Switching to living organics

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stoobeey

Well-Known Member
Hey guys so I've been growing for a few years already for myself and I've been in soil the entire time do you think Roots organic lately (I used VermaFire originally and had a lot of gnat issues, it wasn't happy with the one girl I did with Fox farm).

I've been using general hydroponics GO line but I'm at the point where I would like to try and move to living soil and only have to water and top dress.

I would like to amend my roots soil and possibly skip cooking it (but not out of the question.coukdnt I mix in the roots bag and let it cook. It sits on my balcony already. I did have my farmer/soil friend tell me unless my base is nasty I don't necessarily need to cook my amendments. I usually go close to 2mo veg.) I grow perpetual mostly and I have lately been finishing in 2 gallon bags and having great success compared to 5 gallon bags (pulled 5 oz off of a sour sorbet dried in a 2 gal).

I would prefer a living soil over a super soil and I've been trying to determine what amendments I must have to do this besides EWC and probably dolomite.

It looks like I need some sort of blood meal or bone meal fish hydrosolate, kelp meal.

Suggestions tips or links to other discussions would be greatly appreciated
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
i actually put blood and bone and earthworm castings a little bat guano a touch of perlite mix it thouroghly with my organic soil and cover it in a tub overnight then use it my girls love it water only until flower
 
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stoobeey

Well-Known Member
osowhom said:
i actually put blood and bone and earthworm castings a little bat guano a touch of perlite mix it thouroghly with my organic soil and cover it in a tub overnight then use it my girls love it water only until flower
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What and when do you start top dressing ? At the flip?
What ratio per gal do I ammend my base for veg (I'll use straight roots for seed and clones)
That is much more doable for me right now vs buying 10 or 12 amendments in the subcool super recipe lol. Shit I'll go order them now and mix the rest of my new bag I got last week.
I had looked at biolive and roots uprising dry amend, but I'd prefer a bit more control I think

I'm also brewing my first tea , just some ewc and molasses for tomorrow's feed
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
stoobeey said:
What and when do you start top dressing ? At the flip?
What ratio per gal do I ammend my base for veg (I'll use straight roots for seed and clones)
That is much more doable for me right now vs buying 10 or 12 amendments in the subcool super recipe lol. Shit I'll go order them now and mix the rest of my new bag I got last week.
I had looked at biolive and roots uprising dry amend, but I'd prefer a bit more control I think

I'm also brewing my first tea , just some ewc and molasses for tomorrow's feed
Click to expand...
i was able to get all them at the store i just threw it in by the cupful not sure the amount then i topdress week 3 of flower after i lollipop and once about 3 weeks into veg or 15 inches tall
 
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stoobeey

Well-Known Member
So far this is what I'm planning to have to amend roots original soil.
Ewc
Dolomite
Espoma bat guano (I'll get seabird/hi p later for flower)
Espoma blood and bone meal
DTE kelp meal and humic
I have mycos granules too

I know ewc can be up to 20% and dolomite is like 2tsp per gal.
Would I use 1/4 c of everything except maybe less in guano? Is humic necessary
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
stoobeey said:
So far this is what I'm planning to have to amend roots original soil.
Ewc
Dolomite
Espoma bat guano (I'll get seabird/hi p later for flower)
Espoma blood and bone meal
DTE kelp meal and humic
I have mycos granules too

I know ewc can be up to 20% and dolomite is like 2tsp per gal.
Would I use 1/4 c of everything except maybe less in guano? Is humic necessary
Click to expand...
depends on how much soil i mix 1 big bag enough for a 7 gallon pot and add like a cup of each and 4 of ewc
 
J

JHake

Well-Known Member
Isnt that soil already amended?

Blood, bone and that Espoma Guano seem to do the same thing. N and P.

Besides preferences, most people seem to try to cover more than a few things with each amendment.
For instance, i replace blood and bone meal with a fish meal fertilizer with NPK, Ca, 4 micros and microbes.
I wont talk about brands because i live in South America and have access to different things.

I always link this article, because it gives you some clear concepts to work on your soil and to analyze soil recipes you may read:

Mineralized Soil - Foliar Sprays

The Four Bases of Mineralized Soil--The Optimum Food Supply for People and Animals Should Be Grown On Mineralized Soil. This Type Of Soil Isn’t to be Found—It I
foliarsprays.com foliarsprays.com

Mulch layer on actual grow is one of the biggest differences compared to my last organic run. I encouraged all my grower friends to start working on a mulch layer.

I top dress weekly in a 10gal pot. Quantities differ according the product itself. I go "heavy" on gypsum, and with moderation on the other amendments since the ones i have are somewhat hot, with high NPK values.
 
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stoobeey

Well-Known Member
JHake said:
Isnt that soil already amended?

Blood, bone and that Espoma Guano seem to do the same thing. N and P.

Besides preferences, most people seem to try to cover more than a few things with each amendment.
For instance, i replace blood and bone meal with a fish meal fertilizer with NPK, Ca, 4 micros and microbes.
I wont talk about brands because i live in South America and have access to different things.

