I currently have some fox farms happy frog soil. I was thinking of using that as a base, possibly with some pro mix and adding in some amendments. Currently I have bonemeal and blood meal. What would be some other effective amendments for this mix? I've seen a few amendments I'm interested but I don't really know the ratios or anything like that. I'm a newbie to organics and growing in general so any input is appreciated. "We made nature illegal. This just shows how unnatural we have become"
Click the link in my signature. Read the first few pages. They don't use a base like fox farms or promix but you could still add the same amendments at the same ratio. Or read the organic soil for beginners thread. There's far too many different mixes in that thread too. Bham Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
You will definitely want a few more items to make a complete soil. Worm castings or compost is absolutely crucial. Lime will help balance your ph and provide calcium. And rock dust helps build a healthy soil life for your plants to thrive. Your blood and bone meal cover the basic N-P of the NPK but greensand would provide the missing K. I would recommend add at the very least Worm castings Green Sand Rock Dust Lime Kelp, alfalfa, and guano too for a really kick ass soil.
I agree with you and your recommendations. But I would personally recommend oyster shell flower or crab meals instead of dolomite lime. Lime just doesn't do as much as crab or oyster. Just an opinion though. Bham Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I totally respect your opinion. I use 1/2 cup lime and 1/2 cup oyster in my mix for good balance. I just think the lime is easier to source for most people.
Thank you both for the suggestions! I think I will go that extra way to get a kick ass mixture and get alfalfa meal, and kelp meal along with the other basic amendments you added. I'm guna hold off on the guano but happy frog already has some in it. Also, I think I'm guna try lime and oyster shell together. "We made nature illegal. This just shows how unnatural we have become"
Of course it is, and there is pretty much ZERO difference between calcitic lime (Penningtons@Lowes or HD), and oyster shell flour. The cost of both products are pretty much the same, in house. But, OSF sounds so cool people seem more than willing to spend 3x the cost of the product in shipping rather than drive to HD. $45 vs $15!?! I guess you could frame the empty bag as wall art? BTW, greensand and kelpmeal really compliment each other, especially after the first cycle on. Cd
I've never ordered my grow supplies online so I can't comment on that. The local grow shop specializes in bulk organic ammendments and gives me a 20% discount on everything for being a loyal costumer. Only a couple blocks from my house, so I can't beat that.
Could you guys recommend any teas? Preferably something that can be reused as amendments. I have one plant going right now and I'm only recently been getting more into organics. I had planned on ordering bottled nutes but now I don't really want to waste the money or time on a method of growing I'm not guna stick with. I want something just to give it some nutes for flowering and to re-enrich the soil. It's currently in fox farms soil with a low pH of like 6.2 since I've been using nothing but 6.8 water and no additives for about 2 weeks. Just recently I've been adding a bit of bonemeal and blood meal to the top soil and raking it in. I've only done that for two feedings. "We made nature illegal. This just shows how unnatural we have become"
Big +1 on that! I try and shop local for as much as I can and ship only when there is no alternative. Cd
Take 1/2 cup alfalfa and 1/4 cup kelp meal and allow it to soak in 4 gallons of water for 24-36hrs. Stir it up a few times if you can. You can strain it if you like or not and water your plants as usual. I don't bother to strain it. Most of the 'chunkage' stays in the bottom of my watering can. When there's a cup or so of water left in the watering can I'll shake it up real good and then pour the shmegma onto the worm bin. \nIt borders on stupid how well this works. Probably costs a few cents a gallon...if that. Read up on triacantonol (sp) and alginic acid...if you're really bored. It will give some idea of what's going on here. \nLil copy n paste job there from yesterday. Welcome to the organic party!!! You no longer need a pH meter. If you still need help mixing up a proper soil....let me know. Organic growing is going to require a change in mind-set. It's no longer "I need this for veg and that for flower". It's not about N-P-K. Or pH. \nIt is about life and caring for it. It's about quality humic material. ie. compost/vermicompost that is made properly. It's also about choosing amendments that are sustainable, ethical, and healthy for both you and your plants. As an example...let's think about where bone and blood meal are being sourced from?
Yes, $15/$16, it's been a year or so. Dolomite is $4.50/40lbs as a cost comparison. It is Pennington's 'Fast Acting'. I'll brave the cold if you need more label info, but it is 100% calcitic lime. Cd
Where I live calcitic lime under the name 'Supersweet' goes for about 3 bucks for a 50lb sack. I paid 15 bucks for Pacific Pearl OSF. On the West Coast I've seen it sold for as little as $9.95. Really what matters when dealing with Calcium Carbonate is the mesh size - this has a direct impact on availability. This is why oyster shell from feed stores is not recommended. OSF- 98% + calcium carbonate Calcitic lime 98% calcium carbonate Dolomite lime is calcium cabonate + magnesium carbonate ( forget the % ) it ends up being a 2:1 Ca:Mg ratio. Read about the Albrecht Ratio if you care to find out why this is less than ideal.
