I think you're getting too deep in to this... are you trolling? Just look at Miracle Gro in the bag - Its blue crystals that dissolve it water....nutrient filled salt. The crystals are water soluble salts produced by chemical treatment of phosphate minerals. Pretty dead simple to me, doesn't involve much chemistry knowledge to figure out that its sodium crystals. What else do you think it could be? You said yourself "Derivatives of phosphates and sulfates, mostly. Highly reactive ions are chelated with EDTA" which is what is explained in that which I posted. I don't quite get what you are trying to say, besides trying to make yourself sound smarter....
maybe you should talk to farmers with dead fields after years of using chems and monocrops. what are you talking about? a living soil full of beneficial bacteria and life is a plants best defense. if a pathogen lands on a sterile environment there is nothing there to stop it from taking hold. you have bacteria all over you, right at this very moment, every inch of you body is crawling with bacteria, do you consider yourself in danger?
I already explained that the reason I grow organically is for soil health. When I referred to "killer chemical fertilizer" I meant the common myth that consuming anything grown with chemical fertilizer is going to kill you. Manure contains many pathogens, including E. coli and coliform bacterias, that can harm people and animals. When liquified, the manure more easily flows into waterways or seeps into groundwater Many people have died from manure contaminated water. Look it up.
I was kind of enjoying the argument haha but, anywhoo, any other reasons a consumer would want to choose organic over synthetic? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
honestly for me once i tasted organic cannabis i was sold. you could of removed all the other benefits and i still would never go back to synthetics. the taste, flavors and smell is just so much better in organically grown meds. i would personally emphasis that point, i think its what people really care about most, aside from potency of course.
I grow hydroponically out of habit and also intimidation of organic, I've been growing for more than 7 years in a varietyof different setups with very little actual organic experience (I used to help out in a small scale comercial organic grow but IMO it was not a good example of organics). I still get really intimidated by organics but since I am moving and will have to resetup my entire grow soon I was thinking of taking the plunge. Not sure whether I will go for it or go hydro again. What I like about hydro is that it grows super fast and all I need to know is what the plants need nutrient wise and how to balance pH.
do it! trust me you will be so glad you did. let me throw in some benefits of organics to THE GARDENER: front loaded work - the hardest part of growing organically is crafting a quality soil. i say hardest because once you're done with that, aside from watering, you are pretty much done with all the work. why? because the soil can be used, over and over, it actually gets better with time! and if that wasn't enough, you wont even have to touch your soil between runs, just chop your plant and transplant a clone right next to the old stump and you are good to go. this style of growing is called No-Till gardening. check out the sticky thread (link below), it has most of the relevant information in the first post on how to make your soil and care for it. No-Till Gardening: Revisited No PH adjusting - it's simply not needed in organic soil. i dont even know where my ph pen is. Same routine from seed to harvest - no more looking up tables of nute ratios and switching nutes between veg or flower. we use the same watering routine from start to finish. cheaper - again, once you finish crafting your soil you are mostly done with ongoing expenses. the few amendments we use routinely are dirt cheap. stuff like kelp meal, neem meal, malted barley, everything you can buy in bulk for pennies and will last you quite a while. healthier and stronger plants - an organic soil promotes healthy plants that are more resistant to pest and disease.
I always pictured it as lots of composting and mixing the soil before each grow along with using active compost teas to supplement throughout the grow. That's how we used to do it in the organic grow i mentioned before at least. The yields never even came remotely close to what I could get with less light and space growing hydroponically, and the quality was more or less the same. My first impression of organics was not very good but I see so many great grows with organics though so I am torn. I've been growing the same way for years and years now it's basically second nature I don't even really measure anything anymore it's mostly eyeballed from routine. A lot of it has to do with me being stubborn though it's hard for me to explore new methods when I find one that works for me. But I can't deny I am sick of the maintenance that comes with hydroponics. I can't take more than a day off from tending to the garden without running the risk of not having the plants grow optimally.
oh i forgot to mention a negative of organic growing: too much free time - once you start you will find there is not much to do, you might need to find a new hobby to fill in the void lol! or a comfy chair so you can sit and stare at your plants while they practically grow themselves. compost teas are not a thing anymore either. there is simply no need for them. the main thing we do now on a bi-weekly basis is use malted barely grains which we grind up to a powder and sprinkle on top of the soil, then water it down. the only teas we make are neem meal tea and kelp tea. both of which you could pretty much replace with top dressing and watering in once every week or two. yields are not an issue this is my no-till scrog (day 44) , plants are bursting with vigor and im getting my best yields ever.
wow that is interesting, seems even more like we weren't doing the organics right. I am not even exaggerating when I say I got between 2-4x yields with less space and lighting. If I can get 8 oz per plant with a 60 day veg I'd be satisfied. Another thing that draws me to it is the notion of being able to use tap water (!). I hear this a lot and tap water is something I wouldn't even think of using for hydroponics. How long does soil need to cook usually do you think for a grow. And does scale change it at all?
if you follow the soil recipe in the no-till thread you can use it immediately. its only if you add stuff like alfalfa meal will you need to let the soil cycle to allow the microorganisms time start composting it since it can heat up the soil. otherwise you are good to go. you can always test your soil with some cheap radish seeds if in doubt. scale changes nothing in this regard, however, its proven (and i can attest) that bigger soil volume will translate into bigger yields. and you probably want at least 7gallons to grow no-till style, even though it can be done with less. i personally grow in a 100gallon smartpot. before that i was growing SOG style with 42 1gallon pots in the exact same space. my first run with the 100gallon i did only 16 plants and they ended up overcrowding each other, they grew so much i had to train plants on top of each other to get to harvest, it was a mess lol. but i had an amazing harvest! the SCROG in the picture above is 4 plants, vegged for about a month (from clones). and yeah, as long as your tap water is decent, you can use it straight from the tap even in most cases.
"can't take more than a day off from tending to the garden without running the risk of not having the plants grow optimally" I haven't been in my flower room in 3 days now... I'll probably go in later, moisten the soil with tap water and then I'm good for another 3 days. J
Plants don't need tended to daily with the right set up. I have a hydro setup That has never neen used, just scavenged from. Too much tending too for my situation. Living soils in large sips allow me to leave. Plants seem to actually like being left alone. My grow can't dictate my life down to an everday thing or I won't be able to grow do to my schedule
Oh man I can't wait til I start growing! It's gonna be a few months possibly longer til I can start, but reading all the good things you have to say about organic has me even more excited. Hopefully months of research will pay off for my first grow ever.