Indoor gardening without bottled nutrients

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

  1. There is a good amount of perlite in the roots organic soil, but the pieces are small and definitely not in proportion once everything else was added.
     
  2. You want smaller perlite imo not bigger. More surface area when pieces are smaller = more aeration. I made this mistake once aswell when i was starting out.
     
  3. I think perlite has its place in gardening of course but I'm just not a fan of perlite in a living organic soil. I'm sure it's just me but when I do feel I need aeration I really like buckwheat hulls. I've also used coco hulls which work great and smell better lol - chocolate soil FTW! :)


    J
     
  4. Lava rock or pumice is better than perlite if you're into that kind of thing, in my opinion at least. Rice hulls are nice too but be careful where you source them.


    cocoa shells make a great mulch too! Fungi love the stuff

     
  5. Problem with rice hulls is they break down. I have a mix of rice hulls and perlite.
     
  6. #3226 ladyluckybean, Sep 5, 2015
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2015
    that was me. i mentioned neem too. i have a hard time emulsifying it so it didn't work well for me personally so i use the stylet oil with azamax tank mixed. most people have no problems emulsifying it so many feel it works well like jerry. if you find that you're getting a oily thick layer that won't go away, try the stylet oil with azamax tank mixed. stylet oil offers some similar traits as neem oil but only one way to regulate insect growth, so that is why i bought the azamax which is a synthetically derived form of azadiractin; not a cold pressed process like neem oil.


    much better info provided here:
    http://www.stylet-oil.com/HOME-AND-GARDEN-i-13-1.h...


    I personally feel the best thing to use is what works best for you, targets the specific pest, and is easiest for you to maintain for IPM on a weekly basis. that is what i was trying to suggest.


    great responses to everyone's questions so far. i'm reading backwards though. [​IMG]
     
  7. I seem to read that people frequently have a hard time emulsifying neem oil. I have few tricks I picked up while working as a chef to get that stuff suspended. First i make sure my neem is warm and my water hot. I will also add about 1tsp/gal of ground mustard, mustard is an awesome emulsifier and is not subject to spoilage like egg yolk. I use a fine wire wisk and mix the shit out of that water as you SLOWLY add your neem, don't just dump it in and mix, just a slow steady stream and constant mixing. Ive never had any separation when using this method
     
  8. always use warm water when mixing oils! pro-tekt/silica seemed to work pretty well when I used it.
     
  9. Yes well I need a helmet when mixing neem cause I'm special. heheh
     
  10. Just like making hollandaise sauce...


    I like the mustard trick!
     
  11. That's actually where I learned it, having to make hollandaise sauce every day for smoked salmon.
     
  12. When using Neem I always mix it with big time exterminator. The exterminator has a powerful emulsification agent (it's an organic product) that helps emulsify the neem almost instantly. At 5-20 ml per quart of water the exterminator when mixed makes the water foam out of the bottle. It's expensive, but it's a powerful combo with Neem. Have targeted russet mites, spider mites, aphids, and thrips with no problems.
     
  13. How often do you use the neem?
     
  14. Once a week
     
  15. Wow, another awesome thread to read through and take lots of notes from. You guys are loaded with great & useful information. Thank you for putting the time into these threads!
     
  16. I just dumped some old grow soil into my composters to amend it. I added 4 cups of alfalfa meal, one cup blood meal, one cup oyster shell, one cup kelp meal, one cup of neem cake, and two tablespoons mycorrhizal fungi to each composter. Added vaped city water after mixing it in well and then gave it a few more tumbles. I hope I did not go overboard with the amendments. If so I can cut it down with more old soil. Any suggestions Jerry? Thank you!
     
  17. How much soil was that? I need to research how to amend my soil for the first time, my grows almost finished, I'm looking forward to the answer buddy
     
  18. The amounts of amendments I added were added to each tumbler. My tumblers are about 35 gallons capacity each, and are about 80% full. I leave some room for things to mix as it tumbles. These will sit where they get sun when available for most of the day. After 4 weeks I will dump them into totes for storage till needed so I can get another batch going. I also keep a pile of compost going on the ground that is swarming with worms and life, I always add two or three shovels full to the tumblers when starting a new batch to help kick it into action. I am not nearly as experienced as Jerry and some of the other guys in here and I hope to improve my game from the knowledge available here. Hope that helps.
     
  19. So this was roughly for a 30 gallon mix? Add another 1-2 cups Oyster shell. Way too much alfalfa and not enough of everything else. Youd have been fine with more kelp than anything else. That's going to have a lot of nitrogen inthere!!
     
  20. #3240 jerry111165, Sep 26, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 26, 2015
    I think you'll be just fine - I'm sorry I just noticed your post.


    It is virtually next to impossible to really "overdo" organic amendments in a soil mix. It may just take longer the more you use to break down into forms that your plants can utilize and of course lengthen the time before it won't "burn" your plants.


    This timeframe and the breaking down of your organic soil amendments is known as "Nutrient Cycling". Your soil will break the amendments down as a direct result of how "alive" it is, which also directly correlates to the quality of your humus components in the soil - ie: your compost and vermicompost.


    More soil amendments are not always better when "rejuvenating" a used soil mix. It takes a long time for a lot of the soil amendments we use to totally break down so you can rest assured that you'll get quite a few grows even from the initial mix without even adding anything. Of course it never hurts to topdress a little of this or that here and there to be constantly putting back in what's being used.


    I'm sure that your composted will work fine to remix your soil up and you'll be using that soil again soon - I'd just make sure you wait 3-4 weeks after adding the amendments before you use it again. You'll probably see it actually heat up with the added alfalfa - stick your hand in there and feel it - if it's still warm I'd give it another couple weeks.


    You may also want to save the mycorrhizae spores for actual transplant time. They require direct living root contact to germinate so I don't know if they will just sit stagnant until they come in contact with plant roots? I just dust my plant roots at the plants initial transplant. Once is all that's needed.


    J
     

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