Going Organic reasonable for a beginning grower?

Pangioti said:

Thank you, I'll see how big I can go with the 6 containers I can fit in there.

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You can do it. Show us pictures and we will help. st0w is the man. Anything he tells you is gospel.

GandalfdaGreen said:

You can do it. Show us pictures and we will help. st0w is the man. Anything he tells you is gospel.

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Thanks, I feel confident I can pull this off with all the help here. What a great forum with an invaluable resource of growers willing to help. It's comforting for sure. I'm setting up things as fast as I can. I have the tent and light on the way, when I get that setup and stable I will start germination. I am ready to get this going now that I know my grow direction!

Folks are more then willing to help here, this is one of the nicest spots on the entire forum. Do not fear asking questions these guys have all the answers collectively.

It really is easy, so easy in fact I still stand by the notion I have no fucking idea what I am doing but it's working My soil mix is as seat of my pants as are my teas. I have decent results.

Worm castings. Amazing stuff.

Start off with a nice soil mix you are confident will work for your first foray into organics, then as you go to recycle your soils and learn a bit more add some more ingredients to judge the results. Everything I put in my soils comes from home depot, I really don't think you need a fancy resource to get a decent organic soil to start out, this was the most intimidating factor to me after looking at subs mix, I just couldn't find all these fancy things locally, some I couldn't even find domestically and shipping in organic amendments is not cost efficient a 2lb 9$ bag of Azomite will cost me $30 to get across the border. Although diversity does help, to start off I'd keep your mix simple.

Don't skip the castings. I pay $20 for a 10-15 lb bag, it's stupid expensive but I have absolutely no problem doing it, that shit is gold. If you got yourself some space down the road once you know you want to continue with organics WORM BINS.

Now that I caught this organic bug I will be putting out tomatoes and strawberries to see how they do in my mix, can't wait for that.

I am sure after your harvest and seeing the simplicity of organics you will not want to grow any other way.


I don't know if anyone else has linked already but

https://www.rollitup.org/organics/676040-total-noob-using-teas-i.html

Amazing resource. Enjoy page 420 it's my new favorite

Mr.Head said:

Folks are more then willing to help here, this is one of the nicest spots on the entire forum. Do not fear asking questions these guys have all the answers collectively.

It really is easy, so easy in fact I still stand by the notion I have no fucking idea what I am doing but it's working My soil mix is as seat of my pants as are my teas. I have decent results.
...
Don't skip the castings. I pay $20 for a 10-15 lb bag, it's stupid expensive but I have absolutely no problem doing it, that shit is gold. If you got yourself some space down the road once you know you want to continue with organics WORM BINS.

Now that I caught this organic bug I will be putting out tomatoes and strawberries to see how they do in my mix, can't wait for that.

I am sure after your harvest and seeing the simplicity of organics you will not want to grow any other way.


I don't know if anyone else has linked already but

https://www.rollitup.org/organics/676040-total-noob-using-teas-i.html

Amazing resource. Enjoy page 420 it's my new favorite

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Oh good GOD I checked out your pics on pg 420, your crop looked unreal! Thanks for the encouragement, I am real anxious to get started. I will def get worm castings, I have not read an organic post that did not mention those.

I need to read up on germination - these seeds cost a fortune and I don't want to lose any do to doing something wrong.

Pangioti said:

Thanks, I feel confident I can pull this off with all the help here. What a great forum with an invaluable resource of growers willing to help. It's comforting for sure. I'm setting up things as fast as I can. I have the tent and light on the way, when I get that setup and stable I will start germination. I am ready to get this going now that I know my grow direction!

Click to expand...

Good to hear! As others have pointed out, you can make this as easy or as complex as you want. As long as you're using a quality source of compost (start a worm bin!!), it's pretty tough to mess up. Good compost has benefits, one of which is that it acts as a buffer and keeps the soil dialed in to where the microbes and plant work best.

