Wow! I don't even remember doing this, let alone posting it! Soooooo much information absorbed since then. Now I know why I've been storing (and am now currently using) this "bottled nute'" for so long... http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1261305-pro-tekt-organic-garden.html Currently I'm using a kelp/alfalfa FPE (along with Pro-Tekt) as a foliar application during veg'. With GREAT results...
I still use the tea recipe fisky listed on the first page every 14 days, roughly, as a soil drench and foliar application. I foliar spray once a week using oils, aloe and silica as well, though I'm hopefully going to be able to supply enough fresh material over the next year to wean myself off buying any more oils period. The aloe and silica I use every watering though with the SIP trays being finished today I'll be able to bring it down to once a week or so supplemental top watering. Or whenever the tops dry out I'll rehydrate with my sprayer using this mix.
What's up poke'! You've got be giggling a little bit! It's been almost a year AGAIN since someone's posted here! As most growers do, I've changed my game once again based onpon the things that I've learned about organic cultivation techniques/methodology in between "then" and "now". I've not used a kelp tea in some time. I'm concentrating more on the content of my soil builds, and I'm trying to stay away from using things like foliar sprays and botanical teas so that I might realize just how complete and effective my "water only" soils are. I only use these things when/if there is some kind of "emergency". If you're thinking of using LD's (AKA Clackamas Coot) recipes, I wouldn't change a thing...
To be fair, im not using anyones recipes beyond my own lol Like you, i do not foliar spray at all. I tried it recently, the results were not what i expected. Also like you, i build a complete soil using mostly things from my own farm, like worm castings, aged manures (rabbit and chicken) etc. My teas are never measured, i dont follow a science, i just "know" is that weird sounding? Ive grown so long i can look at plants and tell with almost certainty whats wrong, even if i often fail to take my own advice LOL (i often diagnose a problem, then do everything but what i should do, exacerbate the problem, then ask august or snoop and both say, put your hat on straight boy and stop doubting yourself! ) Nice to hear youre doing the water only soil, as am i! I recently tried to do bottles nutes again after not using them for a long time and i cringed with each feeding. Plants looked shitty to me LOL I took coackmascoots advice and contacted build a soil to see if kelp makes any difference at all. Ive never needed it, but im told i dont know what im missing. Its 5 bucks for 6 cups of a sample, ill throw a 1/4 cup in a tea and see what effect it has on "bag soil" Its interesting to see the confidence gained by a year or two of trial and error. You crack me up dude, but i respect you more for it! You keep it real, i dig that! Thanks for responding. This thread has been bookmarked for a while, maybe a year or longer, i just stumbled up n it in my bookmarks last night, or whenever that was lol
Pokesmot, Strictly speaking regarding what I'll interpret as a "ky windage" approach to knowing what works and how to use those tools effectively when growing cannabis, I spent a very long "2 years" the 9 months I spent living in the woods next to a 24x36 metal building growing with a guy that can grow cannabis as good as any one of us, and probably better since he does it for a living, and he lives pretty well, raising a family and what not. Anyway, this guy can't read his kid a bedtime story, he can't use a computer, and he can get real pissy if words are used in convo that he doesn't understand no matter what the subject might be. My only point is, i feel whatcha saying man. I getcha lol! Whoever said, "it ain't rocket science" said it right. ....Peace!
I love people like that. I know a dude very similar. Dude can take a totalled car apart, fix it, make it look brand new. Could not read a word of the manual that will tell you how to do it. Insane.
Hey GiMiK, I believe I remember you saying something about using these teas to manipulate growth (or something to that effect) in BlueJay's thread. Because of seaweed extract's effect of slowing vertical growth, but creating more node sites, could I use kelp teas to retard my vegging plants' occupation of space while I'm waiting for my flowering plants to finish? And maybe adding extra kelp meal to soil I'm mixing up for mother plants?
