Indoor gardening without bottled nutrients

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by jerry111165, Apr 15, 2012.

  1. Mr Bridge -

    You are so very welcome and I'm honored to have helped you become comfortable in your garden. That's what this thing we do is all about - smiles and lush green plant health; not stress and poor plants. I'm saying this about any method of gardening; to each their own of course. I've personally used many methods over the years before I too discovered organic gardening - also thanks to my friend and mentor, Lumperdawgz.

    Gardening is about relaxation. It's about the miracle of life and to be able to nurture a healthy living soil and watch how easily it makes plants grow healthy is enough to make any gardener content. It's such a wonderful hobby. I just now finished transplanting a mess of young plants into my own homemade compost based soil, took a mess of cuttings and watered all of the big girls before I head off to work for the week. Just being in the garden is super relaxing to me.

    So again, you're very welcome. Don't be a stranger and keep us posted. Pics are always welcome.

    Peace

    J
     
  2. Hey Jerry im putting together ingredients for an organic soil. Getting away from bottle nutes.
    Heres what i have so far
    Looking at going organic and this is what i have priced out.
    Food Chemical Codex Grade Fossil Shell Flour Diatomaceous Earth 1 kg
    $11.50$11.50520431
    Glacial Rock Dust 2 kg
    $17.70$17.7043052
    Sunleaves Rock 2 kg (.5inch-1.5inch)
    $7.97$7.9741111
    Perlite Large Grade 1 cuft
    $15.05$15.0552011
    Alfalfa Green 3-0-2 6kg
    $10.63$10.6351020
    Liquid Genesis Organic Humic Inoculant 500 ml
    $26.55$26.5552003
    Worm Castings 15 litres
    $22.12$22.1252036
    Kelp Meal 1-1-2 1.5 kg
    $22.13$22.1353030
    Soft Rock Phosphate 0-30 2 kg
    $8.85$8.8553115
    Black Gold All Purpose Fertilizer 5-5-5 1.8 kg
    $10.62$10.6242007
    Coconut Fibre Block
    $13.28$13.28
    Sub Total:166.40
    I have pro mix i will use the rest for the base. I can get local worm castings as well cheeper.
    I know i still need molasses for a carb source and gypsum.
    Am i missing anything?
    Do i have anything in abundance?


    http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1335301-Stanky's-perpetual-garden
     
  3. Hi Stanky. Congrats on making the leap. Let me ask you - have you bought these items yet? I'd like to go through them with you if you haven't already purchased - for best results. Do me a favor; if I miss a post please just PM me. I've been working a lot of hours.

    J
     
  4. My first clone in living soil.
    She's in a small growth environment and she's growing better than anything I've had using chemicals,
    She bought a month old since transfer!
     

    Attached Files:

  5.  
    Welcome to experiencing the benefits of living organic soil.
     
  6. Man I'm using General Organics grow line right now and it is a pain in the ass to mix nutes and ph sometimes. I'm getting results but I really think once i'm done with this set of nutes i'm gonna rock out with plain soil + teas + ammendments and straight water.
     
    Thing is I really don't have the option to let my soil "bake" for a couple weeks after it's ammended...Any suggestions on what I should do?
     
    Much appreciated brah's. Sincerely.
     
  7. Mix it now, before you need it. There isn't any real good way to get around this. Lots of people start in old soil, or a seedling mix and veg for a month while the soil cycles...
     
  8. Can the soil ''bake'' in winter months if the soil is placed in a black garbage bag in the sun? Temps around freezing with lots of sun.
     
  9. #2989 LilJ86, Nov 16, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 16, 2014
    My compost stays warm a few inches down in the winter! Don't see why not.

    Just have to make sure to keep it aerated. Might be kinda hard in a garbage bag. :-/
     
  10. Hey, I'm growing nute less in fox farms of in a very basic set up and care plan. If I was going to give it a little extra, what would you add?

    I was thinking of adding humic acid to the watering cycle, but would a "tea" be more beneficial? If it's easy, im all for adding it. As a c5 quadripelegic i garden with my voice, walking someone thru what I need done. My helper burns water making pasta, if that explains enough lol.
     
  11. Try soaking a few fistfuls of kelp meal in water for 48 hours every 3-4 waterings. You can also top dress your plants with a good inch of worm castings mixed with a little kelp.

    Be easy with Humic acids.

    J
     
  12. [quote name="jerry111165" post="14398728" timestamp="1334522603"]Hello fellow gardeners. Some of you I very well may have met before - to those of you that haven't, well, I'm Jerry, and I'm pleased to meetcha.

    I've been gardening indoors and outdoors for a long time - probably around 25 +/- years. For probably 90 percent of this time I've used assorted bottled nutrients. I was always told, and I believed, that I couldn't grow high quality buds without those (very expensive) bottles of assorted chemical nutrients. Boy, was I wrong. I've probably used almost every brand and type out there, in the search for the perfect brand and type.

    A couple of years ago I was introduced to organics. Sure, I was skeptical - I've had it drilled into me, like everybody else has for SO long that if I didn't use the right veg nutrients for vegetative growth, the ricght flowering nutrients, check my pH, check my PPM, my TDS, pH my runoff - you guys know what I mean - that I couldn't grow high quality meds.

    Again, I was wrong wrong wrong.