Look around your area to find what you need. Growing organically is also about the foot print that we leave behind. If you can source stuff locally and avoid shipping you are doing your part. Check out local rock quarries to see if you can score some free rock dusts. I found a place that lets me bring a 5 gallon bucket up and fill it for free. Also check out feed stores that cater to cows/chickens/horses/rabbits/etc. They will often times carry bulk items like alfalfa meal, kelp meal, various seed grasses for enzyme teas, etc. You can even forage in your back yard, out in wooded areas, or near streams and lakes. Dandelions are great, clover, nettle, and many other beneficial species that most people consider "weeds". My neighbors must think I'm a moron when they see me carefully collecting dandelions around the yard ..... but oh well. Plant some russian comfrey as well. It is one of the best dynamic accumulators you will find, and as a result it's leaves are full of nutrients and minerals that make a great soil addition when dried.

Pangioti said:

That's what I'm talking about! That about as simple as it gets - just plain tap water? Wow......

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straight tap is all I add. If I think about it in time, I RO it with an air pump and airstone (leftover from my crappy dwc) but I haven't noticed any difference when I water with one or the other.

Here's my lady in about week 4 of flower.

And I stress ONLY WATER!! The work is in the preparation, which I paid for someone else to do for me. Tga has their supersoil pre bagged and it was $40. That bag should get me around 8 plants worth in 7 gal pots. I used about a half bag of roots organic which was $12 throughout the whole grow.

GandalfdaGreen said:

You can do it. Show us pictures and we will help. st0w is the man. Anything he tells you is gospel.

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By the way, I saw your pics on pg 420 of the total noob post - GREAT macro shots, I noticed the clear to beginning amber color to the tricomes. Is that what I am looking for at harvest or did you let it go longer?

st0wandgrow said:

Good to hear! As others have pointed out, you can make this as easy or as complex as you want. As long as you're using a quality source of compost (start a worm bin!!), it's pretty tough to mess up. Good compost has benefits, one of which is that it acts as a buffer and keeps the soil dialed in to where the microbes and plant work best.

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I am definitely going to setup a worm bin, and learn more on composting - not just for this garden but for tomatoes and basil and such. This whole concept is going to have a profound effect on the way I garden and the way I eat.

st0wandgrow said:

Look around your area to find what you need. Growing organically is also about the foot print that we leave behind. If you can source stuff locally and avoid shipping you are doing your part. Check out local rock quarries to see if you can score some free rock dusts. I found a place that lets me bring a 5 gallon bucket up and fill it for free. Also check out feed stores that cater to cows/chickens/horses/rabbits/etc. They will often times carry bulk items like alfalfa meal, kelp meal, various seed grasses for enzyme teas, etc. You can even forage in your back yard, out in wooded areas, or near streams and lakes. Dandelions are great, clover, nettle, and many other beneficial species that most people consider "weeds". My neighbors must think I'm a moron when they see me carefully collecting dandelions around the yard ..... but oh well. Plant some russian comfrey as well. It is one of the best dynamic accumulators you will find, and as a result it's leaves are full of nutrients and minerals that make a great soil addition when dried.

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Awesome information, thank you!

flamingo24 said:

straight tap is all I add. If I think about it in time, I RO it with an air pump and airstone (leftover from my crappy dwc) but I haven't noticed any difference when I water with one or the other.

Here's my lady in about week 4 of flower.

And I stress ONLY WATER!! The work is in the preparation, which I paid for someone else to do for me. Tga has their supersoil pre bagged and it was $40. That bag should get me around 8 plants worth in 7 gal pots. I used about a half bag of roots organic which was $12 throughout the whole grow.

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Awwe yeah, they are looking pretty! How long is your flower period for those - and what is the blue one? Yeah, it's so insane when I was reading about PH flucuations, PPMs, Nutes, chiller, what if the electricity goes out - to - don't overthink it, just water....

Pangioti said:

Awwe yeah, they are looking pretty! How long is your flower period for those - and what is the blue one? Yeah, it's so insane when I was reading about PH flucuations, PPMs, Nutes, chiller, what if the electricity goes out - to - don't overthink it, just water....

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Thanks man! honestly I'm not sure what the flower period or true strain is. I got it off Craigslist so you know how that goes... He told me it was og Kush and has 8 week flower period. But like I said, can't really trust CL so I'm just going to judge the trics for harvest.