Cann's Organic No-Till Garden

Question for Cann and/or Rrog:

When you guys use your botanical teas, do you use a kelp meal tea mainly for vegetative plants and alfalfa meal tea for flowering plants, or is it o.k. to use them interchangeably? I've been using a kelp meal tea for my plants right after transplant, and will now be incorporating some aloe as a foliar spray and soil drench tonight. But I was wondering if I should be making an alfalfa tea for the vegetative plants as well? Currently was just using it on the flowering ladies for the internode spacing interaction. Also, when you make your enzyme tea from sprouting seeds, can that be used throughout all stages of growth, or is it just for young/cloning plants? Starting some of that tonight as well with some organic barley sprouting seeds I got from the Market of Choice. Lastly, how often do you fellas incorporate black-strap molasses when watering... I've only been using it on day 30 and 45 of flower when I water. Thanks for all of the organic info...trying attempt to go through all of lumper's posts on grass city for the past day or so....

Happy 420 to all!

Snap

good luck sorting through lumpers posts...LOL...been there done that...it's fully worth it, but damn it takes some time. break out the notebook and the popcorn...ha

as far as teas go...here is how I work it.

kelp teas can be applied at any time...dilute it a bit for seedlings, but there is no real worry with kelp cause it's pretty forgiving. I would use a kelp tea up until the day of harvest if I felt it was necessary for some reason...

alfalfa, on the other hand, I stay away from during flower. the reason for this is that alfalfa contains the compound triacontanol, which is a growth hormone that stimulates vegetative growth...not something that one necessarily wants during flower. I will use an alfalfa tea during the first two weeks of flower, but nothing after that. btw, be careful with alfalfa teas, 1 cup in 55 gallons has been known to burn some sensitive strains...

I apply enzyme teas as much as possible...you can't really overdo it there (unless you are overwatering). a note on alfalfa seed enzyme teas - triacontanol is highly concentrated in the root tip of alfalfa, a.k.a. don't apply an alfalfa seed enzyme tea during the last few weeks of flowering unless you want to postpone your harvest a bit...just a word of caution. alfalfa seed enzyme teas are awesome for plants in veg.

i never use molasses, but thats just me. I feel as though I get enough sugar from the coconut water and enzyme teas..

remember that sprouted barley releases sugar..this is the reason it is used for homebrewing. we are effectively starting the "malting" process, but then instead of drying the grain we soak it to extract the goodies. i digress...


rrog - you did in fact interpret it correctly that I achieved better results with a constant moisture level. and we're talking constantly WET..more than moist. I was literally trying to overwater the plant..that was the test. the results surprised me. apparently its damn hard to overwater a 4.6 gallon airpot

oh and I have no idea why the horsetail tea is supposed to be boiled...i was thinking about doing a cold bubbled extraction...what do y'all think? maybe bubble for 24 hrs and then let it settle? bubble for 48 hrs? whats the magic number here...

light bulb went off over here with the sugars in the enzyme tea revelation..

no more molasses needed.

you tried coconut h2o yet kk? i drink it for health anyway...so its pretty convenient to give to my ladies. a sip for me, a sip for the ladies...works out nicely. pretty expensive to try on your level I reckon...barley is much cheaper FWIW. maybe try it on a few seedlings...or even some veggies

oh and its a 1:15 dilution, young coconut water to h2o..thats the cootz recommended amount.

When you do barley teas. You use barley seeds right? I just have a bunch of barley meal. I always thought I got plenty of enzymes from compost alone and in teas. According to Dr.Elaine inghams books........

The seeds, whether corn, barley, alfalfa, coconut, etc are all plant embryos. As such, they contain / generate a great deal of molecules, many of which will start to decay within hours. So without heavy preservatives, you just can't get this in a jar or even in compost. Fortunately it sure is cheap.

