Well I've noticed after several runs with BAS soil reamending and adding new soil,running several more times I've got good aged soil. But no matter what I do my plants always want a litttle "more" by mid flower. Despite my use of BAS build-a-flower topdress kit. So I made my own top 1/3 mixture to add at flower, here it is. Basically use a variant of the BAS kit for part 1... 6 CUPS TOP-DRESS BLEND (ewc, bean compost, fish compost, peat moss, comfrey, kelp meal, neem cake, fish-bone meal and gypsum.) 3 CUPS EWC 1 CUP CRUSHED BIO-CHAR 5 TBS PERUVIAN SEABIRD POO 15 TBS INDO BAT GUANO 3 CUPS BLACK LAVA ROCK I premixed everything in a 5 gal bucket (wore dust mask for bat guano). Then I removed my mulch from my 20 gal pots. Agitate top 2" of soil and added my topdress mix evenly split across 3 plants. Reapply the mulch layer and water it in (use a fungal tea optionally for a soil boost). I'm not saying it's right...not saying it's wrong. It's what I did and the plants are loving it. Back to plain water or SST until harvest!!!
I see no point to the last 4 items of your homemade mix. The 2 guanos take a while to be available, and I'm not sure why you would top dress lava rock and bio char. The top dress blend looks pretty good. I would mix it with like a gallon or more ewc and top dress. If you aren't using malted barley powder, you should be. Mix this in with the ewc, as well. \cheers os
I've always Top-dressed with guanos until mid flower. You don't? And how would I be using malted barley flower? I usually do barley SST....
And I add aeration and substance with the biochar and lava rock to keep it from matting and forming that water repelling hard shell we all hate! When u have to wait for it to soften before u can really water through it...
The guanos take quite a while to become available. I really feel they work best in a soil mix. Adding them with a few weeks to a month to go, doesn't gain much on this grow, but will help the next cycle. As Jerry said, mulch. Mix the malted barley powder in the ewc as well. cheers os
Yup got a nice layer of alfalfa straw on top. Not as thick as I'd prefer. Maybe a little over an inch. But I'm out of pot space to go higher. Those 20gal smarties are FULL! Thanks for the barley flour tip. I'd imagine it kinda cultures good fungi eh?
Malted barley powder is great! It should do everything your sst is except even better. Malting is basically the process of sprouting the grain to achieve its highest enzyme level and then kiln drying it to hold it there. Homemade sst is shooting to achieve the same goals but the brewing industry has the process down to a science. Mbp is also less work, planning and risk than sst. Just grind a bit up fresh whenever you need it, mix in some ewc, maybe some rice hulls and then toss it on top. Easy peasy. No bubbling time. No risk of ascetic acid. As for your mulch space issue goes, why not upsize pots before your next round? One helpful trick ive discovered with large fabric pots is to always go oversize and roll down the edges if you need to. Not only does it give you room for mulch and topdressing but it also spreads your soil out wider which saves you more vertical space to grow in. I use about 25g of soil in a 30g pot. Id probably go even bigger but the footprint of the 30g fits my setup perfectly. Yes, buying new pots does suck but 15$ is peanuts compared to the value of the plant youre growing.
Good points all of them. Although my footprint is also full with the pots I'm using now. But for next time I like you idea and I will slightly UNDERfill my pot to save room for thicker mulch. I'll check the MBP for next run. In the mean time I have 3 lbs of barley seeds I have left to use. Hahah Thanks again for the tips. And thanks for swinging by.
@N.Cali-Grown By all means do add those last 4 items to your next soil mix, that's where they will do the most good. If I had lava rock and bio char that I was gonna add down the road (as well as the guanos), I would get it in a bucket/ or tote with compost or ewc, and let the microbes move into their new habitat. This is my version of 'charging' bio char and lava rock. The guano will be more immediately available as well. I would even get some of the 'top dress blend' premixed in ewc, so that's its more readily available to use as a top dress. Anywhere from days to months. The longer the better, but every little bit helps. Most of us, get fast results almost like using liquid ferts, from watering in "amended ewc/vmc". Cheers os
all good points made, i just want to emphasize you shouldn't add biochar mid grow, especially if its new biochar that hasnt been charged because it will act like a sponge and suck up nutrients from the soil.
I really like this. I'll get a bit of it premixed and let her set until this grow ends and the soil in the pots I'm using can rejoin it!!
Instead of this very convoluted method of lava rock and biochar on the surface (?!?), a few drops of Ivory liquid or Dawn in warm water will break the surface tension of that "hard shell" and allow regular watering. Been doing this for years for when my VC develops a crust. Or any top dress for that matter and it doesn't eat up all the room at the top. Wet
Outstanding. You mean mixed into the watering? Or just a small amount of it in a solution AND THEN water the plants?
It depends, which you'll see after doing it a few times. Sometimes, it takes more than one application. I almost always apply my VC as a slurry for even distribution. Kelp and/or neem may be in it, or applied as a separate top dress, or, not at all. I like the 'crust' even so the water doesn't just go into a hole in the crust. Fill a gallon jug a bit over 1/2 with warm water, give a decent squirt of Ivory into it and slosh it around some. Then fill it as far as you can, mostly full, but it's hard to see because of all the suds. I dump it as fast as I can so the entire surface has standing water on it, at least for a little bit. You want to get that crust saturated if you can. If more water is needed, like for a dry 5 gal bucket, I'll wait till the next day to add some and see how it absorbs. May need to repeat the Ivory, may not. It's a judgement call. I also do this with new mixes to get the peat moss to absorb water that first time. Once it does, it's good from then on, even if it dries out. Have never seen any negative's to plants, micro herd, or worms from doing this. Other wetting agents will work as well, whatever floats yer boat. I just like the under $3 price and any grocery store having it. Wet
Curious...wonder if a spray bottle with some dawn/ivory dish soap might achieve similar results without the fuss... Other wetting agents?
Other wetting agents: aloe is a multi tool for gardening. Soybean meal tea also works great, but way more work. I have also heard of, but never used soap nuts and yucca. I use aloe vera myself. Either spray freeze dried powder (like from BAS), or just a leaf chunk thrown in the blender with water. It has many other wonderful gardening uses that I won't mention here, but if you are a cloner, its a must have. IMO every organic gardener should have at least 1, if not 4 aloe vera plants. There are threads in this forum all aloe, I think almost everyone uses it for something or another. Wetdog has the right idea for the price, simplicity, and availability with the ivory. And you can wash your hands with it too. os
IDK, never tried. I mean, if you have, say, a 3/4" layer of dried VC, a spray bottle is only going to get the surface, not the full thickness. Give it a shot and see. Yucca extract, aloe juice IIRC, stuff with saponin in it, plus a boatload of commercial products. Does the same thing as Ivory or Dawn (reduces the surface tension of water and makes water wetter), just more expensive and not as easy to source. Google "wetting agents" for more that you ever wanted to know. HTH Wet