For my next grow, I want to make my own organic soil. I've read through multitudes of pages on here and other sites. I feel, as a beginner to organics, I have a decent grasp on how it works and why. I am going to follow the "easy organic soil mix for beginners" recipe to a T. My question is this: how likely is it that a plant develops a deficiency? I see a lot about top dressing and teas. Are those just for a boost/ to keep the soil thriving? Or is there a good chance that, let's say, a few weeks into flower my plant is asking for more of something? Having to top dress isn't an issue for me at all, I'm just curious as to why. If this soil truly only needs water, would the top dressings be for peace of mind or just kind of a maintence thing? Thanks for reading
Too be totally honest ypu first need too find some decent nutes.. ones I’m finding meet the mark are the new advanced nutrients lim range.. start of with a decent soil and off ypu go, I know what’s your saying just don’t make things too complicated... Flowering is the main concern,, due too each weeks plant will need different requirements. If you study a few feed charts, and replace with organic methods. Such as some weeks will need a high pk boost, so you opt for bat guanna dressing. Or like ypu will needs more carbs and sugars towards a certain point... so opt for black strap mollasss. Etc... if yp mix your own super soil, the plant will still grow nice buds, just depends how much you actually want too pushtge plant.
You might burn ypur plant if soil is over fertilised, or ypu might run into deficiencies, Some OMRI registered companies are not fully organic, ypu don’t really need a host of stuff for organics, good soil and chicken shit lol.
It’s all about the micro bacteria keeping fed. I use my own compost mixed with organic potting soil, and I boost calcium with powderized egg shell, boost magnesium with epsom salts and the potassium I boost during flower with all natural banana tea. If you want to use compost tea to water with every other time, make sure you properly air bubble the mix bucket. You will get awesome bacterial growth in 24 hours. Good luck, I love my all organic grows, to me they taste better
Bare with me here but I use the Organic no-till method and I've had no issues with deficiencies. I have once or twice had a tad of nutrient burn but by that I mean the tip of a few leaves hardly yellowed. I use water only most of the time... Now with that being said like stated above my post, when you top dress it is not really mainly for your plant but for the micro organisms in your soil. They use this to thrive and supply. Your plant will pull from the soil what it needs as long as you balance everything right. For example, I have used MBP(malted barely) heavily/lightly with no worries and great results. Or so as my opinion. I have also used kelp meal and a tad bit of crustacean meal from time to time but I've never used a tea. You really just have to play around with your ingredients. You'll soon find out that it's pretty easy and actually quiet forgiving. J Evergreen
Awesome, thanks everyone. Gonna mix up my soil this weekend and let it cook while my current plant finishes
I’m growing no-till and used the recipe on the first page of the No-Till revisited version. I go by the feeding schedule when you top dress with Neem and Kelp that’s for future grows. Your just putting back what the plant took out so it’s like maintenance sort of speak. I also top dress with fresh Ewc with Neem and Kelp. and day 3 of the feeding schedule is top dress with powdered Malted barely then water in with aloe Vera, fullpower and agsil16 (Silica) I’m on my second run and would never grow any other way! I didn’t have any deficiencies at all on my first run. On the first page of the revisited version see the recipe and the feeding schedule which I would go by if your starting off! Good Luck NTG! Btw: if it says OMRI then that’s exactly what it is they can’t just put a stamp on there if it’s not. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's important to have a good working knowledge of what organic materials contain what nutrients. If you're coming from a "nute" mentality, and are worried about your soil running out of juice, this can be avoided by the top dressings that you've mentioned. The biggest thing that you should consider after your soil has been mixed and properly cycled is the length of veg' time that you plan for your grow cycle and the pot size that your plants will finish in. You will have a better chance of not running into deficiencies with larger pots. I don't flower in anything less than 7 gallons, but that would be after potting up just prior to flowering. I normally run a full cycle with an ~ 2 month veg' time in 10 gallon pots without any signs of deficiencies. I germinate seeds/start rooted clones in 1 gallon pots, then final plant into the 10's. Always think about the potential size of the finished plant vs. the pot size that it's finishing in. I would suggest utilizing the no-till recipe, or some version close to it. There seems to be a lot of confusion generated by ITG's "easy organic soil mix". Some of the info's a bit outdated, but that's easy enough to sift through if you just ask questions.
I currently have to grow in a spot in my closet, it's damn small at 2'x1.5'x4'. Only enough room for one plant and I've been finishing in 5 gal fabric pots. I typically veg for like 4 weeks and transplant into the 5 gal pot a week or two before I flip the lights
measure your area and look for square fabric pots on amazon, whats the biggest you can fit in there? (assuming square area, a square pot will hold more soil)
Well, what's your plan? How much soil are you going to mix up? I only ask because for the amount of soil that you'll need, I don't feel that's it's an economically feasible idea to actually mix your own soil. For the amount of soil that you're using for one plant, you'd be better off buying a quality bagged soil with small amounts of amendments for top dressing, IMO.
I already have what I need, so I'm planning on mixing it up today and seeing how it goes for my next grow. Any extra I can use with some veggies I have on my balcony. Figured I'd give it a shot and see how it goes. I agree that probably would have been an easier route, but I already bought all the stuff so I might as well