Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[RiddleMeThis]

So I have my seeds in root cubes, tap roots exposed, should be breaking ground any time now. Once transplanted into the unammended lcs mix, do I water with plain phd water, or the ewc tea?

Once the roots establish in the 16oz cups, they'll go to 5 gal pots with the amended mix.

Sound good?

 

[BurnOne]

What do you mean...

do I water with plain phd water

 

[brown_thumb]

^^^ I assume he means plain water that's had the PH adjusted.

 

[RiddleMeThis]

Yes, autocorrect ��

 

[Weird]

the ph debate has persisted here for some time

IF your soil is biologically active and has good humic content ph variances are nominal

if it is not, your growth will stall because of it

I personally find it useful to CHECK PH, especially over a grow cycle to monitor the quality of your water supply, this does not mean you need to adjust it unless it falls into extreme ranges

for years I would go from clone to straight promix nothing else, and plants in these containers needed a stable ph to keep them happy over a term (and some food too of course)

plants in big established containers with a healthy soil ecosystem aren't going to be effected in the same way, but I personally feel that the ph is not adjusted by the soil instantaneously so having it within an acceptable range (for me 6-8) is necessary as well

others do not check their ph and use organics without reported issues but I have had problems in the past and went to check the water supply and there where absurd ph spikes my guess is from city water treatments

good luck

 

[BurnOne]

Here's my take on the pH of the water debate...
First, if your water is WAY out of range, get another source of water.
But adding chemicals, even lemon juice to the water and drenching your living soil can make a major impact to the biology of the soil (I have no data here, merely my opinion).
I had a pH meter, a good one. I experimented with measuring the pH of teas and organic food solutions (fish and seaweed). I was amazed at the pH of these solutions! Guano tea, Neptune's Harvest fish and seaweed as well as alfalfa teas were not neutral pH. Far from it!
Even though I had used them successfully for years, I was like a deer in the headlights. How could this be?
So, I got some Earth Juice pH up and down.
What I noticed was, if I adjusted the solutions to a neutral pH, they always shifted back within a short amount of time. Some minutes, some hours. So, of course, I poured the solutions onto the soil as soon as I could after adjusting the pH.
Then I wondered what I was doing to the soil.
I quit adjusting pH.
I've never had a perfect garden. But I ALWAYS had an awesome harvest.
That's what works for me.
It's your grow. Do whatever you want. But be diverse. Do some experimenting. If you have room to grow several plants, do a side by side test grow. Use a control and see what differences arise.
Good luck with your grow.
Burn1

 

[Weird]

I agree up until the point of changing the water source and only because of the difficulty and prior to horticulture I came from an aquarium and aquaculture background and remediation of water to host bacteria was part of the program

it can be done both with chemicals (organic or synthetic) or naturally (with a bit more effort)

I was part of a biotope society and we had a functioning greenhouse that would take in bad water and clean it using a system of replicated features of natural water ways and facets of ecosystems they belonged in like specific plants.

people treat tap water every day to set up aquariums and seed them with bacteria and such

I only say this because I have had to get a new water source because of high salt content from well water and what a fucking nightmare that turned out to be

it was for an 8k grow, imagine what it is like getting garbage cans of water to use for an 8 k grow and trek it from miles away

if it is feasible I agree a pure water source is smarter than a treated water source if possible

 

[brainzfuxed]

Does anyone have a suggestion for an organic soil that I can purchase for a small 5-6 plant grow that will be mostly water fed only necessary? I am currently a coco grower and want to experiment with organics- my only concern is most of these mixes require me buying bales and bales of ingredients - and i possibly couldn't go through that much. Thanks!

 

[RiddleMeThis]

Right, it was my understanding that the amended mix would buffer. Since the soiless mix is not amended, was wondering if I would need to be concerned.

Picked up some distilled water to be safe until ph pen arrives and I see what my water supply looks like

 

[_tessarecting]

pH of my soil is 6.3 or so my well water comes out at 5.1 I even added phosphoric acid to it and the pH went down to the high 3's, almost vinegar acidity, I was tripping the fuck out about it having grown hydro for so long but the pH buffers instantly when in contact with the soil!

