Young Yoda
Well-Known Member
Or will it kill the microbial life? I'm talking full strength 1000-1400ppm.
Can I add chem nutes to compost tea?
- Thread starter Young Yoda
- Start date
-
- Tags
- 1000-1400ppm kill life microbial talking
Chemical nutes wont inherently kill them. A good tea is at about 7.0 pH. Conditioning that down to 5.8 for hydro can be detrimental (not real bad just adding in the acid will kill what it immediately come s in contact with) so you only do that right before adding to the res...better to add the tea directly to the res then scoop out some res and pH that down and pour that back into the res. Also adding the tea in is usually best done by pouring it through the medium in the baskets not into the res so the microbes get directly introduced where the issues are they need to working on. Are you planning to add the chems early and let the microbes go to work on them or right before doseing into the res?
My tea comes out around 800ppm and is very strong and when added with a regular nute program will likely cause nute burn. I add it instead of nutes not with nutes.
What is your plan exactly?
My tea comes out around 800ppm and is very strong and when added with a regular nute program will likely cause nute burn. I add it instead of nutes not with nutes.
What is your plan exactly?
- Thread starter
- #3
Young Yoda
Well-Known Member
Thanks for your answer!
Okay first off I am in soil.
I hadn't thought about the tea itself causing burn, I didn't think it had nutrient content on it's own? I made my tea with recharge, worm castings, a tiny drop of fish emulsion, and molasses. That being said I didn't ppm it, although the ph was about 7.
The reason I ask is because I am playing a bit of a balancing act with how often I can run water through my girl. She has taken a gallon every 4 days pretty well, but she is starting to yellow (only two weeks into flower) and I think she needs food. This is right after I just gave tea for the first time a day or two ago instead of a feed. It would be nice to feed and give tea next time or even on a regular basis.. Maybe drop the nutes by 50%..
Whadya think?
Okay first off I am in soil.
I hadn't thought about the tea itself causing burn, I didn't think it had nutrient content on it's own? I made my tea with recharge, worm castings, a tiny drop of fish emulsion, and molasses. That being said I didn't ppm it, although the ph was about 7.
The reason I ask is because I am playing a bit of a balancing act with how often I can run water through my girl. She has taken a gallon every 4 days pretty well, but she is starting to yellow (only two weeks into flower) and I think she needs food. This is right after I just gave tea for the first time a day or two ago instead of a feed. It would be nice to feed and give tea next time or even on a regular basis.. Maybe drop the nutes by 50%..
Whadya think?
I have people working a soil program in a few journals where we are feeding, then running tea, then watering. It depends on a few things but usually that is about once a week between them. When I run the tea I put in around 4 cups per plant then drive it in with enough pH'd water to get the 10-15% run off you want.
My Tea has more than the standard but the one you described does contain some fertilizers at the end of the brew process. There are a lot of recipes. Yours is very basic...not bad just we could do a lot more.
In one soil journal this lady took the excess and threw it on some clones. A few weeks later all the ones that got the tea are WAY better.
Nivana's Chrystal 11 Weeks Into Veg - Advice Welcome!
I have a guy running it in Hydro too as he had a real bad pythium problem that no amount of chemicals and cold chiller water could fix. 24 hours in the tea and the infection is gone. Saved his grow.
Undercurrent RDWC With Compost Tea Grow - First Journal
For my recipe I added it at the end of this thread.
Tea Bag your DWC
All that said if you go true organic you should be able to just add water and tea once in a while. That takes a bit of patients and some know how though. I am trying a few new things out on my next grow. If I get this new system dialed in I will post it but It may take a few grows to get dialed in what I am doing as a major part of it is still fairly inconsistent. It is nothing special any organic guru would say "yup that is standard". I have never gone full organic. I am slowly working my way towards it. Once you know how, it is a lot less work with superior results because you just can't beat mother nature.
My Tea has more than the standard but the one you described does contain some fertilizers at the end of the brew process. There are a lot of recipes. Yours is very basic...not bad just we could do a lot more.
