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Wanted: organic source of K (home made)
- Thread starter Rattrap
- Start date
Rattrap
Member
Even tho brewing up your own home nute tea is a dirty, stinky job, what with all the chook poo, wood ash, worm poo & human wee, i wouldn't have it any other way!
My girls are into their 2nd week of flower so i'm cutting the chook poo tea back to half strength (because of the high N) but adding 1/2 str bat guano for the P boost they will be looking for as well as some wood ash. In the past when i've tried using the wood ash i've just added a couple of tablespoons of ash to a 2L bottle, shaken the hell out of it, let it stand for 10min then drained off all the liquid then diluted it down till it reads around 300 on my TDS meter. i'll be doing the same this time too, add it to the above nute mix to give a boost in K. I've also been giving my girls a feed of Earth Juice micro blast with every feed, so far so good.
My girls are into their 2nd week of flower so i'm cutting the chook poo tea back to half strength (because of the high N) but adding 1/2 str bat guano for the P boost they will be looking for as well as some wood ash. In the past when i've tried using the wood ash i've just added a couple of tablespoons of ash to a 2L bottle, shaken the hell out of it, let it stand for 10min then drained off all the liquid then diluted it down till it reads around 300 on my TDS meter. i'll be doing the same this time too, add it to the above nute mix to give a boost in K. I've also been giving my girls a feed of Earth Juice micro blast with every feed, so far so good.
Hello Rattrap,
I used to use a formula as follows:
In veg,
2cc/l of Alaska fish (5-1-1)
1cc/l of EJ Bloom (0-3-1)
wood ash to pH adjust (1-2 tbsn/l)
as I move into flower,
4cc/l AF
4cc/ej bloom
wood ash to pH adjust (3-4)
After the stretch, I backed of on the fish.
ABout the 4-5 week I blasted them with some N.
I fert till I chop because I water cure.
This was last year, I had 3 grows and that grow was the best.
Now I use ewc teas, kelp, guano as well as the alaska fish and the ejbloom and molasses.
I am using FFOF soil-best decision despite my reluctance to pay(10 bux a bag) for "holy grail of soil".
I must say I have been getting much better results with shit tea then when I did without. Kelp too.
minds_I
I used to use a formula as follows:
In veg,
2cc/l of Alaska fish (5-1-1)
1cc/l of EJ Bloom (0-3-1)
wood ash to pH adjust (1-2 tbsn/l)
as I move into flower,
4cc/l AF
4cc/ej bloom
wood ash to pH adjust (3-4)
After the stretch, I backed of on the fish.
ABout the 4-5 week I blasted them with some N.
I fert till I chop because I water cure.
This was last year, I had 3 grows and that grow was the best.
Now I use ewc teas, kelp, guano as well as the alaska fish and the ejbloom and molasses.
I am using FFOF soil-best decision despite my reluctance to pay(10 bux a bag) for "holy grail of soil".
I must say I have been getting much better results with shit tea then when I did without. Kelp too.
minds_I
Rattrap
Member
I've gone away from using the expensive brands of potting mix as well as 'sooping' them up before repotting. I find that its too easy to make the potting mix too hot for the younger plants. Also i find that because i love to feed my girls nutes i have a tendency to over feed if the potting mix is too hot. I don't buy the super el-cheapo brands but just a run of the mill potting mix with NO slow release fert pellets. I find that this way i can much better control the amount of nutes my girls are getting. And because we have our own chooks, my total nute usage for the entire grow is very low, just some EJ microblast & a little bat guano. Now if i can ditch the bat guano too, all i'll be paying for will be the power. hehe just call me Captain tight ass. lol
Well captain I understand the cost factor-not from lack of funds or difficult in getting a product its just that I don't like to pay for shit I already have. Case in point-chicken shit-great fert-needs composting.
Also, I can buy rooting hormones but I use the tea made from a willow tree and get the same results.
Then I just stopped using the willow all together and just use a homemade bubble cloner.
My goal is premium buds at low cost and as little effort as possible.
AS far as water cure. I find the results to be superior.
