hey boys and girls, what's shakin'? I've got a Hypothetical here; Lets say you have a plant in a medium that provides the plant with the exact amount of nutrients it required, no more, no less. The plant is hungry for nothing, but it is not extraordinary in any way. Like Baseline or Zero. Like your NPK is just as you normally do them. it's like the person is hormones etc.) So if the conditions above was your soil(kinda wierd, i know), and you were only allowed to choose one thing to give your plant one additive/nutrient, what would you choose? (AACT doesnt count unless it only has one ingredient.) I may choose Pyroclay
Kelp.......... Cause every time I add it everything gets better... And coot said so... "Every grower should have a 5lb bag of kelp..."
I know you asked for only one thing but here goes anyway, To the 5 gallons of water and 1 cup of alfalfa meal I would add the kelp, I use maxicrop. And to this I would also add some molasses.I don't use a bubbler either, I am old school, Just stir it everytime your near it and it should be ready in a week. You can also make a manure tea which is even easier on the wallet. Do some research online and you will get all sorts of info and then experiment so you can form your own favorite opinion on what works best for you!
these are all sweet posts. thank you all for the replies so far!! hey @poacherjoe. that sounds good. i make actually WC tea myself. i use a bubbler but only a 1.5 liter per minute(aquarium bubbler). Depending on the requirements(ie veg/flower) i use -worm castings -humic soil -Gaia green all purpose 4-4-4 -Alfalfa meal, bone meal, blood meal, glacial rock dust, mined potassium sulphate, fossilized carbon complex, rock phosphate, greensand, kelp meal, gypsum. -Gaia green hogh Phos. bat guano (indonesian) -Gaia green Power bloom.2-8-4 -Fishbone meal, bone meal, glacial rock dust, mined potassium sulphate, fossilized carbon complex, rock phosphate, greensand, kelp meal, gypsum, bat guano. -Black strap molasses -kelp extract -Pyroclay. I just started making tea this year, and it took me a month or two of testing but i seem to have it dialed right in!!
1 gallon of EWC mixed with 1.5 gallons water with aloe vera juice - a slurry is what I'm after. Top-dress the containers with 1.5 - 2" of this slurry
hey @[member="Clackamas Coot"], whats shakin'? Ive heard about aloe vera before, but thats about it, just heard. i know i could look it up, but what does it do for you? (and) that slurry sound cool. i like to amend my soil with whats left in the bottom of my tea bucket. do you let the slurry sit, or do you mix the crap out of it(no pun)? To mix my tea i bought a paint mixing attachment for my power drill, Works great!! C
@[member="poacherjoe"], whats the alfalfa tea about. i know alfalfa meal, use it in my soil. i looked it up and it looks amazing. its supposed to be an awesome foliar spray, you try that? found this, thought it was cool. they are in the same sentence "triaconatol is a fatty acid growth hormone found in alfalfa" "that stimulates plant growth ' i was looking into comfrey as well. I use Kelp as a foliar spray like once every week or two, every other day in transition to flower. Love It!!
yucca extract, works as a wetting agent and contains saponin.helps with heat stress. if you truly have your soil dialed in you'd understand that nothing besides water is really needed.
Yes I use it for feeding and foliar and you found the reason why, The growth hormone!! Very good research. You can expand on this if you so choose or you can keep it simple. When you want to try something different keep a journal and record any significant improvements if you see any. Don't fall for the hydro shop salesmen's tactics. You don't need all that BS.We were growing good weed many years before the market became flooded with all the NEW and improved magic elixirs and snake oil's that they try to sell you. NPK is just that. And every manure has different levels of it and poop is free if you look for it!
Nutrition is only a small facet when discussing a living soil... My vote goes for kelp, anyway you apply it. Close second would be neem seed meal or homemade vermicompost.
^^^^^THAT^^^^^ My 3 *must haves* are alfalfa meal, kelp meal and my homemade vermi. I just started using neem meal and it hasn't been long enough for me to form a firm opinion. BUT ..... If I could only have one, to rule them all, it would certainly be kelp meal. I can't think of anything that brings as much diversity to the table. Wet
This is sweet everyone. Thanks for all the replies. Like most of you, if heard of(and used some) of pretty much everything here, but i love hearing what other people do with say, alfalfa. I learned some new uses for stuff and learned stuff i didnt know about stuff ive been using myself. Keep it comming!