First Grow - Indoor Now - Outside & Inside Later

[Robert Celt]

Hey AG

The girls are really starting to fill out now. I just spent the last hour tying up Big Mamma to open her up some and support the weight of the bud she's developing

 

[glimmergrass]

Such great information, TheCelt -- and congratulations on your harvest! I think .7 g/watt is a great first time yield. Thanks for the info about the diatomaceous earth, too.

 

[Robert Celt]

Thank you Glimmer and welcome to the Celtic Gardens

I am headed out west this weekend but will be back just in time for the outdoor harvest At some point in the future, after testing some changes in my soil recipe (learning more all the time) I will do a post (maybe blog) containing all I have learned concerning organic soils and my experiences with them

 

[Kriaze]

Thank you Glimmer and welcome to the Celtic Gardens

I am headed out west this weekend but will be back just in time for the outdoor harvest At some point in the future, after testing some changes in my soil recipe (learning more all the time) I will do a post (maybe blog) containing all I have learned concerning organic soils and my experiences with them

I'm rubbing my hands in anticipation already here TheCelt. Got my soil cooking, would love advice

 

[Robert Celt]

Hello brother Kraize

Just for you I will give you some tips as to whats in my soil for the next round (even though its not what I eventually want in my soil) as well as whats intended for next springs soil

Alfalfa meal (rabbit/hamster pellets will do if nothing is added) great source of N and K as well as micro nutrients and is somewhat slow release-approx. 4 months

Feather meal and Blood meal are great sources of N and have similar release rates to Alfalfa

Bone meal is a good source of P and similar release rates

Coffee grounds for N-K

Diatomaceous earth for silicates and micro nutrients

Kelp meal is a poor source of N-P-K but great source of micro nutrients

Crab meal is a great source of calcium and micros as well as being a killer of unwanted insects and fungus in your soil

Ground egg shells for calcium

Epsom salts for Mag and sulphur

Gypsum for calcium/sulphur

And lastly we have worm casting and compost, both of which nutrients are dependant on what is put into them.

IN my case, the compost will consist of rotted horse manure, fresh vegetable waste and dry leaves which will eventually be fed to my worms. The worms will only get pulped leaves from my endeavours, pulped vegetable and fruits waste, rotted compost, ground egg shells, coffee grounds and a little diatomaceous earth.

You probably noticed that the only manure is added to my compost which in turn is then fed to the worms. I won't use bat guano or bird guano as I don't want to purchase anything that will adversely affect nature habitats. Nor will I use manure that has not been cycled through my compost and worms as most commercial feed now is full of antibiotics and other nasties that I don't want in my soil.

There IS a reason I will use rotted horse manure in my compost but that is another discussion concerning C-N ratios that I will explore further in a comprehensive thread or blog.

As for the worm castings, for now few if any will be added to my soil but will mostly used for ACTs (aerated compost teas) which my girls will get once or twice a week.

This will give you an idea of things to add to your compost/soil Kraze. Not all need be added but the more you can add, the better the variety for your girls As for your compost: banana peels, greens, coffee grounds, egg shells, vegetable and fruit skins/waste (easy on the citrus due to acidity) are all good things to compost for your girls avoid: milk, fatty waste, meats and bones-they stink, attract pests, are slow to break down and are not needed by plants of any kind

Hope this give you some ideas mate

PS: beer ( I know seems like a waste) will kick start the decomposition in your bin

 

[Kriaze]

Damn that's a great write up TheCelt and appreciated too. Is there a way I can fav posts on here do you know? As I'd like to be able to pop back and reference the post whenever I'm thinking about adding something to my soil/compost bin. I like beer, how about used beer? I heard that was a great source of quick release (and quickly gone) Nitrogen lol. Excellent write up again

 

[Robert Celt]

I am not sure about fav posts Kraize, but if you mark the email notification you received for this post as "important" or "starred" or whatever your email allows for, it should always bring you back to this post. That's how I return to some I really want to review again in the future

Eventually, I will do a comprehensive post or blog on C-N ratios, organic amendments and such and add it as a link in my signature and will let you know about it Mate

 

[Robert Celt]

