What dry amendments to use for autoflower soil

[fanleaf]

Soooo should my soil have a layer of white fuzzy mold @Emilya .....

I will wait for @Emilya however my opinion is that It's not only normal but great to see that, especially if you have added some organic material for the bacteria to eat. That is exactly what it looks like when microlife eat fan leaves and such that has been put in a living soil.

 

[Emilya Green]

it happens in a healthy environment... spray some hydrogen peroxide on it to kill it,

 

[dr.h00k]

...when I open my totes of soil and see this...I smile...good things are happening!...cheerz...h00k......

 

[Swagymcfly88]

it happens in a healthy environment... spray some hydrogen peroxide on it to kill it,

So its a good thing but I should spray it with hydrogen peroxide ? Sorry that's just a little confusing to me

 

[Swagymcfly88]

Also do I need to mix the peroxide with water first or just pure peroxide ?

 

[fanleaf]

Also do I need to mix the peroxide with water first or just pure peroxide ?

Again I will let @Emilya weigh in on this but from what I have read it is a fungus that is part of your living soil and usually brought on by your soil not just being damp but being covered with a lid so it's all so dark. I would think that you would want to leave it alone unless it gets out of hand. From what I have been reading that fungus is fine and good to have low to moderate amounts but it can take over and become damaging if left out of hand. Personally I don't think you have very much of it at all. When I have done an organic grow in the past with living microbes and fungi I would put a few fan leaves on top of the soil and within a few days that fungi would be all over it and look just like the top of your soil. Like I said, I'm pretty sure it's a good thing to look like yours does. I would get concerned if it starts really covering a vast amount of your soil.

 

[Emilya Green]

sorry to be confusing... but I agree that it is not a bad thing, but only if you want to get rid of it, spray it with a h2o2 solution. neither course, spraying it or leaving it, will hurt a thing.

 

[Swagymcfly88]

sorry to be confusing... but I agree that it is not a bad thing, but only if you want to get rid of it, spray it with a h2o2 solution. neither course, spraying it or leaving it, will hurt a thing.

Haha OK thanks a lot for that info was a little worried but I also had a feeling it was OK just because not all mold is bad

 

[Stu]

Evening Swagy, and thanks for the shout in @fanleaf!
So it sounds like you would like to build a good organic soil. If I lived in Canada and had to put up with the inability to order so many of the commonly used products down here in the USA cannabis world, I am sure that I would try to get away from all of that nonsense and would go full living soil organic. In this way you would not need all those commercial nutrients, would have no need to worry yourself with pH issues, and you would end up with a strong soil that you could use over and over and over again.
You have a start with the materials you have on hand now, but several more things are needed to create a soil that has all of the elements in it that our plants need, and they are hungry and needy plants indeed. Building a partial organic soil that does not have all of the needed nutrients in it is just asking for trouble down the road, so it pays to take some care in the beginning to do it right.
So if you are committed to this, I am reasonably sure that even in Canada you can order the raw materials needed, but it is going to take about $100 for materials and two months or so to get your soil built and then "cooked" so as to be able to support a grow all the way through. Once you have this done, and with some of your raw materials left over from the soil build, all you will need is some non chlorinated water to make your garden happen. You will also want to invest in a good air pump so as to be able to make actively aerated compost teas out of your raw materials, and this $35 investment in a 570gph pump will allow you to build the microlife that makes all of this magic happen in your containers.
Once you get all of this going with your initial investment of time and a little money up front, your cost of operation will plummet. Typically I spend less than $50 on raw materials needed for the next grow, and now that I grow with LED lights, even my cost of electricity has been reduced to the point that I don't think I am even paying $10/oz for the pot I produce these days. TLO is the way to go.
You can also make a lot of the supplements at home that you will need in your cannabis grow. If you check out my links I show how you can make a calmagphos+ product out of eggshells, molasses and apple cider vinegar that will blow the socks off of any commercial product out there. I can show you how to turn backyard dandelions into one of the best natural fertilizers in existence, and very appropriate for growing cannabis, since both weeds are what are considered to be "super accumulators."
Another great thing about living organic soil is that there is no waste. All of your plant debris, discarded leaves, trim from the harvests, old rootballs... all of this is added back into your soil so that nothing is lost and nothing is wasted, nothing is thrown away. Lastly, there is the quality of the pot that you will produce that convinces most people who try TLO, never to go back to growing with commercial nutes again. There is nothing like the taste and quality of a plant that all through its life had every single nutrient that it needed ready to be found in its soil or somewhere tucked away in a layer or spike in the container. I have gotten so picky these days that I can actually taste and identify a FoxFarm grow or a typical hydro grow as opposed to an organically grown product.
So if you really want to make this jump and really build a quality truly organic living soil, I would be happy to be your guide. I can recommend a good book to get you started and I can point you to recipes to build a super soil that you can start building your containers with. TLO is more hands on than just buying a bottle of commercial nutrients, adjusting pH and applying it to your plants, but the rewards definitely are worth the extra effort. It is one thing to be organic, but a totally different thing to be Living Organic.
Or, you can make a similar and long term commitment to one of the nutrient companies and build a soil or soiless medium that can support their carefully designed system, such as the suggested promix, earthworm castings and dolomite. These expensive nutrient systems work well too, but you will be constantly buying nutrients and amendments and new soil and you will not ever be able to experience the true and complete flavors and quality of the pot that you grow. It is much easier to do it this way, and that is how these commercial companies suck people in, but it is way more expensive over the long run to get in bed with them, and I don't think it is as much fun.
So, it is up to you. If you follow the path I am traveling on, it will be a month or two before you are ready to plant a seed, but from then on you will be independent and free to grow some of the best pot in the world.
Are you in?

