Hey everyone, I have had 11 plants growing for exactly 4 weeks as of Monday... they are pretty big. they have alot of yellow leaves near the bottoms tho(calmag problem I believe). I have had them in Roots Organic indoor soil only with no additives at all yet besides mykos fungi i put in the 5 gallon buckets when i transplanted from solo cups a few days ago. I NEED to know how to feed them organically. What do I need to go out and get? I was going to do Subcools super soil but I dont have time to let it cook for 30 days with these 11 plants and I already transplanted to 5 gallon buckets so its too late to put the super soil in the bottom layer of the buckets. So Im doing Subcools way next grow..... for now I am freaking out....I don't know how I should go about feeding them. Was I supposed to already mix in stuff like earth worm castings, and alphala meal etc into the soil before I planted them? Do i have to top dress things now, or do I brew compost tea? I'm so lost and I need to know TODAY what to do. I am so tempted to go grab the Botanicare bottles of liquid nutes that I paid like 90 bucks combined for,....but I swore to myself I wouldn't go the evil bottled nutes way. I swore to keep this organic but Im messing up on time here. Someone help!
First things you want are earth worm castings and kelp meal, you can put 1/8 to 1/4 cup kelp and 1 or 2 cups ewc in a gallon of water let it sit 5-7 days and water your plants with it
This late in the game you might consider using a cold processed fish/seaweed fertilizer. I think Neptune's Harvest is nationally distributed. JPinkham's advice is solid also.....
No need to panic - and thank you for not going back to the bottle. If you use the 2 posters advice above you'll be all set. In the meantime, while these plants finish, you have a lot of reading to do. http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/336320-organic-soil-mix-mine.html And http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/951816-what-soil-recipes-do-you-guys-use.html Forget about Subcools soil. You can do much better for less money. Good luck! J Start here -
Thanks ALOT guys! This is what I got today... A box of Dr Earth premium kelp meal and a bag of Wiggle Worm EWC. I hear the wiggle worms suck, and wasn't too sure on the Dr Earth for a box of kelp meal but that's what I got. the guy threw in a free bag of mykos and Roots Organic "Trinity bio catalyst", to add to my bottled nute collection. I'm just using the EWCs and kelp meal. i put them both in a gallon of water abd will be watering them with it next. thanks guys
and a bottle of this stuff called "Alaska Fish Fertilizer" but I saved the receipt if I have to take it back I wasn't sure if this would work so I picked it up anyway in case ...
I seriously don't trust the "Alaska" "Fish Fertilizer" because it clearly says on the front label in small print *not for use in organic food and crop production".... So I don't think I would want to put this in....
I'd take Alaska back if it were me. Alaska is heat processed while Neptune's (and others) fish fertilizer is cold processed. This page explains the differences between the two. Cold processing preserves the hormones, vitamins, amino acids and enzymes while emulsions remove most of these components. If you don't mind ordering from Ebay, there is a seller there that can get a gallon of fish hydrolysate to your door for about 30 bucks. Liquid Fish Seaweed Fertilizer Chunk
[quote name='"Chunk"']I'd take Alaska back if it were me. Alaska is heat processed while Neptune's (and others) fish fertilizer is cold processed. This page explains the differences between the two. Cold processing preserves the hormones, vitamins, amino acids and enzymes while emulsions remove most of these components. If you don't mind ordering from Ebay, there is a seller there that can get a gallon of fish hydrolysate to your door for about 30 bucks. Liquid Fish Seaweed Fertilizer Chunk[/quote] Listen to chunk the alaska stuff isn't good imo
Yea I am definately not going to use it at all..today I took the earth worm castings n top dressed each of my 11 plants and mixed a little bit in the gallon of water along with the kelp meal....I didn't do anything else. The top leaves are coming in green n fresh looking but I have yellow bottom leaves...I need CalMag somehow. because I use RO water now and I hear the roots organic soil lacks it? Should I invest next in blood/bone meal bat guano n alphla meal etc..i want to try the revs mix next run n i im going to start buying stuff now. i saw some seriously cheap peat moss n coca i think at home depot of all places.
