Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[BurnOne]

Burnone you rock!!! thanks to you and LC my dad has been able to pull off growing some very primo herb, pretty good for a guy who can't grow grass on the front lawn lol. Thanks for making this info available

That's exactly why I do this.
I can't grow grass in the front yard either!
Burn1

 

[jasonk]

Thanks for the great & quick replies B1!
Great thread you got going, TONS of help.

 

[somebody041]

Hydro stores are 4X more on everything. Same peat.
Burn1

thanks... i thought so too! the hydro guy kept talking about how they wash the peat to have a good ph or something

on the back of the bag of lowes it says from the same people who make promix so it can't be that bad!

 

[candamo]

I haven't found kelp meal in powder form yet, the only thing that ive got is some algae extract in liquid form. Has anyone worked with liquid seaweed before?
I guess ill have to apply this with the water regularly instead of adding the seaweed in the dry mix with the other ferts.

 

[delerious]

Here's a link for kelp meal. http://www.plantitearth.com/organic-nutrients/down-to-earth-norwegian-kelp-meal.aspx

 

[vonforne]

I haven't found kelp meal in powder form yet, the only thing that ive got is some algae extract in liquid form. Has anyone worked with liquid seaweed before?
I guess ill have to apply this with the water regularly instead of adding the seaweed in the dry mix with the other ferts.

I use liquid and it works just fin. Sometimes you have to deal with the area you live in. I add it to every watering stopping in he second week of flowering. I used Maxi Crop and Neptunes in America and now use Plagron or AN. I liiked Maxi Crop the best.

V

 

[candamo]

thats what i thought, thanks for the advice Von! will do then.

 

[Marquis de Sod]

i cant read all 1530 replies. burn one, ygm! i ask mainly with your formula #1 in flower, (or veg as well) i can use hydroponic fertz like Flora Nova or the GH 3 part system instead of the teas you posted with all the various ingredients. what is your general opinion of FN? am i screwing up using only perlite and vermiculite as well? i have been getting terrible results bordering on nothing. i am actually not even paying for my fertz and power bill with what i am growing. what was spozed to be white widow. it looked good the first time but since cloning have turned into stick plants i have had to top andam going to spray with height regulator. but i just got a bunch of seeds from a huge indica, i dont know what strain tho. is this whats referred to as "hydro-organic"? ps i use water from my 55 gal fish tank mixed with ferts the day i water, ph'd to about 6.0 or less.

also, is there any use in your soiless mixes for sand?

 

[rupertb]

-

 

[Clackamas Coot]

That is interesting. This is the first time I have heard that. It´s Google time.

I have taken a bigger step with the coco this round. I mixed 60-40 peat and coco and will run it in flower for this round. I did about the same for my 2nd transplant in veg.

Thanks for the tip on the Neem coir.

V

Vonforne

One of the Sunshine Mix versions (Sunshine Growers Organic Mix) is a 60-40 mix of peat moss and coconut coir. They also use all 3 aeration amendments (perlite, pumice & vermiculite) and PH adjusted with oyster shell flour/powder. It runs $18.00 per 3 c.f. which is not a bad price. You'll find your new mix quite nice, IMHO

RE: neem tree coir

One of the biggest nursery stock trade shows is coming up in 3 weeks in Portland. I contacted one of the neem tree product importers and they're going to toss a 2 c.f. bale on the truck coming up to the trade show for me to try out. The only thing that they asked for doing this is to write up a review of their product vs. using coconut coir.

When I do mix soil, which isn't often now that I recycle the potting soils, my basic recipe is 50% organic coconut coir, 25% pumice and 25% organic compost. I did not see any less growth rates when I dropped the peat moss plus the coconut coir that we get from the nursery suppliers is loose packed like peat moss, it's PH neutral and very cost effective, i.e. $7.80 per 2 c.f.

Thankfully they don't sell it at the hydro stores (or indoor garden centers if one prefers).

