@DankDownUndaa nice job sourcing! There are also regional names for items. Lucerne = alfalfa. My 2 pennies, not that it's worth much. Watch the granite and basalt @3-4cups per cf. I had it turn my mix way too dense I keep it at 2 cups per cf these days. I still use it in the worm bin and compost. Sprinkling it every so often. If you want a really good break down on the Peat moss deal Coot's podcast with Tad of KIS. Cannabis Cultivation and Science Podcast Episode 7 I use coco but it's a brown source in my compost way before it hits my mix. @OrganicSamurai those Phillips 315W throw some serious lumens. I can run 945 in my veg but I shut it down to 630. Over 24sqft. I usually have 4 35gallon SIPs going with one plant each. I have them on pendants and a rail with slides so I can move them around depending on what kind of shit show I got going on inside. Australians don't brew beer. Huh? Malted grains.... Your off to a stellar start.
Hey Ficky, cheers for the supportive words and tips! By job sourcing are you referring to how I've bought all my soil ingredients seperstely? Just curious as I haven't heard the term used in this context before. I didn't even know what alfalfa was, now I see it's Lucerne hay used for mulching. I think I already knew this and forgot but do I still need to use mulching for indoor plants? Pretty sure the answer is yes. Will definitely take your advice with the rock dusts as well and watch how much I use, will be good to have left over to use on a worm bin and composting. I'll check out that podcast tomorrow as well, it looks interesting! I've heard great things about the Phillips 315W too, very excited to try them out. I was thinking about putting a second 315w in my 16sqft. grow tent soon, but I'm not sure if it'll be too much So you use 35 gallon pots? That's huge man! I was gonna do either 3 plants in 5 gallon pots, or 2 plants in a 7.5 gallon each. I only really have enough base soil ingredients to make a total 15 gallons right now. I'm starting to think I'm going to need a lot more now though Ideally I wanna grow 2 or 3 strains under my 315w and also have enough left over organic soil to grow a decent sized veggie/fruit garden. This will be my first time attempting to grow any plants really, so I hope I'm not rushing into it all too quick. Also I should have specified more about the Malted barley powder, my bad! I could find Malted Barley grains but just not in powder form, I just realised now that I can just grind it up myself though The only thing that came up as a powder was Barley Grass powder which looks like more of a health product to put in smoothies rather than what I need. I guess I'll just buy the Malted Barley and the Gypsum, just in case I need them. Thanks again for your input and advice bro, I really appreciate all the help I'm getting from everyone it's been incredible!
By sourcing, Your doing your research and finding what you need. Some guys roll up in here and want everything spoon fed. What you'll find with organic growing is you can find local substitutes. It just requires a little research and creativity. Lucerne pellets for feed is an awesome amendment. Plus you can use it in a tea. The hay I would use in my compost. I'm not really sure how the hay behaves. Alfalfa in a compost heap or starting mix will heat it up. So I'd be a little hesitant to use it as mulch. I use 35's because I LST and grow them up to 4' then they go outside. It's usually a 45-60 days in veg. So I really like the soil mass for a few reasons. This won't be your last mix I'm sure, so your soil volume will just grow from here. 2-3 plants under the 315 should do well if you keep them short. If not bend, scrog, or whatever... I'd skip the barley grass powder and stick with the malted grains and a coffee grinder. If you really want to get all up in the sprouted teas look at the original SST 1.0 method and just sprout corn, fenugreek, etc, purée and water in. It's all about the enzymes. Do some reading and ask questions along the way. We're a pretty friendly supportive bunch at GCO. I'm anxious to see your progress. Edit: You may have problems with find crab, but you may be able to find shrimp meal and oyster shell flour. Shrimp meal is straight up chitin. Depending on where your at poke around the aquaculture guys.
