Mystic Blue First Grow!

[Autofacade]

Right went out and dug up my compost heap and got some awesomely looking compost stuff. There is ALOT of egg shell in there. Everything else ranges from grass, veg, fruit plant cuttings and some dinner left overs to tea bags and leaves. I've taken the stuff from the bottom centre so it's really broken down. Would you add this to your medium or just use it as tea? Also is there any preparation needed don't want to introduce pests and such to my plant...

 

[Emilya Green]

I would do both... and a proper tea is going to be an aerated one, without aeration bad bacteria (the smelly kind) will grow... and result of such a tea would be absolutely wonderful to add to your garden.

 

[Autofacade]

Awesome I'll cook it up next week ready for her next feed hopefully it will help sort out her problems

 

[Autofacade]

So for the compost tea recipe....

2 cups compost
Small handful of jhon innes No.1
2.5 tbls bat guano
2.5 tbls worm casts
28ml demerara black strap
15.2 ltrs of ph'd, de-chlorinated water

It just looks amazing already.
Worm casts are nasty smelling!

 

[Autofacade]

Am I right in thinking that due to compost tea being organic it won't burn your plant? I'm asking due to noticing a little nutrient burn coming back through but I'm mid brew so now stuck between will the compost tea increase the burn?

@Emilya

 

[Emilya Green]

A little nutrient burn is not a crisis. We are dealing with a weed... a plant used to living in adversity. We come along and start actually feeding it, and "fertilizing" it. The quality of life in some of our tents must be just short of heaven for some of our plants, and it is no wonder that by pushing them a bit we see reactions from these pampered plants. I see burned tips all the time in my tent for multiple reasons, mostly intentional. I have layers and spikes of pure nutrients in my containers, and of course these regions are too "hot" for the roots. Life however, especially of a weed, is all about adaptation. Even in those hot zones, there are still highly specialized roots and microlife that learn to process what is there.
If you get severe nutrient overload, that is quite another thing. The plant will be sick, and it won't be just the leaf tips that are reacting to the overload. The leaf tip burning shows you that the roots hit something they didn't like... the mix was too hot... and some of the fine roots got pruned off. The rhizosphere adapts quickly and after losing some of the finest new roots, the problem stopped. What you see at the leaf tip is a reflection of what just happened below, but it is old news. It is over, and done with... until the next round.
So yes, you can get a little burning from a very hot tea. It is not as likely to do so because you are not really providing a whole lot that is immediately available to the plant in this tea and it is hard to overload the roots like a strong nutrient mix can do. A tea is more than just the base nutrients in your brew; you are bringing in highly specialized microlife that you are introducing to the soil, that are already starting to work on and specialize in the components in the tea. As long as you can keep these particular microbeasties alive and working, they will continue to provide what the roots need. A compost tea feeds the microlife... it is they who feed your plants, and they can do it without burning.

 

[Autofacade]

You should right a book @Emilya ! I will feed with the tea in the next couple of days. I'm going to try make a super soil for my next auto grow. Got the bat guano and worm casts to add in from the start next round. Any advise on that would be awesome but not compulsory as I've asked you more than my fair share of questions. You are my encyclopaedia!

 

[Emilya Green]

I try very hard to put all of my current thoughts in my Grow Journal but keep in mind that through the years I have evolved in my thinking and many things I said in 2010 may not be what I necessarily believe today. Other than following me in that way, if you can think of specific questions about anything within my experience to answer, I will do my best.

 

[Autofacade]

So tea has begun brewing! And smells lovely and sweet hopefully got everything all alright! I want to also add epsom salts should I do this now beginning of brew or add to the tea before adding it to my plant?

 

[Emilya Green]

careful with the salt... I would not want it where I was trying to foster microlife. Definitely add it after you brew the tea. This is where a few drops of calmag is so much better.

 

[Autofacade]

I just thought the calmag really isn't getting in there so try the epsom salt might do a better job. But it is scaring me as you say. Sod it I'll do double dosage of calmag again this time round and if all fails epsom it next water

 

[Autofacade]

So here is the tea! The amount of bubbles haha! I hope this is ok smells earthy and almost herbal so I think it's a success!! It's had 24 hours now not sure how long to leave it. My plant doesn't need a drink for another day I reckon

 

[Emilya Green]

keep in mind that 1 tbls of epsom salt spread out on the soil surface should be enough to supply magnesium for the rest of that grow.... adding it to water over several sessions in these amounts is a sure way to lock up the roots.
The bubbling looks good... that means you are creating life! Keep bubbling until time to use it so you can keep out the anaerobic bacteria and promote the good aerobic ones.

 

[Autofacade]

Awesome I'll add a tiny sprinkle of salt across the top of the soil then add a thin layer of biobizz light mix. I'll give it the tea 2moz I don't wanna over water not now lol I'll keep bubbling until 2moz will mean it's on for 48 hours. Do I ph it before use it's sitting at 7.5 ph atm

 

[Emilya Green]

the only reason to adjust pH is if you are using synthetic nutrients that need the pH to be within a certain range in order to break apart... does this apply to you now?
If not, then why even think about adding acid to the mix of microlife that you just created?

 

[Autofacade]

Yh this is very true it was more because I've ph'd everything else that goes into the pot so thought may still apply

 

[Autofacade]

Ok so the brew looks lovely! Went up and took it out the tent to water started to water and noticed everything is going yellow from the centre of the leaves out. Nearly every leaf is growing at the tips bottom of the plant is continuing to yellow new and old growth?

 

[Emilya Green]

so fill us in again as to what you are feeding these plants right now? The yellow is saying that they are hungry, and now that they are in flower those nutrition needs have changed from the simple nitrogen that got them through before.... now they need potassium and calcium and phosphorus along with that nitrogen. If that last tea was all they are having for dinner, it was not enough.

 

[Autofacade]

So the last two feeds I have fed with bottle organic nutrients.
0.3ml grow
1.0ml bloom
0.5ml topmax
0.5 ml calmag
1.0ml black strap
700ml water

This was a lower feed because I had signs of nutrient burn the burn continued so next I put together ph'd water 700ml with 2ml calmag. To flush. The Browning of the very ends of the leaves has still continued. I have just given them the tea recipe above + a sprinkle of epsom salts on the top to help with the cal-mag issue. Lol I just can't get a balance between them burning for some reason going brown . I can't wait to start over and not make the mistakes from this grow.

 

[Emilya Green]

I think I would recommend going with full loads of the bloom and calmag and stop with the others, and see if that still burns the tips. I keep saying this... a little bit of a tip burn is not a disaster... I have it on all 6 of my organically grown plants. Starvation however is a serious problem.... and that needs to be dealt with.