I found this thread. A guy running a side by side of 'organics' vs 'chems'. I was like "Oh yeah! This oughta be good!". Then I started reading. I was like wtf?!?! Are people really this ignorant? See for yourself. Worth a good laugh. I honestly think this is why so much ignorance gets spread around about organics. People are so uneducated on how to truly garden without using a bottle and 5 ml of this and 5 ml of that they just don't get it. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=227813
beerbrewer That mess he's using for the 'organic' side of things unfortunately represents what organic meant just a few years ago. It doesn't even hit 'worthless' on my scale of things - maybe pitiful would be a better term. Too bad he didn't really screw things up by using Liquid Karma or Earth Juice - LMAO! CC
That thread is 3 years old. I am confused. What's the deal? So what if he wants to use organic additives instead of amend his soil?
I know it's 3 years old. Not the point. He was using chems side by side but thought he was using organics. 3 years ago I was using chems but still knew the difference. I just found it a sad misrepresentation of our organic society. We got fools like 'rhymes with poopdog' running around telling people organics is more expensive and more difficult than hydro on this website. The spreading of misinformation is everywhere. I love to have a good laugh at it. If you don't then to each his own. Fyi you can't use organic additives that are still chemically derived and call it organic. That's like making kraft macaroni and cheese and then baking it and calling it baked mac.
Ah I didn't look at what the bottles were or how they were derived. I thought they would have actually been organics. But yeah, half the internet is like that. It's not just organic dude. All forums of all hobbies are guilty of keyboard warriors who don't actually practice the hobby they are just interested and read a lot so they regurgitate the mis-information they have read as if it were fact. So what defines organic? Forgive my ignorance. I am a chemical grower. Title grabbed my attention and so did the original post.
To me, it means plant nutrients are derived from the microbial breakdown of animal and plant products. Kelp, neem, alfalfa, crab shell meal, earthworm castings, aloe, coconut water, malted barley, compost, "weeds", the list is endless... All these things can be added to soil, and once properly cycled by microbes, they provide all of the nutrients that any plant would ever need. That plant feeds as it needs, rather than relying on the gardener's "best guess" as to what or how much it needs. Another added benefit that "organics" adds to healthy and robust growth are the myriad bio-nutrients that are contained within the various forms of materials that we utilize. Natural growth hormones, chemicals that deter insect and pathogenic attack, enzymes that increase the rate of nutrient availability, natural stimulants that allow plants to better weather "stressful" environmental conditions... all of these things are lost when materials are processed to put into bottles. That is, of course, if the materials were naturally derived to begin with. Your standard chemical nutes will never provide any of these things, forcing you to buy even more bottles, the effects of which can never touch that of natural materials in their fresh or dried form. Organic gardening is sustainable. Chemical gardening is not. No "flushing". No worries about monitoring and adjusting water pH or ppm's. And organic soil can be used over, and over, and over again, with minimal amending using the aforementioned materials. I invite you to hang around for awhile. You might learn something... EDIT: As an example of what you may learn here, I'd like to direct you to a different thread. Start here and read down a few posts... http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1336281-colorado-organic-ardeners.html/page-2#entry20731979
I started this thread because I came across some old bottled nutrients I bought 3 years ago and never used. I spent 40 bucks on a 'player pack' from roots organic while in the infant stages of my first outdoor run. I'm in NorCal and have been to clubs here and at the time organic dank was always top shelf prices. I was in my second year of growing. I wanted to grow organically but had not the first idea how to do it as I thought bottled nutrients were the way to go for both chemical and organic. I thought that certain lines were chemical (I used botannicare) and some were organic. That's why I bought the roots. I mean it has organic in the name, right?!? Deep in my black little heart I knew the difference between organic and chemical nutes was more than just which bottle to buy. So I dig deeper. Seeking more knowledge. And I ended up here in the GC Organics lounge. I read thru old lumperdawg, waktoo, chunk, jerry, mjmama, pokesmot, wetdog, richardean, microbeman, (I'm missing people and I apologize) threads and posts that I just...learned. which is why the only bottle out of that 9 pack I ever opened was the extreme serene and that was/is to foliar with my azamax and protekt solution. I have my whole setup currently because my neighbor couldn't get off the bottle and sold it to me after a year because it was too much for him, staying up to 3 in the morning to ph and mix and spray for bugs, and transplant, and ph, and water. With this method of a loving/living soil with everything in it they need I worry about 2 things. What's the temp? Is there enough water in the sip? I have a room with 2k hps and 2 4x4 trays with 24 girls and I spend most of my time when I am in the room....looking at them. Just looking. I rarely go in the room to do anything other than look. And I love to look. Wak broke it down. I just threw my 2 cents worth in.
"So what defines organic?" You'll probably hear different opinions on this but for me, gardening organically simply means no chemical fertilizers - how you get to this point is up to the gardener and there isn't a single right answer. J
I kinda divide it into two ideas of organics, the one you state, where the quality/ingredients of the products are the only concern, then the one where the process of getting the ingredients is considered for its sustainability/environmental impact. Both are better for the environment, and both give you a clean end-product.