In one soil journal this lady took the excess and threw it on some clones. A few weeks later all the ones that got the tea are WAY better.
Nivana's Chrystal 11 Weeks Into Veg - Advice Welcome!
I have a guy running it in Hydro too as he had a real bad pythium problem that no amount of chemicals and cold chiller water could fix. 24 hours in the tea and the infection is gone. Saved his grow.
Undercurrent RDWC With Compost Tea Grow - First Journal
For my recipe I added it at the end of this thread.
Tea Bag your DWC
All that said if you go true organic you should be able to just add water and tea once in a while. That takes a bit of patients and some know how though. I am trying a few new things out on my next grow. If I get this new system dialed in I will post it but It may take a few grows to get dialed in what I am doing as a major part of it is still fairly inconsistent. It is nothing special any organic guru would say "yup that is standard". I have never gone full organic. I am slowly working my way towards it. Once you know how, it is a lot less work with superior results because you just can't beat mother nature.
- Thread starter
- #5
Young Yoda
Well-Known Member
Yes you got me I want it simple haha! Although I would love to compost, I don't really have the ability right now so I'm not pushing organics I'm just trying to make things work. Likewise my soil is very simple, the only nutrients are probably found in the happy frog, mushroom compost, and worm castings; so it doesn't last all that long. I began feeding around week 8 with fish emulsion to boost the n, then moved on to maxigrow which are the chem nutes I'm talking about. I am thinking I should have kept feeding with fish emulsion up until now even considering the yellowing leaves.
Anyways the tea I use purely in the hopes that it will help increase nutrient uptake. When I gave it to her I gave her a whole gallon: the same amount of water that I give her. It didn't seem to harm her or anything.. Should I not do so much? (By the way she's in like a 7 gallon pot) And I guess I will stick to every other or third watering.
I was gonna add kelp but then I realized that recharge already has some in it. I am hoping she gets all the actual food she needs from the maxigrow. However now I am looking at fulvic acid.. also to aid nutrient uptake? As for the rest of those ingredients like alfalfa and crab meal they just seem like fertilizers hopefully I can do without?
Anyways the tea I use purely in the hopes that it will help increase nutrient uptake. When I gave it to her I gave her a whole gallon: the same amount of water that I give her. It didn't seem to harm her or anything.. Should I not do so much? (By the way she's in like a 7 gallon pot) And I guess I will stick to every other or third watering.
I was gonna add kelp but then I realized that recharge already has some in it. I am hoping she gets all the actual food she needs from the maxigrow. However now I am looking at fulvic acid.. also to aid nutrient uptake? As for the rest of those ingredients like alfalfa and crab meal they just seem like fertilizers hopefully I can do without?
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
if you want to add nutes with your teas, why not get some organic nutes like Happy Frog All Purpose?
- Thread starter
- #7
Young Yoda
Well-Known Member
Well I guess organics are probably safer but I am happy with the maxigrow, it is just one product with all the essential nutes and roughly the right levels for flower. And it's what I've got.
Honestly if I was gonna go organic I would buy all the base ingredients and compost me up a supersoil. As I said before though, that's not gonna fly right now so I'm just trying to figure out the best way to incorporate what I have.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
whatever works!
good luck!
Well I did explain it all in the post I linked to I think.
But anyway lets see in order you asked...
Worm castings are a lot more than just some good nitrogen. they are the basis of any good microbial tea. Bat guano is also good in teas. I don't use it for ethical reasons and I know from experience I can get away without it. The microbes in the worm castings will break down stuff and keep a constant flow of goodness happening if you keep them alive. That means adding some sugars once in a while. they will bufer the chem nutes you add and aid in balanced uptake.
Well yellowing is caused by lots of things...that said Nitrogen Def. is the most common problem. it is easily avoided using good water and a basic nute program of any sort. What you are describing is a bit out there in left field. Do you understand about Macro and Micro nutes and the required balance? This si part of the reason why I use a tea that has everything a plant needs. Macro, Micro, Boosters, Additives, Microbes, Fungi...it is a complete plant food not a partial plant food.
