Going Organic reasonable for a beginning grower?

I have almost everything setup to start my first grow, I have everything ready to go (room, genetics). All I need is to figure out which method of grow to do. It's an indoor setup, with a 4x4 gorilla grow tent and am exhausted looking into all different methods of grow (hydro, soiless) but keep being drawn back to organic.

From a newbie standpoint, growing organic seems to be a daunting task. There seems to be so many different things to mix, and I honestly, I don't have the time to become a full time gardener. I think I could automate most tasks with the gear out there so that should not be a problem. I read the TLO book and enjoyed it, it makes sense, and was particularly intrigued when I saw that I could buy premixed soil and nutrients.

Can I hear from anyone who is using these products or know of any other premixed products? If so, tell me your experiences.

Thank you!

Do you have access to a local worm farm, or other good sources of compost? If so you could grow organically with minimal effort and cost.

To keep it simple I would do the following ......

Use something like Fox Farms Ocean Forest as part of your base soil mix. To that you would add your worm castings, and some aeration material like perlite. Then add an all-purpose organic fertilizer like an Espoma product. Wet that mix down, and let it sit for 4 weeks minimum. You could roll with this mix in veg, and through the first few weeks of flower, and then top dress some more all purpose organic amendments and worm castings which would carry you through flower. This would be "water only".

If you want to build any type of soil, even something as basic as the one above, you have to have access to a good source of compost and have the time to let this mix sit for 4-6 weeks. If not, then you're likely going to have to look at bottled fertilizer products as your next best option.

We grow by the living organic concept. Its the only way imo.

Growing organically doesn't have to be a daunting task. Most of us just really enjoy it, so we don't mind the "labors of love" like mixing soil, brewing teas, etc.

For a first try, you could do something as simple as buying a few bags of Fox Farms or Roots, and mixing in some perlite, lime, and an "all-purpose" dry organic fertilizer from Fox Farms (like their Happy Frog tomato and vegetable), Espoma (Garden Tone), or various other product from Down to Earth, Dr. Earth, etc.

This alone will likely see you through a first grow. You can always sprinkle some more fertilizer onto the soil surface if you need a boost later on. If organic gardening is something that interests you, I'm sure you'll be reading up on some of the "advanced" techniques in no time.

Good luck!

p.s.... Don't worry about automating things like watering just yet. First you need to learn to read your plants, so that you know how to set that watering timer, if you so choose.

I almost forgot in my post above: You really need some form of compost of worm castings in there, too.

Stow - I swear I didn't copy you... We must have been typing the same shit at the same time! Haha.

It's much easier than you think, no need to spend a ton or use blends with a dozen expensive ingredients.

Use a pre-blended soil less as your base, these are generally peat based with lime and perlite added(Sunshine etc). Then all you need is a well balanced nutrient blend, such as Epsoma at Home Depot.

Mix part A with part B, and that's it. For 50 bucks you'll have a 6 month supply for that tent.

It's easy. Do not over think it. You can do it. Keep it as simple as possible for the first run or two.

Wow! Thank you all so much for your replies!

I feel a lot better about this and have made my decision to go organic. It just feels right. I'm going to be growing nordle and critical mass from cbd crew and so going organic for medical cannabis again, makes so much sense.

So.... I'll be using a drain to waste setup. (?)

I will be growing 3 strains total in a 4x4 tent that has a height of 8'. I hear I can fit 6 in there - how many would you suggest I put in there?

I was warned about bugs being a problem with organic. Should I keep this soil inside while it's cooking?

Thanks again for the help. I'm sure I'll be leaning on this forum as I go!

It sounds daunting but there are enough well worn paths that if you start doing what is known to work it will allow you to get your base and slowly start tinkering.

When I started using tea I bought readymade bags.
Eventually I started becoming interested
in what was in it and read the lable.
From there I began making it.

Find what works.
Then figure out where it comes from.
Then fill your whole house with bags of shit.
Its amazing...

Pangioti said:

Wow! Thank you all so much for your replies!

I feel a lot better about this and have made my decision to go organic. It just feels right. I'm going to be growing nordle and critical mass from cbd crew and so going organic for medical cannabis again, makes so much sense.

