Built my organic soil as per info in this forum about 6 weeks ago. We now have 3 plants in 15 gal pots right beside 12 plants using our normal hydroponic system. They are about 3 weeks into veg (from large clones) and we will probably turn to 12/12 in another week or two. At this point there seems to be little or no difference in growth during veg stage I will start to post pics soon. I am really looking forward to this experiment! One question...do you organic guys PH adjust your water before watering the organic mix. I assume it is a good idea to sit the water long enough for the chlorine to dissipate as well?
It is an Afghan strain named Green Hornet we have been growing for a couple of years. We have recently started to grow 4 new strains ( Afghan Kush, Oh God, Purple Pain Killer and Rockstar Skunk) and will use Organic with the next crop if it works out well with the GH
No Ph'ing required. If you have chloramine in your water, it helps to add a small amount of organic matter like worm castings or compost to the water. The worm castings or compost will break down the chloramine and allow the chlorine to dissipate. You can google a report of your local water agency to find out if your water has chloramine or just chlorine. I guess the chloramine makes it so the chlorine won't evaporate. But the organic mater gets rid of that problem. And it never hurts to feed the plants a small amount of castings. The only part I don't know is how much castings it would take to brake down the chloramine. I'd assume even a tiny amount is better than none. But in short, no ph, and yes to letting the water sit over night. Although to be honest I don't always bother. I have pretty good water here though so I don't worry too much about it. If you have shitty water there are filters you can buy that go right on the hose so your water comes out clean every time with no waiting. The good ones are about $100.
i have been using tap with my ld soil mix. i was wondering if watering with RO would work as good? or maybe RO with mollasses? thx
RO lacks most of the minerals that tap has, so unless you're suffering from extremely hard water tap usually is better, as far as cost, content and efficiency goes.
im in socal and my tap comes out around 500ppm smelling like chlorine. i bubble it over nite before using. i had been thinking that since my soil had everything in it, i wouldn't need minerals from my water? but i wasnt sure.
How is the water after you bubble is over night? If it smells better and whatnot then I wouldn't worry. If it still wreaks of chlorine, you would look into the RO water. I would definitely use some extra oyster shells and maybe extra kelp and some molasses to make up for the lack of minerals in the water. I love molasses anyway.
my soil is loaded with azomite, neem seed meal, kelp meal, crab shell meal along with dr earth tomato veg and herb. and is 25 % organic castings. i have molasses i can add to the RO water but not sure if i would need it or not? thanks
yes not as bad, and plants seem good so far.i guess my only concern would be the unknowns that come along with the city water. i have clean water from 2 ac units i can use. just wasn't sure if i would have to add anything to it or just water it straight to my soil? since all food is in the soil. thanks
First pic. Left plant is in 15 gal pot with super soil mix Right plant is in 3 gal pot in plain Pro Mix being fed Chemical Nutes by top feed and excess returns to res. Same strain. Under 1000 watt MH for veg stage Both cloned from same mother at the same time. Early veg stage (right after clones rooted) had both in 1 gallon pots in Pro Mix with light nute feeding with dry chemical nutes (for about 2 weeks) They were transplanted to current pots a week and a half ago. They will be turned to 12/12 in roughly another week or week and a half
i thought you said hydro vs organic that would be a fun one, bucket system vs organic soil........hmmmm.....i may try an experiment when i have the room.......
It "appears" to me that the plant on the left is healthier, but you'd know better. Also, as OSUB noticed, they were both fed fertilizer for several weeks until a week and a half ago - still... There is organic soil and then there is organic soil - I'm curious as to what you are using for a recipe, and more importantly what you are using for a humus source, and at what ratios? J
I just want to know how he got those plants in the picture to grow upside down! Left is right, right is left! That's gonzo's mates
This is from an earlier post when we mixed our soil: First batch of organic soil mixed and cooking. We rented a cement mixer to combine everything. We completely mixed the dry ingredients together then added warm water till moist. It had a 3 cubic foot barrel so it took about 4 hours and multiple mixes that were then dumped into large poly feed bin containers as each batch mixed. I figure we ended up with about 20 cubic feet of finished product. Here is what we used: Pro Mix. Ended up using two bales total. Each mix used roughly 7 gallons of dry loose Pro Mix (one and a half 5 gallon buckets full) Perilite. Added about 3 gallons to each batch Dolomite Lime. 2 cups per batch Glacial Rock Dust. 4 cups per batch EWC. 2.5 gallons per batch Sea Soil compost. 2.5 gals per batch Kelp meal. 2 cups per batch Alfalfa meal. 2 cups per batch Dry organic fertilizer. 3 cups per batch Neem meal. 2 cups per batch Newest pic from 2 days ago: (we just turned lights to 12/12)
I'm gonna try to post a pic of a white widow that was grown for 3 months in 2 gallons of straight perlite. She was fed with mg ferts. She yield'd less than 1/2 an oz ?-( she was re-veg'd but we took that solid perlite root ball and jropp'd it in 5 gallons of soil with blood meal pour'd directly into the bottom of the hole before we jropp'd her. This is an experiment into soil being conducted by a monsanto addict. This plant has been under a 1kw hps for 5 weeks, but her first week she was still in perlite and recovering from being harfested