So I am new to growing and want to sustain as much of an organic enviorment as possible. Here is the ingredients I have gathered but I still know little on their uses, amounts, and what exactly they do so I can maximize their uses. Please help me figure a recipe out for throughout my grow! Here's the ingredients; Coco fiber, peat moss, crushed limestone, soft rock phosphate, glacial rock dust, perlite, pumice, crushed lava rock, and mycorrhizea(<-is this expensive shit really needed?). With that intricite ingredient list I bring in the nutritional side; Spirulina(Blue-green algae), bat guano, sheep manure, sweet lime(dolomite), coconut palm sugar, honey, mollasses, humus or humeric acid, yarrow, alfalfa, comfrey, dandelion, and I have a couple others I am unsure of such as oyster shell powder, egg shell extract, wood ash, and yucca root syrup - what are there for and where can I get them(obviously besides eggshell)? I also have a host of "plant allies" i was going to grow with my preciousss... to keep him company alongside some Beethoven - these include; Stinging nettle, basil, garlic, chives, rosemary, tyme, yarrow, habenero peppers, marigolds, lavander, alfalfa, dill, comfrey, red clover, & horsetail. Which plants are best for chilling with some stanky trees? My strains I want are medicine man, light of jah, critical mass, critical +, & 2046 - what do you all think about these strains? This will be my first grow but will have much help esp. learning here! Anyways thanks for all help, peace and love, & have a great day! All comments are appreciated!
"Here's the ingredients; Coco fiber, peat moss, crushed limestone, soft rock phosphate, glacial rock dust, perlite, pumice, crushed lava rock, and mycorrhizea(<-is this expensive shit really needed?). With that intricite ingredient list I bring in the nutritional side; Spirulina(Blue-green algae), bat guano, sheep manure, sweet lime(dolomite), coconut palm sugar, honey, mollasses, humus or humeric acid, yarrow, alfalfa, comfrey, dandelion, and I have a couple others I am unsure of such as oyster shell powder, egg shell extract, wood ash, and yucca root syrup - what are there for and where can I get them(obviously besides eggshell)?" Are you wanting a recipe for a soil mix to grow in or do you want to start a compost pile, and then use the compost in your grow? I am going to proceed under the assumption that this is a soil mix. -are you starting with a bagged base soil or are you mixing your own base soil? Here's what I would suggest. Forget the coconut palm sugar, honey, and molasses. You can use very small amounts of these when you brew an ACT, but you don't want to add them directly to your soil. You also don't need egg shells, wood ash, or yucca root extract. These can be beneficial, but you don't need them. And yucca root extract is valued for its saponins and is used as a wetting agent. If you have to have it you can just buy some yucca root at the grocery store, blend it in the food processor, and add 3-4 cups of water per lb of yucca root. This would be used in small amounts with your waterings in order to help the peat moss absorb water. A cheaper option would be to use a drop of a pure liquid soap, like Dr. Bronner's castile soap, per gallon or so of water. With your botanicals (comfrey, dandelion, etc.) you are better off making an FPE or top-dressing with the plants than mixing them directly to your soil. With the exception of comfrey, plant matter will take longer than a month to break down in your soil. You need to source some high-quality compost or earth worm castings (EWC). This is the ingredient that makes everything else in your soil work. Base soil: 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost/EWC, 1/3 aeration amendment (pumice, perlite, etc.) amendments (based on what you have and some you need to get): Nutritional: -alfalfa meal -kelp meal (better for your plants than spirulina. You want ascophyllum nodosum) -sheep manure -bat guano Mineral amendments: -oyster shell powder -glacial rock dust or azomite, or greensand -lime Mix up equal amounts of your alfalfa meal and kelp meal (and any other meals, like crab meal or neem meal, that you want to add. Stay away from cotton and soybean meals, they are loaded with pesticides). Add 2 cups of this mix per cubic foot of base soil (1 cubic foot of soil is about 7 gallons). Add about 1/4 cup of guano per cubic foot of soil. Add 1 lb of sheep manure per cubic foot of soil (or so, I don't work with manures often so hopefully someone else will chime in on this). -add 2-3 cups of your mineral amendment (azomite, glacial rock dust, greensand, etc.) per cubic foot of soil. Just as a note, rock phosphate is NOT a mineral amendment and should not be treated a such. -add about 1/4-1/2 cup of lime per cubic foot of soil (once again I don't use a lot of lime so maybe someone who does will give you a more exact amount). -mix up your soil, moisten it, and allow it to sit for 3-4 weeks to allow the microorganisms to begin to break down the amendments (allow it to "cook"). Keep it moist (about as damp as a well wrung out sponge), and turn it every so often to aerate it. -and a note on mycorrhizae. This is a very beneficial microorganism for your plant. Check out the "myccorhizae myths and truths" sticky in the organic section. I would suggest that you read the organic stickies, and also check out jerry's "Indoor gardening without bottled nutrients" thread in the indoor gardening section. Are you growing inside or outside? Are you planning on putting these companion plants in the same pot with your canna? I would recommend that you plant them in separate pots. If you are growing inside, plant whatever you want, just do it in a separate pot. Red clover and alfalfa can be planted as a cover crop in the same pot as your canna, but the others would do better in separate pots. If you are growing outside, rosemary, lavender, thyme, garlic, chives, and basically any other aromatic plant are effective pest deterrents. HTH