The drawbacks are:
1. Color or bag appeal is lost (kinda makes them look brownish).
2. Cured weight is about 15% of wet weight. Normal air cure usually results in 20-25% of wet weight.
3. The smell is lost.
4. The hits are smoother and do not make your lungs explode.
5. The exhaled smoke does not smell like air cured weed and in fact is less odorous (in my opinion)
The high is great. Some say "water cure makes it more potent" when the fact of the matter is that 5-10% more of the plants matter has been removed leaving hte same amount of thc so you smoke less plant matter to get the same high.
I think that makes sense.
Anyway, I water cure because my 13yo daughters (yes twins) do not know I smoke pot. I am hoping for a few more years of deniel and subdefuge will get them through HS without knowing.
Why-well, better they not know for the time being.
Anyway, its a faster cure to good smoke and I like it.
I would suggest you try using just a sample of your harvest to give it a try with.
You could also snag a few buds early (8 days) to water cure and dry and smoke it for your own idea of the results. Of course you lose a weeks worth of growth and maturity but....This way you commit just a small amount.
minds_I
PS, smoking some Mendocino county mix at the moment-brain thumping.
Also, I can buy rooting hormones but I use the tea made from a willow tree and get the same results.
Then I just stopped using the willow all together and just use a homemade bubble cloner.
My goal is premium buds at low cost and as little effort as possible.
AS far as water cure. I find the results to be superior.
The drawbacks are:
1. Color or bag appeal is lost (kinda makes them look brownish).
2. Cured weight is about 15% of wet weight. Normal air cure usually results in 20-25% of wet weight.
3. The smell is lost.
4. The hits are smoother and do not make your lungs explode.
5. The exhaled smoke does not smell like air cured weed and in fact is less odorous (in my opinion)
The high is great. Some say "water cure makes it more potent" when the fact of the matter is that 5-10% more of the plants matter has been removed leaving hte same amount of thc so you smoke less plant matter to get the same high.
I think that makes sense.
Anyway, I water cure because my 13yo daughters (yes twins) do not know I smoke pot. I am hoping for a few more years of deniel and subdefuge will get them through HS without knowing.
Why-well, better they not know for the time being.
Anyway, its a faster cure to good smoke and I like it.
I would suggest you try using just a sample of your harvest to give it a try with.
You could also snag a few buds early (8 days) to water cure and dry and smoke it for your own idea of the results. Of course you lose a weeks worth of growth and maturity but....This way you commit just a small amount.
minds_I
PS, smoking some Mendocino county mix at the moment-brain thumping.
Rattrap
Member
I might give the water curing a miss then. I love to grow the purple & i'd hate to loose some of that colour. I think the NPK measuring kit will be worth its weight in gold, it'll let me try all sort of different mixes of home made nutes. Not that i would imagine that it'll be very acurate, the ones i've looked at on the net are the litmas paper type. All i'm looking for is an indication.
muddy waters
Active member
i was reading one of the watercuring threads and folks were taking ppm readings of the discarded water. they were pretty high during the first 4-6 days of curing. i think this water would definitely be worth re-using on the current grow. the fact that it consists of exactly the substances the plant had accumulated during growth and flowering should make this obvious. an NPK test would reveal what most of those nutrients are--i'm assuming a little (at least) is P & K.
G
Guest
muddy waters said:
hey MW. yes of course, everything in urine is organic and water-soluble, and if you're body's not growing anymore i'm sure you would excrete as much as you take in (i wonder how much P/K you could eat before you cause yourself grievous bodily harm), i think urine needs P/K augmentation of some kind if you're using it in bloom, if not by increasing you're own comsumption, then by way of a tea like the one you're using. another option would be fermentation, if you're brave enough.
G
Guest
BuddyNugs from OG has resurrected his original piss faq: http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21381
SativaBelieva
Active member
I've read the first page... and if you're still looking for organic K... here's my solution... I use this together with Guano thea... Vitrasol... of BioNova... it sweetens the taste too...
http://www.bionova.nl/SiteEN/En/pages/Detail3EN.asp?ID=58
Good luck!
SB
http://www.bionova.nl/SiteEN/En/pages/Detail3EN.asp?ID=58
Good luck!
