/0.3/0.18
    Millet Hay: 1.2/0/3.2
    Molasses Residue
    (From alcohol manufacture): 0.7/0/5.32
    Molasses Waste
    (From Sugar refining): 0/0/3.0-4.0
    Mud (fresh water): 1.37/0.26/0.22
    Mud (harbour): 0.99/0.77/0.05
    Mud (salt): 0.4.0/0
    Mussels: 1.0/0.12/0.13
    Nutshells: 2.5/0/0
    Oak Leaves: 0.8/0.35/0.2
    Oats (grain): 2.0/0.8/0.6
    Oats (green fodder): 0.49/0/0
    Oat straw: 0/0/1.5
    Olive Pomace: 1.15/0.78/1.3
    Orange Culls: 0.2/0.13/0.21
    Orange Skins: 0/3.0/27.0
    Oyster Shells: 0.36/0/0
    Peach Leaves: 0.9/0.15/0.6
    Pea forage: 1.5-2.5/0/1.4
    Peanuts (seed/kernals): 3.6/0.7/0.45
    Peanut Shells: 3.6/0.15/0.5
    Pea Pods (ash): 0/3.0/9.0
    Pea (vines): 0.25/0/0.7
    Pear Leaves: 0.7/0/0.4
    Pigeon manure (fresh): 4.19/2.24/1.0
    Pigweed (rough): 0.6/0.1/0
    Pine Needles: 0.5/0.12/0.03
    Potato Skins (ash): 0/5.18/27.5
    Potaote Tubers: 0.35/0.15/2.5
    Potatoe Vines (dried): 0.6/0.16/1.6
    Prune Refuse: 0.18/0.07/0.31
    Pumpkins (fresh): 0.16/0.07/0.26
    Rabbitbrush (ash): 0/0/13.04
    Rabbit Manure: 2.4/1.4/0.6
    Ragweed: 0.76/0.26/0
    Rapeseed meal: 0/1.0=2.0/1.0=3.0
    Raspberry leaves: 1.45/0/0.6
    Red clover hay: 2.1/0.6/2.1
    Redrop Hay: 1.2/0.35/1.0
    Rock and Mussel Deposits
    From Ocean: 0.22/0.09/1.78
    Roses (flowers): 0.3/0.1/0.4
    Rye Straw: 0/0/1.0
    Salt March Hay: 1.1/0.25/0.75
    Sardine Scrap: 8.0/7.1/0
    Seaweed (dried): 1.1-1.5/0.75/4.9 (Seaweed is loaded with micronutrients including: Boron, Iodine, Magnesium and so on.)
    Seaweed (fresh): 0.2-0.4/0/0
    Sheep and Goat Manure (fresh): 0.55/0.6/0.3
    Shoddy and Felt: 8.0/0/0
    Shrimp Heads (dried): 7.8/4.2/0
    Shrimp Wastes: 2.9/10.0/0
    Siftings From Oyster Shell Mounds: 0.36/10.38/0.09
    Silk Mill Wastes: 8.0/1.14/1.0
    Silkworm Cocoons:10.0/1.82/1.08
    Sludge: 2.0/1.9/0.3
    Sludge (activated): 5.0/2.5-4.0/0.6
    Smokehouse/Firepit Ash:0/0/4.96
    Sorghum Straw:0/0/1.0
    Soybean Hay: 1.5-3.0/0/1.2-2.3
    Starfish: 1.8/0.2/0.25
    String Beans (strings and stems, ash): 0/4.99/18.0
    Sugar Wastes (raw): 2.0/8.0/0
    Sweet Potatoes: 0.25/0.1/0.5
    Swine Manure (fresh): 0.6/0.45/0.5
    Tanbark Ash: 0/0.34/3.8
    Tanbark Ash (spent): 0/1.75/2.0
    Tankage: 3.0-11.0/2.0-5.0/0
    Tea Grounds: 4.15/0.62/0.4
    Timothy Hay: 1.2/0.55/1.4
    Tobacco Leaves: 4.0/0.5/6.0
    Tobacco Stems: 2.5-3.7/0.6-0.9/4.5-7.0
    Tomatoe Fruit: 0.2/0.07/0.35
    Tomatoe Leaves: 0.35/0.1/0.4
    Tomatoe Stalks: 0.35/0.1/0.5
    Tung Oil Pumace: 6.1/0/0
    Vetch Hay: 2.8/0/2.3
    Waste Silt: 9.5/0/0
    Wheat Bran: 2.4/2.9/1.6
    Wheat (grain): 2.0/0.85/0.5
    Wheat Straw: 0.5/0.15/0.8
    White Clover (Green): 0.5/0.2/0.3
    Winter Rye Hay: 0/0/1.0
    Wood Ash: 0/1.0-2.0/6.0-10.0
    Wool Wastes: 3.5-6.0/2.0-4.0/1.0-3.5 Plant - Based
    Alfalfa meal 3-0.5-3 Ca 8 Mg0.3 S 0.1
    Corn gluten 9-0-0 ca 0 Mg 0 s 0
    Cottenseed meal 7-2.5-1.5-1.5 ca 0.5 mg 1 s 0.2
    Soybean meal 7-1.2-1.5-0.4 Ca 0.4 mg 0.3 s 0.2
    Seaweed 0.7-0.8-5 Ca 0.2 Mg 0.1 S 0
    Wood Ash 0-2-6 Ca 20 Mg 1 S 0
    Kelp Meal 1-0-2
    potash 0-0-30
    Animal Based
    Blood meal 15-3-0 Ca 0.3 Mg 0 S 0 some are 12-0-0
    Bonemeal 3.5-22-0 Ca 22 MG 0.6 S 0.2
    Feathermeal 15-0-0 Ca 0 MG 0 S 0
    Fish Products 10-6-0 Ca 6 Mg 0.2 S 0.2
    Bonechar 0-16-0
    Alask fish fert 5-1-1
    Neptunes harvest 2-3-1
    Mined Minerals
    Granite dust 0-0-4 Ca 0 MG 0 S 0
    Greensand 0-1-8 Ca 0.5 Mg 3 S 0.1
    Gypsum 0-0-0.5 Ca 22 Mg 0.4 S 17
    Langbeinite 0-0-22 Ca 0 Mg 18 S 27
    Dolomitic Lime 0-0-0 Ca 25 MG 9 S 0.3
    Calcitic Lime 0-0-0.3 Ca 32 MG 3 S 0.1
    Rock Phosphate 0-25-0 Ca 0 Mg 0 S 10
    Zeolite 0-0-3.2 Ca 2.5 Ca 2.5 S 0
    Azomite 70 trace minerals from A-Z
    Recycled Materials
    Coffee grounds 2-.3-.3 Ca .1 Mg .1 S 0
    Grass clipings 4-1-3 Ca 8 Mg 3 S .5
    Leaves .8-.4-.2 Ca 0 Mg 0 S 0
    Sawdust .2-0-.2 CA 0 Mg 0 S 0
    Compost 1-0.5-1 Ca 0.3 MG 0.2 S 0.3
    Manures
    Chicken 2-1.5-.5 Ca 2 Mg .2 S .1
    Cow .5-.2-.5 Ca .2 Mg .1 S .1
    Horse .6-.2-.5 Ca .5 Mg .1 S.1
    Sheep 1-.3-1 Ca 1 Mg .1 S .05
    Jamaican bat guano 1-10-0.2
    Mexican Bat Guano 10-2-1
    Peruvian seabird guano 10-10-2
    Indonesion Bat guano .5-12-2
    Fossilized sea bird guano 1-10-1