Such an awesome reply Emilya!
I’m in on this journal
Here more to watch the progress and learn, but I’ll speak up if I got a question
Well done so far on the soil so far Swagy
Cheers

 

[Swagymcfly88]

Such an awesome reply Emilya!
I’m in on this journal
Here more to watch the progress and learn, but I’ll speak up if I got a question
Well done so far on the soil so far Swagy
Cheers

Haha thank really excited. Im doing my first grow in a tent with a led light. so far I've grown 3 season outside but actually putting some money in this time so hoping for some solid results

 

[Slowpuffer]

The systems seem very similar, just different implementations. I also add organic fertilizer, but I do in layers and nutrient spikes that I make as I build my containers. Ready to go organic soils always make me skeptical, and not being able to find a recipe so I can compare what organics it is built with makes me leary.

Emilya, I would like to ask your opinion on Coast of Maine Stonington blend platinum super soil. I used it my last grow and it's the best tasting and smoking weed I've ever grown. But I listened to the folks who answer for COM, who advised me that I wouldn't need anything but their stonington blend organic nutrient & water. My yield went down to less than 1/2 of what I've been harvesting in coco. I've been reading a lot of journals on high brix and doc buds kit. And after I cure this low rh problem, I plan on starting a 2d. living soil grow, with the 40 gals. of COM soil. I'm thinking one 4 lb. bag of stonington blend nutrients, 1 bag organic worm castings, 4 lbs. fish bone meal, mixed into the 40 gal. of once used super soil. Do you think that's enough ??
Another question, I live in an apt. and really don't have room for a 50 gal. trash container, can I stack smaller containers like 3 18 gal., to cook the soil? I was going to use doc buds kit, but was advised that it might not work outside promix or sunshine #4? this low rh is killing my leaves !! I'm already back playing in coco, till I figure this out. Can't afford those lower yields. I'm willing to sacrifice some yield, in order to smoke this fine LOS herb, but not 1/2 !!

 

[Emilya Green]

Emilya, I would like to ask your opinion on Coast of Maine Stonington blend platinum super soil. I used it my last grow and it's the best tasting and smoking weed I've ever grown. But I listened to the folks who answer for COM, who advised me that I wouldn't need anything but their stonington blend organic nutrient & water. My yield went down to less than 1/2 of what I've been harvesting in coco. I've been reading a lot of journals on high brix and doc buds kit. And after I cure this low rh problem, I plan on starting a 2d. living soil grow, with the 40 gals. of COM soil. I'm thinking one 4 lb. bag of stonington blend nutrients, 1 bag organic worm castings, 4 lbs. fish bone meal, mixed into the 40 gal. of once used super soil. Do you think that's enough ??
Another question, I live in an apt. and really don't have room for a 50 gal. trash container, can I stack smaller containers like 3 18 gal., to cook the soil? I was going to use doc buds kit, but was advised that it might not work outside promix or sunshine #4? this low rh is killing my leaves !! I'm already back playing in coco, till I figure this out. Can't afford those lower yields. I'm willing to sacrifice some yield, in order to smoke this fine LOS herb, but not 1/2 !!

