Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[madb]

G'day,

Thanks for the all great info Burn1, i have been madly reading this forum for a number of days now and see the amount of help you provide off your own back is incredible.

I am very interested in making the soiless mix here, but being in Australia i may have trouble obtaining some of the ingredients such as greensand etc but i will keep trying.

Could you or anyone advise if the current mix i am using is to hot or not suitable etc?

It consists of:

60% Pot n Peat potting mix (not sure of the makeup but i know it contains a slow release fertiliser)
25% jumbo perlite
10% Worm castings
5% Mushroom Compost

To each gallon of this i add:

3tbs Blood and bone meal (in australia i have only been able to find this product together not separate).
2tbs Dolomite Lime

 

[BurnOne]

madb-
You don't need the greensand, but you will need kelp or seaweed. Your recipe looks good. Give it a try.
Burn1

 

[madb]

Thanks mate. I went out and bought some coir from the local hardware shop and am going to try soiless mix #1 along with recipe #5 as it seems rather simple.

I seem to be only able to get concentrated liquid seaweed here, would the ratio be the same as the dry/powdered?

 

[BurnOne]

I seem to be only able to get concentrated liquid seaweed here, would the ratio be the same as the dry/powdered?

Follow the directions on the product label.
Burn1

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Thanks mate. I went out and bought some coir from the local hardware shop and am going to try soiless mix #1 along with recipe #5 as it seems rather simple.

I seem to be only able to get concentrated liquid seaweed here, would the ratio be the same as the dry/powdered?

Madb

What brand of seaweed concentrated extract are you using?

Is it Kelpak by any chance?

I'm familiar with that specific product out of South Africa if that helps.

Is your product a 'clear liquid' like water? Or is it dark like you'd expect seaweed extract to look?

CC

 

[madb]

Madb

What brand of seaweed concentrated extract are you using?

CC

Hi CC,

It's an australian product as i live in aus. Farmed in Tasmania (the most southern australian state) from bullkelp, its very dark.

I'll do as B1 says and follow the label, I was just unsure if there was a standard formula for using a liquid kelp for this formula.

madb

 

[nag-champa]

one of the recipes ,for neptune's harvest fish and seaweed
do you apply to every watering?
they recommend once every 2-3 weeks

or is it the same for all liquid applications of organic fertz?

 

[BurnOne]

one of the recipes ,for neptune's harvest fish and seaweed
do you apply to every watering?
they recommend once every 2-3 weeks

or is it the same for all liquid applications of organic fertz?

I use 1 tbs./gal. every watering.
Burn1

 

[TryComb]

can you add to much worm castings?? I have LC's #1 ready to go I put my seedlings in and the next day they were slightly burned. Is this mix not used in veg only in flower?? Thanks for the help.

 

[BurnOne]

There is nothing in LC's Mixes that will burn seedlings.
Burn1

 

[TheOneWill]

I wanna use this
RECIPE #2
If you want to use guano in your soil mix...
Bongaloid's Guano Mix.
Use all these items combined with one gallon of soil mix.
1/3C hi N Guano (Mexican Bat Guano)
1/2C hi P Guano (Jamaican or Indonesian Bat Guano)
1TBS Jersey Greensand
1TBS Kelp Meal
But can't get Jersey Greensand. What can I replace that with?

 

[K.J]

Mg deficiency problems

Mg deficiency problems

So I've used the following mix for both my seedlings and transplant soil. I made the mistake of putting the seedlings into the ferted soil instead of just the base mix, but they seemed to fare just fine in that regard.

6 gallons Sunshine Mix #4
1-1/2 gallons chunky perlite
2 gallons earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon of the soiless mix

Dry Ferts (per gallon of soiless mix):
1 tablespoon blood meal
2 tablespoons bone meal
1 tablespoon kelp meal
1 tablespoon Jersey Greensand

We're having what looks like Mg deficiency problems with our ladies (yellowing on older leaves, starting from the outside edge and works its way to the middle, eventually go almost white with some necrotic browning on the tips/edges). Since we transplanted, it seems to have slowed down some, but it just showed up again on the one plant that hadn't had problems yet.

First, what can be done to fix this now? And second, how can the mix be improved so that we don't have this problem in the future (our goal is to water with only LK, molasses, and EWC's and no other ferts if possible). Is there something we should have added? Or do we have too much of something?

 

[j.guit.err]

After talking with KJ, we are using the exact same mix and are having identical problems. I tend to think it's Mg deficient from the description. I used the mix without ferts for my seedlings and transplanted into the fert mix after I saw 4 nodes, so we can rule that out as a possibility. Here are the pics of my plants:

Notice the bottom leaf. I clipped it at first before trimming that entire leaf off, but this is the start. The leaves start yellowing and curling up and become totally necrotic then fall off.

Here's another pic. See on the bottom the leaf that I trimmed off? That's the yellowing necrosis that I'm talking about. They start yellowing then pale out and die.

