CBDMed
Well-Known Member
Hi all. Long story short, I am still new to growing, and need advice on organic soil and organic fertilizers.
I just tried my first batch of autos, outdoors, and I made all the newbie mistakes. Now I am trying to do much better with Round #2.
Here is some background, in case anyone it helps.
Like I say, I am still somewhat new. I did I think maybe 4 or 5 indoors photoperiod grows when I was in the States. The last 2 were with SubCool's Supersoil and bagged canna-dirt from HomeDepot, so I never had to make soil before.
Now I am Colombia, and everything is different. I *just found the components to make Supersoil last week, but they won't be here for another week (and they take 3 months to compost), so I need to make my own base soil again for this grow (and the next one coming up in about a week).
I am in a gated community here. I asked the community guard if it was ok to grow inside (out of sight), but instead he said I should grow on my roof (and you don't argue with them here).
Only, there are lots of night security lights here, so it never really gets dark. That is great for security, but it also means photoperiods won't work, so I need to grow autos for now (at least until I can get to my next place, where I want to grow inside again).
So, I ordered some autos, and I messed up batch #1. (Ouch.)
Basically, they have what they call "black soil" here in Colombia, which is basically black topsoil, but some of it (including mine) has a lot of clay. I tried to open it up for batch #1, but I needed to open it up a LOT more, so it will have good tilth (and will not clump).
My second problem was that I gave the seedlings wayy too much water (thinking I was doing a good thing) and the growth stopped until everything dried out (which took a really long time).
Now that everything is finally drying out, things are just now starting to grow again, but they are also just now starting to flower, so there isn't really too much to do for batch #1. (I *might get some smalltime bud while I start a new batch, but mostly I just need to let Round #1 finish, and focus on doing much better in Round #2.)
Earlier I asked for soil advice on another thread, and Azimuth, Smoking Wings, Bode, and some other old hands gave me some great soil advice, which I tried to follow. They also recommended Emily's articles on watering an autoflower in a big final pot, which I read twice, and will try to follow to the letter.
So here is my new soil.
Soil Round #2:
I started with Smoking Wings' recommendation of 1/3 compost (and maybe 25% of that was worm compost), 1/3 fine Perlite, and 1/3 coco coir.
Then I added a big handful of rice hulls (hoping for silica), a small handful of superfine eggshell powder (hoping for calcium), maybe 1/2 cup of volcanic rock flour, plus just a pinch of Epsom salts.
The stuff was beyond tilth. You could crush it with all of your hand strength, and it would not even think about clumping. Only, I looked at the stuff and found myself blurting out, "But there is no soil!" And then I started thinking, "What will the plants eat??"
I could not imagine the plants living off of just Perlite, coco coir, and some compost, so my first thought was to add a lot more volcanic rock dust. Only, I do not have nearly enough rock dust for that.
So then I thought, "Instead of rock dust, why don't I mix in some black soil, because plants eat dirt, right?"
So now the mix is @ 1/4 compost, 1/4 Perlite, 1/4 coco coir, and 1/4 black soil".
I was surprised. Even with 1/4 black soil, it still has pretty good tilth. It does not really clump, and it seems nice and light and fluffy (like the soil I used to buy in bags from Home Depot).
I tried to crush it with all of my hand strength, but it would not clump.
I am still concerned about nutrients for the plants, but I don't know how to solve it, at the moment.
I am autistic, so I need CBD, but I don't have any more CBD seeds at the moment.
Long story short, I soaked five Barney's Farm LSD Autos for a couple of hours. (Three were normal sized, and two were little teeny tiny seeds [which I was not happy about], but we will see if they make it.
Hopefully I will have more CBD autos soon, so we can replace whoever does not make it.
Also I will harvest six plants in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully I will have some CBD seeds by then.
Next I filled five 5g soft pots with the new Fluffy Mix #2, and set them on seedling heating pads.
(Normally I use Root Riot cubes, but this soil was so soft and fluffy that I thought I would try to plant direct, like I used to.)
I made five 3/4" soft craters, dusted the holes with some myco powder, put in the seeds, and dusted on a little more myco powder.
