Hey guys, I made a post before in the sick plants section and someone suggested I post here. Here's the link to my old thread containing photos of the plants. http://forum.grasscity.com/sick-plants-problems/1347197-stunted-1-month-old-plants-yellow-tips-new-growth-yellow-some-ram-horn.html 1. What is the best way I can reamend my soil? I have no local sources available for ingredients, so where is the best place to order? 2. What should I do with these plants? Chunk or try fix soil and veg longer? 3. If I have to order, I want to make an order so I can make some more soil, and also fix up what I have. Where should I start? Soil Mix I Currently Use (But it's old!) EWC Espoma Tomato Tone Espoma Lime Espoma Kelp Meal Perlite Azomite Peat Moss This is round maybe 3 or 4 for me. I've harvested twice before. First crop was hermie ridden, second crop I was too anxious and I cut way too early I think. Didn't keep proper track. My first time was a nightmare with chem nutes but the next go around the plants seemed to do awesome with the organic mix! All I had to do was water. There were minor issues, like the azomite I believe and maybe I could use some extra goodies, but it was better than the chem shit. Oh, and after my second harvest, I grew the last "fem" seed I had. I grew her up, took 8 clones. About 5 lived to be healthy and nice and I grew them to preflower, only to find that somehow that seed wasn't fem. And here I am now with this crop I just want my super fruity harvest!!!!
Damn. 164 views and nobody has anything to say? Buncha' slack-asses... How many grows has the recycled soil been through prior to this one? Regardless, it most likely will need some help. Start with a compost tea, as I've mentioned in the other thread. I would propose a top dressing of this mixed with some quality EWC... http://buildasoil.com/products/nutrient-kit-without-minerals
I used it for basically one grow. Then I mixed more EWC and amendments and added to that, used it again but had to abort mission. Then it sat all summer long. I'll start checking into compost tea's and such. I know all the info I need is right around me that's probably why no one wants to answer, but sometimes with so much info it's tough to get started. Plants are looking decent, but small for their age. Tops are emerging, I'm doing LST. sad about the auto because I don't know how much bigger it's going to get lol. If I only get an eigth...
Sounds like a compost tea is all you need to get the microbial populations up and running again. This will help you get started with that... http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1110985-act-aerated-compost-tea.html As it's a thread within a thread (Organic Growers Sticky Library), I doubt that you will get any response if you post any questions there. Feel free to PM me if you have any.
Do you think I can make a tea without the aeration? Or is it not worth it? I'm talking about dumping in the molasses and ewc and stirring for 36 hrs. I have the money for a simple brewer but I've been trying really hard to save lately. Also do you think this will solve my plants problems? Or is it just a start? I'm going to have to order the stuff to make the tea
This is a 19 day old plant in this soil when I first made it Now I know something is wrong before I didn't really know if the plants were small for their age or not but man....... I should have some freaking big girls by now man View attachment 1444142 View attachment 1446950
Those pic comparisons just made me decide to take action today while I still have some cold weather left to run my 1000 for the season fuck man being lazy and procrastinating always fucks me
Yeah, lots of growers do just fine with mixing their "teas" manually. A stick and a 5 gallon bucket is all you really need. It's how everyone did it before large aquarium air pumps came on the market. Lots of dissolved O[SUB]2[/SUB] is only necessary if you want to multiply and keep up with growing microbial populations, which is preferable if you're wanting to water down a small amount of tea to spread over a large area. You're just watering a few buckets, so you'll do just fine with the microbes that are extracted from the EWC. They will multiply some because of the molasses, but nowhere near the amount that they would if you had the proper levels of dissolved O[SUB]2 [/SUB]mixed into the tea. I can't say with 100% certainty that the tea will fix your problem. But from what you've described to me, I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that your growth is sluggish due to the fact that your soil has been sitting around dry for so long without any plants in them. Plants feed microbes with "exudates" that they produce and give off through their roots. With no food and moisture to sustain them, it's only natural to assume that the majority (if not all) of the microbes that were present in your soil when you were actually growing in it have either died or gone into stasis (or "hibernation"). How much tea are you figuring you're going to need to deal with all your plants?
