Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[rasputin]

Noproblem, are you letting them dry out a lot between watering/feedings? If it's had time to dry, to the point the top soil is hard and the first pour pools up on the surface before draining down then it'll take longer for it to soak up the drink you're giving them. Just need to give small amounts and go slowly until they've taken it in.

 

[BurnOne]

noproblempablo-
I agree with rasputin. If you don't keep the medium damp (not wet) it will not absorb water. It'll just run through it. Try giving each plant one cup of water every hour for about six hours. That will give the soil time to absorb some water and get damp.

rasputin-
That's normal for those bottom leaves to fall off.

Burn1

 

[poina]

Burn 1, First off, Happy Holidays to all! If there is a stage b4 beginner it would be me. My plan is mix #1 with coir, and to feed aerated tea using only blue mountain organics grow and bloom. Am I spinning my wheels? Thanks

 

[rasputin]

Thanks BurnOne! got a little antsy when I saw them doing that and just wanted to be sure.

 

[BurnOne]

Burn 1, First off, Happy Holidays to all! If there is a stage b4 beginner it would be me. My plan is mix #1 with coir, and to feed aerated tea using only blue mountain organics grow and bloom. Am I spinning my wheels? Thanks

What's Blue Mountain grow and bloom? Stick to the recipes in this thread or post your question in the open forum. You'll get more exposure there. I've only used the recipes on the first post in this thread.
Burn1

 

[staff11]

Just an update, I feed my plants and they did jump. In fact they have been growing about an inch and a half per day. Looks like flowering time is very near as they all have four main tops and are about a foot tall now. No signs of yellowing anymore on the new growth especially. They seem very happy with full strength tea, no burn at all.

Thanks again for this wonderful thread, it's helped me immensely.

 

[justa waterboy]

Hello all, this is a special shoutout to Burn One. Thanks for all you do. I was able to set aside my PH meters and let nature take over ,er allmost. I'm having the best grow I have ever had ! TLO rocks.

 

[cosmiccowboy]

Skunkface-
If you want to veg only in that mix, I guess it would be okay. I've never used powdered rock phosphates. But if you plan on flowering your clones in a week or two after planting, then you'll need the phosphorous from the bone meal. And that is the recommended dose.
Here's how I do mine. I'm not much of an up pot guy. I start my seeds in Rapid Rooter plugs. Each one pushed into a single five inch square nursery pot full of one of those soiless mixes I posted. I make my mix of blood/bone/kelp at the same time. When the seeds sprout and get about an inch or two high, I push the Rapid Rooter plugs down deeper into the soil mix. Then I push the mix up around the stem of the plant up to the first leaf set. This keeps the seedlings from falling over. There they will stay under 24 hour light until the nute filled soil mix is ready (about two weeks). I put the mix into three or five gallon pots and up pot into them. That's it. Now just water with worm casting tea and molasses until harvest. I don't like to veg very long (if at all). With clones, I go to 12/12 as soon as they root.
Hope that helped.
Burn1

b

 

[staff11]

Have another question since I just started flowering. When using the flowering guano tea mix, do you start after they show pre-flowers? Or is it when you switch the lighting to 12/12?

I know there is some transition in the plant right now and was wondering when the best time to start the flowering mix is.

 

[BurnOne]

Have another question since I just started flowering. When using the flowering guano tea mix, do you start after they show pre-flowers? Or is it when you switch the lighting to 12/12?

I know there is some transition in the plant right now and was wondering when the best time to start the flowering mix is.

I continue to feed full strength veg teas for the first two weeks of 12/12 light cycle. The plants will stretch and need the nitrogen for that. Then go full strength flower tea until harvest.
Burn1

 

[staff11]

Thanks B1, happy holidays to all! Plants are looking great and have 3 out of 5 confirmed females.

 

[justiceman]

Organic pH issues

I hear a lot of people asking or talking about the pH of their organic soil mix or organic nute solution and how they might correct or adjust it. pH in organics is not an issue like it is in synthetic growing.
The best place to settle the pH issues in organics is within the grow medium. A medium rich in humates (humus) is the place to start. Humates work to "buffer" the pH of organic mediums and the nutes you pour (or mix) into it.
Humates come from compost, worm castings and bottled humus. If you use a peat based medum, use dolomite lime to raise the pH of the acidic peat. Dolomite should be used in any soil or soiless medium to provide magnesium and calcium. But since we are talking about pH here, I'll mention dolomite lime's pH correction benefits.
A medium of coir has a pH near neutral (or 7.0). But humates are still neded to allow uptake of organic nutrients that are outside a near neutral pH range.
With an active medium rich in humates you can pour in nutes like Pure Blend Pro, Earth Juice and guano teas way outside the optimum pH range without worry. The humus will allow the nutes to be taken up through the roots, even at such an extreme pH reading.
So throw those pH meters away folks and enjoy the ease and safety of organic gardening.