Oh and BTW, recycled beer is great for your girls but doubt it helps your compost much LOL but if there are farms near you and are willing to give you a feed bag of old (rotted manure) that will also kick start your compost. Just ensure that they use straw for bedding or that its been rotting for a few years. Wood shavings, sawdust etc, take a long time to break down and will heat your soil is not mostly decoposed, not to mention they rob your plants of nitrogen while decomposing (the C-N ratio thing )

 

[Droidguy1990]

Man these look great

 

[Robert Celt]

Thanks Droid

I am really pleased with them itching for harvest time to see how they produce

 

[Kriaze]

I'm not sure what C-N ratios are (I lie I have no idea) as I'm only just for the first time in my life looking at soil. Apart from nabbing the odd onion out of a neighbour's garden to eat as a dare as a youngster and then growing my own veg (I reaped one tiny 2" carrot) once years ago that's about as close as I have gotten to it. I'm currently reading pretty much everything I can though so maybe I've just missed the C-N or am yet to come across it, but I'm intrigued all the same

Unfortunately I stopped all emails and just use the settings feature on here when new posts are made due to receiving around 100 emails a day from my 101 subscriptions...Told you I was reading a lot, sponging up some knowledge along with it hopefully. Now I'm also looking at ways to get hold of some of those items that you're adding. I can't believe I don't even have coffee grounds (jarred coffee only here) though, need to find some sources. I've been adding teabags but I doubt they add the same nutrients

 

[Robert Celt]

Tea bags are good too mate, but not the K that coffee has. Do you have Starbucks there or other coffee shops? Not sure about here in Canada but in the US, Starbucks gives the grounds away for the taking

 

[Kriaze]

We don't have Starbucks over here but we do have a lot of coffee shops in the town centre. I'll go and ask them if they'd like to offload some for my compost. Mind you round here they'll charge me through the nose for it no doubt. Still if you don't ask you don't get, and usually if you do ask you don't get for being cheeky =]

 

[Robert Celt]

C-N ratios are the carbon-nitrogen content of the amendments. The higher the carbon content the longer it takes to break down and the microbes that decompose things use nitrogen in the process. You want to keep the C-N ratio around 30-1 for best results and ensure if you add things like alfalfa and coffee grounds directly to you soil, you cook it for at least 2 weeks for the temps to drop so they don't burn roots

 

[Robert Celt]

I guess I should get off my arse and compile all these things into a blog and add it to my sig for all my friends and others here who may be interested in such things and going 100% organic BTW no need to worry about pH with organic soils

 

[Kriaze]

Ah I see what you mean now thanks. I'm at the stage of browns and greens with what I'm reading, along with search engines for silly questions such as "Can I put straw in my compost" (did this the other day lol). It's like a whole new world for me with all this real info that's scientific. Still this is part of what I'm loving about this journey with growing, there's something new to learn everyday. Cheers TheCelt you make things a lot clearer

 

[Robert Celt]

Anytime Mate, here to share what I learn with friends and others interested

 

[Kriaze]

I guess I should get off my arse and compile all these things into a blog and add it to my sig for all my friends and others here who may be interested in such things and going 100% organic BTW no need to worry about pH with organic soils

Sounds like a fine plan, that would be great for people that want to get started with organics. I'm reading a lot of threads on here but to be honest they're all just too advanced for me. I read it, go back and reread it, smoke some more then reread it again. I've just gained more info in the last 10 minutes than I've managed to hold onto in the last couple of months of reading lol. All the best and thanks for helping me out

 

[Robert Celt]

No worries mate, I spent most of my life as a carpenter and was educated in engineering in my late 20s. Even if I learned nothing else from my days in engineering, the one thing I always remembered was the KISS factor. Keep It Simple Stupid LOL I try to present what I learn as simply and as accurate as I can without all the technical mumbo jumbo LOL

 

[AtlanticGreen]

Hey AG

The girls are really starting to fill out now. I just spent the last hour tying up Big Mamma to open her up some and support the weight of the bud she's developing

Sweet be sure to take lots of photos! Also you find the Mars 900 working well still? been thinking of a 8 x 4 tent sea of green since the summer has managed to give me grow fever.