"just like to finish up this grow strong, using organic/naturl "bud boosters" "bud candy" Without being a smart alec I honestly and truly really don't know what that means in an organic gardening setting - it really just doesn't even work like that. In an organic garden we basically construct our soils to contain everything our plants need to thrive and grow vigorously and healthy from start to finish - and then we use it again. And again. In the meantime the plants & soil microbes know exactly what our plants need and when they need it. They really take care of themselves. In a hydroponic or bottled nutrient garden we try and decide what our plants need and when they need it and we more or less force these nutrients down there throats. Both methods work and work just fine. It's just that they are really different methods of gardening. Back to your question though - what you really want to try and do is just help keep your plants as happy and healthy as possible over the upcoming months and let them do what they naturally do. Now, to help keep them happy and healthy, we can do certain things but it's not like giving them "Bud Candy" or whatever the special of the week at the Hydro store is. If I were you I might want to see if I could find some really high-quality Vermicompost (high end worm castings) and I'm not talking about the bag of Roots Organics brand, or Wiggle Worm castings that's been sitting out in the hot parking lot for the last four months, or stored in somebody's semi trailer for the last eight months, or fed newspaper only as their diet - I mean some good quality worm castings that of been fed well and stored properly, or fresh if you can get them. If you can't find that then try and find some really good, active quality thermal compost. A mixture of the two wouldn't be a bad thing either. Take some of this compost and or worm castings and mix it with some kelp meal in top dress your plants with that. That will get you where you want to be or at least as good as you can get for the balance of your grow this time around. Remember 95% of your plants roots will still be in the soil that you've got them in already. You could also soak some kelp meal in water for two or three days in feed them a tea solution made with it. A lot of the folks around here are also using malted barley teas or top dressings. Malted barley contains a slew of enzymes which will help break down any nutrition that's already in your existing soil. It could also help to break down your compost/kelp top dressing faster than it normally would. Get through this grow. In the meantime I would start back at the beginning of this thread and elsewhere around the organics forum here at grass city. Suck up the knowledge from the experienced gardeners around here and get to work in constructing your own organic soil from scratch - I would think about doing it fairly soon but don't rush it either. Your new soil will need a month or so to break down to a point where your plants can utilize it best. There's a lot of very good gardeners around here that are more than willing to help if you are willing to do some homework and ask the right questions. Peace - J
Same here! I bought the cheap "organic soil" which has 0 aeration and the Fox Farm liquid trio. In my first few weeks I watched reruns of weed country and became interested in building my own soil. My first Google search result brought me here. Needless to say I'm hooked! The intelligence from the community and friendliness of it's members have helped me with my first grow immensely. Thanks again guys and gals
Well it just poured here in the Springs area and my organic soil mix was outside in a kiddie pool and it got totally drenched. I didn't think to get it covered in time. I could tell the rain puddled in the soil and caused a lot of the perlite in the Sunshine Mix to float to the surface of the soil. The kiddie pool does have some holes in the bottom and it is sitting on top of a wood pallet. Will this be enough to drain it? I'm worried it got too wet and I don't want it to stay too wet for too long. What do you guys think? I should add, I haven't added my aeration source yet so it's not draining as much as it probably should be. The only aeration currently in the mix is the perlite that was already in the Sunshine Mix.
1 good drenching won't hurt it any.. Do get it dried out and don't let the water stagnate or the soil go anaerobic on you.. Stir regularly until you get it back in the just moist range and cover the next time it rains.. BNW
Greetings fellow earthlings First of all I want to thank all the contributers for all your info awesome work I'm glad there are still good people around. So I mixed up my soil about two weeks ago I've kept it in a 27 gallon bin closed would that be an issue cause its starting to have a strong aroma or is that just the kelp? Oh and will azomite work for the rock dust? Thanks guys and sorry if anything is too obvious to ask about.