Cann I bubble my horsetail teas for 24 hours and add the usual coconut, aloe, fulvic acid and it's awesome. I have pics in of those threads. I've never had an issue with PM, ever

What about using powdered mycos when planting/germinating seeds?

snowboarder396 said:

What about using powdered mycos when planting/germinating seeds?

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I put in the hole I sow my seed in personally. I'll follow that with an ACT and then barley teas, kelp etc. I always use light amounts of everything even the big plants.

Thanks headtreep. I've heard people putting mycos on their seed, coating it before it's sowed. I think that would really help get the root system going

For seeds I soak them for a day in a cup of water. Then put them in a party cup of a 50/50 mix of compost and soil (pro mix bh) . They sprout up in a day or 2. That mix makes them grow fast. They are ready to put in a larger pot within a few days.

snowboarder396 said:

What about using powdered mycos when planting/germinating seeds?

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I coat my seeds with this stuff before planting, works GREAT!

http://www.fungi.com/product-detail/product/mycogrow-micronized-endoecto-seed-mix-1-oz.html

And this stuff is for transplants...

http://www.fungi.com/product-detail/product/mycogrow-soluble-1-oz.html

Clone dip anyone...?

http://www.fungi.com/product-detail/product/mycogrow-gel-1-oz.html


BEST quality, BEST prices IMO.

paul stamets is a boss, and everything he endorses is top quality. i also use the mycogrow products, along with BioAg's VAM-endo mix. stamets' stuff is a bit expensive for me sometimes, but fully worth it.

the smell of myco grow vs. oregonism (roots organic mycos that I have used in the past) is ridiculous...oregonism smells like dust, myco grow has a crazy pungent smell that sticks around in your fingernails for hours after you take a pinch out of the bag. seems to have something to do with the quality/age of spores IMO.

for a rooting gel I just use the aloe mixture now and I soak my seeds for 24 hours following cootz method (not sure if ive posted it here before) and then dust them with mycorrhizae prior to planting. during every transplant I dust the roots with mycorrhizae, and I also water with soluble mycorrhizae on occasion if I feel a plant is hurting (soil dried out too much, etc.)

off to go pick up some raw organic grass fed beef for my pup....300 pounds of beef plus all the bones and scraps, etc. yummm

Omgoodness! teas for vitamins for the plants, of course guys, thanks! what about the dandelion! it is practically a super food!

I use dandelions for topdressing..they are a great resource. Also you can make a dandelion FPE, but I am not one for FPE's necessarily.

people get very confused when I tell them I cultivate dandelions intentionally...my landlord was walking around the backyard with me the other day and she says "you know those are weeds right?" I laughed...didn't know what to say.

Cann said:

I use dandelions for topdressing..they are a great resource. Also you can make a dandelion FPE, but I am not one for FPE's necessarily.

people get very confused when I tell them I cultivate dandelions intentionally...my landlord was walking around the backyard with me the other day and she says "you know those are weeds right?" I laughed...didn't know what to say.

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Should of offered to make her a dandelion salad lol.. Sure she would of thought you were even crazier, but hey there edible.

my local health food store sells bundles of dandelion greens for .99c

i've bought them to use as a topdress before LOL

Rrog said:

Very very interesting!! Fun getting updates on your adventures.

EDIT- Am I reading this right that you found improved growth with constant moisture soil?

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I use organic apple vinegar 2tbsp per gal for PM, works great.

I don't have blumats but my garden it is small enough that I have been misting the top of my soil to keep the moisture even throughout. I think it might be the way to go.

Once I found out that I could measure the moisture level and change it carefully, I was hooked. I have all sorts of calipers, light meters, thermometers, pH meters, TDS meter, dB meter. May as well have a TensioMETER to measure something new.

fattiemcnuggins said:

I use organic apple vinegar 2tbsp per gal for PM, works great.

I don't have blumats but my garden it is small enough that I have been misting the top of my soil to keep the moisture even throughout. I think it might be the way to go.

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Do you foliar with the apple vinegar? I need to get my pm regimen in gear...getting bti dunks this week...