Before you ask, ask, ask. Ask yourself. Why do want to use this? It will probably save you some time and help clarify your thoughts. Well, it's pretty hard to kill comfrey off once it is established, but I agree, 2 foot of snow on the ground is the wrong time to start out doors. However you could start some indoors, then transplant out doors when the soil isn't frozen. Piece of piss to grow.
Thanks man, I'll definitely give it a try. I have a few days here alone w/o the fiancé... I'll be reading everything I can and hopefully I can start contributing something positive here instead of "help meeee" lol E
If you want to experiment with comfrey, here is a source of dried leaf for $9 per pound. In the long run growing your own is the way to go though....And i still use fish H, and love it.....MIW http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkherb/c.html
Awesome thx MiW! I was just browsing the botanical thread and came across your post there. I think I'll order a small amt from them and in the mean time try to get some live plants going too. You guys rock btw.
SkunkP Zero chance. The overwhelming majority of kelp meal comes from a plant in Nova Scotia (Acadian Seaplants, Ltd.) and they harvest from the North Atlantic like Maxicrop which is based in England and their processing plant is in Norway since 1951. Acadian has the information on processing of kelp meal and not seaweed extract at the link. I'm pretty sure that after reading the information you'll be very comfortable using kelp meal vs. seaweed extract. I have to emphasize the difference because some people continue to confuse the 2 as though they're interchangeable. Neither Maxicrop or Acadian Seaplants make such claims - it's only their distributors and misinformed customers that chirp and burp such nonsense. They are not interchangeable - they're as different as comparing apple sauce and apple juice. LD
No - that product is actually worse than Maxicrop's liquid product line as hard as that is to believe. It's quite a Herculean feat but then again I always hold out hope that both General Hydroponics and Advanced Nutrients can rise to the challenge and devolve just about anything resembling a viable soil amendment. Yay! LD
=\ i was gonna use: GO BioThrive Bloom GO BioBud GO BioRoot GO BioMarine (?) GO CaMg+ in sunshine #4, sea of green straight to 12/12 from rooted clone :S
SkunkP Just for sh*ts and grins, check out this selection of various powdered kelp - not seaweed extract. Most are intended as a human and/or animal supplement. You would need to look at the differences and Dr. Michael Guiry's work can help you sort that information out. Look specifically at the Alginic Acid and Mannitol numbers - higher percentages are better. I've got more sources for different marine algaes (kelp) if you're interested. None of these are mission critical like the kelp meal you're currently using. LD
whitekush Sunshine Mixes are referred to as 'blank soils' in the nursery business. You have to do or add something to grow a plant. Usually that means chemical fertilizers in that industry. Organic growers will add some level of worm castings or compost or a combination. In either case you have to do something with these blank soils. They're basically nothing more than Sphagnum peat moss and some aeration amendment - perlite, pumice or vermiculture and often a combination of 2 or all 3 depending on which specific product you're looking at. Basically what this mix will give you that you're considering using is a rather complicated way to grow plants hydroponically. Despite the overall name of this product line, General Organics, the products themselves are not organic nor does General Hydroponics make such a claim. You can call your product line or sub-company 'something something organic' but that does not mean that each and every product you offer has to actually be certified organic - or even a single one. All that I know about this product line is from reading the labels from a sample pack that came my way. The entire product line was then removed in Oregon by the Oregon Department of Agriculture for labeling issues a couple of weeks later. I don't know their current status. I wasn't blown away or even interested. Not much 'there' 'there' to quote Jack London. LD
Please do. I am currently using this: 100% Natural Seaweed Extract 0-0-4.5 | Doctor Earth and this: Kelp Meal: .6-.5-2.5 | Doctor Earth and this: Kelp Meal (50 lb) a bag of age old is in there too. I use locally collected, washed, blended too, or have, it's been a while but it's in there.
SkunkP If you're looking to cut costs then the straight kelp meal will give you the most bang for your money. It has the widest range of use and will give you the full range of not only elements but the various plant compounds and Secondary Metabolites that make this material accomplish what it does for plant health and vigor. HTH LD
I have been happy with kelp meal which I purchase at the livestock store, meant as a feed supplement for horses or cattle. $50 or $60 per 50 pound bag. Please be aware that if you use kelp meal in ACT that bacterial/archaeal division will normally be delayed so you may need to let your brew go longer. Also keep amounts in ACT to a minimum.
MM? If you have a moment, could you explain how best to brew for endo mycos? From my limited research it seems like fungal growth tends towards long hyphae, rather than a lot of fungal strands. My goal is to have a large indoor container (100 gal) with a focus on achieving a very well established fungal network, prior to planting my herbs. This will be a multi crop grow lasting 3-5 years. Thank you kindly.
Wee, Roots need to come into contact with with myco spores for inoculation/infection to take place. The "How to apply" FAQ at Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc. | FAQs will substantiate this. AFAIK, adding myco spores into an ACT to "grow them out" is an exercise in futility. While it will introduce the spores into the rhizoshere, they will need to contact the roots and then begin to establish themselves. Using mycos in horticulture and especially with cannabis is becoming a hotly debated subject. There has been discussion that the amount of time that it takes for the mycos to become effective is longer than the the lifespan of a container grown cannabis plant. If doing a no till garden or an indoor living bed, I think you will get the best benefits from mycos. I've seen the same thing MIW has seen recently in that the differences between plants grown with mycos aren't much different than those grown without. If you get the time, read the entire web site I linked you to. It's some good reading from one of the most respected mycos distributors. cheers, chunk
I noticed such a decrease in P deficit 2 weeks into flowering that I know that the VAM I am adding is helping, is it due to re-use of soil? It's 'in there' and growing?
Read most of the faq's, thanks for that link. So endo spores do not germinate until in contact with root exudates? I've heard this a few times, but have also seen images of myco hyphae, supposedly in suspension. Meaning they were growing and apparently without roots present? Maybe it was some other sort of fungi I saw. I'll try to recheck my research. Oh! Found this! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbuscular_mycorrhiza Perhaps this is one reason why a cover crop of clover is ideal for no till, multi cycle container growing. Providing root exudates. The whole topic of annuals and endo mycos is interesting. Researchers say they are important, yet others say they don't have time to establish. I'm guessing here that in the outdoors, there is already an established myco network and when a plant puts out roots, it just gets hooked up to that. However that doesn't expain areas where the ground freezes, plants die off, then meadows develop in the summer. From the same wiki link above: So my instinct to have a clover cover crop in place before I plant my cannabis seems to be spot on. I'm suspecting that endo mycos develop faster than folks think, so that they are useful for cannabis, even if only growing one cycle. Perhaps the key is not to have to much P. From the link provided by Chunk baby. and from the wiki link above: So whether or not cannabis can use endo mycos (it's my guess they can as they have evolved to do so), the endo mycos do improve soil texture and help your plant to survive drought conditions (oops, I forgot to water) better. Not to be pedantic but; ... but VAM's are now called AM's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza Again, from the first wiki link above;
It is as Daddyo says. Lots of hyphae is grown in ACT but it is not endo-mycorrhizal. Growing in the lab without roots is complex. You are correct about clover. It is mycorrhizal with Glomus Intraradices which associates with cannabis/hemp.