There are several good organic soil mixes out there and I have heard lots of good things about some of the coastal recipes that take advantage of products from the ocean, and I do believe that you produced the best tasting pot that you had ever grown using it. The low yield however may have been from causes other than the soil mix, so I wouldnt try to adjust it too much because getting some of the ratios wrong can really mess up the pH and you can cause adverse reactions between the various nutrients, inadvertently locking one or another out. I also see no problem with stacking several smaller containers of soil for composting... I use 3 25gal trash cans for the bulk of my compost pile.
All of my recent experiments show me that especially in a living soil, there must be an attempt to keep the soil moist in bloom, working hard to keep the microlife alive. By letting the containers dry out too much, some of the microlife dies out or goes dormant. The rules we follow in veg trying to establish a wet/dry cycle, change when we are in bloom. I have found that by forcing water and regular compost teas, I can keep the microherd population high, and the buds just seem to explode with growth and resin production due to the forced water. Contrast this with a coco grow, where you are also forcing water and nutrients on a daily basis. Whatever you were doing to reduce your yield by half, it can't just be the soil. If the soil was not doing what it needed to be doing, you would have had a lot more troubles than just low yield... it has to be more basic than this.

 

[Slowpuffer]

There are several good organic soil mixes out there and I have heard lots of good things about some of the coastal recipes that take advantage of products from the ocean, and I do believe that you produced the best tasting pot that you had ever grown using it. The low yield however may have been from causes other than the soil mix, so I wouldnt try to adjust it too much because getting some of the ratios wrong can really mess up the pH and you can cause adverse reactions between the various nutrients, inadvertently locking one or another out. I also see no problem with stacking several smaller containers of soil for composting... I use 3 25gal trash cans for the bulk of my compost pile.
All of my recent experiments show me that especially in a living soil, there must be an attempt to keep the soil moist in bloom, working hard to keep the microlife alive. By letting the containers dry out too much, some of the microlife dies out or goes dormant. The rules we follow in veg trying to establish a wet/dry cycle, change when we are in bloom. I have found that by forcing water and regular compost teas, I can keep the microherd population high, and the buds just seem to explode with growth and resin production due to the forced water. Contrast this with a coco grow, where you are also forcing water and nutrients on a daily basis. Whatever you were doing to reduce your yield by half, it can't just be the soil. If the soil was not doing what it needed to be doing, you would have had a lot more troubles than just low yield... it has to be more basic than this.

And you are right about the watering schedule. I let them get to where they just started drooping, before watering. And I only watered the top soil once or twice to prevent the drooping, till pots was lite enough, to water. I did notice, that my root balls came no where close to expectations. And what you said about changing feeding schedules, will be changed in my next organic grow. My other big mistake is expecting the soil to go start to finish, with just water & 5-2-4 organic nutrient, maybe 3 top dressings, in 11.5 week bloom cycle. And I top dressed with fish bone meal, 2 times. I was using mammoth p & great white myco, with every watering. So now I'm going to do something I didn't want to do, start brewing teas. I also thought I could grow without foliar sprays, but now i'm thinking ??
And then another problem pertaining to yield, is low humidity. I struggle to keep it at 40%, sometimes, below 20% rh. it was grown under one 315w cmh and one 430w hps eye hortilux, which should be good for 4 plants in a 4x4x6.5. I can tell you that the 315w cmh, got more yield, than the two plants under the hps. I've got 8 plants in coco, now, 4 are starting week 8 of bloom, and 4 are 7 days into bloom. i didn't really have $$ after xmas to reup my supplies for cooking my soil. and I had coco and two gal of A&B nutrients, so figured I'd do a quick couple coco grows. Use them or lose them !! I was going to get two new bags of COM stonington blend, but now I'm just going with the 40 gal. of once used soil & 8 qts. worm castings, and 4 lbs. each, of stonington blend lobster compost & fish bone meal. Do you think my plan is sound ? Also I had planned to use mammoth p & great white again ?? Thanks for your advise Emilya, can't wait to get back to organic !! This coco is too much work, and good nutrients are expensive. But the main reason is the weed tastes & smells, so much better !!

 

[Emilya Green]

