1st Grow Journal

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organicpot

New Member
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So this is my first ever grow journal and I would love to hear everyones advice. Im trying to do an all organic grow. I have 19 purple deisel clones ready to be transplanted into 3 gallon pots. Currently they are under a 150 watt hps but I have two 1000 watt hps in my other room. Im still trying to figure out how to post videos so everyone can have a better look at my rooms.
 
Yes you have to upload to YouTube or something of the sort. Then copy the url. Go into your journal and there is a icon to post video (above where you type your message) once you click on that it will prompt you to enter the videos url.

Also when taking pics its best to hold the camera horizontally this way you won't have to edit/rotate photos.

Welcome aboard!
 
Nice start brother!
I'll be around as I'm 100% organic as well!
I've been working things out in terms of organics for a couple years now, so if you need any advice I'll be around!
I've learned a thing or two in that time, but I've still got a lot to learn for sure, so maybe we can both teach & learn from each other?!

Bless
 
Compost Tea Recipes Courtesy Of Microbe Organics!

Good morning brother,

This is my go to source for all things compost tea.
Be sure to check this link out in FULL!
It's an awesome bit of reading in terms of the all things compost tea, as well as a nice rundown on how the organic garden works!
Microbe Organics

His recipe equates to:
-A heaping 1/3cup of compost per gallon of water
-1 heaping tbsp of UnSulphured Blackstrap Molasses per gallon.

And that's it! This is the only recipe I use to date after trying at least 10 different recipes over the past 20 months or so, but like all things in organics, there are several different ways you can brew a good compost tea.
The only time I've brewed a bad batch and saw negative effects is when I was being experimental with the amounts of molasses I was using, and used too much! You do NOT want to do that lol. To fix the problems created by that tea, I use the recipe above!

To add lots of things to the tea(kelp meal, fish hydro, alfalfa, etc.) without having a microscope to see what your brewing isn't a good idea it seems, because if you add too much food for the microbes you can drop the dissolved oxygen levels below the require amount of 6ppm, and brew an bad batch of tea, capable of causing more harm than good in the soil ecosystem.
Likewise, if you mix a bunch of organic bottled supplements up and call it a tea, you can never be sure how they'll react with one another given the contents, so each time you do it you're rolling the dice!

I use this recipe because it's the only one that he current uses after years and years of working things out!
Without a microscope to look at what I'm brewing, I'd rather mimic what's worked for ppl who do this for a living before experimenting on my plants.

But to get this recipe I use 2.38% compost by volume of water used, and 0.5% of UnSulphured Blackstrap Molasses by volume of water used. Be sure to check out the link above to get a better idea!
I can talk you through it if you need some help, but it's ALL there for you in the link.

There's data and videos there to support everything that he's done, which can only be said for maybe a handful other compost tea sources such as Keep It Simple Compost Tea Brewers and Composts , and work done by Dr. Elaine Ingham Site | Washington.

Bless

Ps, thanks to :420: member @JJ Bones for posting the link for the compost tea manual in this thread - Perfect Gardens Organics Thread
I'd lost it in switching emails and am GLAD to have it back!
It's a great read for sure although Microbe Organics is bit more up to date!
And keep in mind that your soil mix is the most important thing in the organic garden.
There's no "feeding" your plants when going this route! Everything you do is designed to feed the soil, which in turn feeds your plants. You give them everything they need in your soil mix and they take from they soil what they want, when they want it. Your plants effectively communicate with the soil, so you do not need to feed them!
 
GL on your first grow. Subbed I pretty much use same ferts as you got (I use fish emulsion and liquid seaweed in veg/first weeks of flower.) You adding perlite to your soil for aeration and drainage? EWC pack down pretty good if you dont.
 
Welcome all!
Thanks for the great link!
I was planning on using roots organic for my soil.
Maybe add some perlite not sure yet tho.
I would love to hear everyones advice tho so I can have a perfect harvest! I was thinking veg till there about 1 foot and a half tall then switching to flower.
 
How Long You Veg Is Your Call Brother! A Judgement Call!

organicpot said:
Welcome all!
Thanks for the great link!
I was planning on using roots organic for my soil.
Maybe add some perlite not sure yet tho.
I would love to hear everyones advice tho so I can have a perfect harvest! I was thinking veg till there about 1 foot and a half tall then switching to flower.
Click to expand...