Hey Dank, listen to FickySiskers he knows his shit. Honestly brother with the mix you have right now using Volcanic Rock Dust I still wouldn't add the Granite based on the small chance you could be getting other things with it. Just my opinion. If you are very serious about using it I would call the company your Old Man got it from and ask them a few question to put your mind at ease before adding it. Plus the mix you have right now ( as is ) will work just great. Gypsum isn't entirely necessary, but I use it in my mix and I think Wetdog does as well. That one is optional. The Malted Barley is also an optional choice as well, but if you do decide to get some make sure you get whole Organic Malted Barley ( not grinded ) so you can grind it fresh for MBP and also sprout it for SST's ( link below ). I still would recommend a homemade worm bin because it is a " game changer " as some growers have said. I would also follow FickySiskers advice on the Minerals per cu ft. as well as the amount of plants you can do under your lights he has been doing this a lot longer than myself. SST https://forum.grasscity.com/threads/sst-sprouted-seed- tea.1245650/hl=plant+hormone+production#entry18658648 Nice! I did not know that. Thanks for the correction on that. We wouldn't want Dank to have less plants than he could have. Great idea about adding minerals to the worm bin as well. I think your two pennies is worth a great deal you have certainly been one of my Cultivation mentors. I gave you a shout out in a new Grow Journal I started ( Samurai's No-Till Garden ).
Thanks Ficky, I appreciate the kind words! I guess I have tried to study a lot before growing, I'd feel bad if someone had to explain every little thing to me. Ah okay I get why youre using 35 gallons now, those would grow up to be some monster plants! So I would be fine doing 3 plants in 5 gallons each? And to keep them short, I was thinking to just do 3 or 4 weeks in veg. I'll be happy if I can yield 100g/per plant, from my 3 plants, under a 315w in 5 gallon smart pots. I'll definitely look into that original SST 1.0 method too, sounds like it's the bomb. I'm very anxious to get growing and excited to show everyone here how it all turns out, I've been so surprised by how supportive everyone at GCO can be, very glad I decided to sign up and make a thread, probably would have stuffed up my whole grow if I didnt! One last question about this soil mix, is it fine to plant any fruit or veggies into this soil recipe without any modifications? I'm thinking Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Avacadoes, Blueberry Brigitta, Carrots, green beans, brocolli and also a citrus tree! Not sure exactly which citrus fruit I'll choose yet but it will be one from this website, Citrus | Gardenworld Shop .
Yo Samurai, I'll take your advice on the granite dust for sure dude, if I end up needing more rock dust I might break up a chunk of granite with a chisel myself. But yeah I wouldn't want from the power tools it's not worth the risk to me. I'll get onto the gypsum and some organic barley eventually just for peace of mine, but that's great to know I can just mix up everything I've bought as of now. Also cheers for the SST link, I'm definitely gonna be setting up a worm farm as well, thanks a ton for you to introducing me to the whole system! I'm pretty excited to get some vermicompost going. That's a dope grow journal too bro, I've subbed! Keen as to see how it goes and see first hand how a grow runs with a similar soil recipe as what I'm making now. Best of luck with it all mate!
Cheers ElRancho! I'm very keen to get started myself and have been lovin' all the support on here. I'll be starting up a new grow journal thread as soon as I pop my seeds.
I'm curious to see how the 315's perform and what kind of coverage they give. Been thinking of upgrading my veg room w them. Nice to see a new guy doing his homework too. I wouldn't toss the granite away just yet. The saws used to cut granite are water-cooled and don't post much of a threat. The problem is the shop may also be cutting synthetic stone. Try to find out if this is the case. If you're not sure mix up a small batch of soil w the granite dust and do a bioassay w a few veggie plants. The soil mixes we make will grow damn near anything in them. The problem I've run into outside is that it dries out quickly requiring a ton of water. Mulch helps tremendously. Mixing it w your native soil may help especially if it has a lot of clay. To determine this, fill a mason jar halfway with your native soil, fill w water and shake well. Let sit for a day or two. You will see three distinct layers. The top is clay, then silt, with sand on the bottom. HTH RD
I grow my herbs/ipm, broccoli, strawberries, and whatever else will grow in my environment. Cannabis is just a plant. Gypsum or sulfur are kind of important in regards to the sulfur cycle. This has direct impact on flavor. With gypsum you also get the calcium.