 

[BurnOne]

Another thing to consider is we are not growing in clay soil if using peat or coir.
I'm sure you've all seen the chart for uptake at pH.
Just a thought.
Burn1

 

[RiddleMeThis]

Will be transplanting to solo cups in the morning, seedlings nearly an inch tall now.

LC #2 mix, distilled water until ph pen arrives later this week.

Noticed a few tap roots exposing themselves at bottom of the rapid rooters... should I trim these?

 

[Sluicebox]

Will be transplanting to solo cups in the morning, seedlings nearly an inch tall now.

LC #2 mix, distilled water until ph pen arrives later this week.

Noticed a few tap roots exposing themselves at bottom of the rapid rooters... should I trim these?

I'd wait to transplant those till you at least get a couple sets of leaves. Do not trim any of the roots, and don't water or feed.

I like bright light 1000w halide on my seedlings but keep it 4-5 feet up off the seedlings. Keeping them warm and bright is what you want to focus on for now.

 

[RiddleMeThis]

I followed burn1s seedling instructions, and so far it seems to be working out ok. All are nearly an inch tall and will be pushed into the 3.5" pot and topped off with soilless mix tomorrow morning. Estimating about two weeks I'll be transplanting into 5.5" with recipe 1 soil. Hoping they'll show sex before transplanting to 5gal fabric pots.

 

[krso]

Hi organic growers . Last season i tried organic growing as well. I used compost from our household, which was about 5 years old. I used 50% (it was old compost so i figured to put more of it into the mix) of compost and 50% of peat moss than I added one table spoon of dolomit lime per 2 liters of mix and also i have added 20% of vermiculite(i must say this is awesome, a had to water my plants a lot less than others without the vermiculite). THe mix worked great, maybe even better than bought soil, which i used next to this hole for comparison. So my question is: as a natural grower i would like to reuse this soil again and again, and i just have to replace nutritions which my plants has used. My plane is to sieve soil to lose all the rots and than stuf into mix, but i dont know what should i add?? i was thinking that i would add about 30% of the same compost and probably some more of dolomite lime(probably it is used through grow? or am i wrong??) and maybe some bat guano as well? another possibility i was thinking was to just add old horse manure? please give me some advice or your experiance what is the best solution thx

 

[brown_thumb]

What do you folks think of this......?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oifWngdzwCg

 

[RiddleMeThis]

Seedlings in LC soilless mix #2, about a week from transplant into 5.5" pots. First sets of fan leaves curling on a few of them... temp/rh averaging 79F/30%. Difficult maintaining anything above 25%, frequently spraying/adding damp cloths. Think its a humidity issue?

Also noticing slight purple coloring at new growth... can provide pics later tonight.

 

[slownickel]

What do you folks think of this......?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oifWngdzwCg

Getting the manure to stick to your wall looks like fun.

Plant in dry manure? How funny. They spend too much money on the video.

Applications of small quantities of dry manure works great as a top dress. Do it frequently.

I will plant some seeds in dry manure directly and post the picture...

 

[slownickel]

Seedlings in LC soilless mix #2, about a week from transplant into 5.5" pots. First sets of fan leaves curling on a few of them... temp/rh averaging 79F/30%. Difficult maintaining anything above 25%, frequently spraying/adding damp cloths. Think its a humidity issue?

Also noticing slight purple coloring at new growth... can provide pics later tonight.

Curling up or curling down? Which leaves?

Night time temps?

Usually purple on new growth is a P deficiency.

 

[brown_thumb]

Getting the manure to stick to your wall looks like fun.

Plant in dry manure? How funny. They spend too much money on the video.

Applications of small quantities of dry manure works great as a top dress. Do it frequently.

I will plant some seeds in dry manure directly and post the picture...

Please cure and break up the manure thoroughly and water appropriately.