Hi GC i'm Oz and welcome to my organic progression thread, open to all. I don't have enough going on to make an interesting journal but I do want to post my pics , queries and findings without bombing all the big threads. Your all welcome to do the same here. Now I'm relatively new to gardening in general so it hasn't been to hard to TOTALY FORGET EVERYTHING I thought I knew about NPK ratios and the like, and get stuck into the RIGHT way, (normally id put an IMO after that last bit but fuck it, it's a fact) organics rocks. The hardest thing for me has been getting my head around the idea that you DO LESS , GET MORE. Newton was obviously not an organic gardener On a personal note this hobby has dragged me from the depths of depression after an injury left me feeling pretty much useless, to being so damn proud of what I have learned and the general interest i have, F2 vigor i reckon so without blowing smoke up anyones ass in particular, thanks to all the guys and girls that put in the effort to share your skills here. Am stoner will ramble.. Ok let's get to it, I started a couple of plants over the winter as soil testers really, one male pulled last week but she's doing better than I expected. She's 1 week into flower and in a bit (lol) of a weird mix, I've potted up 3 times I think and she's copped a different mix each time, I wanted to see problems, (I find it easier to learn by making errors as this shows a 'why') but she's still powering along. I am expecting to see weaknesses present themselves over the next 8 or so weeks. You wont see me giving much advice other than my own opinion as i like to live by a 'two ears , one mouth' philosophy, listen twice as much as you talk but this piece is important, get a copy of 'Teaming with microbes' and read it. I'm pretty much growing soil now and putting plants in to see how good it is I'll start an outdoor journal when the season starts here but until then I'll be practicing here Gotta go thanks for stopping by! Oz
Hey Oz, Good attitude, nice pics...great start! Welcome to the world of organic ganja. The hardest thing for me has been getting my head around the idea that you DO LESS , GET MORE. Was for me, too. Should have seen my first grow. I threw everything at them but the kitchen sink - foliars, teas, ACTs - nonstop "doing." Now, it's water only and let the micro-herd manage the soil, and let the plant manage the micro-herd. LITFA...what a concept! Good luck! See ya...
For the Aussies , kelp meal from feedstore $5 a kilo , alfalfa meal I paid $11 for a bail and ground it up myself 20kg! , worm castings any good nursery $1 per kilo. And some sprouts in 80% peat moss 20% castings popped their heads up yesterday The only thing I can't find is neem meal/cake , can get the oil but not the seed or Karanja.
Thanks Papawayne! Water only here too so far, I topdressed some castings and kelp at the beggining of flower but that's it. I've read lots of your stuff Thanks too for the welcome Oz
Welcome to the Organic section, Oz, and what a great intro! Your plants look great so far. I'm just learning the organic ropes myself. It's been a lot of fun. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I have. I'll be watching and cheering along. Take care.
Have you tried this place? Maybe someone like papawayne can attest to whether or not this is a good source. Neem Cake by Neem Tree Farms - Neem Tree Farms - All-Natural Neem for People, Pets
Thanks for the welcome pearl!! Such a great pastime. Thanks for that link , I'm in Australia though. I'm not sure why I cant find it, we press the oil here so I assume the seed meal would be around somewhere.
There's nothing wrong with being a little different... There's a shit load of threads on here asking 'what's wrong with my 2 day old seedling?!?'. Prob nothing I reckon, litfa. Here's a couple with a few of the usual differences and we'll see how they go from here. 1- outside, cold nights 8c 45f or so right in the ground a week old thin stem and already wooded /hardened from cold or maybe the soil? But all in all I think slow but healthy. 2- 2days old, sun when it's out CFL till midnight, kept inside at night 17c 60f or so in about 70-30 maybe 80-20 peat / worm castings. Fat soft stems that I assume would be more susceptible to damping and rotting. If ya can't litfa that is Updates will follow and hopefully it will become obvious as to what causes some to look a bit different to others. Oz Edit: update , potted the hand fed ones up a size, shouldn't have started them in so small trays to start off with and wont again. I'll stick to 100mm pots for seeds. Pic of my seedling mix too, 2 cups peat moss 2 cups perlite 1 cup castings Pinch of kelp
This is my sprout house, cost bugger all and will be where all my outdoories will spend the first few weeks this year, $180 delivered to my door complete.
[quote name='"SoooHaggard"']AKA Subbed and looking forward![/quote] Welcome aboard Haggard! Note for the day, Bigger isn't always better....
