I have some plants in veg that are looking pretty sad. I'd like to topdress with some vermicompost and comfrey. I don't have any vermicompost that has cured. I can't remember the reasoning but I've heard so many people say it's best cured. All I have is in my active smart pot bin. Would it be a bad idea to just grab a handful for each plant? It was mostly amended compost with some chickity doo doo. It was started in April and I planned on harvesting it in October. Solo
I'd like to pull some info from more experienced people, but I think 'best when cured' doesn't translate to 'don't use until cured.' I think it just speaks to the benefits of giving the microorganisms more time to work on the material. Just like with compost, you can use it as soon as it looks good, but letting it sit even longer will give you added benefits. But, wait for some VOE to crawl in here.
Ok, the shakey VOE here. It took several years before I got far enough ahead to actually "cure" any VC. I noticed pretty much zero benefit from curing. Actually, less benefit over the fresh VC. Like no viable cocoons (they had hatched long before), little or no baby worms, and it seemed, reduced microbe activity. I was less than impressed with the 'cured' stuff over fresh. It's ok for fresh mixes because the heat *cooks* the babies and a good bit of the cocoons when it heats up. I'll add fresh after it cycles and cools off, just before planting stuff in it, and of course the top dressing. I really think Coot was fucking with our heads with what commercial producers do to improve a sub par (compared to homegrown), product, by even mentioning the whole curing deal. I really saw no added benefits. Perhaps a better NPK profile, but less *life*. IMO of course. Even after harvest I might add a bit of comfrey for whatever hatches or worms that I missed. The 'life', to me, is way more important than the NPK profile. Wet
I'd use it in a heartbeat, and your idea of mixing in some fresh chopped comfrey is an excellent one. Like Wetdog, I've used both and have not seen any noticeable difference - only good things on both counts. Regarding fresh comfrey, fwiw, last week (no, 2 weeks ago) I potted some clones into some older soil. I wanted to give it a bit of pep in its step so I tore up a mess of fresh comfrey leaves and layered the 1 gallon pots with it, I was a little nervous adding that much fresh comfrey to young plants soil but now, 2 weeks later the plants are perfect with healthy bright white roots poking out of the bottom and no sign of negativity - only health. Do it. J
thanks guys. To be honest the curing didn't make a lot of sense to me...my no tils that i flower in are mostly castings by now and they explode with growth as soon as I transplant. The plants I am having issues with are some in 5 gallon fabric pots that I was trying to use as no til moms. They all had really nice plants in them before so I cloned in 3" sq pots, chopped the moms, and transplanted after rooting. The thai strains all rooted in less than 2 weeks. Fastest I've ever had. 3+ weeks later and they all look like shit. Little to no growth. Temps are high, around 90+, but still... Solo
Too bad they aren't doing well. You'd think if any plant can handle 90+ degrees it would be a Thai cannabis plant. I'd make a 50/50 chopped comfrey and fresh vermicompost mulch and add a nice thick layer, even working it gently in a little bit of possible. Perhaps they just need a little boost and that will hopeful do the trick. J
Kinda what I thought about the temps. If you can believe breeders most of what im running are all equatorial/tropical sativas. The plants in my 15 gallon not tils are loving it. Its these smaller ones that are giving me fits. My seedlings don't look happy either. I know everyone says water source is rarely the issue, but when I leave a bucket out overnight there is a film on the surface when I go to use it. Would anyone else be concerned? Solo
In passing a professor told me plants stop 'working' above 85F, after researching it's an issue of water conservation. "For plants to perform photosynthesis, they must keep their stomata open so they can take in carbon dioxide. But leaves must also retain a certain amount of water internally, to maintain turgor pressure and to provide water for photosynthesis. The result is that, on a sunny day when the plant is photosynthesizing like crazy, the plant is losing lots and lots of water, as water vapor is released through the open stomata. The plant can close its stomata to conserve water-but then photosynthesis would stop for lack of carbon dioxide. (This is what happens when temperatures rise above about 85 degrees F for many plants. Some desert plants have special adaptations to continue photosynthesizing in hot, dry weather.)" So it could be an issue of the plant not producing enough through photosynthesis for it to eat throughout the day and nigh. Since they're still small with a hardly established root system, they don't have big stores of sugars to hold them through periods of stress. Also if your temps are fluctuating a lot that's enough to stress out young plants, even big temperature fluxes in 20yr old trees can be fatal if it's happening at a crucial time (winter->spring transition). edit: source http://www.assoc.garden.org/courseweb/course1/week... And the issue of heat came up when I was in the greenhouse and the misters blasted me in the face, they mist the plants once an hour during the day so the evap cools them down.
From what I can recall, all that curing accomplishes with vermicompost is increased nutrient availability in exchange for a lowered microbial profile. The only positive I can think of to leaving it be is the ability to encourage more fungal proliferation....but with a decently tended (read - quality inputs) vermicomposting system I see no reason why fungal biomass would be a cause for concern. I usually have some sitting around before I end up using it but IMO fresh is best. Right out of the bin and onto a pot of soil.
I top dressed everything last night with some comfrey and fresh, right out of the bin, vermicompost. I'd say it was about 85% done. Still a few rice hulls here and there but overall it was really nice, dark, crumbly material. And FILLED with cocoons. I'll report back in a couple days. Ultimately I really need to get my temps under control... Solo
Applying my first batch of verimcompost tomorrow as a top dress some for some of my flowering ladies. 6 month from food scrap to thermophilic compost to vermicompost. Isn't it exciting to be using your own stuff! Already have another 100 or so of gallons of finished compost thats getting mixed with chicken compost and ammended. I'll add the worms and let it sit until next spring and use this years stuff next year. I'm trying to get a year ahead, we'll see how it turns out
How much Tai are we talking? 100% ? I couldn't remember correctly cuz Ina a stoner but if I'm not mistaken the like a "looser" soil much like where they are grown ..... I think I read that shit somewhere