Are the beneficial mychorizae/microbes etc found in happy frog and other similar products ready to go from the get go? Or should i add some molasses or something to get them colonizing. I am new to organic growing and would like to do things well. Any other important tips would be very much appreciated. Right now my setup is as follows. I have soil mixutre of Ocean Forest, Happy Frog, perlite, Organicare Pure, and Earth juice rooters mycrorrihzae. The only nutrients i plan on adding will be mexican and indonesian bat guanos (bloom and flower) with waterings every now and then. And perhaps molasses. I am thinking of picking up some hydroton to put on the top layer of the soil. In a 4ftX4ftX8ft (8ft being height) tent. I am using 250watt hps light with an exhaust. I know I have lots of room, too much even, but I guess better too much than too little. An intake fan. I have maybe 4 or 5 26 watt cfls 2 6500k and 3 2700s. Maybe I should get some more 65s for veg? I plan on training the plants and I am hoping to be able to keep my light really freaking close. My hand doesn't even feel warm touching the glass. Any input is very much appreciated.
Hello, that's a very small light for such a big tent You won't need to add anything for a few weeks, I highly recommend worm castings as well as your guanos, you won't regret it. Whatever you do try to go easy with nutes at first. You should hopefully have some nice bugs with the light being so close!
Yes I know. I wish i had at least a 400 but hey I don't so yeah lol. I think i might get some decent wattage cfls to bump it up a little bit, every bit helps i guess. Both happy frog and ocean forest have worm castings. And i have a worm bin that gives me dank ass worm juice so i will use this as well. I want to try something like chunkdaddyos fungal tea or something.
Also would superthrive be harmful to the microcreatures? I have some laying around and was thinking of adding a drop every 2 or 3 waterings.
The mychorhizal fungal spores in the soil mix will colonize and begin to go to work when hydrated with water. The mychorrizae eat and digest organic materials present in the soil. When you give them molasses in the water at the beginning, it gives a carb boost to get them going, but it is not entirely necessary. I like to add a tsp of mychorrizae spores each time I transplant to insure optimum microbes. Also, MJ only uses "endo" michorrizae, not ecto. It doesn't hurt to have the ecto present. I like the hydro and vegetable Mycogrow products from Fungi Perfecti, but any mychorrizal product from your local nursery will do. A better way to utilize molasses is to brew a tea with EWC and molasses. This causes an explosion of microbes that will jump in and give the roots a reason to jump for joy. You can build a simple tea brewer with a 3 gallon bucket, an aquarium pump and an airstone. For fungal teas, an airstone is not ideal. The smaller bubbles will break up the hyphae on the fungal strands, A simple way to brew a fungal tea is by using an aquarium manifold with three or four airlines in the bottom of the bucket bubbling away. The larger sized bubbles are gentler on the delicate fungal strands. While in veg however, an airstone will suffice. The EWC teas are more bacteria oriented, and great for vegging. Remember that the teas main objective is to super charge the microbes, which in turn allow for the plant's uptake of the beneficial nutrients. Later on, while in flowering, the fungal teas play a more important role. They work to let the roots uptake phosphorus. Remember that the leachate (run off)from your worm bin is a good fertilizer, but is low on microbes. With aeration, you can bump up the micro "herd". I don't think SuperThrive would hurt, but I also don't think it's considered organic. Let me know if you need any more help....... HTH chunk
chunk you are the fucking man. ok checklist for making this fungi tea brewer. 3.5 gallon bucket. a bag earthworm castings (does it matter if i just get the one from homedepot etc..). i cannot use my worm bin for this lol. long story. i ask because some people say these store bought EWCs are worthless because the micro creatures are all dead. unsuphured blackstrap molasses. an air stone, aquarium pump, and tubing. and perhaps an "aquarium manifold with three or four airlines in the bottom of the bucket" (for later since i am not near flowering yet). i currently own this product right here . do you think this should be mixed in to the brew? give me a confirmation if this is ok and tomorrow i will go out and get all the stuff. seriously thank you my friend.
Hey bro....here is a quick link to a easy to make Tea Brewer. You can use the 3.5 ga. bucket.....My 3.5 makes more than enough tea for 8 plants. You can use your store bought castings especially in veg.....a lot of the castings available at the stores come from Canada, and are derived from worms that are used to recycle paper and cardboard. These castings are more rich in nitrogen, while the home made castings are more balanced. Since you're in veg, just a simple vermi-tea will get your microbe herd going. Sounds like you've got the basics for brewing an AACT...... If you want to make a more fungal dominant tea, you'll want to get a few more items. Mushroom compost is probably the easiest to get to begin a Fungal Tea, and fungal microbes love HYDROLYZED fISH fERTILIZER. Fish emulsions like Alaskan use heat to process and eliminate most of the goodies (Benefits of Hydrolyzed Fish Fertilizer) Also, kelp meal is a great component. Neptune's Harvest makes a hydrolyzed fish/seaweed fertilizer that has the added benefit of kelp. The myco product you have is fine........you can add it to the tea if you want......especially if you haven't added it to your soil/pot. Mychorrizal spores bloom in soil and can be cultured in liquid, however they need a root system to begin colonization. When they are established, there are fine hair like strands called mycellium that attach to the roots, facilitating nutrient uptake to the plant. Another component that helps feed the fungal colony is glacial rock dust. GRD is important because the fungai use the exudes created by the bacteria (a slime is produced) that are 'mainlined' into the root hairs from mycorrhazie attached to the root hairs. You can add it to your soil, as well as your tea. Let me know how it's going.........I'm happy to help. chunk