Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[vonforne]

Man,that will work. IF IT Fits the budget then use it. Tomato's are real similar to weed in nutrient needs. One step at a time. Finish the grow with success while building for a better grow next time. Each week you get a pay check put a little aside for the next grow to improve. Just like learning to walk......one step at a time.

V

 

[Tilt]

thanks v it is only $7.95 for a 4 pound bag (about 8 cups). They also have an all purpose 4/4/4, citrus 4/5/4, seedling not sure on the npk.
micros are propagules per cc
bacillus suptillus 1430
bacillus cereus 1430
bacillus megatarium 1430
azobacter vinelandi 75
lactobacillus acidophilus 1430
rhizobium japonicum 750
aspergillus oryzae 75
2% humic acid from leonadite

mycorrhizae 233174 propagules per pound

ectomycorrhizae
pisolithus tinctorius 211864
rhizopogon villosuli 5296
rhizopogon luteolus 5296
rhizopogon amylopogon 5296
rhizopogon fuligleba 5296

endomycorrhizae vam

glomus intradices 42
glomus mosseae 42
glomus aggregatum 42

can be used as compost starter
also has a tea that seems way to strong at 5 cups per 5 gallons of water

 

[rupertb]

-

 

[BurnOne]

rupertb-
Every plant is different. The recipes I gave are a starting point for beginners. After you get a few grows under your belt you will be able to read your plants so they can tell you what they are wanting/needing.
And like Lavender Cowboy used to say...
"Stick with one strain until you learn what it needs."
And I would even go further and say, stick with one clone until you master growing it. This is why a mother plant is so important. I used to have five mothers I took from one clone. I had plenty of plants to experiment with. I starved some and burned others until I found the right method by reading them.
Experience is EVERYTHING in this game.
Burn1

 

[Mycro]

Hi! I'm using roots organic soil with 1/3 perlite mix. Seems to be going OK for now. I add 1/2 teaspoon per 6 cups and 1 drop superthrive and 1/2 teaspoon FF Big Bloom every watering which has been every 4 days. Also 1/2 teaspoon Molasses per 6 cups every other water. Lower leaves turn yellow but then again they have all been in 12/12 for awhile now. I haven't seen many recipe's using roots organic. Thanks!

 

[otherwhitemeat]

B1, I figured I'd pop in to say thanks!!! I've been leeching off this thread for a while and only recently started making my own mix. I am so glad I was able to leave all of my quality control issues with FFOF behind me!!! And here's why:

A few weeks back I ran out of prepped/cooked LC mix so I decide to use my last remaining bit of FFOF. I ran two Papaya clones, one in FFOF and one in LC, both started same time, both fed the same exact nutes. I was gnat free for a month as soon I started using FFOF--guess who's back!?!?!

Also, as you can see, the FFOF doesn't buffer quite as well as my LC. BTW, also noticed that my last few mixes of FFOF didn't have 'wetting agent', I had to buy a bale of peat moss to know whay THAT is important!

Oh well, I'll let the photos speak for themselves....but to be sure, you now have another convert!!!



Left side FFOF, right side LC mix. Papaya clones--12/12 about 5 weeks:


Close up FFOF (sorry about pic quality):


Close up LC:

 

[maryjohn]

Now I'm the last person to defend ffof, but lc mix can grow plenty of gnats.

I get gnats in my sundew mix - 50-50 perlite and peat, nothing else. Even tapwater is a no no. That stuff is as lifeless as possible (they het nutes by trapping bugs)

Gnats love peat.

 

[otherwhitemeat]

Gnats love peat.

Yeah, I have no probs with LC mix that I mix in my garage, it has no exposure to gnats at all.

FFOF is obviously mixed/cured outdoors, every time I use it, the gnats come back in a week.

As long as I make my own LC, keep it covered, etc--gnats aren't a problem for me. ALL of my gnat problems came in a bag...

 

[maryjohn]

You'd be surprised.

I've never used any bagged soil, but gnats show up. Is it the weather? The moon?

When they are really bad I know it's the worm bins. I just tell my wife it's the weather. This Spring it was a veritable gnat storm. I resorted to vaccuming my bins.

Good news! Keeping nature at bay is overrated, and gnats are mostly harmless. I have found they can do no harm as long as I sow in soilless mix then move to soil. Or you can use Saran wrap or tobacco tea.

 

[IE2KS_KUSH]

BAD MATH

BAD MATH

Well, simply because my math skills are horrid, can someone take a peak at this and tell me if this looks even remotely close to workable.
I am going to be ordering some stuff online, but I want to be sure that I get enough of the alfalfa, kelp, and bone meal, as well as enough EWC.

Here is what I am looking at:
Alfalfa Meal: 5lbs
Kelp Meal: 5lbs
Bone Meal: 6lbs
and
1 cubic ft of EWC which is a weight of 52 lbs.
This long w/ the standard
3.8 cubic ft of Peat
as well as plenty of perlite that I already have.
Also getting a big ass bag of pulverized dolo.
I plan to use a 3 quart saucepan as per the instructions for my parts for my soiless mix.
My main concern is, will the amounts of the kelp, alfalfa, and bone be enough, I mean I have no idea how much a cup of bone meal, or half a cup of kelp or alfalfa meal weigh? I am guessing that will get me started, but do any of you see any glaring oversights on my part before I place these orders?