kelp meal is high in cal-mag. You can soak a few cups of it in a gallon dechlorinated water for a few days to weeks, the microbes will break some of it down and then mist your plants, and soil drench with it. kelp's compounds will hypothetically be available in the water during the early phase of the soak, and the elements after a few weeks. I would not go for the CAFO refuse "organic" soil amendments, even though rev's mix may call for it (don't know if it does). Alfalfa and some minerals would go a long way, along with the sphagnum moss or coco
Wiggle worm casting are garbage, sorry. I used them before to and they were real sandy, you can see it when they dry out. Dr Ann Arbor? Michigan? I love that city and the college. If you are in Michigan you can find good compost and worm castings from farms all over, just call around I'm sure you can find goat, chicken, horse or any other manure/compost for next to nothing. There's a company in MI called dairy doo and there the best (and only) organic bagged compost/ewc company in the state. In my limited experience its been hard to source natural organic products from grow/hydro stores in Michigan and I advise you stay away from them at all cost. Farm food/feed stores and nurseries are your friend. I didn't see anyone say you can also top dress with something like Espoma Plant Tone in addition to the kelp and ewc. Alfalfa should be on the top of your least as well. Btw why the ro water? Good luck, BeZ...V
Yes I'm from Ann Arbor! And I know what you mean about local Ann Arbor folks having great compost n what not! I'm an hour away from A2 at the moment but I'm moving back in a month and a half Great place to be, I work out there on campus once or so a week right now. I'm using R.O. water because my friend bought this 600$ R.O. filter and figured it be better than using tap water/buying store bought R.O. I know it has disadvantages like filtering out the Calcium/Mag. I've read things about how drinking RO water is bad, in the 50's it was sold on shelves with the sign "not for human consumption" or something like that because then it was made for use with photography film processing...so I want to research more about how great RO water really is. they say it chelates vitamins from our bodies or something like that... I started my plants Mon July 9th...so they are 4-5 weeks old now. Their in 5 gallon pots now, I just transplanted last week. Their approaching a foot tall almost now...really nice green color except for alot of them having bottom yellowing leaves but I hope the top dressing of EWC and kelp meal/putting kelp meal, ewc, and dolemite lime pellets into the water help with that. I should have crushed them up better tho. It's only been 48 hours so it's hard to tell. My plan is this...I want to go out and buy an aquarium pump, and airstone...so I can brew compost tea to go thru rest of this grow. Should I do this? I'm guessing EWC, molasses, bat guano, kelp? Let it bubble for couple days? Water once a week with it, then plain water rest of week? I'm doing some type of supersoil or revs mix next run and will start mixing/cooking it later this upcoming week I'm currently learning how to make my own compost from yard leaves n what not. wish me luck guys lol
I really want to learn how to reuse all of this roots organic soil I bought....how long can I reuse this stuff? I've read that you can keep reusing organic soil for years and it will just get better?
I have been doin a straight organic grow both with organic water soluble ferts and with soil mixed ferts check it out hopefully it gives you at least a little bit of an idea of other things you can use. http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1083856-little-bears-new-breeds.html
I want to attempt taking clones this upcoming week as well! I figure now would be the ideal time to take clones..(week 4-5) ?. I am going to go out and get some rooting powder, jiffy cubes, n a plastic greenhouse container tray so I can hopefully do this with ease... I want to take pictures and show you guys the plants but I'm on a cell phone and don't know how to upload from a phone...
Try emailing them to yourself. I'm using a GC app that allows me to upload straight from my phone pics
I have had better luck uploading to "my potos" in the member gallery, rather than to the post itself. I then paste the link to image Url from my gallery into the post, as you can see in my journal... I am also just starting on composting! it is a long process, and yeah good luck! haha! As far as recyclying roots organic soil, I talked to someone today about their method- they recommend mixing in steer manure compost or farmyard compost a source of humic acid, with the soil, along with some wood chips/debris a source of carbon, and letting it sit for 120 days. this gives the manure time to break down entirely and balance in the soil pH. It's not the only way to do it, or necessarily the best way, but just a suggestion.