What's new
  • As of today ICMag has his own Discord server. In this Discord server you can chat, talk with eachother, listen to music, share stories and pictures...and much more. Join now and let's grow together! Join ICMag Discord here! More details in this thread here: here.

Tutorial Organics for Beginners

przcvctm

Well-known member
Veteran
Good point. I had only been thinking of getting the beneficials started and how to fix the initial hydrophobic nature of fresh peat so that I wouldn't experience dry spots in my pots when first watered.

Thanks for the info., CC.
 

BurnOne

No damn given.
ICMag Donor
Veteran
CC is correct.
Works even better if you can "stir" up your mix a couple times a week to completely aerate the bacteria.
Burn1
 

Clackamas Coot

Active member
Veteran
przcvctm said:
Good point. I had only been thinking of getting the beneficials started and how to fix the initial hydrophobic nature of fresh peat so that I wouldn't experience dry spots in my pots when first watered.

Thanks for the info., CC.
You're benefitting from my own mistakes on this deal. LOL!!!

CC
 

Clackamas Coot

Active member
Veteran
Yucca Extract

Yucca Extract

A question came up on another thread about yucca extract.

Here is some information on why an organic gardener might want to include this product in their program - link

HTH

CC
 
B

BaBaBooeyVT

i cant find powder lime just fine pelletized lime how much should i use the same as powder ?
 

BurnOne

No damn given.
ICMag Donor
Veteran
BaBa-
Keep looking for powdered. Use your local phone book and call around to farm & agriculture supply houses, lawn & garden centers and Home DePOT & Lowes. Hardware stores sometimes have it.
Pelletized lime won't mix well enough or release fast enough.
Don't give up.
Burn1
 
G

Guest

hey i made the seedling tea and made way to much, can i store it away in cleaned 2-liter bottles for later use? and is the tea suppose to smell like shit? lol
 

lovelightpower

Active member
Veteran
thought i read in this thread somewhere, that i could use alfalfa in my soil mix instead of animal products (blood, fish, bone). i cant find it now.
i wondered if anyone could tell me a good ratio to use.
and a good ratio to use in a tea as well.
i understand this is a good source of nitrogen.
please link me up if the info's there already.
 

Dignan

The Soapmaker!
Veteran
It's usually about 2-4 tablespoons (1/8-1/4 cup, I believe) of alfalfa meal per gallon. 3LB used to have a soil mix posted online and they used 2 tablespoons per gallon. But that mix also included blood meal and maybe a couple other N sources that if you excluded, you'd want to compensate for with plant-derives N sources.

Dig

edit- here it is:

3LB's Used Soiless Mix Method
40 gallons used soil
4 cups alfalfa meal
4 cups bone meal
4 cups kelp meal
4 cups powdered dolomite lime
30 pound bag of earthworm castings . . .
That’s the basic recipe . . .
However we also like to use
4 cups of Greensand
4 cups of Rock Phosphate
4 cups of diatomaceous earth

So if you're cutting out that amount of blood meal to your mix, I'd go with more like 4 tablespoons of alfalfa per gallon. You don't have to be too afraid of the alfalfa... it's pretty mild and medium-slow release.

And alfalfa adds all kinds of great organic matter to your soil, too. Good, good stuff.

Dig
 
DeTFinest said:
hey i made the seedling tea and made way to much, can i store it away in cleaned 2-liter bottles for later use? and is the tea suppose to smell like shit? lol

Sometimes it smells like shit. depends what you put in it, probably. I use fish emulsion (deoderized my ass) every now and then and its not pleasant.

No, you cant save it... sorry. The things that make it useful as a tea are the biological activity and the fact that it's aerated with oxygen. Over time, the organisms alive in the water die out. I'm under the impression that oxygen doesn't stay in the water over time.

It'll start smelling like the waste of anaerobic bacteria, the kind that thrive in places with no oxygen. Ammonia, I think?
 

lovelightpower

Active member
Veteran
thank Dignan, you are a star.
i made a mix today, i added 1 cup of alfalfa per gallon,
the alfalfa is shredded and pre-soaked in molasses, i think this is a bonus.
think i over done it with seaweed though, used 4 cups in 6 gallons.
shouldn't do any harm i don't think?
 

