Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[Scrappy-doo]

Thanks for the article, but it didn't answer the question. I know what lime is meant for already. What I'm unsure of is when to mix it in, whether it needs water added to create any reactions, and how long to wait until amendments can be added. Didn't see anything about any of that in that article.

 

[rexamus616]

lime reacts with the nitrogen in the fertilizer, releasing it as a gas, lost to the atmosphere.

let your lime react for 2-3 weeks before adding your nitrogen fertilizers.... (your mix has to be moist/wet for it to react/cool down or whatever)

i think its called 'volatization' or something...

 

[OkieSmokie]

I picked up a bale of ProMix Vegatable and Herb on sale at the Mart. ($10 USD for 2 cu ft compacted) Its ORMI listed organic.

First Question: If I use it in a LCs Mix, should i go with recipe 1 or 2? My thought is 2 but I'd like some community input. What do you think about ProMix Vegatable and Herb for use in indoor Organic MJ gardening?

The dolomite lime is a given. It will be added per the recipe. The addition and importance of powered dolomite lime seems to be a recuring theme of this thread.

The food plan is blood, bone, kelp with water only.

Second question: With the water only food regimen, should one use the LIQUID KARMA only at the start? Or continually throughout the grow?

 

[OkieSmokie]

https://www.promixgardening.com/en/product/detail/pro-mix-vegetables-herb

Here is the link to that promix

 

[hyposomniac]

Thanks for the article, but it didn't answer the question. I know what lime is meant for already. What I'm unsure of is when to mix it in, whether it needs water added to create any reactions, and how long to wait until amendments can be added. Didn't see anything about any of that in that article.

I honestly don't know.. but the article did go into reaction time and variables surrounding that, so it can give some clues to part of your question.

Here's another bit from promix that addresses moisture but not further amendments:
"It is not unusual for a fresh made growing medium to have a low pH of 4.5-4.9, because the limestone has not dissolved due to the low moisture content of the growing medium's components. Depending on the moisture content, freshly made growing media may take a week to two months for the pH to rise to the normal range and stabilize. Therefore, in-use growing medium pH measurements are most accurate 7-10 days after planting and initial watering-in of the crop"
https://www.pthorticulture.com/en/training-center/function-of-limestone-in-growing-media/

I think I have some notes/links about the rest of the question.. will look.
Also please consider this friendly chatter, not at attempt at expert advice.
Alternately, my cec competition theory could be total bullshit, and the ions will do things for other reasons.. ie, following a chemical order of affinity: H+ > Al+3> Ca+2 > Mg+2 > K+ = NH4+ > Na+

 

[Klompen]

Thanks for the article, but it didn't answer the question. I know what lime is meant for already. What I'm unsure of is when to mix it in, whether it needs water added to create any reactions, and how long to wait until amendments can be added. Didn't see anything about any of that in that article.

Lime should be considered a long-term amendment and not a quick fix type. You shouldn't really need to lime more than once in a grow. Some people redo lime near the start of flowering though to drive nitrogen out of the soil but I would be cautious with that.

 

[PaulieWaulie]

I never had to lime my pro mix after re-using it over and over it consistently stayed at 6.2 when I did soiless
Mixing this with compost brings it to 6.5-7.0 -all of my compost (as is most) is pretty alkaline 7.0-7.5


Even pure Peat without anything added has P.H. of 5, so using 33% peat 33% Perlite 33% compost brings you right into that 6 range.




I use gypsum as to not raise my ph above 7. Additionally, magnesium in dolomite apparently doesn't become available for several years, I think my compost has aplenty. I could get langbeinite to supplement if I needed.

 

[noknees]

...

 

[igrowkushbitch]

hey Paulie I re amend my soil after every run. I usually add Dolomite back into the soil every time I re use it. Do you think thats redundant to add it every time? Doing about 1 tbl per gal of soil.

 

[PaulieWaulie]

hey Paulie I re amend my soil after every run. I usually add Dolomite back into the soil every time I re use it. Do you think thats redundant to add it every time? Doing about 1 tbl per gal of soil.

hey kushbitch,

I cant give you a definite answer, but I would point out that EWC and compost have a good amount of calcium, so how much and the quality of those make a difference, so does the hardness of your water, mine has 180ppm roughly of calcium carbonate and is pretty alkaline at ph 7.4 to 7.8. most amendments have some calcium as well, for example bone meal has over 20% calcium. Many people add it not just for magnesium and calcium but to raise ph if they are too acidic, so the biggest factor would be what is your ph currently. Gypsum adds calcium without raising your ph.