Some of mine is light burn, but the yellowing part is what I'm worried about.

 

[BurnOne]

I wanna use this
RECIPE #2
If you want to use guano in your soil mix...
Bongaloid's Guano Mix.
Use all these items combined with one gallon of soil mix.
1/3C hi N Guano (Mexican Bat Guano)
1/2C hi P Guano (Jamaican or Indonesian Bat Guano)
1TBS Jersey Greensand
1TBS Kelp Meal
But can't get Jersey Greensand. What can I replace that with?

You don't need the greensand.

So I've used the following mix for both my seedlings and transplant soil. I made the mistake of putting the seedlings into the ferted soil instead of just the base mix, but they seemed to fare just fine in that regard.

6 gallons Sunshine Mix #4
1-1/2 gallons chunky perlite
2 gallons earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon of the soiless mix

Dry Ferts (per gallon of soiless mix):
1 tablespoon blood meal
2 tablespoons bone meal
1 tablespoon kelp meal
1 tablespoon Jersey Greensand

We're having what looks like Mg deficiency problems with our ladies (yellowing on older leaves, starting from the outside edge and works its way to the middle, eventually go almost white with some necrotic browning on the tips/edges). Since we transplanted, it seems to have slowed down some, but it just showed up again on the one plant that hadn't had problems yet.

First, what can be done to fix this now? And second, how can the mix be improved so that we don't have this problem in the future (our goal is to water with only LK, molasses, and EWC's and no other ferts if possible). Is there something we should have added? Or do we have too much of something?

Guys, when a plant has a MG deficiency, the leaves point straight upward. It's called "praying for magnesium". What you have there is nitrogen burn from the hot mix.

Burn1

 

[K.J]

Guys, when a plant has a MG deficiency, the leaves point straight upward. It's called "praying for magnesium". What you have there is nitrogen burn from the hot mix.

Burn1

How is the mix hot? Did I not follow the recipe correctly? I know I put mine into the ferted mix a week or so too early, but j.guit.err didn't and we're having what appears to be a similar problem (though the leaves on ours aren't as necrotic, it's mostly a yellowing issue).

 

[j.guit.err]

Yeah, they both have similar descriptions as far as I can tell. It does kinda look like nute burn to me, but all those are so damn similar. What is causing the burn? I followed the recipe as well. Should I let the plants veg longer in the non-nute mix? Also, how do we solve the problem now?

Thanks burnone, you're a lifesaver!

 

[BurnOne]

All you can do now is wait. It's not a MG def. They will probably recover. Be patient. And don't over water.
Burn1

 

[K.J]

All you can do now is wait. It's not a MG def. They will probably recover. Be patient. And don't over water.
Burn1

Thanks BurnOne. But I'm still confused as to how the problem occurred. Is it just the strains we're working with? Or is this a general problem with the LC recipe (I can't imagine that to be the case)? I'm getting ready to mix up a new batch of soil and I would like to make a correction this run.

 

[BurnOne]

To me, your plants look a little small for as old as they are. This mix can be hot to young or unhealthy plants. If you used the recipes correctly, there is nothing wrong with your mix. This mix has been around for years and many have used it successfully.
The best way to know when to transplant into LC's Mix with blood/bone/kelp is to look at the first set of round leaves that come out on the seedling. Those leaves contain the food for the plant. When those leaves turn very yellow or brown, it's time to transplant.
For cuttings, make sure they are very well rooted. The roots should fill a cup of plain LC's Mix in a 16 ounce cup.
Burn1

 

[K.J]

To me, your plants look a little small for as old as they are.

The first Pure girl popped out of the rockwool on 1/22, and was put under the CFL the next day. The other Pure's on 1/24. so they're about 5 weeks old right now and all of them are working on their 8th set of leaves. Peanut is the tallest at about 10-12". I think they're growing fairly well for sharing 125w of CFL in a non-enclosed space (which reduces intensity).

Our Blue Mystic girls are just over 3 weeks old (since breaking the rockwool) and they're both working on their 4th set of leaves.

This mix can be hot to young or unhealthy plants. If you used the recipes correctly, there is nothing wrong with your mix. This mix has been around for years and many have used it successfully.

Well, hopefully it's because we put them in the ferted version of the mix sooner than we should have. The strange thing is that so far I don't see the same issues on the Blue Mystic's, which also went into the ferted soil too early (only 4-5 days after breaking the rockwool). So why would one set of plants get burned and the other not? The only thing I could come up with is that the soil had a few more weeks to mature before the BM's were potted; maybe this made all the difference?

The best way to know when to transplant into LC's Mix with blood/bone/kelp is to look at the first set of round leaves that come out on the seedling. Those leaves contain the food for the plant. When those leaves turn very yellow or brown, it's time to transplant.

That's the exact method we plan to use. Thanks for all the help B1!