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Is BudSwell and Super Tea any good?
- Thread starter DJ Dibble
- Start date
V
vonforne
those are some of the best.
3BM
Member
Hey DJ:
Im with Von on this, Go Budswell!
The Guano company is an excellent source of high quality guano. Its expensive so use it well. I like the 0-7-0 guano. Top dress in mid flowering, or make a tea for a top notch bloom boost. I take up to 5tbsp/gal and bubble that over night, adding a tsp of molasses/tbsp of guano. This gives something like a 0-35-25, and rivals any bloom booster on the market. The super tea is something like a 5-5-2 and works great in veg soil mixes, or as a top dress or tea. You might find a cheaper alternative for the super tea (I like alfalfa meal personally, or Peruvian Seabird guano). The 0-7-0 is a staple in my regimine, and an 11lb box can last many seasons.
3BM
Im with Von on this, Go Budswell!
The Guano company is an excellent source of high quality guano. Its expensive so use it well. I like the 0-7-0 guano. Top dress in mid flowering, or make a tea for a top notch bloom boost. I take up to 5tbsp/gal and bubble that over night, adding a tsp of molasses/tbsp of guano. This gives something like a 0-35-25, and rivals any bloom booster on the market. The super tea is something like a 5-5-2 and works great in veg soil mixes, or as a top dress or tea. You might find a cheaper alternative for the super tea (I like alfalfa meal personally, or Peruvian Seabird guano). The 0-7-0 is a staple in my regimine, and an 11lb box can last many seasons.
3BM
3BM
Member
This is a quote from another post, I posted this in Von's thread on Soil Remixing:
Just like Sproutco I would urge you to create a balanced soil mix. Good soil is good soil, indoor or out. The best soil is called loam. Loams contain a balance of differently sized particles (sand, clay, silt, pebbles, etc) and organic matter. Clay and silt are tiny particle sizes, sand is larger, pebbles larger still etc. A good loam soil contains representatives from each category, in roughly equal measure. When building a soil, aim for this sort of balance among textural elements.
Try this Per 50gal:
- Sand 3-4 gals
- Perlite 10-15 gals
- Peat/org. mat. 20-30 gals
- Grit 2-3 gals
To test for good soil texture combine these elements and wet to field capacity. Take a good handful of the dirt and squeeze as hard as you can. No water should come out, but it should form a clump shaped by the ridges of your fingers. Now prod the clump lightly with your thumb (or some other finger), it should fall apart easily. If the soil resists clumping it is too loose and needs more organic matter to bind it together. If the soil resists breaking apart once clumped it is too dense and needs more perlite to prevent compaction. Remember roots want both air and water, thats why this balance is so important.
Now the fun part: enriching the soil. Each component of the mix has an opportunity to enrich the soil as well as build texture. For instance, instead of 4 gal of inert playground sand we could add greensand, gypsum, and ground lime for K, S, Mg, Ca, trace minerals, and pH buffering. Instead of straight peat moss we could add mush. compost, worm cast, composted manure, garden compost, etc for bacterial and mycelial colonies as well as balanced slow release nutrients. Instead of granite grit we might add kelp meal, rock phosphate, and alfalfa meal for N,P,K, trace min, growth hormones, enzymes, etc.
So now the soil mix looks something like this:
Per 50 gal
- 3-4 gal Sand (2gal green sand, .5gal gypsum, .5gal ground dolomitic lime)
- 20-30 gal Org. Matt. (4gal Mush Comp, 4gal worm cast, 17gal peat)
- 2-3 gal Grit (1gal kelp meal, 1gal rock phosphate, 1gal alfalfa meal)
- 10-15 gal Perlite
Green sand: K, trace minerals, pH buffering (Espoma sells this)
Gypsum: S, Ca (Espoma sells this also, avoid if using hard water)
Dolomitic Lime: Primary pH UP, Mg, Ca (ground or pelletized)
Mush Comp: N, P, K, trace min, bioactivity (composted manure works)
Worm Cast: N, trace min, bioactivity (composted manure works)
Kelp meal: N, K, 60 trace minerals, enzymes, hormones (order this one!)