Besides spending money on a soil test you can do one plant of exact same pheno and leave out the dolomite, and see how it does. I did a test like that with over 20 plants and found no difference with the plants that had dolomite added, whether it was a tbsp, or two per gallon of soil.

What I have done is make a calcium blend of sorts that I had 1 cubic foot of mix, this is helping me slowly move away from dolimite as my ph used to be at just over, and until I see it go to 6.5 or lower I will continue to try and reduce it as I replace it with other amendments. Next step for me is a soil test to shed more light

1/2 Cup Gypsum
1/4 Cup Dolomite
1/4 Cup Oyster She

 

[igrowkushbitch]

Word thanks. Im using it more for ph buffering than calcium. My water is pretty much exactly like yours. So I have to RO the water. Im gonna try half with and half without and see if there is a difference.

I kinda wonder the same thing with azamite. Are the plants fully using the minerals or am I adding more and more and could potentially really harm the soil. There is a soil lab in my town and I think its like 50 bucks. Im gonna take a freshly mixed soil batch in and one after a crop. ill post my results.

 

[greenspace]

Wondering if anyone has tried the Bongaloid Guano mix listed on page 1 of this thread?

Reason I ask is I whipped up a batch of 10 gallons of this mix per the directions and all my girls died! Luckily they were just extra mums

I knew the mix was going to be hot when I worked up the numbers as it contained way heavier doses than my usual LC#1 + Recipe #1. I figured I would give it a shot with my extra girls in case they happened to die. Well sure enough they did.

I used the ratios mentioned in the mix:

Bongaloid's Guano Mix.
Use all these items combined with one gallon of soil mix.

1/3C hi N Guano Mexican Bat Guano or Peruvian Seabird Guano (PSG)
1/2C hi P Guano (Jamaican or Indonesian Bat Guano)
1TBS Kelp Meal
(OPTIONAL) 1TBS Jersey Greensand

My mix had 10 gallons of base LC#1 then I added 26 oz of Mexican + 40 oz of Indonesian, 5 oz of kelp.

Is my math off or is this mix waaaay hot?

 

[BurnOne]

Wondering if anyone has tried the Bongaloid Guano mix listed on page 1 of this thread?

Reason I ask is I whipped up a batch of 10 gallons of this mix per the directions and all my girls died! Luckily they were just extra mums

I knew the mix was going to be hot when I worked up the numbers as it contained way heavier doses than my usual LC#1 + Recipe #1. I figured I would give it a shot with my extra girls in case they happened to die. Well sure enough they did.

I used the ratios mentioned in the mix:

Bongaloid's Guano Mix.
Use all these items combined with one gallon of soil mix.

1/3C hi N Guano Mexican Bat Guano or Peruvian Seabird Guano (PSG)
1/2C hi P Guano (Jamaican or Indonesian Bat Guano)
1TBS Kelp Meal
(OPTIONAL) 1TBS Jersey Greensand

My mix had 10 gallons of base LC#1 then I added 26 oz of Mexican + 40 oz of Indonesian, 5 oz of kelp.

Is my math off or is this mix waaaay hot?

It's hot. I think it's for heavy eaters like Big Bud, Chronic, Critical Mass and the like.
Burn1

 

[DTOM420]

This is a great thread! Lots of great info and exactly why I joined ICMag!

 

[noknees]

...

 

[johnkneefive]

would this sea-soil work in place of worm castings?

 

[dank.frank]

Nothing works "in place of" worm castings except worm castings. A true must have for any proper soil mix. I drive over two hours to pick them up when needed.




dank.Frank

 

[johnkneefive]

Nothing works "in place of" worm castings except worm castings. A true must have for any proper soil mix. I drive over two hours to pick them up when needed.




dank.Frank

thank you for the reply

i sort of thought that..i was running low so ended up mixing 50/50 sea-soil and ewc..i hope it works

on another note ,it would be wonderful getting my hands on NSPB: Full Life Formula mix ... i read your other thread about 1 million times..i been gathering amendments best i could..its a long list..
is there anywhere a guy could purchase this mix

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258168

 

[nickman]

thank you for the reply

i sort of thought that..i was running low so ended up mixing 50/50 sea-soil and ewc..i hope it works

on another note ,it would be wonderful getting my hands on NSPB: Full Life Formula mix ... i read your other thread about 1 million times..i been gathering amendments best i could..its a long list..
is there anywhere a guy could purchase this mix

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258168

I’ll second what he just said...!!!...

 

[nickman]

I’m wondering if the worm castings they sell at Home Depot and such are just as goood to use ...!!!...

Frank, you say you will drive two hours to get them. I guess u won’t use the Home Depot version ...???...