This is a misguided goal. Nutes are not food. Light is food. If the plants are healthy they will take up as much nutes as they need if they are available. Only in Hydro where you are playing a balancing act is this a good idea because you have a much tighter line to walk. One of the great things about soil is a good soil buffers all of this stuff and the plants self regulate the nute uptake. In a good soil you can basically add too much and it sits there and does nothing until needed.
A basic tea as you have described can't really hurt. you don't have much in the way of nutes in there and most of it was broken down already. what you are doing is adding microbes to your soil that will make it work like in the wild and maintain a healthy living buffer and pH control and nute balancing as well as clean up some stuff. If you also have a decent amount of nutes in there all that will make for more vigorous growth.
I have not seen a big bonus to fulvic in soil but I have not really experimented much with it.
Alfalfa is probably the single best source of nutes for our type of plants there is. Break it down in the tea with some enzymes and the worm castings and you have a supper food. That plus Kelp plus the worm castings make it very close to totally complete. Well I have a good amount of nitrogen in my blend to begin with.
Crab meal is something completely different. That is not fertilizer. It does a whole host of things. It increases the plants immunity to all sorts of problems and actually makes it totally immune to some. it causes very strong stalks, larger flowers, more vigorous growth more potent flowers...I could go on and on. But it is not fertilizer. It basically give the plant a false indication that it is infested with insects. its immune system kicks on and goes into overdrive. plants do a lot of things we want them to do as defense mechanisms including all of the things I listed and more.
I believe I have explained this in the previous link. If not I can point you to another one where I actual explained my tea in detail and how I figured it all out. I don't point people to that one anymore just the simple short recipe one. Nothing I figured out is magic. People have been doing all of this since before I was born and I am old. This can all be found on the web if one is so inclined as to look around for "homemade compost tea" on google. There are lots of great books on the topic on amazon.
Good luck!
But anyway lets see in order you asked...
Worm castings are a lot more than just some good nitrogen. they are the basis of any good microbial tea. Bat guano is also good in teas. I don't use it for ethical reasons and I know from experience I can get away without it. The microbes in the worm castings will break down stuff and keep a constant flow of goodness happening if you keep them alive. That means adding some sugars once in a while. they will bufer the chem nutes you add and aid in balanced uptake.
Well yellowing is caused by lots of things...that said Nitrogen Def. is the most common problem. it is easily avoided using good water and a basic nute program of any sort. What you are describing is a bit out there in left field. Do you understand about Macro and Micro nutes and the required balance? This si part of the reason why I use a tea that has everything a plant needs. Macro, Micro, Boosters, Additives, Microbes, Fungi...it is a complete plant food not a partial plant food.
This is a misguided goal. Nutes are not food. Light is food. If the plants are healthy they will take up as much nutes as they need if they are available. Only in Hydro where you are playing a balancing act is this a good idea because you have a much tighter line to walk. One of the great things about soil is a good soil buffers all of this stuff and the plants self regulate the nute uptake. In a good soil you can basically add too much and it sits there and does nothing until needed.
A basic tea as you have described can't really hurt. you don't have much in the way of nutes in there and most of it was broken down already. what you are doing is adding microbes to your soil that will make it work like in the wild and maintain a healthy living buffer and pH control and nute balancing as well as clean up some stuff. If you also have a decent amount of nutes in there all that will make for more vigorous growth.
I have not seen a big bonus to fulvic in soil but I have not really experimented much with it.
Alfalfa is probably the single best source of nutes for our type of plants there is. Break it down in the tea with some enzymes and the worm castings and you have a supper food. That plus Kelp plus the worm castings make it very close to totally complete. Well I have a good amount of nitrogen in my blend to begin with.