Have you noticed the a big difference in regards to flavor w and without using gypsum? I really am curious here. Been thinking of using it. Problem is I'm mixing up 40 yards and I don't want to stray from what I know works.
I hear you, an old gardener/farmer changing practices is like pulling teeth. I don't use gypsum, but the sulfur yes. A few years ago I got a busted bag of Tiger-Sul 90 (90 sulfur/bentonite) for super cheap. At that time Coot and company where discussing the sulfur cycle so I said WTF. Also, I knew of onion and garlic growers promotion of gypsum for the same reason. I have noticed an improvement in flavor and smell. I've also had this backed by a friends. I advocate gypsum because it's easier to find and use than elemental sulfur plus the calcium is already there.
@ElRanchoDeluxe if you can get a copy (2015) of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants - Bob B. Buchanan, Wilhelm Gruissem, Russell L. Jones Chapter 16 and 24 are of particular interest. I haven't been able to find it free.
A lot of the things you are going to buy for the soil won't be from gardening centers. Search for local worm compost, look up a permaculture group in your area and they would be able to help for sure. The grade of the pumice doesn't matter, small or large and everything in between, I would get a mix. The glacial rock dust can just be crushed granite from a rock quarry. Neem seed meal and neem cake are the same thing, a cake is just a bunch of seeds that were crushed together to extract the neem oil from. You need neem seed meal in the soil mixture, as well as neem oil to spray for your ipm program. You are headed in the right direction, just continue doing your research and asking questions Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've noticed the coverage of the 315's are slightly dependant on which reflector you choose, some are advertised to cover a 3x3ft space, others claim to give a more even-coverage over 4x4ft. As for performance, what I've heard from people who have actually used them is that it doesn't quite beat a 600W HPS in most scenarios, but 2x315W CMH's will apparently beat a single 1000w HPS in coverage and yield. Thanks for those tips though Rancho, I will hang on to the granite then since I got told it's not synthetic and sourced from Spain. Will test it out on a couple of my veggie plants anyway that's a good idea! I wasn't sure whether to mix with my native soil, I'll do that test thing in a mason jar though and check it out So if there isn't much clay, then I wouldn't wanna mix my own soil with it?
Great to hear that the gypsum adds an improvement to flavour and smell, that's definitely what I'm after! Just gave me the idea to grow some organic Garlic too, that would be sick... I kind of thought this soil mix would be sweet for any other plants, just wanted to make sure so thanks for confirming that mate! I read something about Blueberry Brigitta preferring a more acidic soil pH, but don't the microbes in the living soil play a part in controlling soil pH levels for the plant anyway? I'm not entirely sure though, I'd really like to start learning more about all the processes in the soil food web.
Got a worm farm Yesterday as well everyone, I preferred this product over using a large normal container mainly because it has a tap at the bottom for easy collection of the "worm juice". at the moment I just have them set up in there with the cardboard packaging it all came in, I was also told not to feed them for a couple of days. I didn't get a chance to look through the Vermicomposting thread yet, so I'll probably find most of the info I'm looking for in there, but just to verify quickly... Do I have to feed these worms 100% organic products if I want an organic Vermicompost? What happened if I throw in apple and banana scraps from the inorganic fruit from my supermarket? I got told to feed them teabags and newspaper, aren't the chemicals from the ink and bleach from the paper bad for the worms? If it isn't good to use these things then I'd rather get onto the best healthiest food I can possibly give them!
Also got onto some Gypsum and compost to mix with my EWC, the mixture of the 2 will end up as a 3:2 ratio of Compost:EWC
Luckily my Vermicastings were locally sourced, I should have gotten the compost locally too but it was just easier for me to go to a gardening shop I guess... I'm slightly rushing a bit to get my indoor grow up and going before the Aussie summer arrives Also I am planning on doing a mix of Perlite and Pumice, I have ~30L of Pumice and 100L of Perlite. Will probably do a 1:1 ratio unless anyone recommends using more of one than the other? Thanks heaps for your advice and clarifying the differences between the types of neem, I'll find a good quality cold-pressed Neem oil for my ipm program