Six more months have gone by, the thread got bumped, and my opinion has changed again based on reading more about the benefits of using kelp in organic living soils... For anyone unfamiliar with what kelp brings to the table, here's a quick breakdown... View attachment Soil amending attributes of seaweed.pdf For a more in depth analysis I would suggest purchasing T.L. Senn's Seaweed and Plant Growth. It's not supper heady, mostly just research observations on the use of kelp products and their effects on plant growth (duh!). Here's the cheapest place I've been able to find the book... http://shop.kelpproductsofflorida.com/product.sc?productId=1659 And Coot's "hydrated kelp meal trick". No bubbling required... http://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/11759569-diy-instant-kelp-meal-tea-coots-hydrated-kelp-meal-trick And as a side note, remember to make sure that the kelp you are sourcing is Asophyllum nodosum, or commonly referred to on many packaging labels as "Norwegian Sea Kelp". Out of the many species out there, it contains the most phytochemicals/trace elements that are beneficial for use in organic gardening.
lol That's where the usage of botanical foliar sprays using materials like kelp and alfalfa comes into play; to encourage specific responses outside of the "norm" for what the soil may be able to do, which may be directing growth via hormonal distribution, enhancing the rate at which the plant grows or priming the defenses. Kelp is a very useful tool in encouraging lateral growth whilst suppressing apical dominance, even without physical training. It wont stop it entirely, rather it slows the upper growth down while the redistribution of hormones takes place. It's about managing the ratios of auxin - cytokinins during the vegetative stage that allows for more control over the "shaping" of the plant, per your desires. "Plant hormones are not nutrients, but chemicals that in small amounts promote and influence the growth,<sup>[4]</sup> development, and differentiation of cells and tissues. The biosynthesis of plant hormones within plant tissues is often diffuse and not always localized." "Cytokinins or CKs are a group of chemicals that influence cell division and shoot formation. They were called kinins in the past when the first cytokinins were isolated from yeast cells. They also help delay senescence of tissues, are responsible for mediating auxin transport throughout the plant, and affect internodal length and leaf growth. They have a highly synergistic effect in concert with auxins, and the ratios of these two groups of plant hormones affect most major growth periods during a plant's lifetime. Cytokinins counter the apical dominance induced by auxins; they in conjunction with ethylene promote abscission of leaves, flower parts, and fruits.<sup>[16]</sup> The correlation of auxins and cytokinins in the plants is a constant (A/C = const.)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_hormone
Dats what I'm talkin about, hormonal manipulation. Reducing the effects of apical dominance should effectively reduce the vertical growth of the plant, right; and one way to do that is to increase the cytokinin:auxin ratio? Just throwing this out to see if it sticks: do you think we'd see a significant difference in the cytokin/auxin production in a pure indica vs a pure sativa?
Normally when I drench teas like these, I'll dilute it half strength and foliar at the same time. I mean, hey, in nature rain foliars and drenches. Also, throwing this out there to those smarties, would fertilizing my comfrey with kelp cause it to be more bushy, ie have more leaf shoots?
I dk bout the fertilizer aspect but load your holes up with compost for amazing growth in comparison to controls planted in native soil. Of the two I have at home, the one with compost almost doubles the growth of the one without. I find foliar applications to be more effective and quicker acting than soil drenches when using PGR material like kelp+alfalfa. Just my 2c.
The ship has sailed on preparing holes for these plants I've got already, but they did get a generous topdressing of compost already. I'm just trying to figure out how to get these plants to produce the absolute most possible. I'll definitely prepare holes for when I get some new ones in....still waiting, Coe. I definitely notice faster responses through foliar.
With ya on that dude. All I do with kelp tea is foliar and for seed starting. Whip up a batch of coot's kelp puree and it lasts me almost two months in the fridge, throw any I haven't used up by then in the worm bin.
[quote name="waktoo" post="17153344" timestamp="1360177684"]O.K. I mixed up a batch of kelp/alfalfa tea. 5 gal' water Hand full of kelp Larger hand full of alfalfa Bubbled 48 hours... Then added 3/4c aloe vera juice and 1 teaspoon silica (protekt, is this stuff organic? Doesn't look like it)... Hey Waktoo I know bubbling teas is better to get the dissolved O2 into the teas, but does it absolutely have to be bubbled? The reason I ask is I don't have an air pump yet. I just flipped the switch 3 days ago. I've been following Blues watering schedule and my ladies are looking great at least to me for a first time indoor grow. I am going to get a pump in the near future but not able to just yet. I'd like to incorporate some of my alfalfa with my kelp teas.