CC

 

[otherwhitemeat]

I am gradually working the LC Mix Recipe with worm castings into my indoor garden.

I am curious about the water retention of my mix. My Peat bale came with perlite already in the mix. So I backed off 1 full part perlite when making my batch.

http://www.bergerpeatmoss.com/fiche.php?i=35&sc=5

I am noticing that my LC mix retains water longer than my Fox Farms in comparative use. Is that a good thing or bad thing? Basically I have to water every 3-4 days, instead of 2. If I want better drainage, would more perlite be the solution? Or less?

I'd like to sort this out before I go to flowering as I would anticipate problems if my rootmass is too wet and compact. Only issue so far is my girls a bit dark green, on the next batch, I plan on laying off the blood meal a bit.

Any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks!


PS-Anyone having issues locating the ingredients in the Eastern US, should really check out Agway! They are the best alternative to hydro stores! Just picked up 60 pounds of worm castings!!!!!!!

 

[Marquis de Sod]

i just transplanted everything i had going into budland into lc's #1 with the following variations:

a: 5 coir, 3 perlite/vermiculite, 2 organic compost, 1 worm casting, 1 sand

b: 5 coir 3 p/v, 2 worm casting, 1 organic compost, 1 sand

c. 5 spag peat, 3 p/v, 1 organic compost, 1 worm casting, 1 sand

d: 5 spag peat, 3 p/v, 1 organic compost, 1 sand, 2 worm casting

e: 1/2 coir, 1/2 p/v

and all with 2 tb of powdered lime. i added the sand just cause this book (Indoor mj growing by someone -i cant find it now, swears by the crap) had roots from 3" to 11" and all went into 12" tree pots except some that were already in 12"rs went into extra tall plastic coffee cans like you get at cosco, not the corner store.
Tired of clapped out plants. blamin it on the same p/v recycled over and over for a year or two. thats about when my plants started to bomb.

BurnOne, got your answer to my Q @ usin the Flora Nova on these, since it's time to put some juice to'em your fish / seaweed recepie sounds the easiest, if i can find them!

i found nepturne'sharvest.com but no fish emulsion, so i take it that is generic.

 

[afungi]

Check this thread.. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=107864

For example..



Now, my local source is just pre-bagged stuff from the West Country (a long distance from me), so judging by the comments on that thread, aint gonna be the good stuff.. Don't know what to do now though, like you said above, mushroom compost is so much cheaper.

My friend used mushroom compost in her garden and had white button mushrooms growing with the rains. I think cooking all the compost would be cost ineffective for the business. Since it's a byproduct of the main business. Commercial available strains of mushrooms can be had for a couple hundred bucks. People can always clone a fresh store bought mushroom too.

 

[candamo]

heres my soil mix, i just wanna check if i got the IC's approval.

50% sunshine #3
25% perlite
25% worm castings
dolomite lime 5gram per liter
bloodmeal 1/2 cup per cubic feet
bone meal 1 cup per cubic feet
peruvian seabird guano 15g per liter

hope its all good, gonna start cooking it this weekend

cheers

 

[ambr0sia]

Thanks to this thread, I'm using this soil:

LC’s Soiless Mix #1:
5 parts Canadian Spaghnam Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts wormcastings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered (NOT PELLETIZED) dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.

...and this feeding regiment:

RECIPE #3 (My favorite)
If you want to use guano tea and kelp...

Guano Tea and Kelp:

Seedlings less than 1 month old nute tea mix-
Mix 1 cup earthworm castings into 5 gallons of water to make the tea.
Add 5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses.
Use it to water your seedlings with every 3rd watering.

Veg mix-
1/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano (PSG)
1/3 cup High N Bat Guano (Mexican)
1/3 cup Earth Worm Castings (EWC)
5 tsp. Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
(That makes the "dry mix". You can make all you want and save it to use later.)
Mix with water @ 1 cup of dry mix into 5 gallons of water to make the tea.
To that 5 gallons of tea add:
5 tbs. Liquid Karma
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
Use it to water with every 3rd watering.

