Hey guys, have you always used organic compost? If some of you have gone from non-org to org -as I suppose you have lol-, could you lend a hand? I’m into more sustainable ways to grow and definitely composting sounds like the first step ahead, but I would hate to mess up my current lot - it’s my first one! n_n- so, could you share your story on how you transitioned?
Is there anything specific you'd like to know? Organic growing is a change in mindset. You're not feeding the plants, you're feeding the soil. The soil microbiota break down amendments, process them into forms usable to the plant, and then trade the plant these things for things they need ("root exudates"). The soil becomes this living "organism" that you care for, which in turn cares for your plant. This includes not just microbiota but also arthropods, worms, and a host of other beneficial insects/bugs. You're right on about composting. Making your own compost will put you at least two legs up on having to buy compost. Some purchased compost is top quality (Coast of Maine, for instance), but that's $ and shipping and plastic bagging; most other cheap compost is crap and I would urge you to stay away from it. Making your own is satisfying knowing you're cutting those things out of the loop, and you'll know exactly what you're putting into it. Worm composting is another thing I'd say is probably good, though not necessary, for an organic grow. Not necessary, but highly recommended. Plus you get to reduce the amount of food waste you're putting into landfills. Learn about the various dry amendments you can add (see the link that GroBuddy posted above). Water quality is paramount. If you have poor water quality (high levels of bicarbonates, sodium, etc) you'll be in for a poor experience. I would recommend a water quality test from the start. This may sound intimidating as there's a lot to consider when you start this up, but once you get everything dialed in there's nothing much like just watering with plain water and letting your plants do their thing!
Organic means bigger yields with less effort bottles full of metal Hydros good but if u can have more soil.. organic wins
If you have thr resources to make your own from scratch, do it! I made mine starting with a bunch of litter from my chicken pens ( lots of chicken manure and broken up straw. They make a good bit of N, P& K ) turned into the ground in a chicken yard where chickens had been for over 20 years. To this I added a lot of peat moss and pumice and I buffered it with horticultural gypsum and dolomitic limestone. I gave it some greensand and phosphate rock for long term P & K. For the first grow I only gave the plants water and the results were spectacular! Over the years since then I’ve re-fertilized it with more chicken litter and greensand and phosphate rock,etc. I do this each time I use it and it continues to preform well.
? Was this intended for me, as for the backyard composting need the monies for all that soil I'm going to be using. I'm working with clay in the desert. Cheap bags of sta green are 8 bucks for a 2cuft bag. Guess due to the added nutrients and cooking the compost soil really doesn't matter but I wanted to use a better quality of soil to start with. Once recreational grows start June 29th I can run 24 plants as long as only 12 are flowering at any given time. This year I'm just going to run as many autos as I can before winter. Reason for me to change growing methods, next year I want to run 12 photos out doors with 12 autos as many rounds as I can't get before the photos start flowering hopefully 2 auto cycles. This one's a secret lol but also 8 more indoors 4 photos in each tent. The outdoor photos I already have 25 gallon pots x 12 autos 5 gallon pots x12 and the tent photos 7 gallon pots x 4 or 3 gallon pots x4 I need ALOT of soil. That's alot of weed but once we go full recreational in April small business licenses will be available. I'm trying to be a legal supplier under canna god logo Atlantis holding a big nug on his back lol that's the plan anyways. The small business license will up plant count to 99 and 99 flowering to veg but it's damn hard to find a good spot to set up shop out here. Lands ridiculous but I'll keep working until it hit on something even considered getting a shit hole of a house and growing throughout as I fix it up once I do a few grows I should have the house in a good living condition sell the weed sell the house and buy a facility to grow in. I kind of want to be outside the box on a commercial grow using no till living organic soil
Big plans. Just don’t count your chickens before they hatch. In other words, like with anything else, you will be better off building yourself a premium soil mix that you will be able to grow quality cannabis start to finish with clear water only and then be able to use it again; getting several smaller grows under your belt and then go bigger once you’re confident in your method. Too big too fast often equates to less than desirable results. Believe you me, everyone has the same plans as you and jump on the cannabis bandwagon the split second they’re able to. Just don’t get caught up in the hype thinking you’re gonna make a million. Slow and steady wins the race. There are many excellent Organic gardeners here. Do your homework and follow proven time and again soil recipes. Find a solid organic gardener thats been doing this long enough and shows consistent quality results and copy the method exactly. You can experiment later. Best of luck. j
I asked on here and seen other threads about reusing these bag mixes with these other organic fertilizers that I have. Jobes,dr earth, etc. I get the store brand stuff sometimes as it’s cheaper. I know it’s the lazy way.
@jerry111165 Oh yea definitely too much to type to reveal everything. Before I popped my first seed I studied for 3 to 4 hrs a day for a month 3 years later I still research and study even if I think I know what I'm doing. Same is being done here. I despise failing so I make every attempt to reduce the risks before I start anything new. Definitely don't care about the money I love cannabis, and I enjoy helping others Got the no till thread saved in bookmarks thats what I plan on doing, I started a convo with you several days ago thanking you for the thread no till gardening you started awhile back
I’m not judging dude - I’m all for the easy way out as often as possible. Time is an extremely valuable commodity. j
This was incredibly helpful! Actually it solves some of my issues that i didn't even understand were my questions lol Indeed there's a lot of stuff to keep in mind, and i see what you say about a switch of mindset. What you say about feeding the soil to make it take care of your plants is blowing my mind... And thanks for the good advice on the compost, someboy was already recommending buying compost first.............. however, thanks to you i know better now... About the water, if my water is poor quality is there any way i can treat it to make it better? Or should i straight forward buy water.... That worries me as water here is not the best
R/O system. 150$ or so off Amazon for a 6 stage comes with filters. Filters should last 9 months to a year. Filters cost 60$ or so.
Don't get me wrong, if you don't have the ability to make your own compost you can absolutely buy some A+ quality compost. Coast of Maine's lobster compost is top notch, as is Malibu Compot's Bu's Blend (this assumes you live in the US of course). I used both of those in a grow before I had started making my own compost and grew some great bud from that. I still think it's easier/cheaper/better for the environment to make your own, though. As far as water quality goes, yes there are things you can do to mitigate poor quality water. The solution depends entirely on what the "problem" with your water is. This is, unfortunately, another complex topic. Most growers only worry about the pH of the water. This is important, but there are other factors at play like: hardness, salt levels, carbonates/bicarbonates just to name a few. The solutions range from adding things like citric acid to your water to modify pH, adding things to your soil (e.g., sulfur compounds), or what I did was to just get a reverse osmosis filter. The RO filter can be a little more expensive, but it's a long-term solution...and may not be necessary for everyone's situation. Some people just buy distilled water and then do a mix of distilled and tap water, but that can get expensive over time. There is a water quality thread here Water Quality that RD started - I bet if you were to get your water tested and had any specific questions you could post your water quality report there to get some good ideas about solutions! If you live in the US, Logan Labs is who most of us have used. The test is relatively cheap, too!