Rock Phosph: P, trace minerals (Espoma sell this)
Alfalfa meal: N, P, K, 30 trace minerals, hormones, B-vitamins (feed stores)
Home-made compost is the best form of organic matter, hands down. Household waste provides a rich and balanced nutrient base when properly composted, as well as rich biodiversity of microorganisms. All forms of organic matter contribute humic acid as they break down. If you dont have compost, get worm cast, if not get mush compost, if not get composted cow manure. Peat is cheapest so use it at about 2:1 Peat to compost to make the compost/manure go further.
Lets assume you want to quickly put together a balanced soil mix based on these principles, but you dont have access to all the ingredients. Each of the N,P,K sources are simply suggestions. Lets look at other possibilities:
Per 50gal
- 2 bags potting soil (w/ wood fiber like FF, Garden Magic, Shultz's, etc)
- 2 bags Mush Comp. (or if not, black kow manure is fine)
- 10 gal Peat (about 1/3 of a bale, I recommend ProMix BX)
- 15 gal Perlite (lots and lots, wear a mask and wet to reduce dust)
- 6 cups N source (Mex. guano, Alf meal, Blood meal)
- 6 cups P source (Indon. guano, Jam. guano, Bone meal, Rock Phosphate)
- 6 cups K source (Kelp meal, Green sand, Molasses meal, Oak ash - if using oak ash half the dose!)
Water this mix and let sit 2-4 weeks, then test the pH. Add more lime to raise the pH, and Black peat (a composted form of peat) to lower it. This concentation of nutes in the dirt will provide a balanced base of slow release nutrients to the plants, while still allowing soluble nutrients to supplement as needed. Do not feed every watering, instead feed once a week or during heavy growth. Feed at transplant, then not again for 2 weeks.
______________________
This soil mix serves both veg and bloom plants well. I like a balanced soil mix and then I supplement as needed. Here are several teas I like:
Veg - Alfalfa tea = 2tbsp/gal + 1tsp molasses/gal
Bloom - Budswell 0-7-0 = 2-5tbsp/gal + 1tsp molasses/tbsp guano
Transition from Veg to Bloom - Alfalfa tea = as above, or PSV
Anytime - Compost tea = 1cup mature compost/4 gal
Top dressing means taking dry amendments and sprinkling them onto the soil surface. The next time you water the nutrients will wash down into the rootzone. Top dressing will continue to feed for many waterings after application. Aside from teas, top dressing is the best way to get insolubles into the dirt once the plants are growing in it. Top dress at about 1tbsp/gal of soil volume
Hope that helps
3BM
Just like Sproutco I would urge you to create a balanced soil mix. Good soil is good soil, indoor or out. The best soil is called loam. Loams contain a balance of differently sized particles (sand, clay, silt, pebbles, etc) and organic matter. Clay and silt are tiny particle sizes, sand is larger, pebbles larger still etc. A good loam soil contains representatives from each category, in roughly equal measure. When building a soil, aim for this sort of balance among textural elements.
Try this Per 50gal:
- Sand 3-4 gals
- Perlite 10-15 gals
- Peat/org. mat. 20-30 gals
- Grit 2-3 gals
To test for good soil texture combine these elements and wet to field capacity. Take a good handful of the dirt and squeeze as hard as you can. No water should come out, but it should form a clump shaped by the ridges of your fingers. Now prod the clump lightly with your thumb (or some other finger), it should fall apart easily. If the soil resists clumping it is too loose and needs more organic matter to bind it together. If the soil resists breaking apart once clumped it is too dense and needs more perlite to prevent compaction. Remember roots want both air and water, thats why this balance is so important.