Flowering nute tea mix:
2/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano
2/3 cup Earth Worm Castings
2/3 cup High P Guano (Indonesian or Jamaican)
5 tsp. Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
(That makes the "dry mix". You can make all you want and save it to use later.)
Mix with water @ 2 cups of dry mix into 5 gallons of water to make the tea.
To that 5 gallons of tea add:
5 tbs. Liquid Karma
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
Use it to water with EVERY watering.

..and am getting wonderful results - EXCEPT for this more than likely self-induced problem in one particular plant:

This here is an Great White North Seed Co.'s RGD ("Really Good Dope") at day 34 of flower. It's been fed the flowering tea as per the directions - With every watering at full strength.

The soil, on the other hand, is not at all playing by the rules - The RGD was my first plant to go in and LC's Mix #1 hadn't finished cooking yet, so I subbed in FFOF in the pinch, figuring it'd be basically the same thing with a bit more "N". Apparently I was wrong.

I'm pretty certain now that FFOF doesn't have nearly the amount of pH buffering lime as LC's Mix #1 does, and what I'm seeing here is some sort of pH-induced ill - This being my first time encountering the problem, though, it's quite possible that I'm entirely off base.

As you can see, the problem is primarily affecting the sugar leaves, and mostly on the largest, tallest buds; All are affected to some degree, but the heaviest damage is focused on the 5 largest.

The problem first appeared the day before I left for a three day trip, just subtly in the tips. I called to check in on them but was told they looked "pretty much the same". I came back to what you see here plus a vast majority of the lower growth drooping with the leaf-tips curling inward - Every one of the leaves that looked like this dropped off with only the slightest goading.

Since I've returned I've flushed the plant with about 2 gallons of distilled water with 1 tbsp of dolemite lime mixed in; Slow acting, I know, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

The problem seems to have stabilized since then, with no further spread of the necrosis; I'm trimming off the worst of it to keep it from molding, and plan to flush once more with ph-balanced Liquid Karma and Black Strap Molasses diluted to about half its usual strength.

For what it's worth, the other three plants in my tent are planted in LC's Mix #1 and are staggered in increments of one week behind this one, but all appear to be doing marvelously.

Any other suggestions?

 

[localhero]

first off, id like to thank b1 for all his hard work!

im using soiless mix #2 along with tea recipe #3 in 4.75 gallon square pots x 26 soooooo my question is (and i swear i saw the answer once somewhere in this thread and have been searching for it for days now and cant find it) how does the tea recipe change for larger batches than 5 gallons? i think i read somewhere that its not as simple as doubling the recipe for say a 10 gallon mix. i have a 65 liter a minute air pump, would i need more airpower for a 10 gallon mix? or should i break it down to two 5 gallon tea brews? any help would be greatly appreciated and although im sure the answer is somewhere in this thread man i cant find it and ive tried every search term i can think of. also ive noticed you guys are rearanging the organic side of the site, an lc mix faq sticky would be awesome! and then people with specific questions could discuss here?

 

[ambr0sia]

Any other suggestions?

Anyone?

 

[BurnOne]

Anyone?

I have no idea unless it's nitrogen burn or maybe a potassium deficiency. I would definitely lay off the nutes for a week or two. Using dolomite lime in water probably has no effect.
Burn1

 

[ambr0sia]

I have no idea unless it's nitrogen burn or maybe a potassium deficiency. I would definitely lay off the nutes for a week or two. Using dolomite lime in water probably has no effect.
Burn1

Yeah, I was having a pretty hard time nailing down just what it was too - Thanks for the advice, B1!

Any suggestions for what I can do at this point to make up for the fact that FFOF doesn't have the 2tbl/gallon of dolemite lime that my LC's Mix #1 does this far into flower? Do I just need to pH adjust all of my tea applications from here on out?

 

[mrred]

how important is dolomite lime? doesnt it just adjust the ph? i thought ph wasnt a issue in organics