Crab meal is something completely different. That is not fertilizer. It does a whole host of things. It increases the plants immunity to all sorts of problems and actually makes it totally immune to some. it causes very strong stalks, larger flowers, more vigorous growth more potent flowers...I could go on and on. But it is not fertilizer. It basically give the plant a false indication that it is infested with insects. its immune system kicks on and goes into overdrive. plants do a lot of things we want them to do as defense mechanisms including all of the things I listed and more.
I believe I have explained this in the previous link. If not I can point you to another one where I actual explained my tea in detail and how I figured it all out. I don't point people to that one anymore just the simple short recipe one. Nothing I figured out is magic. People have been doing all of this since before I was born and I am old. This can all be found on the web if one is so inclined as to look around for "homemade compost tea" on google. There are lots of great books on the topic on amazon.
Good luck!
- Thread starter
- #10
Young Yoda
Well-Known Member
Wow really helpful info especially about the ingredients! Two more big/quick questions!
About hygrozyme and when you talk about breaking down alfalfa with enzymes.. Can you tell me about those enzymes? I know you are using hygrozyme, but what are other sources?
So I picked maxigrow because it supposedly does have all the essential nutes. But more and more I want to just compost some supersoil.. Can I just ask for general advice about that? Or specifically if worms are really necessary? If I do this, I do it indoors so.. Here's the list I had sort of stolen/compiled from the internet.
Base Organic Soil
Organic Compost Mix
Worm Castings
Blood Meal
Bone Meal
Bat Guano
Alfalfa Meal
Kelp Meal
Azomite
Epsom
Lime
Perlite
-
Worms
1. Stir over one week
2. Enclose, water, and mix.
3. Cook in warm place 30-60 days. (moist but not soggy)
Thanks big time!!
edit
Oh and isn't compost tea relatively recent?? haha
About hygrozyme and when you talk about breaking down alfalfa with enzymes.. Can you tell me about those enzymes? I know you are using hygrozyme, but what are other sources?
So I picked maxigrow because it supposedly does have all the essential nutes. But more and more I want to just compost some supersoil.. Can I just ask for general advice about that? Or specifically if worms are really necessary? If I do this, I do it indoors so.. Here's the list I had sort of stolen/compiled from the internet.
Base Organic Soil
Organic Compost Mix
Worm Castings
Blood Meal
Bone Meal
Bat Guano
Alfalfa Meal
Kelp Meal
Azomite
Epsom
Lime
Perlite
-
Worms
1. Stir over one week
2. Enclose, water, and mix.
3. Cook in warm place 30-60 days. (moist but not soggy)
Thanks big time!!
edit
Oh and isn't compost tea relatively recent?? haha
Nope teas been around a long time.
The SoilGuy - History Of Tea
I was told to do it in the mid 90's and I had heard of it before then just wasn't growing weed at the time. It wasn't modernized with forced air until roughly the late 90's. So I guess in terms of how I posted it a year ago that method is only roughly 20 years old...what is a long time? The reason it is called tea is before forced air was used people used to put manure in a burlap sack and let it just sit in the bucket like a tea bag. Nowa days there is a lot more fancy ways of doing it.
For those with money to spend
Look up Vortex Tea brewer online for the real top of the line stuff. I use a stick in a bucket. You can do some cool DIY vortex stuff but it is all overkill for a small grow. I have plenty of people on here doing it with a bucket and a stick. Vortex is for people producing it to sell in volume. I see them at all l the good grow stores in my area.
Now it may be new to many canabis growers... the cannabis world has been behind the curve forever. Farmers have been growing prosperous crops for many thousands of years and nothing has changed about how it works. The only real new thing is indoor lighting.
Yup that recipe is Subcools ingredients. That is very basic and fundamental compost. You can add more but start with that. I was told at all 3 stores near me that most people these days are re-composting the used soil for at least 3 runs and not using a new base.
I can't post a link to another site on "Growing organic Marijuana" but they have 7 proven totally different composts there including the most famous one you are about to try.