    So, in the search for the perfect growroom setup and gardening methods, I decided to try organics. I had heard that organic buds tasted better than hydro buds so I figured Why the hell not?

    That was a couple of years ago. Since I went organic I haven't needed to buy any bottles of nutrients - can you just imagine the massive savings!!! I haven't had to check my pH, my PPM, or my TDS. I don't need to give my plants "nutrients" during veg or flower. I don't have to do much - once they're planted, they basically take care of themselves. I keep them moist. I make and give them occassional "botanical teas" - teas made from assorted plant materials. I make and give them "ACT" teas - (Aerated Compost Teas).

    Please bear with me and I'll tell you how this works.

    We make our own soil mixes, which can be as simple or as complex as you feel like getting into it. As a base, I use Pro-Mix - pretty simple. To this I add both good quality compost and good quality earthworm castings. These are "must haves". These 2 items contain life in the forms of assorted beneficial bacteria and fungus. They work with our plants, helping to carry nutrition to the plants roots, fight off disease and break down organic matter. They are definetly our "little helpers". On top of this I add assorted soil "ammendments" - kelp meal, alfalfa meal, fish meal, rock dust, minerals, bone meal and a few other items too. I'm not going to list them all right now.

    This is the trick, tho - all of the plants nutritional needs are met IN THE SOIL MIX. Sure, it takes a little bit to come up with the items and mix your soil properly, but once you're do, why, all the hard work is over!

    Guys and gals, I was skeptical at first, too, but now that I've been doing this for quite awhile now, this method of gardening has way exceeded any expectations that I ever had. I have literally tripled my harvest weight, my plants have NEVER been healthier, and the buds - oh my God, they are SO beautiful, so smelly, so sticky...

    All of the grow stores, the magazines, the media in general has drilled it into us that we NEED this bottle or that bottle - these VERY expensive bottles, in order to grow good medicine. This is SO untrue, and brought about by companies that want nothing more than to take your money. Stop giving it to them!!

    I'm not done yet - I have one more thing that has blown me away, and, I bet, will blow you away too - its called "No-Till" organic gardening.

    My soil mix is simply SO RICH that as soon as I harvest a big plant out of my 12-15 gallon sized containers, the very same day I dig out of the center of the pot the main root ball - around a gallon sized hole, and I immediately drop in a vegging plant that's in a 1 gallon sized container into this hole. I topdress it with some earthworm castings, tuck a little around it if needed, dampen it, and I'm done. That's it - finis. Right now I'm on my 5th batch of plants in the same soil as plant No. 1, with absolutely no sign of drain on quality whatsoever, in fact, they are friggin THRIVING.

    We don't need to spend a million on overpriced and overrated chemical nutrients. I don't need to check pH. I don't need to flush. My buds are totally superb.

    Get off of the Grow Store paycheck-stealing chemical based mentality. There is a much better way
    What exactly do you mean by organic? Could you explain a little more on that please and thank you.

    Cheers!

    Jerry.[/qu


    Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
     
  13. J
     
    Sorry it took so long to get you some pics.  Sometimes life gets in the way.
     
    Here are some pics 38 days into 12/12.  Nothing spectacular, just a little grow for my wife.  2-600 watt lights in a little room out in the shop.  I could go into the specifics on all the hardware, but why.  So many people get wound up in the latest and greatest lights, ballasts and a 3 part bottled nutrient system with who knows how many add-ons that they forget about what is really at the heart of any grow.....it's the dirt.   So I will keep on, keeping on with my piles of compost and EWC with few select additions (we all know what they are if we have read at all) and produce high quality buds for minimal costs.
     
    I will continue to lurk, reading and learning.
     
    MrBridge
    View attachment 6651
     
  14.  
    it's about more than dirt jerry, it's about people like you who care and share that with others and their plants.
     
  15. Hello All
     
    Sorry about the album, but i couldn't figure out how to post in the message.   Wouldn't let me just copy and paste, something about browser controls.
     
    MrBridge
     
  16. Thanks Al.

    Sorry I haven't been around as much as I'd usually like lately folks. Work and real life has kept me very busy this summer and fall. Winter is coming (darn it's here already in Maine) so I'll be slowing down and able to spend more time here. Anyone can always shoot me a PM too.

    I hope your gardens are well and that you all spend some quality time today with your family and friends. Have a nice Thanksgiving folks!

    J
     
  17. Are you still using COM products and what do you think Of Bumper Crop? It's all I can get from them around here.
     
  18. All of you are gardening nerds:) much love:)


    I am so open minded you should only think like me..
     
  19. I've never tried the Bumper Crop product myself. Hopefully someone who has will chime in.

    I'd try and have the supplier order you some CoM lobster compost & some worm castings - both excellent quality. I've used them with much success personally; as a matter of fact both were part of my very first organic soil mix, a mix that blew me away and made me stick with organic gardening after many, many years of using bottled hydroponic nutrients. I can't say enough good about the CoM companies products.

    That original soil mix from years ago is still in use today! :)

    J
     
  20. I have used bumper crop for tomatoes out doors.. Just poked a few holes in the bag and planted them right in the bag.. It worked unbelievably well..cherry tomatoes were about 6 feet tall and tied all over the fence like a grape vine...


    I am so open minded you should only think like me..
     

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