So.... I'll be using a drain to waste setup. (?)

I will be growing 3 strains total in a 4x4 tent that has a height of 8'. I hear I can fit 6 in there - how many would you suggest I put in there?

I was warned about bugs being a problem with organic. Should I keep this soil inside while it's cooking?

Thanks again for the help. I'm sure I'll be leaning on this forum as I go!

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Shoot for 6. You dont have to cook the soil inside if its warm enough outside where you are. Dont overthink things.

Here's my take: 40% FFOF, 40% Happy Frog, 15% Perlite and the remaining 5% a mix of blood meal, bone meal, worm castings and dolomite lime. That will get you through the first 4 1/2 weeks no problem. After that worm casting teas should get you to flower and you can switch to banana teas from there. I will say that this works best growing 12/12 from seed and you can recycle the majority of your "soil". Depending on the size of your grow you could harvest 4 times a year for under $100. Lets do the math:

4 plants per grow @ 1.5 zips a plant X 4 grows a year / $100 = $4 a zip not including electric. Not too shabby.

Good luck.

I had terrible success with dwc. I switched to organic soil and since I did that, I'm so happy. I add straight tap water, that's all. I bought roots organic bag soil which is already premixed ready to go for veg. I transplanted into tga supersoil that was already cooked and prebagged for flowering. Still only adding water and I haven't had any deficiencies at all and I'm in my 4th week of flower. Just my opinion

GandalfdaGreen said:

Shoot for 6.

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Thanks, what size pots would you flower in?

GandalfdaGreen said:

Dont overthink things.

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.....trying, trying real hard.

greenlikemoney said:

Depending on the size of your grow you could harvest 4 times a year for under $100. Lets do the math:

4 plants per grow @ 1.5 zips a plant X 4 grows a year / $100 = $4 a zip not including electric. Not too shabby.

Good luck.

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Not only that, but I will now know for SURE what's in it!

flamingo24 said:

I had terrible success with dwc. I switched to organic soil and since I did that, I'm so happy. I add straight tap water, that's all. I bought roots organic bag soil which is already premixed ready to go for veg. I transplanted into tga supersoil that was already cooked and prebagged for flowering. Still only adding water and I haven't had any deficiencies at all and I'm in my 4th week of flower. Just my opinion

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

Organic is the only way to go, especially if it is something your ingesting into your body.

You can keep it very simple for your first time around no need to complicate it at all. Just read and learn while you do it thats what it is all about.

Id say start off with:

Peat: 30%
Perlite or Pumice: 30% I prefer pumice over perlite.
Worm castings: 20%
Compost: 20%

Try and source what you can locally if at all possible. local is the best. You can even do 20% perlite or pumice if you want. Usually you want your aeration at about a third of your soil mix.

Then you can add some things like kelp, alfalfa, crab/crustacean mix, fish meal, fish bone meal, rock dust, neem meal is good for keeping away the fungus gnats and such.

just dont add to much. no need for blood meal and guano or anything.. to many hot products so to speak and you have let it breakdown more. keep it simple and there is no need to "cook"..

If you need more later on for deficiencies you can make up a simple aerated tea and add them. and for your next grow you will be able to figure out what you need to adjust to dial it all in, especially if you stick with the same genetics.

Good luck and happy growing

Pangioti said:

Thanks, what size pots would you flower in?




.....trying, trying real hard.

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I would try to flower in 5 gallon containers or larger.

Thank you for your response.

snowboarder396 said:

Organic is the only way to go, especially if it is something your ingesting into your body.

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I hear ya - I am a true believer that this is the only way to go.

snowboarder396 said:

just dont add to much. no need for blood meal and guano or anything.. to many hot products so to speak and you have let it breakdown more. keep it simple and there is no need to "cook"..

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I've always read that the soil has to cook to develop the living environment. Is it because you are talking about purchasing a good compost that has already been cooked?

I have time until flower to get something going, I figure I have to still germinate and veg for at least a month or more so I could get the soil going.

st0wandgrow said:

I would try to flower in 5 gallon containers or larger.

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