Heyy everyone, again haha I'm back and, to be honest, need as much organic growing advice as possible!! lol If anyone wants to post up either PICS/INFO of the Organic Nutes that they find work well, and tell the effect it had on plants, all other organics used/conditons, and kind of grow it was, THAT'D BE AWESOME!! I'll Start w/ my current Outdoor Grow - For 25 bag-seed plants in roughly 1/2 pro-mix + 1/2 native soil (mulched): Aged Cow manure - (Good Stuff, duh) Aged Compost - (Great Stuff, duh) Fish Emulsion - (Good for growth, bad for bears/critters) Seabird Guano - (Seems good . . . still observing affects) Molasses - (Always good stuff, mostly for flower, but some for veg.) I'm still looking for more organic veg. and flowering nutes too, so and info/tips would be appreciated . . . Soooo, GO AHEAD EVERYONE, POST UP SOME PICS/INFO ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE ORGANICS!!
SCMurray, I would say that one of the most important amendments you can add to your planting holes is kelp meal. It's full of different minerals, as well as plant growth hormones, vitamins and amino acids. Use it in AACT's and use the teas as both a foliar spray and a soil drench. I am also partial to fresh worm castings as an additional compost component. (plus its great in teas). I would be careful using fish emulsion however, use a cold processed liquid fish hydrolysate instead.. Benefits of Hydrolyzed Fish Fertilizer is a brief article about the benefits of liquid fish hydrolysates. This post here has one the most complete, water only fertilizer/soil mixes I've had the pleasure to use. You would do well to read more postings by LD..... Good luck in your endeavors, chunk
Chunkdaddyo- Thanks for the info man! I'll def. be taking notes. But can you elaborate more on the 'AACT's? and possibly on the correct way to make fairly simple teas (limited budget)?? Like I said, i'm pretty new at this stuff. haha Thanks a bunch Chunk!!!
SCM, This site will get you started with brewing AACT's on a budget. Afterreading this page, you can build a small home brewer for cheap. : Post your Organic Tea Recipe! is a sticky thread at the top of this forum. Read through it to get an idea of the different teas and the different affects on the plants. Remember that the teas are not necessarily a fertilizer, but rather a catalyst for releasing the dry fertilizers already in our soil mixes. The goal in brewing your tea is to create a brew that it rich in micro-organisms. These various microbes facilitate the plant's uptake of the nutrients (both macro and micro) that the plant needs. There is some fascinating science to be learned, and you have to start somewhere. I suggest reading as much as you can when you can, and post questions on things that are unclear to you. The good folks here will be quite helpful. Why AACT? is a thread I posted with some amazing videos of the microbes we seek in our teas. Take care bro, chunk
Actively Aerated Compost Teas are the best thing you could ever do for your plants. I havea worm bin making worm castings right now but I bought a bit of EWC to get me started. Got a tea going right now with Hydrolyzed Fish ferts at 1/4 cup per 5 gallons of water, 1 cup of EWC per 5 gallons of water, 2 tablespoons(30ml) of unsulphered molasses, 10 ml of Liquid Karma and you got yourself a great veg tea and spray it on as folair as well to keep the pests and disease at bay. When using a 5 gallon bucket your best bet pump wise is a ECO Commercial Plus 80 watt air pump it will provide you with the required 6ppm+ oxygen content in the water to really make your tea's bio diversity build to a proper level. Foam pm the surface is a good sign of proper tea quality.
also forgot to mention on a side note I use a tad bit of my old fish water from my ten gallon cichlid tank when I do weekly water changes in my tea nothing substantial but enough that I feel it adds a bit to the diversity of the tea.
Mandatory Ingredients................... Organic humus source - EWC, Alaska Humus and correctly produced thermal compost Coconut coir Pumice Kelp Meal Fish Meal Fish Bone Meal Fish hydrolysate (aka fish enzyme extract) Alfalfa meal (can be supplemented with almost any other seed meal EXCEPT cottonmeal - never ever use this amendment) Minerals (aka rock dusts) Neem seed meal (aka neem seed cake) Crustacean meal Langbeinite (potassium magnesium sulfate mineral from ancient sea beds) Oyster shell powder (96% Calcium Carbonate) EM-1 Mother Culture (several lactobacillus cultures, PNSB bacteria, enzymes, yeasts, et al.) Yucca extract (human food-grade, i.e. no preservatives) Liquid silicon Pure humic acid (only 2 sources that are doing 'real deal') Pure liquid golden humic/fulvic acid (same deal - 2 sources) Chelated mineral supplement (Iron, Copper, Zinc, Manganese, Boron, Cobalt, and Molybdenum) Fermented plant extracts Bokashi bran (basic EM-1 recipe supplemented with bone charcoal, fish meal, fish bone meal, kelp, sea salt, rice hulls and pumice) Hot chili pepper extract (homemade) Garlic and ginger extracts (homemade) Fun stuff to play around with......................... Homemade fish hydrolysate Homemade calcium phosphate (this one's almost free) Extending the EM-1 lactobacillus colonies using other sources like miso, mesu, tempah, natto, beer, wine, vinegar, yogurt, etc. Seaweed extract powder Mycorrhizal fungi Trichoderma fungi Molasses (ugh!) Maltose (barley extracts) Blue ogave nectar Probably several other things that are floating around the organic gardening world................... LD
hahah, Damnn L.D. - You really know your organics my man. I'm def. taking notes . . . B.T.W. Do you grow indoor or outdoor?? Do you have any favorite organic combos?? (for teas?) RichardDean- Thanks for the detailed elaboration on the AACT's. Should be getting the ol' paycheck soon, so i'll pick up that pump then. I can get that at a local pet shop or somethin right?? B.T.W. Are you an indoor grower or outdoor?? Does it even matter with teas?? Does the tea attract animals/critters outdoors?? and finally, when making the stuff, does it get stinky/smelly?? ChunkDaddyo- Thanks for the links man. I'm def. going to give this whole AACT thing a shot this year. Everyone's just raving about this stuff, so I gotta give it a shot . . . Sorry I got so many question everyone, hahah, but I don't really feel like making half-ass teas that don't really work, obviously. THANKS FOR THE WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE EVERYONE!!!