Appreciate all the advice!!! Very helpful information. I will most definitely use that kelp meal and alfalfa meal tea, plus I can re-use them as amendments. Really looking forward to the organics side of growing! I'm glad I found it as early as I did in my growing experience and didn't waste all my money on garbage chemical fertilizers. "We made nature illegal. This just shows how unnatural we have become"
Are there any other amendments that are a good source of K? I see a slight potassium problems possibly rising. Very tips of leaves are yellowing and on a few leaves they are slightly burnt at the tips. I was hoping there was something I could add to the tea which is a good source of K. This is from a leaf I clipped. This is one of few that are burnt looking. All my leaf tips look like the second photo though. I could just be paranoid but I rather catch any issues sooner than later. I'm looking forward to not having to deal with problems like this once I switch over fully to organics. What nute def could cause a skinny stem and or yellowing/ burning? Yellowing of leaves and skinny stem is the only real issues I'm seeing with my plant at the moment. I know it's not nute burn cause I haven't been feeding anything but water for awhile and soil pH is at 6.0-6.2. Just recently I've added some small amounts of bone meal but the yellowing was before that. "We made nature illegal. This just shows how unnatural we have become"
If you're trying to diagnose a potential nutrient deficiency, you need to take pictures of the whole plant. Please keep in mind that small leaf color abnormalities are NORMAL and should be expected. I get them all the time. I've never experienced 100% prefect looking leaves 100% of the time. Leaves lower in the canopy tend to show these abnormalities first. As long as the perceived problem is not wide spread or spreading, there's nothing to worry about. Concentrate on the whole plant and especially the new growth to determine whether or not something is actually "wrong". Bone meal takes a long time to break down, and requires a healthy microbial population to do so. Top dressing with it is not going to fix any of the problems that you think your are experiencing. You were given very solid advice by RD in post #12. Soluble nutrients contained within a kelp/alfalfa tea go to work immediately, just like chemical fertilizers...
Appreciate it! I'm definitely doing the tea. I read somewhere that pH can be raised with bonemeal and mine is low so I figured I would give it a try, it makes sense that it takes awhile to break down though. Im kinda jumping the gun here. Basically decided I really liked organics midway through a plant. My whole growing experience has been really crazy and had to do a lot of stuff on the fly. I had no clue I would be starting an op when I did. I was gifted this plant unexpectedly. I've been learning a lot and doing a lot of new things as I go along. It's been crazy but it's been a great learning experience and I'm really beginning to understand growing on a deeper level, although I have a lot to learn. I'm really overwhelmed right now cuz I had no time to prepare or gather supplies or anything like that. I really appreciate everyone's input cuz it's been helping me get all my shit figured out. "We made nature illegal. This just shows how unnatural we have become"
Well, welcome to the world of microbial nutrient cycling! Soil pH is something that is consistently over hyped and misrepresented by the purveyors of chemical nutrients, mostly due to the fact that monitoring and adjusting pH in HYDRO' grow systems is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, the chemical nature of hydroponic growing has somehow infiltrated and convoluted the basic understanding of growing in soils, especially those that are microbiologically active, or "living". The common belief is that it's important to keep the pH at a particular "sweet spot" in order to maximize full nutrient uptake across the board. Actual soil chemistry dictates that the pH changes on a consistent basis, moment to moment. These fluctuations in soil pH are driven by microbial action, plant root nutrient ion exchange, and naturally occurring plant root exudates. Well built soils naturally buffer wide fluctuations in pH, mostly due to the addition of lime in the form of calcium carbonate. The uptake of soluble nutrients through plant root nutrient ion exchange is dictated mostly by nutrient solute concentration, and proximity of said solute in relation to root nutrient absorption sites. The grand majority of nutrient ions are positively charged. Plant roots (and soil microbes? I'm not sure..) exude hydrogen ions (which are negatively charged) in exchange for nutrient cations. pH is a measurement of hydrogen ions in solution. Is it no wonder why chemical growers in the "Sick plants and problems" forum are always posting about the "low pH" of their runoff? Over-application of chemical fertilizers is the culprit... Measuring soil runoff for pH is only a measurement of the pH of the soil solution at that particular moment in time. Trying to maintain the "perfect" pH balance by adjusting the feed water is a fools errand. But the fools don't get it...
^^^ I like how Wak tried to give you the "why" we do what we do. I'll give ya the 'bro' version. Use Blue's soil recipe (or Coots) off the first page of the no-till thread. The soil is the key to you not fucking this up!!! If the plant starts to fade to a lighter shade of green give it the tea I mentioned earlier. Spray 1x week w/ neem oil till the first week of flower. Keep temps, light , humidity, air exchange, soil moisture, etc. at proper levels and harvest. Can't make it easier than that. It ain't rocket science. RD