    good luck
     
  9. Chomper,

    It reads to me like you want to invest in your grow effort from a fiscally minimalist approach. So foraging, using natures resources, "making your own", would be right up your alley.

    Here are a few links to "wet your whistle" and get your grow-neurons firing organically and thinking minimalistic; recycle one thing to another. Once you've grasped the potential sources of natures fertilizer all around us (most everywhere on earth) you can starting searching .edu, .org, and some .gov sites to begin zeroing in on what your can create for your plants health. There certainly is a wealth of information "in the cloud". You'll want to begin doing this asap and while doing so certainly keep your eyes out for locally sourced quality compost, quality humus, and other organic matter for your soil. You'll want that for sure. And I think you'll also benefit from your local clay source, just research it a bit for metals content etc. Same for your water source.

    Gil Carandang and the Rodale Institute will speak for themselves. Steve Solomon's natural fertilizer method is somewhat of a classic. The 'lawn and garden magic' site has a good index on the right panel to explore. Worth reading. Plus, there is certainly a lot of practical and useful information right here in the Organics threads and well as all over the internet about organic nutrients for plants.

    Regarding urinating on your plants. At minimum it is uncouth to do that to your grow. At worse people probably won't think much of you as a result of doing so and then talking about it. It's just ignorant behavior to urinate on your MJ garden. Don't do it.

    Peace and good luck. Keep us posted on your efforts. Would really like to see you have a successful grow and harvest. It will be refreshing to see a grow from your part of the world.

    Gil A. Carandang
    Using the ordinary to cultivate the mysterious power of beneficial indigenous microorganisms | Rodale Institute

    Steve Solomon
    A Better Way to Fertilize Your Garden - Homemade Organic Fertilizer

    Guide to Organic Fertilizers
    Organic Dilemma: Comparing Organic Fertilizers
     
  10. Anyone want to comment on the different type and size of leaves of these two females? Again, they are sprouted from random seeds so your guess is as good as mine.

    More pictures:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  11. plants are looking good...got an update?

    the one on the right looks more sativa than the one on the left, they both have a nice strong serrated edge...they look sick!
     
  12. Where can i get seeds in Bangalore ??
     

Share This Page