Depends on what you mean by "strong aroma". If it smells bad, then you might have an anaerobic situation going on. Alot of amendments have a strong smell to me but they don't necessarily have the "stink" that I associate with anaerobic. Sorry I can't be of more help there. As far as storage goes, I keep my soil in totes. I have holes drilled in the lid and also along the bottom of the bin for drainage. On the Azomite question, here's a link to that discussion.... http://forum.grasscity.com/unknown/1283184-azomite-reasonable-substitute-rock-dust.html
Thanks BNW. I mixed it up again and the sun finally came out so it is drying out. Do you think I run the risk of losing any nutrients due to all the runoff/drainage?
I made the mistake of WAY over saturating my mix with a molasses, EWC and compost tea a few weeks back. I'll be transplanting my seedlings into the mix in the next 2ish weeks. I hope I didn't cause too much damage but we are gonna find out!
If you are growing in a red state then I would. I'm growing tomatoes in the same soil and they are taking off.
How's this sound: Per cu/ft: Base: 2.5 gal Peat, 2.5 gal Perlite, 1.25 gal Bagged Compost (NOT WM BRAND), 1.25 gal EWC (local grow shop white bag), 1 cup lime. I bought WAY more of the base ingredients (2x on some, 4x on others)...would I be better off having more EWC vs bagged compost? I only need 1 cu/ft EWC for my whole batch (50 gal), and I have 3 on hand... Nutrition: 1c Kelp Meal, 1/2c each of Organic Dry Ferts, Blood, Bone, and Neem Meals (that adds up to 3 cups per cu/ft)... I'm going with the variety to make my initial purchase go farther, and help with bugs from the get-go. I'm gonna mix all the nutrition amendments together in a tote in the correct balance so I can just grab a scoop as some top dressing later. Might some EWC mixed in with the leftover nutrient mix hurt anything? Also picked up some Alaska Fish Fertilizer...need to refresh where to use that. Minerals: 1.5c Glacial Rock Dust and 1/2c Azomite (2 cups per cu/ft)... On this one I'm a bit confused. ITG's original recipe calls for 4c per cu/ft, but a lot of the posts I see here make me think maybe that's too much. A lot of you more experienced growers lead me to the 2c per ft. I did grow some tomatoes and peppers in the plain ITG base mix (without cooking it first)...they were the BEST plants we've grown here ever, even if they were late (no cooking)...can't blame the slow start on the extra GRD, but if the majority says 2 per ft...??? I also have some DE...would I add this in as part of the minerals package or the nutrition? DIY ~6 gal fabric pots, Alaska SIP style...same res feeds both flower and veg...going for no-till...any downsides to offset planting (vs in the center of the pot) in fabric pots? I'm hoping not... Anything wrong/need more or less? Something I missed? Got an EWC brewer running and I'm already using the tea (holy CRAP)....haven't figured out how I'm gonna top-water the teas while they are sitting on the SIP...
theres a river thats drying up close to where I live. this is leaving the riverbed exposed. So its my understanding that this dirt/soil is silt. Im on wikipedia and they mention it being called "rock flour" and also mention glacial silt. And I know that glacial rock dust is something good to use in a soil mix. So.......can I gather up this silt thats readily available at the moment....and use it in my soil mix as the rock dust part?
Absolutely. That's how JayKush sources his. Great work figuring that out BTW. You are definitely on the right track.
I don't know the context of the question, but yes. Blackstrap, unsulph. molasses goes in all my teas.
Thanks for the reply RCC. The context of my question has to do with the premise of this thread, that is, a "water only" organic soil. Does that mean if I follow ITG's simple outline, that I can use water-only thru veg and flower? Or is it advisable to add organic teas? Also, how does one typically respond to nute deficiencies in an organic soil like this? I'm assuming the idea is you provide everything up front, but c'mon, someone especially us noobs is bound to mess something up... Would you just top feed the needed amendment to combat the deficiency?
Identify the deficiency and top-dress accordingly to supplement whatever your ladies are needing. Feeding teas in a "water only" soil is more than ok and you will see plenty of benefit using them.