Dignan

The Soapmaker!
Veteran
You're welcome. I'm not sure about the dangers of overapplication of seaweed, but someone here will be able to tell you.

Incidentally, I was reading today on the ATTRA website that you can actually use alfalfa as a potting medium, not just a fertilizer. They were saying if you soak it for 20 days, then air dry it for 20 days it can then be used as a primary medium constituent. Interesting.

Dig
 

lovelightpower

Active member
Veteran
pretty amazing stuff about alfalfa!
was also looking into the old urine method....
also trying to find a uk good bulk source of comfry for flowering, seems like its got loads of k in it.
gotta keep experimenting i suppose. :D
 

BurnOne

No damn given.
ICMag Donor
Veteran
lovelightpower said:
i made a mix today, i added 1 cup of alfalfa per gallon,

If that's 1 cup alfalfa to 1 gallon of soil mix, you'll burn the hell out of your plants. It'll probably kill them.
It should be 1 cup alfalfa meal/10 gallons soil mix. You can substitute alfalfa meal for dried blood in your recipe.
Burn1
 
Last edited:

lovelightpower

Active member
Veteran
it is not alfalfa meal, but a rough cut shredded alfalfa, think its called alfalfa chop. rather large bits of alfalfa, very twiggy. i thought alfalfa meal may break down a lot faster than this stuff. i was thinking this may be a bit more slow release.
also its been soaked in molasses (not heavily), which i thought may have weakened the strength of it.
actually i made the mix, then came back and saw what dig had posted!
oh well, live and learn.
anyway thanks for putting me straight, all and any help gratefully accepted!

anyone know how urine would work in a compost tea, i know with compost heaps, you can use urine as any activator. would it have the same effect in compost tea? what would happen to the salts in the urine? :ying:
 

Suby

**AWD** Aficianado
Veteran
Compost teas are usually not used (although they can be) as a fertilizer but rather to add beneficial microlife to your soil thus keeping the rootzone happy and well innoculated, if you want to add ferts you do so AFTER brewing a CT.

! cup sounds strong but you'll know within a few days, N burn happens FAST in a new mix, the kelp meal is overdone also IMO but I think they will survive it, compost that mix 2 weeks before using it, it could get hot, piss is great to "heat" up a pile but I wouldn't bother for CT, you already have ALOT of N in ther lol.

Suby
 

lovelightpower

Active member
Veteran
ok cheers suby :wink:

just so i don't make any more silly mistakes, though i would tell you what i'm working with. please feel free to point out where i am going wrong, all help is greatly appreciated.

i am swapping over from using the bio-bizz organic range, so at the moment i am just finding my feet in organics. i've been using teas for a few weeks, but ireally want to get into a steady routine and dial everything in.

so this is my mix (re-planned);

everything i am unsure of i maked with a ?.

canna coco 2parts (also soak this overnight in a genius oil mix as bug repellant)
worm castings 1part
hydroton (like this better than perlite, doesn't float) 2parts
dihydra silica (chunky bits of diatomaceous earth) 1 part

alpha A horse feed: rough cut alfalfa (it hard to get this to a powder but i can add water and blend it) so blended maybe 1/2 cup to 5 gallons?
epsom salts 1 tsp a gallon?
lime 1 tsp a gallon?
maxi-crop seaweed meal 1/2 cup to 5 gallons?

this would be a my first mix, which the clones/seedlings will grow in in the first few weeks.
then the flowering mix would be the same but i would add;

bat guano (N6 P15 K3) 1 tablespoon per gallon? (there is a limited choice of guano in the uk)
little more kelp for k(not sure how much)?

also i will be making compost teas

seedling/clones

5 gallons of water containing;
5 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
1 cup of worm castings

veg
5 gallons of water containing:
5 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses
1 cup of wormcastings
5 tablespoons of kelp?
1/2 cup of alfalfa chop?
tarantular and piranah benificial bacteria and fungi 0.3grms per litre
cider vinegar 1 tablespoon

flower
same but with bat guano (N6 P15 K3) 1 tablespoon per gallon?

ok thats about everthing, i am trying to stay away from animal death products like blood fish bone. but let me know if i'm missing anything or have used too much of anything.

thanks for all help, IC has really helped me so far, this is really inspirational stuff! :bigeye:
 
Last edited:
Top