400w hps 3 strains. soil. 1st journal

RetiredMatthebrute

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
ADD LIME!!!

not sue if the coco has it but garde/dolomite like helps keep soil PH where it should be. its the best thing you can ammend to your soil imho
 
thafoot

thafoot

Well-Known Member
Ok I don't want to post a new thread asking a noobish question so I'm doin to post it here for now. It has to do with AACT or compost tea. I understand it creates microorganisms that in turn feed your plants BUT are you supposed to still use a fertilizer? I've read that 'you cannot over do it with teas' but how is that true? Also when I watch videos on making it people use some sort of "tea bag" to hold all the different shit, why not just dump the stuff into the brewer? Sry for goin off but I'd like to get into this.
 
RetiredMatthebrute

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
thafoot said:
Ok I don't want to post a new thread asking a noobish question so I'm doin to post it here for now. It has to do with AACT or compost tea. I understand it creates microorganisms that in turn feed your plants BUT are you supposed to still use a fertilizer? I've read that 'you cannot over do it with teas' but how is that true? Also when I watch videos on making it people use some sort of "tea bag" to hold all the different shit, why not just dump the stuff into the brewer? Sry for goin off but I'd like to get into this.
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ok so an AACT is basically just a brew for micros's whatever you put in the tea depending on how long you brew it they break it down making available nutrients. No you cant really overdo it when it comes to a AACT. BUT you have to maintain a completly organic grow, if your using chemical (salt) based fertilizers you will kill them precious micro's that you worked so hard to establish and 3/4 of your AACT will go to waste. It will go to waste because when you brew the tea only 1/4 of it becomes "available nutrients" while the rest still needs to be broken down inside the soil.

basically dont bother with AACT unless you plan on going organic. I grow organic and i love it, my plants are so healthy and happy and its next to nothing to keep them that way. you do need a basic understanding on how organic gardening works. for this i suggest the organic section of these boards theres some really good informational sticky's up and if you have any questions ill be here to answer them :)

disclaimer...im no pro, have been 100% organic for about 18 months and still dont know it al and never will :)
 
thafoot

thafoot

Well-Known Member
I would like to go 100% organic for sure. Im in the organic section most of the time.

So if I understand correctly the whole "brewing for 48 hours" is simply to create microorganism? It is not an actual nutrient supply?
 
RetiredMatthebrute

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
thafoot said:
I would like to go 100% organic for sure. Im in the organic section most of the time.

So if I understand correctly the whole "brewing for 48 hours" is simply to create microorganism? It is not an actual nutrient supply?
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well yes, you create the micros when you introduce the "shit" (worm castings or guanno) and the molasses (food for the micros) into the airated solution (bucket with airstone and water).


once the micros start to develop they need to eat something, they feed off the moalsses and all the "organic" mater in the tea. Over time they break down the "organic" mater and create available nutrients for the plants. The only thing is it take alot of time for them to break down this "organic" mater (castings,guanno) so 48 hours they wont break all of it down.

ading this tea to your soil makes your soil "Alive" and the "alive" soil continues to break down the "organic matter" as well as any organic shit in the soil itself......this brings me to my next topic....Amendments..


for every bag of Fox farm (happy frog or Ocean forest) i used

1/2 a bag of Espoma Garden Tone

1/2 cup Espoma Garden Lime

1/2 bag Organic Perilite

hate to keep boasting this Espoma company but thier ferts are great...just good shit (pun intended)

they contain a mixture of feather meal, bone meal, guanos...you name it and they have it..ill take a pic next time i go to my grow of the ingredients.
 
RetiredMatthebrute

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
I can find alot of these fertilizers at local Agway or home depot, most hydro stores dont sel them they are too busy selling 45$ bottles of salt
 
thafoot

thafoot

Well-Known Member
Dood I'm learning a lot from your posts so keep em coming.More about organic shit. Do you brew a micro often or every few weeks? Then since the soil is amended with nutes you only use water throughout it's life? I've read to create good bacteria all one needs is an inoculate and sugar. If the soil is already amended with goodness, is it necessary to add more than let's say worm castings and molasses to create the bennies? I've seen that epsoma stuff at a local nursery. I'll pay more attention to it next time. Thanks for your advice too.
 
RetiredMatthebrute

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
i dont really inoculate or anything or brew teas just ammend my soil and water in my general organics stuff once a week with some molasses....i may not be doing it 100% right but seems to be working well for me. My last grow i used just a basic EWC AACT for veg and was using a AACT i was brewing with some pulverived bananna (not really sure how that worked, didnt seem to hurt them any and my plants looked great :dunce: )

like i said im defiantly no pro on organics, the Fox Farm soils are sold as "alive" and should already come with benificials in them.
 
thafoot

thafoot

Well-Known Member
Bout time for an update.

It is 68 since flip and day 59 since flowers showed on my main girl. Cloudy trichs galore not many amber.got 2 in flowerwer and they are day 17 since flip and doin good. They got some LST goin on I'm hoping for a somewhat even canopy.

Veg room is doin good. Got 2 big girls waiting for room in flower room. My number 1 plant is gonna be good. She's in a 5 gallon bucket and just being beautiful. Been begging about 2 months maybe. The newest clones r all lookin good as well. I had one in a pot of coco only and it wasn't lookin so good so I spotted her in soil. The coco I got is bigger shit. Drains waaay to fast for my liking. Any questions or comments appreciated. I'm gonna try and get all the pics I just took on here but from a phone it's difficult so try and pair up the pics with my explanations above.
 

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thafoot

thafoot

Well-Known Member
RetiredMatthebrute said:
for the quick draining coco have you thought about a drip system that constantly drips and recirculates?
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Yes I have but I don't really want to get into a hydro project again yet. I don't like dealing with water pumps either. Just another thing that can possibly fail. And they aren't cheap. And I heard somethin about they create a magnetic field or some shit that can effect nutrients or some shit along those lines. I kno people use em all the time n shit but I'd just like to avoid that possible headache
 
RetiredMatthebrute

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
thafoot said:
Yes I have but I don't really want to get into a hydro project again yet. I don't like dealing with water pumps either. Just another thing that can possibly fail. And they aren't cheap. And I heard somethin about they create a magnetic field or some shit that can effect nutrients or some shit along those lines. I kno people use em all the time n shit but I'd just like to avoid that possible headache
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you can pick up a sufficient water pump for 20 bucks man,

timer with 15 min intrevals, rez and some PvC pieces and you can have a drip system going for probabally 30 bucks

ill draw up a little diagram for ya the only real complication i can see is you would have to elevate the plants above the water level of the rez so that they can drain properly.











anyways im sure you probabally wont do this but basically set the timer to 15on/15off and it will drip into your coco every 15 min, any excess drainage will drain back into the rez which is just a rubbermade tote.
 

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RetiredMatthebrute

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
MJG420

MJG420

Well-Known Member
I grew in plain coco a few years back and LOVED it! Takes a little getting use to but you can get some great results.
 
thafoot

thafoot

Well-Known Member
RetiredMatthebrute said:
might cost a total of around 40 bucks because you would have to get a tote and timer as well but the pumps are pretty cheap

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-AAPW160-160-GPH-Active-Submersible/dp/B002JPGE6S/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1355444024&sr=1-1&keywords=water+pump

can go as cheap or as expensive as you want....either way like i said your probabally not going to build this and i dont want to sound like im pushing you to i just like brainstorming up shit like this :)
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The only reason I wouldn't do the flow system is because I don't really have the space. and if i were to try hydro again it would be dwc. the coco would be tough to use in dwc but i have some ideas.
 
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