On youtube you can find countless video by and about Subcool. I even saw one at a fair of him talking with Jorge C.
Anyway point is this aint rocket science. This is how nature works.
The short answer for enzymes is they speed up chemical reactions. they break down molecules. they are in your saliva and are the second part of your digestive system the first being your teeth. They don't eat the stuff like the bacteria does jut beaks it down. Enzymes are not alive. AS for sources every company out there with a decent product line for canabis has an enzyme product. Hygrozyme is the most famous "gold standard". I hear one in particular is better but I can't remember the name it is like Z7 or something. anything qith zyme ion the name does the job (Cannazyme, Hygrozyme, Prozyme, and Sensizyme). In hydro it is real nice as it turns dead roots back into plant food.
How Do Enzymes Work?
I haven't tried worms yet but I was planning on doing it this compost. My compost is about 1 month old right now and I keep forgetting to get some worms. Maybe this weekend I will remember...can you PM me to remind me?
You really don't want to use it under 2 months. But you can.
Don't forget that you only use 1/3 at the bottom of a 10 gallon pot and use a good blend up top. If you are growing in smaller pots probably not more than 1/4 compost.
Good luck!
The SoilGuy - History Of Tea
I was told to do it in the mid 90's and I had heard of it before then just wasn't growing weed at the time. It wasn't modernized with forced air until roughly the late 90's. So I guess in terms of how I posted it a year ago that method is only roughly 20 years old...what is a long time? The reason it is called tea is before forced air was used people used to put manure in a burlap sack and let it just sit in the bucket like a tea bag. Nowa days there is a lot more fancy ways of doing it.
For those with money to spend
Look up Vortex Tea brewer online for the real top of the line stuff. I use a stick in a bucket. You can do some cool DIY vortex stuff but it is all overkill for a small grow. I have plenty of people on here doing it with a bucket and a stick. Vortex is for people producing it to sell in volume. I see them at all l the good grow stores in my area.
Now it may be new to many canabis growers... the cannabis world has been behind the curve forever. Farmers have been growing prosperous crops for many thousands of years and nothing has changed about how it works. The only real new thing is indoor lighting.
Yup that recipe is Subcools ingredients. That is very basic and fundamental compost. You can add more but start with that. I was told at all 3 stores near me that most people these days are re-composting the used soil for at least 3 runs and not using a new base.
I can't post a link to another site on "Growing organic Marijuana" but they have 7 proven totally different composts there including the most famous one you are about to try.
On youtube you can find countless video by and about Subcool. I even saw one at a fair of him talking with Jorge C.
Anyway point is this aint rocket science. This is how nature works.
The short answer for enzymes is they speed up chemical reactions. they break down molecules. they are in your saliva and are the second part of your digestive system the first being your teeth. They don't eat the stuff like the bacteria does jut beaks it down. Enzymes are not alive. AS for sources every company out there with a decent product line for canabis has an enzyme product. Hygrozyme is the most famous "gold standard". I hear one in particular is better but I can't remember the name it is like Z7 or something. anything qith zyme ion the name does the job (Cannazyme, Hygrozyme, Prozyme, and Sensizyme). In hydro it is real nice as it turns dead roots back into plant food.
How Do Enzymes Work?
I haven't tried worms yet but I was planning on doing it this compost. My compost is about 1 month old right now and I keep forgetting to get some worms. Maybe this weekend I will remember...can you PM me to remind me?
You really don't want to use it under 2 months. But you can.
Don't forget that you only use 1/3 at the bottom of a 10 gallon pot and use a good blend up top. If you are growing in smaller pots probably not more than 1/4 compost.
Good luck!
- Thread starter
- #12
Young Yoda
Well-Known Member
Well luckily, this is post 50 so I'll shoot you that pm now!
Thanks for all your help VI +rep
Thanks for all your help VI +rep
Got my worms yesterday. Put them in my compost. I laid them around on top and didn't bury them. I wanted to make sure they weren't dead so I went back a few hours later to check and all but a few had disappeared. those lat ones I checked and they were alive. This morning they have all disappeared.