Well honestly given their size, I don't see why 5 gallons wouldn't do it. They are in 7 gal buckets, but he root systems are obviously no where near that developed. Since I have 4 plants small size it should be enough? ----EDIT***** I'm about to order castings and molasses, can anyone give me some source suggestions? I'm almost positive I can't find the stuff around me. Thinking about ordering a big batch of stuff to really get my soil going...what else should I add in?
I think 5 gallons should be plenty. You can always mix up another batch later if necessary. I'd get the castings from BAS. They're produced by Worm Power, and are some of the very best on the market. http://buildasoil.com/products/pure-worm-castings?ref=yotpo_93 I'm pretty sure that you should be able to find molasses in your area. Look in the baking section of your local grocery store. If you have health food stores in your area, you should be able to source it there as well. Make sure to get "unsulfured" black strap molasses, and that it's made from sugar, not sugar beets. To be honest, I don't even use the stuff anymore. You don't HAVE to have it, especially if your goal is not multiplying microbes, but rather just extracting them. Not to mention you'll save on shipping, 'cause it's kind of heavy. If you want extras for your soil, you can never go wrong with kelp meal, neem meal, and crab/crustacean meal. Three very simple ingredients that provide just about everything you need for a living soil. Although I doubt that you'll need it if you reamended your soil after the first use. Maybe for reamending down the line, or mixing up your next batch of soil.... They are all in the "nutrient kit without minerals" from BAS that I posted a link to earlier. There is another mix from BAS that includes all of those things as well as rock dust and mineral amendments, which you might want to consider because I don't see any rock dust in your mix. Once again, maybe for your next batch of soil... http://buildasoil.com/products/the-clackamas-kit
Thanks so much dude, gonna order today. After the tea is 'brewed' do I need to strain it before applying to my plants? I think no right? I think I'm going to order 16 gallons of castings. I might hold off on their nute mix, like you said for next time.
I don't have the time right now to get into it because I'm headed into town to run some errands, but I'd like to converse with you later this evening about mixing your tea. Understanding of ACT and its benefits have come a long way since MM's thread was started. I do things a little bit differently based on other things that I have learned since then... You don't need to strain your tea as long as you think that the watering can/container/whatever you're going to use isn't going to get plugged up with the EWC. I always strain mine, and then top dress the pots with the dregs after all the watering is done.
So what should I do? I haven't made a move yet but I want to do something soon as I can. Should I just make a new soil and start over? Man i wish there was a simple way to do this stuff. Seems like some people just throw seeds in the ground and have no problems. It has to be a problem with the soil because other plants grown in the soil when first mixed did well
Found some EWC locally and put 2 cups in 5 gallons of water. Let's see what happens, I hope it helps. I'm going to apply it around 3-7PM tomorrow I would love to do ACT but my phone just broke and I bought a new one and some more BS, so let's see if this will do the trick.
I would use what you have, pick up an ecoplus 1 airpump and get an ACT started. If you want to expand past that just look into kelp and/or neem seed meal, in that order imo. Kelp can be used in the soil and as a "tea" for watering and/or foliar applications. Worth every penny spent on it. This is MicrobeMan's website, which has quite a bit of information and ratios regarding ACTs. I highly recommend reading this. http://microbeorganics.com/ A recipe for a balanced nutrient cycling ACT which many growers claim to have great success with is; [vermi]compost – 2.38% unsulphured pure black strap molasses - 0.50% [but you can use a maximum 0.75%] The brew time should average around 36 hours and no longer than 48 hours. If you have a microscope then stop when the microbes desired are observed. Otherwise smell for the foodstocks being used up, possible rank odor (indicating anaerobes) and a positive earthy or mushroom-like aroma.
Yeah I was reading there and that's how I got the idea to do it without the air. I know ACT is better but I just cant right at this point in time. I do have kelp though from mixing my soil, so maybe I can look into adding that into my next tea.
Did you compare the EWC amounts recommended by MM to those recommended in Vermicomposting Technology? They're very different, and for very different reasons.
If it were me ...I'd mulch with two inches of those worm castings. An alfalfa/kelp botanical would go a long way. 2tb alfalfa/ 1tbs kelp per gallon soaked for 24hrs. Strain. Drench the soil. If none of this is appealing, try and EWC slurry. Add EWC and just enough water to make an EWC 'milkshake' in an old milk jug. Put the cap on and shake like hell for 5 minutes...apply to soil. Good luck. It gets easier.