I used my BBQ to roast egg shells, then a hand torch to makes ashes, the ash is where the phosphate comes from. As the vinegar dissolves the egg shells it becomes less powerful, so as I use it, I re add vinegar to keep it dissolving the egg shells. I probably did not add enough vinegar for the amount of egg shells. I'm learning on the fly here, lol. I think the calcium is buffering the acidic vinegar. This is the first grow I've tried this, and I am adding this solution for only the second time tonight. This solution is said to be helpfull for the change over from veg to flower. I have not read enough on this process or used it enough to be all that knowledgable on it, or claim any benefits pro or con. I doubt it will mess up the microbial life as it's recommended for a calcium/phosphate source for growing plants after all.....hth....MIW
Yep I'm probably reading too much into it. I have a tendency to do that. That was my concern about the acid losing strength and stopping to dissolve the shells. So you actually put some fire to them to roast? In the meantime I saved a post from one of the blades in which they said that to apply this with sul po mag balances it out nicely. Sul po mag as a liquid though. Sorry if my writing is not making sense. Major fucking head cold going on here but the fun never ends.
Sul po mag is sulfur, potassium and magnesium. Our egg shell stuff is phosphate (P) and calcium. In early flower our plants need in fairly heavy amounts. N,, P, K, cal and mag, so it would seem to me to be a natural fit to use each together, as long as we don't over do it. Like any other additives, when we have a nice soil mix going on, were probably covered anyway, so remember the organic mantra of less is more.......MIW
I gotta follow my own advice. I used this the other day and got a little burning on some old leaf edges that I noticed two days later. Most likely I used too much. I used roughly a half cup of the cal/phos and a table spoon of sul po mag for three gallons of water for what it's worth on four plants. 1 plant was not affected, and the burns are not bad, just a few leaf edges. I'm thinking 1 tsp per gallon, now, lol. I'm at almost three weeks in flower and have used it twice so far. First time was at the flip. I'll just skip it from here on out........MIW
Maybe, or too much k or mag. I should know better, my plants are growing great. I'm just sloppy at measuring, and should have been more careful. So far the burning is not bad, so I'll just ride it out......MIW
Hahaha....you can always flush....*grin* Just kidding MIW. I hope it works out ok for ya. Its tough trying new things. I get scared to hurt them, but its how we learn - for good or bad. good luck. jerry.
Sorry to hear about that, hope it all clears out...are there any concerns with the apple cider vinegar causing problems?
I doubt it. Ideally the vinegar dissolves the egg shells, just as the ph rises. But I think in the real world where people don't measure well, the calcium (egg) and phosphate (ash) buffer the vinegar so the reaction slows, so you have to add vinegar along the way as you use it until the egg shells are used up. At that point your left to wonder how much actual phosphate is left. Being ash I imagine it gets flushed out quickly. And at the end of the day if the acetic acid level in the vinegar is still strong when it's used, the soluble calcium should make up for any shortfalls the acid could cause. Although cal is abundant, it is also very important for multiple reasons and sometimes can be tightly bound and so not available. In theory this should work, but in practice it might require some experimenting to fine tune it. And realistically I have a shit load of egg shells in my compost plus gypsum plus crab shell plus oyster shell plus bonemeal so my cal should be covered pretty well, lol........MIW
Yep sounds like you have it covered. I dumped the whole mixture into a tea I'm putting together. I ran it in through the solids sock to catch the shells and I'll probably just put them in my large soil bin for now. There's not a whole lot there, couple of teaspoons. I can smell a hint of the vinegar over everything else in the brew just starting out but I'm sure after 24 hours that will be completely gone. I'll test it tomorrow before I apply.
Kinda stressing here...trying to figure out what to moisten my coir with if that's important? Ok a good question answers itself somehow some way. I do want to know about the ability to not overdose with alfalfa tea. How can one know when enough is not too much? Thanks
[quote name='"durgahands"']Kinda stressing here...trying to figure out what to moisten my coir with if that's important? Ok a good question answers itself somehow some way. I do want to know about the ability to not overdose with alfalfa tea. How can one know when enough is not too much? Thanks[/quote] How about water? Lol Naw sorry, try adding humus to your coir. It has moisture holding properties. A good way to know if you over did your tea is if your plants start dying lol. Sorry, sometimes its hard to know. Kinda like trial and error type thing na mean? Try 2 tbsp per gallon of tea. N work your way up. Good luck!
so if you had some tea like ewc and molasses if you added microz it would kill the microzhae i read in one of the stickies is that true?
What the heck is microz? Could you perhaps rephrase your question. Try punctuation and stuff. Personally I get tired of trying to decipher questions just to help someone.
sorry bro forgot how to spell mycorrhizae i read that molasses kills it so if you had myc. living in the soil and added molasses tea it would kill the mycorrhizae, sorry just blazin and looking at a screen
No worries and thanks for clearing that up a bit. I have no idea where you read molasses kills myco fungal critters but that is way off base. Molasses is often used in an AACT to help feed bacterial growth, which is one component of a healthy living soil. I strongly suggest you read this sticky. The first post alone should set you straight. http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/976433-mycorrhizal-fungi;-myths-truths.html
so on page one of this thread under the molasses link :"What molasses CAN DO is feed the aerobic bacteria colonies in your soil - BUT at the expense of the fungi colonies which you need to facilitate the uptake of phosphorus which is kinda important if one is growing fruits & flowers." so at the expense of fungi guess thats not myc.
That seems off to me. You really need to read that sticky I just gave you a link to. Another good resource is the book, Teaming With Microbes. If you are going to grow organic, you need this book.