My current grow has like a bit more than a month more and that compost has been going a month so I am right on schedule. I made it from the soil that was used in my current grow. After I switched the light schedule I found I had 2 males and yanked them and re-composted the soil. I used all of those ingredients to the ratios recommended that I found online for Subcools recipe.
So in about a month and a half or so I will start a new grow. I made a few clones from this grow so I have some guaranteed females for my next one. I will be putting down un-sexed seed from 4 different strains. I will do a relativity fast turn. I will clone the seeds and bloom as soon as I feel like I have a chance of getting a decent amount out of the current clones. I will assume I aint getting much from the seeds, they could all be males. That wont happen as I plant to put down at least 4 seeds. Then I will have my next grow clones ready and I will have some known good stock to work from. My current grow is some freebies that came with some stuff I got from Holland so not bad I just have no idea what it is. Some decent looking sativa but I have no idea. I think it has some blueberry in it but the plant is clearly mostly Sativa IMO. Hybrids it gets kinda hard to tell really.
Almost 2 weeks ago...
I did do something I never recommend to see what it would do on this that I think may have slowed down the growth but it will still get me something to be happy about.
My current grow has like a bit more than a month more and that compost has been going a month so I am right on schedule. I made it from the soil that was used in my current grow. After I switched the light schedule I found I had 2 males and yanked them and re-composted the soil. I used all of those ingredients to the ratios recommended that I found online for Subcools recipe.
So in about a month and a half or so I will start a new grow. I made a few clones from this grow so I have some guaranteed females for my next one. I will be putting down un-sexed seed from 4 different strains. I will do a relativity fast turn. I will clone the seeds and bloom as soon as I feel like I have a chance of getting a decent amount out of the current clones. I will assume I aint getting much from the seeds, they could all be males. That wont happen as I plant to put down at least 4 seeds. Then I will have my next grow clones ready and I will have some known good stock to work from. My current grow is some freebies that came with some stuff I got from Holland so not bad I just have no idea what it is. Some decent looking sativa but I have no idea. I think it has some blueberry in it but the plant is clearly mostly Sativa IMO. Hybrids it gets kinda hard to tell really.
Almost 2 weeks ago...
I did do something I never recommend to see what it would do on this that I think may have slowed down the growth but it will still get me something to be happy about.
mrbubbles87
Well-Known Member
I may be running something similar to you. I run a recycled subcool super soil with advanced nutrients and compost teas. I re amend my used soil with small measurements of his same recipe. I also add fan leaves, stems, mycos, and perlite.
I use teas between nutrient feedings to help breakdown the organic nutrients in my soil. I also love foliar spraying compost tea for bugs and pm.
I have added compost tea with chemical nutrients feedings without issue but I feel like it's more effective separately. Without scientific proof I have a hunch that the high salt levels of my Chem nutes kill a large portion of the microbes I grow in my tea.
For this reason I stage compost teas with the expectation that the chemical feeding will kill those microbes the following week.
Typically I give them tea the day I put them into flower and on week 4 in flower.
Another method of inoculating your soil would be top dressing with powder mycos and watering with plain water.
IMO the holy grail of organics is no till organics with coconut water and seed sprout feedings. I learned of this method from mendo dope and Minnesota nice on youtube. In the future I hope to convert to the method myself.
Not sure if my ramble actually contains any valuable information lol but I hope it helps you a little. Goodluck!
I use teas between nutrient feedings to help breakdown the organic nutrients in my soil. I also love foliar spraying compost tea for bugs and pm.
I have added compost tea with chemical nutrients feedings without issue but I feel like it's more effective separately. Without scientific proof I have a hunch that the high salt levels of my Chem nutes kill a large portion of the microbes I grow in my tea.
For this reason I stage compost teas with the expectation that the chemical feeding will kill those microbes the following week.
Typically I give them tea the day I put them into flower and on week 4 in flower.