Oh yeah, it's gonna cost almost as much to ship most of this as it does for the actual items, could not find worm castings anywhere, and did not want to use the mushroom compost, that is killing me on the shipping. I also have 8lbs of Jersey green sand on the order as well, I plan on recycling the mix and from what I understand that will help out down the road.

All this stuff was pretty easy to get, those damn EWC though, I won't be able to get those locally until this spring! I am guessing that the amounts of nutes will work, I probably won't use quite all of the peat and EWC so that I have some EWC left for tea, but I will probably make 2 batches/cubic feet of the mix. Does it sound like I have enough nutes on deck to do that?

Sorry for the kind of long ass rambling post, but yeah, what do yous guys tink?

 

[maryjohn]

any chance you can start a worm bin? you could have castings by the spring if you play your cards right. you would have to put everything in the food processor and not keep it in a cold place. eh, maybe it's a bit tight on the timeframe, since we are almost october.

the "worm bin bag" from instructables dot com is as good as it gets for a home system, the only breathable flow thru " bin" I know of. Which means there is never an anaerobic pocket.

 

[IE2KS_KUSH]

any chance you can start a worm bin? you could have castings by the spring if you play your cards right. you would have to put everything in the food processor and not keep it in a cold place. eh, maybe it's a bit tight on the timeframe, since we are almost october.

the "worm bin bag" from instructables dot com is as good as it gets for a home system, the only breathable flow thru " bin" I know of. Which means there is never an anaerobic pocket.

I actually have one, had 3lbs of red wigglers in it, but when I moved, I kept the bin in the truck, and it was a cross country move, needless to say, not a living soul in there once I got to my destination, it didn't occur to me to take it out of the truck when we stopped, and a few different times it sat in there in very, very hot temps. They cooked. So yeah, I have one, just need to replace the worms he he. I have some worm castings in there, and now it's pretty much just a compost bin, but I don't really know how much I have or how to seperate them from the other stuff, one mistake I made I think was that I did put probably too much soil in there, but yea.
I am a vermicidal maniac lol. But yeah I will at some point get some more and get it going again, thanks for reminding me!

 

[maryjohn]

if you know someone who can sew, or if you can sew, I highly recommend the worm bin bag. I always had ok bins, but this is like a dirty pasta dish. And I'm hardly feeding due to the newer, cooler bokashi bin. I'm also not using up as much bedding, because I just take from the bottom to cover the new scraps until the volume gets low.

are you in a temperate climate? you can collect wigglers by leaving wet cardboard out on grass or dirt. They will hang out and you can nab quite a few, though not as much as you could from a bait shop or online.

If you give it enough air (turn it!) your dead worm bin should compost unless you totally cooked it, which I doubt.

 

[mrred]

its that time of the year for gnats, and this year was a good year for them

 

[IE2KS_KUSH]

if you know someone who can sew, or if you can sew, I highly recommend the worm bin bag. I always had ok bins, but this is like a dirty pasta dish. And I'm hardly feeding due to the newer, cooler bokashi bin. I'm also not using up as much bedding, because I just take from the bottom to cover the new scraps until the volume gets low.

are you in a temperate climate? you can collect wigglers by leaving wet cardboard out on grass or dirt. They will hang out and you can nab quite a few, though not as much as you could from a bait shop or online.

If you give it enough air (turn it!) your dead worm bin should compost unless you totally cooked it, which I doubt.

I WAS in a temperate climate, not anymore though. Now you got me going to check out the worm bags. It is composting, so that it good, it'll do for now until I can get a few pounds back. Off to learn more about the worm bag now.
I really just barely know enough to be dangerous when it comes to worm composting or otherwise, I did check out that japanese style too, right at the moment I am kinda limited on what I can and can't do, but I have managed to keep my bin and it appears to be ok, minus the worms of course.

 

[B.C.]

rupertb-
Every plant is different. The recipes I gave are a starting point for beginners. After you get a few grows under your belt you will be able to read your plants so they can tell you what they are wanting/needing.
And like Lavender Cowboy used to say...
"Stick with one strain until you learn what it needs."
And I would even go further and say, stick with one clone until you master growing it. This is why a mother plant is so important. I used to have five mothers I took from one clone. I had plenty of plants to experiment with. I starved some and burned others until I found the right method by reading them.
Experience is EVERYTHING in this game.
Burn1

Right on B1!!! This is the best post I've read here in a long time! BC

 

[vonforne]

Ya stick to one strain.

v

 

[IE2KS_KUSH]

It's so pretty!

 

[cosmiccowboy]

fellers,when should clones get their initial dose of molasses?...medium is peat,compost and manure,lime,bloodmeal,bonemeal,and kelp meal,per burnones suggested %..only difference is i left drainage considerations out of mix. plan on a different % of perlite at each phase of growth..medium is 19 days old and has mold or whatever its called on very top..sure feels good to start off on right foot.i still dont know shit,but i feel like a freakin genius,compared to how i was,before i read this thread....whatever happened to that suby guy? i read everything that he wrote. have always been partial to doityerself kind of people and he is one..burnone,vonforne,thanks fellers...for the 1st time i feel like i'm in control of my grow.YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHA!

 

[Absolut]

Anyone here ever use mycorrhizal fungi in their medium?

Been reading about, it seems to be greatly beneficial to plants.

Also read that it reduces the need for watering and fert. Seems kind of advanced for a beginner like me. Just wondering if people get good results using one of the mixes and fungi.