Now the fun part: enriching the soil. Each component of the mix has an opportunity to enrich the soil as well as build texture. For instance, instead of 4 gal of inert playground sand we could add greensand, gypsum, and ground lime for K, S, Mg, Ca, trace minerals, and pH buffering. Instead of straight peat moss we could add mush. compost, worm cast, composted manure, garden compost, etc for bacterial and mycelial colonies as well as balanced slow release nutrients. Instead of granite grit we might add kelp meal, rock phosphate, and alfalfa meal for N,P,K, trace min, growth hormones, enzymes, etc.
So now the soil mix looks something like this:
Per 50 gal
- 3-4 gal Sand (2gal green sand, .5gal gypsum, .5gal ground dolomitic lime)
- 20-30 gal Org. Matt. (4gal Mush Comp, 4gal worm cast, 17gal peat)
- 2-3 gal Grit (1gal kelp meal, 1gal rock phosphate, 1gal alfalfa meal)
- 10-15 gal Perlite
Green sand: K, trace minerals, pH buffering (Espoma sells this)
Gypsum: S, Ca (Espoma sells this also, avoid if using hard water)
Dolomitic Lime: Primary pH UP, Mg, Ca (ground or pelletized)
Mush Comp: N, P, K, trace min, bioactivity (composted manure works)
Worm Cast: N, trace min, bioactivity (composted manure works)
Kelp meal: N, K, 60 trace minerals, enzymes, hormones (order this one!)
Rock Phosph: P, trace minerals (Espoma sell this)
Alfalfa meal: N, P, K, 30 trace minerals, hormones, B-vitamins (feed stores)
Home-made compost is the best form of organic matter, hands down. Household waste provides a rich and balanced nutrient base when properly composted, as well as rich biodiversity of microorganisms. All forms of organic matter contribute humic acid as they break down. If you dont have compost, get worm cast, if not get mush compost, if not get composted cow manure. Peat is cheapest so use it at about 2:1 Peat to compost to make the compost/manure go further.
Lets assume you want to quickly put together a balanced soil mix based on these principles, but you dont have access to all the ingredients. Each of the N,P,K sources are simply suggestions. Lets look at other possibilities:
Per 50gal
- 2 bags potting soil (w/ wood fiber like FF, Garden Magic, Shultz's, etc)
- 2 bags Mush Comp. (or if not, black kow manure is fine)
- 10 gal Peat (about 1/3 of a bale, I recommend ProMix BX)
- 15 gal Perlite (lots and lots, wear a mask and wet to reduce dust)
- 6 cups N source (Mex. guano, Alf meal, Blood meal)
- 6 cups P source (Indon. guano, Jam. guano, Bone meal, Rock Phosphate)
- 6 cups K source (Kelp meal, Green sand, Molasses meal, Oak ash - if using oak ash half the dose!)
Water this mix and let sit 2-4 weeks, then test the pH. Add more lime to raise the pH, and Black peat (a composted form of peat) to lower it. This concentation of nutes in the dirt will provide a balanced base of slow release nutrients to the plants, while still allowing soluble nutrients to supplement as needed. Do not feed every watering, instead feed once a week or during heavy growth. Feed at transplant, then not again for 2 weeks.
______________________
This soil mix serves both veg and bloom plants well. I like a balanced soil mix and then I supplement as needed. Here are several teas I like:
Veg - Alfalfa tea = 2tbsp/gal + 1tsp molasses/gal
Bloom - Budswell 0-7-0 = 2-5tbsp/gal + 1tsp molasses/tbsp guano
Transition from Veg to Bloom - Alfalfa tea = as above, or PSV
Anytime - Compost tea = 1cup mature compost/4 gal
Top dressing means taking dry amendments and sprinkling them onto the soil surface. The next time you water the nutrients will wash down into the rootzone. Top dressing will continue to feed for many waterings after application. Aside from teas, top dressing is the best way to get insolubles into the dirt once the plants are growing in it. Top dress at about 1tbsp/gal of soil volume
Hope that helps
3BM