Another method of inoculating your soil would be top dressing with powder mycos and watering with plain water.
IMO the holy grail of organics is no till organics with coconut water and seed sprout feedings. I learned of this method from mendo dope and Minnesota nice on youtube. In the future I hope to convert to the method myself.
Not sure if my ramble actually contains any valuable information lol but I hope it helps you a little. Goodluck!
Na no ramble there... thanks. (aint my thread though LOL)
I have always wondered about putting my fan leaves into the compost. I always figured I would be using it too fast so it wouldn't be ready in time. Sounds very much like what I am doing. A little back and forth. but I run very light if at all on the nutes. when I do it is more like just the organic stuff. Nirvana form AN has a good chunk of what I make in my tea so in a pinch I use that. But in the plant above (I will add updated pics below) I have run almost no chem nutes. I think Sub cools compost was originally meant for outside. I know the original recipe is a mound for like 50-100 plants and takes hours with a rake to mix. So I am using a much smaller recipe I found.
Anyway I like it man!!! We need more people like you here preaching the gospel of doing it the easy cheap way.
So I just took these for an update...again almost no chems here unless you count something like nirvana a chem which it is not at all. Just a very basic mix not even using a compost yet on this one. This one is totally fresh basic mix as I did my last run in hydro a long time ago. This is my first run in a while. I basically have watched the plant and waited for her to talk to me and added leftovers from my shelf that I have laying about. Not much. Mostly my tea which has most everything a plant needs. I would really like to get to a place where I just add water and my tea. Baby steps though.
I think about a month left. She is now where near that point where I think she is ready and needs 2 more weeks
I have always wondered about putting my fan leaves into the compost. I always figured I would be using it too fast so it wouldn't be ready in time. Sounds very much like what I am doing. A little back and forth. but I run very light if at all on the nutes. when I do it is more like just the organic stuff. Nirvana form AN has a good chunk of what I make in my tea so in a pinch I use that. But in the plant above (I will add updated pics below) I have run almost no chem nutes. I think Sub cools compost was originally meant for outside. I know the original recipe is a mound for like 50-100 plants and takes hours with a rake to mix. So I am using a much smaller recipe I found.
Anyway I like it man!!! We need more people like you here preaching the gospel of doing it the easy cheap way.
So I just took these for an update...again almost no chems here unless you count something like nirvana a chem which it is not at all. Just a very basic mix not even using a compost yet on this one. This one is totally fresh basic mix as I did my last run in hydro a long time ago. This is my first run in a while. I basically have watched the plant and waited for her to talk to me and added leftovers from my shelf that I have laying about. Not much. Mostly my tea which has most everything a plant needs. I would really like to get to a place where I just add water and my tea. Baby steps though.
I think about a month left. She is now where near that point where I think she is ready and needs 2 more weeks
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
A couple of quick notes here... First, I have 2 20gal plastic trash cans with lids that I use to compost my SubCool mix... and it works perfectly indoors, in my heated garage. I have been cooking my supersoil for about 3 months now, and I have been adding all my scraps, harvested plants and leftover compost teas to these bins, and in addition to keeping them moist, I stir them up at least once a week. I can easily tell my soil is alive... because any scraps I put in there... in a week, they are mostly gone... in two weeks it is all soil, branches and all. I have high hopes for this supersoil, and there is not one chance that I would ever add a synthetic nute or unfiltered water to this amazingly active mix. That was the question first asked in this thread... can I add chem nutes, and of course the answer is yes you can... but along with that answer comes the question, should you?
I totally agree with you Emy. I do not want to argue. buuuut...
The problem with chem nutes is they are easy to overdo and commonly are overdone. Most of the time people don't even realize it. That is when the salts build up happens. Up to a point the microbes fix all that and break them down too. It can all be mixed up successfully. Chems don't kill microbes people do.
You know as well as anyone that I am a huge fan of going organic. I try even when buying bottled crap to make sure it is derived from good raw materials. But in the end the plant only absorbs the chemicals. The microbes are the same and in the end as long as the nutes are balanced right everything can jive.