And you are right about the watering schedule. I let them get to where they just started drooping, before watering. And I only watered the top soil once or twice to prevent the drooping, till pots was lite enough, to water. I did notice, that my root balls came no where close to expectations. And what you said about changing feeding schedules, will be changed in my next organic grow. My other big mistake is expecting the soil to go start to finish, with just water & 5-2-4 organic nutrient, maybe 3 top dressings, in 11.5 week bloom cycle. And I top dressed with fish bone meal, 2 times. I was using mammoth p & great white myco, with every watering. So now I'm going to do something I didn't want to do, start brewing teas. I also thought I could grow without foliar sprays, but now i'm thinking ??
And then another problem pertaining to yield, is low humidity. I struggle to keep it at 40%, sometimes, below 20% rh. it was grown under one 315w cmh and one 430w hps eye hortilux, which should be good for 4 plants in a 4x4x6.5. I can tell you that the 315w cmh, got more yield, than the two plants under the hps. I've got 8 plants in coco, now, 4 are starting week 8 of bloom, and 4 are 7 days into bloom. i didn't really have $$ after xmas to reup my supplies for cooking my soil. and I had coco and two gal of A&B nutrients, so figured I'd do a quick couple coco grows. Use them or lose them !! I was going to get two new bags of COM stonington blend, but now I'm just going with the 40 gal. of once used soil & 8 qts. worm castings, and 4 lbs. each, of stonington blend lobster compost & fish bone meal. Do you think my plan is sound ? Also I had planned to use mammoth p & great white again ?? Thanks for your advise Emilya, can't wait to get back to organic !! This coco is too much work, and good nutrients are expensive. But the main reason is the weed tastes & smells, so much better !!

I like your plan, but if you dont go with the stonington blend, try to duplicate it or subcool's mix... just the elements you mentioned are not enough to make a complete organic soil. If you do this right, the soil can last till the end... keeping in mind that the compost teas are not supplying traditional plant nutrients except for the water soluble parts of what you use in the teas... the main purpose of a compost tea is to create microlife that eats the raw materials in your tea and your soil. You feed the microlife and keep it alive, and the little beasties feed the processed elements and much more to your plants for you. If you have the raw elements in the soil and have a good set of roots and myco... it is a beautiful system, and if you keep things moist and able to support this microlife, you can get by with just water from that point on. I don't just get by though, and I try to plan an appropriate AACT about every 2 weeks.

 

[Slowpuffer]

I like your plan, but if you dont go with the stonington blend, try to duplicate it or subcool's mix... just the elements you mentioned are not enough to make a complete organic soil. If you do this right, the soil can last till the end... keeping in mind that the compost teas are not supplying traditional plant nutrients except for the water soluble parts of what you use in the teas... the main purpose of a compost tea is to create microlife that eats the raw materials in your tea and your soil. You feed the microlife and keep it alive, and the little beasties feed the processed elements and much more to your plants for you. If you have the raw elements in the soil and have a good set of roots and myco... it is a beautiful system, and if you keep things moist and able to support this microlife, you can get by with just water from that point on. I don't just get by though, and I try to plan an appropriate AACT about every 2 weeks.

Emilya, is there a way to airate teas, without listening to an air pump running ?

 

[fanleaf]

Emilya, is there a way to airate teas, without listening to an air pump running ?

I don't know if it could be safely done without an air pump. I'm sure Emilia may have a thought on that. I can say though that I just built an aerator for a 5 gallon bucket and bought a 790 gph air pump that is really quiet. Really not much louder than a regular fish aquarium air pump. Gets a 5 gallon bucket ROLLING in bubbles!

 

[Emilya Green]

Emilya, is there a way to airate teas, without listening to an air pump running ?

I know someone who took an auto repair shop compressor, put a valve and a regulator on it, and could run a bubbler for weeks on compressed air. Personally, I just set up a pump on the kitchen counter and run the bubbler in a pitcher in the sink. The little bit of sound in there doesnt bother anyone.

 

[Slowpuffer]

I don't know if it could be safely done without an air pump. I'm sure Emilia may have a thought on that. I can say though that I just built an aerator for a 5 gallon bucket and bought a 790 gph air pump that is really quiet. Really not much louder than a regular fish aquarium air pump. Gets a 5 gallon bucket ROLLING in bubbles!

Where can i get me one ? Thanks fanleaf !

 

[Slowpuffer]

I like your plan, but if you dont go with the stonington blend, try to duplicate it or subcool's mix... just the elements you mentioned are not enough to make a complete organic soil. If you do this right, the soil can last till the end... keeping in mind that the compost teas are not supplying traditional plant nutrients except for the water soluble parts of what you use in the teas... the main purpose of a compost tea is to create microlife that eats the raw materials in your tea and your soil. You feed the microlife and keep it alive, and the little beasties feed the processed elements and much more to your plants for you. If you have the raw elements in the soil and have a good set of roots and myco... it is a beautiful system, and if you keep things moist and able to support this microlife, you can get by with just water from that point on. I don't just get by though, and I try to plan an appropriate AACT about every 2 weeks.

 

[dr.h00k]

Where can i get me one ? Thanks fanleaf !

cheap on the Zon...I bought a dual outlet with stones and tubing for under 50 Cdn. as I recall...I put the pump in an empty bucket, throw the lid on and run 1 or 2 hoses to my tea bucket/s...hardly know it's there...cheerz...h00k......