SB
Last edited:
Rattrap
Member
this current grow is the first grow where i've my home brewed chook poo tea as my primary nute right thru veg & well into flower. In past grows i've used shop bought nutes that are predominantly N like fish emulsion. This time round i've notice much less stretch in flower, very little in fact. Now i have not the slightest sign of N def & chook poo is fairly high in N. My girls have just gone onto 1/2 str chook poo tea, 1/2 str bat guano & 1/2 str chem K boost
G
Guest
good on ya mate.
dark green leaves in early veg is a good sign i think, but ease right up on the N near bloom or if the fan leaves get "the claw" look (leaf margins that will roll downward) in which case you'll get leafy buds and delayed flowering. and remember that too much K and N locks out Ca.
dark green leaves in early veg is a good sign i think, but ease right up on the N near bloom or if the fan leaves get "the claw" look (leaf margins that will roll downward) in which case you'll get leafy buds and delayed flowering. and remember that too much K and N locks out Ca.
Rattrap, right on bro!I wanted to thank muddy waters, Minds_I and SatGhost on their additional wood ash K uses............for one I never drained, so I feel enlightened and I've been conservative in it's use............but I have used 1 TBL/per gal and not drained off...........but felt it was alittle strong which brings me to an old entry in MJ Botanty pertaining to K {Potassium} levels in cannabis production.
"The effect of potassium on production in Cannabis is linked to the presence of adequate amounts of both nitrogen and phosphorus. Tibeau (1936) showed that plants with an adequate supply of N and P grew very vigorously when given excessive amounts of K {potassium}. She also noted that plants recovered from potassium starvation rapidly but never reached the size of plants with a continuous supply."
muddy waters
Active member
glad i could help des... i'd be interested to know the threshold at which excessive K locks out Ca as satghost mentioned. is it a pH issue? i've never overdone it (K) but reading that excerpt i'm very tempted to double up the quantity of wood ash i use and see what happens.
muddy waters, I tried it ten years ago with Jamaican breeds and remember it worked real well with 1 TBL/gal every ten day feeding period. My notes are too scatterted......but from that point on I started saving five gallon buckets of wood ash and had them stashed everywhere when I started back up last summer with better genes.......so I've been building up my mix slowly adding alittle more each time of K and was conservative this time in using wood ash in teas.............my harvest is alittle more potent this time around...........even baby buds will kick ass!
Rattrap
Member
i like to keep the N going till all the stretch is finished but drop the level in half at the start of flower then drop in off almost completely. I don't like to see any yellowing of shade leaves till at least the 4th week of flower. (not that plans always work out that way. lol)
Interesting info on adding extra K there Desriderata. Cal def shows itself pretty quick so i don't see too much harm in boosting up the K some.
Interesting info on adding extra K there Desriderata. Cal def shows itself pretty quick so i don't see too much harm in boosting up the K some.
G
Guest
muddy waters said:
well with wood ash, it's a moot point because it's about 15% calcium and only 2.6% K on average, so it's really more of a lime replacement than a K source, as minds I has stated. i understand that hard wood yields lot's of ash, but it's a false economy because the nute ratio is just not right for cannabis imho. weed ash (roots, stems and all) will have an optimum nute ratio for growing weed, and hard-wood ash will have the optimum nute ratio to growing hard wood, makes sense no?
i think my most basic nute regime will be this: dilute urine, with whole cannabis ash phased-in gradually through bloom.
muddy waters
Active member
do you think you could grow in an inert media using just these ingredients and nothing else?
i think i smell an experiment brewing...
G
Guest
i don't see why not MW, it makes sense in an alchemy kind of way.
what kind of medium are we talking about? i might be wrong about this, but i think a medium with cation exchage capacity (CEC) is needed if you're not too sure about your nute ratios and concentrations, which is pretty much the case with most home-brewed nute solutions. i'm thinking clay, coco, compost or anything containing humus, humic/fulvic acid.
what kind of medium are we talking about? i might be wrong about this, but i think a medium with cation exchage capacity (CEC) is needed if you're not too sure about your nute ratios and concentrations, which is pretty much the case with most home-brewed nute solutions. i'm thinking clay, coco, compost or anything containing humus, humic/fulvic acid.