Hey burn 1,
I use Roots Organics. It consists of raw nutrients witch are Earth worm castings, bat guano, sea kelp, yucca, molasses, humic and fulvic acid. The nutrients are minimally processed, so some of them are a bit sludgy out of the bottle. They are the type that should definitely be bubbled if I'm not mistaken. Here's my question with "Organic PH Issues". After bubbling for 36 hours the tea has tons of foam on the top witch means it's full of life If I'm not mistaken. I checked the PH when I originally mixed it and then 36 hours later. Both times the PH read 4.2. However you state that if you have a tea rich in humates(like fulvic and humic acids) that the tea should be able to be absorbed even if it's at a ph extreme of 4.2? I am just afraid that If I give my plants a tea with such a low PH that they will get messed up. I have heard that bubbling raises the PH over time. I have also heard that as the bacteria start to battle and gain partial dominance in a tea they give off enough alkalizing slime to counter balance the fungi's acid so that the tea's ph becomes stable at aroun 6-7ph when the ratio of fungi to bacteria is 1:1

 

[BurnOne]

justiceman-
What I said was you need a soil mix rich in humates to buffer the pH of organic nute solutions. LC's Mix is just such a medium. Those over the counter mixes are mostly peat. Use your Roots instead of ProMix in the recipe and you'll be fine. And quit using that pH meter.
Burn1

 

[K.J]

First thing's first: LC's mixes kick ass. Nuff said.

A side note, speaking of LC's: one of the main ingredients in my LC's mix is Sunshine Mix #4. I saw that they now have an organic version of #4. Anyone tried it? I'm going to try and round some up for my upcoming grow. We'll see if I can find it or not!

 

[BurnOne]

They just leave out the wetting agent. Soap.
Burn1

 

[cosmiccowboy]

burnone,my medium is lc's mix#1 and food source#1..if i'm doin a perpetual grow in small 1 quart containers. does it makle any difference if i just give them the water they need or do i need to make sure that some water runs out the drainholes?....also,could runnin too much water through this mix deplete the food source?......i plan on doin about 20 plants under a 4oo watt vertical hps.after i take rooted cuttigs out of clone box,. they'll bein 16 oz cups of plain lc's mix #1 for about 10 days under fluoros and then put them in 1 quart containers under the hps in the full strength mix with bone,blood,and kelpmeal for 56 days..i'm runnin northern lights...you have taught this 57 year old fat man a lot..gracias amigo..

 

[BurnOne]

You need to keep the medium fully damp. Water slowly if it dries out and give it time to absorb the liquid. You really should try to find one gallon square containers. The smaller the container, the more you have to water it. You may deplete the nutes as well. So be ready to supplement.
Burn1

 

[mrred]

i used lcs miix #1 all the way to the end in a 16 oz cup, worked pretty good

 

[rasputin]

I know per the recipes you're to use the guano tea recipe for flowering until the very bitter end and I know some do but is there any instances when a deviation from that is reasonable? I ask mainly because from here on out, 3-4 weeks tops, there are a few ladies in my garden that could potentially do better without any more Peruvian Seabird Guano in the mix, removing the majority of the N still being delivered thru the teas. Out of a handful of containers, a few are mowing down every feeding but a couple others look overfed, displaying some downward leaf curl and slightly smaller bud development, owed to the excess N perhaps?

Already I've started to dilute their guano teas with EWC/molasses/water to help cut back on the food and allow them to use up what they got for a little while. With the advice generally given as follow the recipes exactly I'm just trying to figure out for the present crop & going forward if at certain instances deviation is acceptable, if not encouraged?

Any thoughts?

 

[BurnOne]

That's what I do. I cut out as much nitrogen as I can the last four to six weeks of flowering.
But that isn't for beginners which is the topic of this thread.
Burn1