Noticed these on another little tester plant today, that's all of them so I just brushed them off. Anyone know what they were? (this plant is as far from organic as you can get, and the only one with bugs)
Those look like eggs or larvae of some type. Good thing you got them off. Keep an eye out man because newly hatched herbivore insects can decimate a crop (any crop) in a matter of a day or two or.... sometimes less. As for what to use to keep them away I have no clue except to try various stuff some of which might be imbedded here in the organic journal. I personally can't recommend anything particular. Do you blokes have an equivalent Dept of Ag or similar such that you have extension offices in an around the states/provinces to help local farmers out? If so, esp here in US, those folks are typically extremely helpful to farmers/ag types but be prepared that if so its rare they think outside of the "bottle" for a solution but they doggone sure might help you identify local pests and how to treat for them. Good luck mate. Bugs are voracious!
[quote name='"Possuum38North"'] Those look like eggs or larvae of some type. Good thing you got them off. Keep an eye out man because newly hatched herbivore insects can decimate a crop (any crop) in a matter of a day or two or.... sometimes less. As for what to use to keep them away I have no clue except to try various stuff some of which might be imbedded here in the organic journal. I personally can't recommend anything particular. Do you blokes have an equivalent Dept of Ag or similar such that you have extension offices in an around the states/provinces to help local farmers out? If so, esp here in US, those folks are typically extremely helpful to farmers/ag types but be prepared that if so its rare they think outside of the "bottle" for a solution but they doggone sure might help you identify local pests and how to treat for them. Good luck mate. Bugs are voracious![/quote] Thanks Possum appreciate your input. We do have dept of ag in most areas, I'll have a look into it. I think we actually have a pretty big biological farming station close by. I think I'm safe for now tho, I'll just hit anything I find with a chilli / garlic spray until I decide on a better option. I'll find em alright, if you could kill cannabis plants by looking at them too much mine would all be dead long ago One thing we do have is a very active bio-dynamic farming community, the whole 9yards moon phases, numbered preparations ect, I think I've seen it mentioned in your thread aswell. Way over my head for now but once I get some of the basic principals of organics figured I'll be looking hard at it, I've seen the results and I want in! Thanks for stopping by Oz Edit: The plant with the bugs is in pre nuted store bought bag mix, the organic plants are twice as healthy and bug free.
Now I don't know what this would be classed as but I've got about 20gallons of it, Last year I started with NO idea what I was doing and mixed up about 10gal of good soil+compost with about 10gal of compost ( I know I know) I learn from mistakes,, anyway plants showed balls, got ripped and I stashed the soil for use this year. I noticed some worms getting around in it after a month or two so i threw some banana peels and some kelp meal on to it and covered it with alfalfa straw/hay. Now it's all broken down and looks and smells like good fresh soil/compost/castings?? I don't really like to throw anything away so it'll get used somewhere probably at a few different ratios.
Hey hey! Good to see ya alive and kicking man! You should be proud of your dragging work Oz. MJ is great but not THAT great. Hard work. Big achievement! Haha F2 vigour Awesome My 2c, spot on with the 'growing soil' philosophy - an old family friend is the best gardener i know (now retired and has an INCREDIBLE farm in Vic). The guy has mad skill. Anyway he lives and breathes for the soil and reckons plants are secondary....like just a way to keep his good soil good. Haha, the guy is a bit quirky (e.g. he monitors his compost using taste ), but his ability is self-evident. Anyway, ramble. I'm in. My 4c, this year is going to be big for you EDIT: the department of Ag (equivalent) IS a good resource and the CSIRO can be even better if you know someone there. Good call Possum.
How's it feel when you handle it? Very dense or spongy? I would use it along with castings as your compost source, maybe even instead of extra peat because it already contains some. Jerry in the man when it comes to ratios with homemade compost, I am sure you can find some references in his thread, nice stash though! Maybe construct a worm bin and use it as bedding?
[quote name='"ODgrower"'] Hey hey! Good to see ya alive and kicking man! You should be proud of your dragging work Oz. MJ is great but not THAT great. Hard work. Big achievement! Haha F2 vigour Awesome My 2c, spot on with the 'growing soil' philosophy - an old family friend is the best gardener i know (now retired and has an INCREDIBLE farm in Vic). The guy has mad skill. Anyway he lives and breathes for the soil and reckons plants are secondary....like just a way to keep his good soil good. Haha, the guy is a bit quirky (e.g. he monitors his compost using taste ), but his ability is self-evident. Anyway, ramble. I'm in. My 4c, this year is going to be big for you EDIT: the department of Ag (equivalent) IS a good resource and the CSIRO can be even better if you know someone there. Good call Possum.[/quote] OD! Shit yeah brother great year for everyone I hope! If I bomb out I'll just come down and crash your party! Thanks man you got a way with words I think I'm ready to get into your thinking a bit more this year, I've been studying hard! Can't wait to see what you come up with, I hear those Russian girls can be addictive Well mate I'm off to the orthopedic surgeon for some news good bad I dunno yet but we'll see. D-Day. Great to see you OD, we'll have a catch up soon. Oz