In regards to how long you veg, that's on you brother! I don't know anything about the makeup of the strain so I can say from things I've learned or based on personally experience.
With a couple 1000w systems tho, you'll have all the light penetration you could need as long as you can keep it cool in that marvelous room! And if you plan on using roots, you should get it now and amend it some so that it'll go the distance with your plants. Once you amend a soil, or add organic fertilizers to it(like guano's and worm castings), you must water it thoroughly and then let it sit for at least three weeks before you use it, so that the microorganisms within the soil can cycle those nutrients, making them available for your plants.


Going this route you can go water only from start to finish and not have to worry about feeding your plants at all. Besides, in organics you never want you think you're feeding the plants with any kind of fertilizer as that's a hydro or synthetic nutrient mindset. Everything you do is designed to feed the soil which feeds the plants. And while I'm at it, I'd suggest you get some Kelp Meal which would add all the micros and some potash(K) to your mix, as well as some growth hormones.
Seems you'll have N and P covered between the amendments you took a pic of, but I don't see anything for K or anything for your micros. Rock dust and Azomite are good for that too. I'm trying a new product called Excelerite for that reason.
You can click on the link to my thread in my sig for a better idea in regards to a complete soil mix!
I got it tested and everything is right where it needs to be if you'd like to take it and make it your own.
It's my 5th or 6th mix! I used to add a lot more things but I've gradually simplified over time with good results.
Not much going on with the journal right now, but that'll change soon enough!


But right out of the bag mostly all organic amendments are useless. There are a few exceptions like the earthworm castings you have which are available immediately to the plants(since they're worm compost essentially), but basically all of the others have to be composted in your soil before the plants can use them.
With that in mind you have to sort of top dress the guano's and other organic fertilizers proactively because they can take a couple weeks to become plant available. Some amendments are somewhat soluble in water but most are not for the most part, so they MUST be processed in the soil before plants can utilize them.


And generally you want to always add extra aeration to your soil!
Oxygen is every bit as important to the roots as water, and perlite is important for added drainage and oxygen in the soil.


If you wanna grow organic, it's a must that you start with the soil. Otherwise you can anticipate a plethora of problems in regards to nutrient deficiencies and lockouts! If you're not ready to go totally organic, you should probably get you some bottled nutes so that you can feed he plants regardless of what's in the soil.


Bless


Ps, please don't take me as a "knowitall" or something like that because I don't know it all lol.
I still have much to learn for sure, and am learning daily!
I'm just trying to help out where I'm sure I can, and will chime in only under that condition!
Not many truly organic guys around here to creep on, so I'll be following closely!
Hopefully my next set up will be a little more long term, and as nice as yours! HOPEFULLY!
:peace:
 
Dont worry I dont think your a know it all.
I love the informitive post. I bet I can learn a lot from you as this is my first all organic grow.

I have some liquid karma and mollasses as well.
As for the soil I will definitley add some perlite! 3 weeks is a long time to ammend the soil tho I have to transplant in next 3 days so im going to have to get a batch ready for next run for sure. I will be top dressing the soil tho. As for room venilation my inline fan has no problem keeping my room at temp so im set on that.
What would u recomend me feeding them when I transplant. I havnt given them anything yet. The strain is purple diesel so they said at the clinic but you never know with them lol.
 
I Don't Suggest You Feed Anything Brother! I Suggest You Mix A Soil!

organicpot said:
Dont worry I dont think your a know it all.
I love the informitive post. I bet I can learn a lot from you as this is my first all organic grow.

I have some liquid karma and mollasses as well.
As for the soil I will definitley add some perlite! 3 weeks is a long time to ammend the soil tho I have to transplant in next 3 days so im going to have to get a batch ready for next run for sure. I will be top dressing the soil tho. As for room venilation my inline fan has no problem keeping my room at temp so im set on that.
What would u recomend me feeding them when I transplant. I havnt given them anything yet. The strain is purple diesel so they said at the clinic but you never know with them lol.
Click to expand...

Nice brother! I enjoy helping others learn as much as I do learning! I think helping other learn helps me just as much and keep me hungry for info and on my toes! I'm a member on a few forums, just new here.

But on another forum, I chimed in on a guys thread to try and stop him before he applied this "toxic stew" of a "tea" that he was brewing up but he didn't listen, and he murdered his crop!(Sorry brother if you ever happen to see this lol)!
It was only three plants yeah, but he ended up culling 2/3 of three which were in flowering, and getting a miniature harvest from the 3rd when he could have gotten a descent harvest from all 3!
His tea consisted of General Organics this and General Organics that, and Cal/Mg this and Earth Juice that lol. When you make a tea with bottle nutes, you never know how they're gonna react with one another.
But needless to say, I tried to stop him but I couldn't and in the end he stopped himself!