I always link this article, because it gives you some clear concepts to work on your soil and to analyze soil recipes you may read:

Mineralized Soil - Foliar Sprays

The Four Bases of Mineralized Soil--The Optimum Food Supply for People and Animals Should Be Grown On Mineralized Soil. This Type Of Soil Isn’t to be Found—It I
foliarsprays.com foliarsprays.com

Mulch layer on actual grow is one of the biggest differences compared to my last organic run. I encouraged all my grower friends to start working on a mulch layer.

I top dress weekly in a 10gal pot. Quantities differ according the product itself. I go "heavy" on gypsum, and with moderation on the other amendments since the ones i have are somewhat hot, with high NPK values.
Click to expand...
Ok so I could ditch one of those or use blood meal for too dress in flower.
I could get rock phosphate to amend

I'm aware it's an amended soil, it's used as base in tons of recipes for living and super
 
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stoobeey

Well-Known Member
stoobeey said:
Ok so I could ditch one of those or use blood meal for too dress in flower.
I could get rock phosphate to amend

I'm aware it's an amended soil, it's used as base in tons of recipes for living and super
Click to expand...
Woops not rock phosphate lol
 
osowhom

osowhom

Well-Known Member
stoobeey said:
Ok so I could ditch one of those or use blood meal for too dress in flower.
I could get rock phosphate to amend

I'm aware it's an amended soil, it's used as base in tons of recipes for living and super
Click to expand...
blood meal is very high in N all i know is that is exactly what i used this time and my plants are loving it not a single spot or burnt tip nothing but healthy green leaves
 
J

JHake

Well-Known Member
stoobeey said:
I'm aware it's an amended soil, it's used as base in tons of recipes for living and super
Click to expand...
I know its used in the supersoil recipe. But it always seemed strange to me...if you are going to do a supersoil, why start with a supersoil bag?
And if that supersoil commercial bag must be amended...maybe it wasnt much of a supersoil.

Build a Soil has 2 good articles analyzing two popular soil recipes, Subcools Supersoil and TLO:
buildasoil.com

Super Soil Mix Perfected - A Closer Look At The Super Soil Recipe – BuildASoil

Subcool's Super Soil was something that gave me good results to begin with, but a closer look at the recipe and some research of my own, there's definitely a better solution. Let's breakdown The Super Soil recipe.
buildasoil.com buildasoil.com
buildasoil.com

Why TLO? Dissecting the Rev Mix line by line – BuildASoil

Dissecting the Rev Soil Mix Step by Step: After discussing organic growing indoors for so long, you start to come across a few things over and over again. I have a book on the shelf called TLO by the Rev. If you are reading this, then I’m guessing you have either read the book or have read his...
buildasoil.com buildasoil.com

Hope those links help.
 
kratos015

kratos015

Well-Known Member
stoobeey said:
The 3 nls I had N lockout I think from my soil going too acidic. I topped with lime 2 weeks ago , hopefully that helps and watered in with worm tea too.
The auto front right should be done in 2 weeks time
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Certain your soil was too acidic? Did you not lime it before?

They do look a tad discolored, but being 2 weeks before harvest that's somewhat standard.
 
S

stoobeey

Well-Known Member
kratos015 said:
Certain your soil was too acidic? Did you not lime it before?

They do look a tad discolored, but being 2 weeks before harvest that's somewhat standard.
Click to expand...
this is 2 weeks into flower not final 2.. i wouldnt have bothered yall if it was 2 weeks from harvest. :)

i had never added anything to my soil before aside from the liquid ferts.. never knew i was supposed to..
also this issue was barely 2 weeks into flower.. they still got 4 weeks.. they been hanging on.. top dressed some EWC and did a tea last week. the auto is about 1-2 weeks out and ill move the auto in veg closet then most likely.. did my first one in a 2gal, got the jack auto in a 5 gal now
All my amendmants are here now .. i MAY be a tad shy on EWC but ill buy a bigger bag next time ..

I basically have a full bag of new soil right now id wouldnt mind minorly amending if it makes sense to s tart moving toward a full org. grow and water only.. i understand i may still be top dressing more in flower (im gunna go in 2 and 3 gals so i know its inevitable most likely in smaller pots, i have 5s too so ill play around, but will almost always have at least 1 autio going now in a 5)

I have
Crab meal, kelp meal, bone meal, bat guano, dolo lime, myco granule, EWC, humic, langbenite
im going to run a tea tonight for the soil drench if this is ok to do?? what since this stuff has 3-4 weeks of food add 1/4c? or 1/8c? each i think the guano and lang take a bit longer to break down but not needed till flower mostly .. also saw ppl who just top dress the guano in flower.
i understand ewc/compost is up to 20%. It will have 2 weeks to chill in the bin too before i do my next repots (i just did it 2 days ago to 4" so i got time. i go 2mo in veg usually.sometimes longer

Then when i pull my next 4 ladies down ill pull the root balls and chunk the soil into my bin and begin recycling from there.. pretty sure that will give me enough for my usual perpetual runs.
 
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