This is one of those things that you just may not know until you try it. I've personally been growing in a mix for the last year and a half that contains no sphagnum peat thought is a well draining compost mix based on the leaf mold. I think there's a good chance it could work out fine providing it drains well. Good luck! J
You could go outside and scrounge together some leaf duff to make up for the worry in lack of peat. Fwiw
Thanks for the quick response! I'll boldly go and find out, the compost is quite aerated and leafy as well. I am also composting and vermicomposting already as well! Also, I have the garden itch quite crazy right now, but I still have a month to go (Northern Colorado). So I just keep the soil for my garden moist and waiting .
When using biologicals\\beneficials throughout the plants growth - how will your medicine taste continuing vs. ceasing the application of any biologicals\\beneficials during the flush stage?
What flush stage? And if you're referring to the use of Mycorrhizal innoculants, one dusting of these fungal spores directly to bare plant roots is all that's necessary at transplant. J
Maybe I have a misunderstanding of what biologicals are vs. beneficials. Let me first ask this question: What are biologicals? What are beneficials?
I have no idea but if I had to guess, I'd say Grow Store gimmicks? I'm not being a smart ass; I'm being dead serious. I do remember something about "beneficial bacteria" which you will ONLY hear about on cannabis grow forums. I believe that this refers to bacteria that break down (nutrient cycle) organic matter. This is simply composting bacteria that occur naturally in nature and to think that this is something that can be bottled and sold to gardeners is ludicrous in my opinion but then again with the right marketing, stoners will pay big money for anything with a fancy package - because I did the same with all kinds of "bloom boosters" for many years before I realized just how silly it was. The single only thing I think that may be helpful might be mycorrhizae spores but the more I garden, the more I realize that simply constructing a healthy soil is really all that's needed. I couldn't even begin to guess as to what "biologicals" could be... J
Iv never herd of biologicals only benificial bacteria and enzymes. Out side of that its beyond me as well. I have grown with Advanced nutrients for 5 years. Switching to organics once i get my manure and cook the soil i have everything else but that and castings
Castings are worms. Organics is soil without any of the nutrients. Unless I read different. Beneficial bacteria Enzymes I want to gain more knowledge on these two. Any links or good reads? Soil that is alive? Is this talk or language to ward off potential growers or get them to spend more money at hydro shops?
Beneficial bacteria are those microbes that improve the environment for the plant. Some are in the soil, some are used for preventive maintenance and some fight the bad bacteria to help defend the plant. In the soil you are dealing with the soil food web. At the bottom of this food chain is bacteria along with fungi. There is more to this but that is the general idea. Enzymes help to break apart larger molecules into smaller ones. This fits into the soil food web to break molecules into food for the micro-herd and for the plant. If you have a healthy micro-herd then using an enzyme tea made out of row 6 malted barley will provide more food for the micro-herd and will pass it on to the plant. You can Google soil food web and find out more.
Not sure if this will work, but here we go! I'm brewing up a tea to feed to my flowering girls which have been on the bottle thus far (week 4). Hoping to restore them. They are in FF soil.. I know.. I know... Anyway, we shall see what happens! 6tbl castings 1tbl rock dust (basalt) 1tsp sugar (cane) 1tbl kelp 36hr brew,
One thing I have noticed since switching to growing organically. The ash in my bowl is pure white. Never turns chunky and I no longer have the nasty taste once the bowl is finished
Do what you need to do to get through this run but I'd start thinking about putting together materials for a real so mix.... J
Hi gardeners. Its nice to see Spring finally here in the Northeast! Anyhoo, I just wanted to post a couple of pictures that my buddy took over the past weekend of some flowers that I grew recently. This is a cross of several strains that I made and call "MOZ". It is MOB which is really a clone only Indica variety that you might come across here in the Northeast - it isnt a seedbank strain. I grew out and saved a male and stored the pollen from a different friends variety which is called Zazen. This is a Northern Lights #5 x Nevilles Haze which was crossed with a Thai/pure Indica from Kandahar, Afghanistan. Anyhow, long story short, I pollinated a couple of my MOB flowers with some male Zazen pollen and made this variety which I call MOZ, just to be able to differentiate it from other strains that I grow. I just wanted to show the quality that can be achieved using organic soil gardening methods. I'm about as lazy as it gets these days and for the most part just keep my homemade compost-based soil moist with regular tap water and not much else. This is gardening that is as inexpensive and as care free as gardening can be; IMO the way gardening should be - relaxing and inexpensive. My buddy who took these pictures also gardens indoors using homemade soil; soil which is based on homemade leaf mold compost. We spent the weekend trimming up some his most recent crop and I'm estimating that he will probably pull almost 2 pounds of super high quality herb from a 6' by 8' area. What more can we ask for? Have a nice day folks. j
I just screened 10 gallons of my vermicompost and mixed up 30 gallons of soil to put my hoop house tomatoes in. Nothing better than mixing your own soil. Did that Zazen and NL5 x Neville Haze come from our LOS friend? Glad to see spring is hitting the NE.
I use to follow the same way. I do no-till cultivating in my veggie informal lodging results are amazing.. furthermore, i do likewise.. simply leave the old soil and include some manure top of the columns for the accompanying year.. anyway, don't till the manure in. it will aggravate the greater part of the life that goes ahead in our dirt and we need to keep it flourishing so by simply abandoning it be will issue you the best results. i utilize essentially the same thought for my "base soil" however simply including a couple of distinctive changes.. each plant specialist has their own little changes to best suit their loving, and sharing results is constantly refreshing!