So you don't want to "feed" anything to your plants in an organic situation.
If It's soluble it's salt based for the most part, and salts kill microorganisms in the soil by effectively dehydrating them like when you put salt on a slug.

But just I went to the Botanicare website to check out the liquid karma and it says that it's seaweed extract which is a good thing in organics. It has humic acid which is also good in very small amounts as it helps make other nutrients in the soils available.
Another good thing is that it's listed under the plant supplements tab versus plant nutrients tab, so they don't consider it a "nute".
A liquid seaweed I've learned is nothing more than a soil supplement. Seaweed is full of growth hormones so it's def. something you want to use, but I'm guessing it wont be enough on its own as it's not complete.
I haven't used it in the liquid state tho, only the kelp meal which is seaweed in the solid state. I've read a lot about it tho, just never brought myself to buy any. i've never had a need for it having kelp meal around.
Make sure your molasses is UnSulphured Too! And use it sparingly! It's SUPER nutritious. I ONLY use it in compost teas!

Also, Roots Organics isn't an inert medium! It's actually a "super soil" on it's own, so it should be more than enough for the first 3-4 weeks for your clones. Maybe even longer to be honest.
With that said you can go ahead an transplant the clones into some roots and go water only for those first 3-4 weeks without a problem. That will give you enough time to mix up a batch and let it sit to "cook" or cycle the nutes you added, making them plant ready. Remember, fresh outta the bag, organic amendments do nothing.

This is what's in the roots organics tho: Coco fiber, peat moss, perlite, pumice, premium worm castings, bat guano, kelp, fish bone meal, soy bean meal, feather meal, greensand, leonardite and alfalfa meal.

Everything in green is plant food, or technically "microbe food" which will in turn become plant food.
These things in green will be feasted upon by the microbes in the soil. Upon feasting the microbes will retain a bit of the nutrients from everything they feed on, while passing the rest on for other microbes. They will also be eaten by bigger microbes who will take those nutrients up for you roots, and they will also die or be killed by us sometimes, and release those nutrients for other microbes
There are billions of microbes per teaspoon of soil.

In the organic system, our plants produce exduates, or fluids from the roots, which attract certain microbes that nourish them. So the plants choose what they want, when they need it.
Our job is to just make sure it's there for them when they want it. Roots has done a pretty good job of that right out of the bag as you can see by all the amendments added to it.

So you see, in organics we don't "feed" our plants. They feed themselves. Like in nature.

In hydro the roots don't communicate with the soil microorganisms for food, so you have to feed them.

With synthetic bottled nutes and soil, the nutes don't feed the soil as they're salt based and in a form that the plants can use readily use, so you have to be careful not to over do it with them, or you burn the plants roots by dehydrating them, which shows up on the leaves in the form of "nute burns". These salts also kill of large portions of these microbes that I speak off, so if you wanna go organic, you don't want to use anything readily available. You want everything to be processed by the microbes in the soil first.
You want to feed the soil. Never to feed the plants. You feed the soil and let the soil feed the plants.
Everything else is pretty much counter productive.

Sure you can keep your plants green by feeding them something in bottles, but none of that will do anything for your organic soil, nor will it still be an organic garden, even tho you have organic soil. Also the fact that you can keep them greener with fertilizers don't make them healthier. Nothing against guys that use fertilizers tho.
If there's one thing that I've learned to be indisputable, it's that there are so many ways to grow this lovely plant.

There are however several organic tea that you can make with organic amendments.
That guano you have will come in hand for that. I wouldn't worry about that now tho! You have to break yourself of the thought that you want to feed your plants first! And asking about teas isn't gonna help with that!
You'll see with my journal!
I go water only from start to finish.
I'll use a couple compost teas yeah, but not as nutes! Only to add more beneficial microbes to my soil ecosystem.
But for the last time, I'm suggesting you mix up a batch of soil and cycle it for three weeks if you want the best results. Otherwise you'll be going back to bottles in no time. That or wondering why your plants are showing deficiencies in no time!
Coming from hydro you gotta know that Cannabis is one of those plants that can't have enough to eat it seems lol!

:peace: & blessing brother

Ps, I do suggest that you get some mycorrhizae fungi and dust your roots with it when you transplant!
Mycorrhizae help free up P when it counts! Also, you might need to lime the roots just a bit! Peat acidifies as is breaks down and I didn't see any listed in the ingredients.
But sorry about the paragraph lol! I try to get everything out at once so that you don't have any questions as to what I mean, and so that I'm not cluttering up your thread with post after post about the same thing.
Hope you enjoyed the novel lol!



 

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