Everything is just so much easier as it self balances when using organic stuff. Microbes go a long way to fix all that stuff but it is true that a heavy hand with chemicals can kill them off.
The right thing is for people like us to show the newbs how much easier and cheaper it is to grow organic because no store is going to teach them how to do it correctly. They make no money selling the very few items it takes to do this correctly.
But I totally agree that the bigger question is always more important.
I have always ran a mix of both without issues with that at all. I have put chems in countless times and they do not kill my soil. I am however trying to move away from the dark side myself.
The problem with chem nutes is they are easy to overdo and commonly are overdone. Most of the time people don't even realize it. That is when the salts build up happens. Up to a point the microbes fix all that and break them down too. It can all be mixed up successfully. Chems don't kill microbes people do.
You know as well as anyone that I am a huge fan of going organic. I try even when buying bottled crap to make sure it is derived from good raw materials. But in the end the plant only absorbs the chemicals. The microbes are the same and in the end as long as the nutes are balanced right everything can jive.
Everything is just so much easier as it self balances when using organic stuff. Microbes go a long way to fix all that stuff but it is true that a heavy hand with chemicals can kill them off.
The right thing is for people like us to show the newbs how much easier and cheaper it is to grow organic because no store is going to teach them how to do it correctly. They make no money selling the very few items it takes to do this correctly.
But I totally agree that the bigger question is always more important.
I have always ran a mix of both without issues with that at all. I have put chems in countless times and they do not kill my soil. I am however trying to move away from the dark side myself.
- Thread starter
- #18
Young Yoda
Well-Known Member
Helpful info everyone, thanks!
I think the only reason this is an issue is because right now nutrient solution is the only way my plant is getting those nutes. Hopefully the next batch will benefit more from a more nutrient rich tea.
Looking good over there VI, maybe make a journal for that new grow? I'd love to keep tabs on what's working for ya.
About the compost bins, do you guys make holes on the bottom for drainage? Or on the side for air?
I think the only reason this is an issue is because right now nutrient solution is the only way my plant is getting those nutes. Hopefully the next batch will benefit more from a more nutrient rich tea.
Looking good over there VI, maybe make a journal for that new grow? I'd love to keep tabs on what's working for ya.
About the compost bins, do you guys make holes on the bottom for drainage? Or on the side for air?
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
and again yoda, there are organic based nutrients that will be perfectly safe to use in an organic grow. Also, teas can be made very nutritious, without adding regular nutes. An AACT made with high N and also high P bat guano, with a bit of worm castings and some compost, will make a thick nutrient tea that can actually burn your plants it is so strong.
my compost bins for now are 2x 20gal plastic trash bins. I do not want drainage, so no holes and the only air is from the top. I do mix up this soil regularly by hand, about once a week, and when it starts to dry out I pour my leftover AACTs into the soil and mix it up. This summer I plan on making a stand with some 2x4s and mounting a 55 gal plastic drum with a PVC tube inserted in the middle. I plan to cut an access door in the side for easy access and mount a handle on the lid, so that every week or so I can go out and give it a few turns to mix up my compost.
yeah as always Emy is correcto. My nute tea is very strong and has everything a plant needs =. in a hydro it is easy to burn you plants with it...and there are no chems. I put in a bunch of raw ingredients. The end result has a PPM of 800 with tons of nitrogen, Phos and Potasium, all the micro nutes, microbes, enzymes plus a bunch more. You don't need chems at all. I used almost non on that plant I posted. I have left overs on the shelf that I use if I think I need to focus one thing or another. My next grow I may not use any chems.
They are not necessary. Most plants in the world do not have chemical fertilizers being added to their root systems. They live on rain water going through decomposing materials making a tea right there.
They are not necessary. Most plants in the world do not have chemical fertilizers being added to their root systems. They live on rain water going through decomposing materials making a tea right there.
