switching to Top Dressing in flower from non-organic nutrients, how do i do so?

E

Eric Purr

Member
Hey guys i am a pretty new grower and i had a buddy of mine make me a top dressing consisting of:
- Bat Guano
- Bird Poop
- Bone Meal,
- Feather Meal
- Fish Bones
But i have been feeding my plants non-organic nutes (with RO) and i want to make the switch over but i dont know how id go about it. I've been using Potters Gold soil and 1/2 strength nutes (The Green Wizard) ,but my plants started to show definencies so i looked at some better alternatives. Any idea how i should feed/water them?
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
You should get some kind of rooting powder, gel, dip, etc. and clone a clipping, then run the clone organically, and see which you seem to pull off better. Otherwise, I dunno for sure, but you've have to uproot it, get every spec of soil off of it, and even then, the plant will have integrated the chem nutes into its structure.

I dunno how organics and chems interact and compete within the plant, unless they're fully broken down into only the nutrients they supply, but I wouldn't want to experiment and waste time finding out. Other people might have better input, though.
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
And unless you're flowering, and even then for a big plant or a lot of them, you don't need to use 900w LEDs for electrical economic purposes. I use a 240w for veg and 500w for flower for 2-3 plants. Mine are Lighthouse Hydro BlackStars, if you were curious.
 

Attachments

Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
Otherwise, I personally use Nature's Care organic stuff. It's MiracleGro's OMRI-certified organic line, so it's an exception to the MG rule, although I did start it in MG 6-month and it clearly didn't burn; none of them did.

So, the Nature's Care Organic line: Potting soil, bone meal, blood meal, and the Vegetable, Fruit, and Flowering food from that line.

Gypsum and epsom salt for any additional P, Ca, and K, but I think that all of that alone should do you. Guano would be good for N, P, and microbes, I believe. Maybe a bit of potassium. The food alone has natural microbes in it, though. And, like, 3-4-2 NPK. You can always add more, you can't add less, and with organics I think NPK is 20 or below, across the board.
 
Last edited:
Joe Blows Trees

Joe Blows Trees

Well-Known Member
How long did the top dress cook? (assuming it was made with dry amendments)

If you place it on top of your soil, each time you water, it will release the goodness of the top dressing.
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
Yeah, might as well. I mean, you're 5-6 weeks from harvest, probably. Technically speaking, you're not supposed to clone in flower, and reverting might cause a hermie tendency, but it's used to monster crop. If you feel like gambling and experimenting, with the benefit possibly being that you grow more bud, and at worse you stress your plant which could lead to numerous things, but you should take a small clipping, roll it in a light coating of IBA (Indole-3-butyric acid, a chemical rooting hormone, I use Bontone) and clone a clipping in either organic soil (Nature's Care is trustworthy) or RWCs. 5-7 days, it should be fully rooted.

Bontone is the only chemical non-organic substance I use, and only for cloning or transplanting. Despite the warnings, the EPA says it is nontoxic and most people are just worried because it's classified as a pesticide.
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
I never really cooked it. The water should activate the plant food regarding the microbes, which will eat the organic matter and shit plant food. I probably should have, though, but either way, it will work. The blood, bone, fish, feather, etc. will soak into the soil by the time the plant needs slowly P and K for flowering, and the Blood Meal and plant food provide N more immediately for veg.
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
Soilgrownsmile said:
Look up acts (aerated compost teas) lots of info here
Click to expand...
Right, AACTs and "teas" in general will be another way you feed. Take properly PH'd water and proper organic nutes and amendements for your photoperiod (high N for veg, high P and K for Flowering, calmag to proper degree for size, microbes, compost, etc.) crush if not already crushed, measure, mix, and let ruminate for 2-5 days. Then, some say every other watering which might kill your plant, or every 2-3 weeks instead, give it a tea, adding more as you notice deficiencies.
 
Last edited:
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
Warning: Bone meal, blood meal, and quite a bit of organics are highly acrid (read: they smell fucking disgusting). NC's stuff like their bone meal and blood meal ain't so bad, but cover with, like.. 1/2 an inch of soil. Especially the bone meal and Veg, Fruit, & Flower food.
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
This is 6-7 hours after the last 3 pics or so. And I'm also posting a pic of the food. It says "feeds up to 2 months" but it isn't time released like you'd assume.
 

Attachments

Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
hillbill said:
Walmart puts those Nature's Care products and other organics on sale every fall. I've been buying their leftovers for a while. Bone meal is nice!
Click to expand...
Right?

I think they work fairly well, personally, and it's less hot than FFOF, and I am not one hundo on the price, but I want to believe it's cheaper?

What bothers me about people who freak out over bone and blood is that all life, after expiration, is designed to decompose and fertilize the soil to support the "Circle of Life." That's just how groundsoil got fertile in the first place. And you have to be dendrocidal or impatient to burn your plant with it.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
Olive Drab Green said:
Right?

I think they work fairly well, personally, and it's less hot than FFOF, and I am not one hundo on the price, but I want to believe it's cheaper?

What bothers me about people who freak out over bone and blood is that all life, after expiration, is designed to decompose and fertilize the soil to support the "Circle of Life." That's just how groundsoil got fertile in the first place. And you have to be dendrocidal or impatient to burn your plant with it.
Click to expand...
people freak out because bovine spinal parts can have prions in them that could potentially kill you.
That's why people don't like it.
And blood meal is ok, but there are MUCH better nitrogen inputs than that, in my opinion.
And don't misread me, i'm not saying that blood meal isn't useful, just saying I don use it because I prefer my nitrogen inputs in different sources/doing different things.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
Olive Drab Green said:
Yeah, might as well. I mean, you're 5-6 weeks from harvest, probably. Technically speaking, you're not supposed to clone in flower, and reverting might cause a hermie tendency, but it's used to monster crop. If you feel like gambling and experimenting, with the benefit possibly being that you grow more bud, and at worse you stress your plant which could lead to numerous things, but you should take a small clipping, roll it in a light coating of IBA (Indole-3-butyric acid, a chemical rooting hormone, I use Bontone) and clone a clipping in either organic soil (Nature's Care is trustworthy) or RWCs. 5-7 days, it should be fully rooted.

Bontone is the only chemical non-organic substance I use, and only for cloning or transplanting. Despite the warnings, the EPA says it is nontoxic and most people are just worried because it's classified as a pesticide.
Click to expand...
Grow an aloe plant man, WAY better than the shit that's in the cloning solution..
Also aloe gel is awesome for a natural surfectant
the IBA is basicly synthesized willow bark
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top