Then I backfilled everything with the same fluffy Mix #2, and sprayed maybe 40 squirts from a water bottle on "mist", to get the soil moist the first time. (Tomorrow I will probably use 20 squirts, maybe two or three times, depending. We will see.)
Then I tagged and dated the pots.
Then it was dark.
My questions and concerns:
My soil is light and fluffy, but I think there is almost no dirt in my soil!?!?
What can I do to make sure that the plants get the nutrients that they need, to produce?
How can I fertilize them?
I read on the forum how everyone is using these fancy new organic nutes, but I look them up and they are way expensive to ship (i.e., outside of my budget), so I need to go with organic kitchen and garden solutions.
There are cow paddocks within easy walking distance, so I can happily make cow poo tea.
For autos, do I start giving them cow poo tea when I see the second set of leaves? Or when?
Also, do autos go into stretch when they start to flower? Meaning, do I discontinue the cow poo tea when the first pistils appear? Or when do I discontinue the cow poo tea?
Also, I am told I can make banana peel tea for the bloom phase (and we eat a lot of bananas here). Is that worth trying?
Also, is broccoli or asparagus tea ever good for plants? (Because we eat broccoli and asparagus here also, and there is almost always some leftover tea.)
I have some organic (kitchen?) compost and also worm compost that I can easily turn into tea. Is this approptiate during bloom? (Or does worm compost have too much nitrogen for bloom?)
Are there other organic kitchen and yard nutrients I can feed my little plants? I really don't want to use chemical fertilizers.
Thank you. I would appreciate any sage suggestions or advice.
I just tried my first batch of autos, outdoors, and I made all the newbie mistakes. Now I am trying to do much better with Round #2.
Here is some background, in case anyone it helps.
Like I say, I am still somewhat new. I did I think maybe 4 or 5 indoors photoperiod grows when I was in the States. The last 2 were with SubCool's Supersoil and bagged canna-dirt from HomeDepot, so I never had to make soil before.
Now I am Colombia, and everything is different. I *just found the components to make Supersoil last week, but they won't be here for another week (and they take 3 months to compost), so I need to make my own base soil again for this grow (and the next one coming up in about a week).
I am in a gated community here. I asked the community guard if it was ok to grow inside (out of sight), but instead he said I should grow on my roof (and you don't argue with them here).
Only, there are lots of night security lights here, so it never really gets dark. That is great for security, but it also means photoperiods won't work, so I need to grow autos for now (at least until I can get to my next place, where I want to grow inside again).
So, I ordered some autos, and I messed up batch #1. (Ouch.)
Basically, they have what they call "black soil" here in Colombia, which is basically black topsoil, but some of it (including mine) has a lot of clay. I tried to open it up for batch #1, but I needed to open it up a LOT more, so it will have good tilth (and will not clump).
My second problem was that I gave the seedlings wayy too much water (thinking I was doing a good thing) and the growth stopped until everything dried out (which took a really long time).
Now that everything is finally drying out, things are just now starting to grow again, but they are also just now starting to flower, so there isn't really too much to do for batch #1. (I *might get some smalltime bud while I start a new batch, but mostly I just need to let Round #1 finish, and focus on doing much better in Round #2.)
Earlier I asked for soil advice on another thread, and Azimuth, Smoking Wings, Bode, and some other old hands gave me some great soil advice, which I tried to follow. They also recommended Emily's articles on watering an autoflower in a big final pot, which I read twice, and will try to follow to the letter.
So here is my new soil.
Soil Round #2:
I started with Smoking Wings' recommendation of 1/3 compost (and maybe 25% of that was worm compost), 1/3 fine Perlite, and 1/3 coco coir.
Then I added a big handful of rice hulls (hoping for silica), a small handful of superfine eggshell powder (hoping for calcium), maybe 1/2 cup of volcanic rock flour, plus just a pinch of Epsom salts.
The stuff was beyond tilth. You could crush it with all of your hand strength, and it would not even think about clumping. Only, I looked at the stuff and found myself blurting out, "But there is no soil!" And then I started thinking, "What will the plants eat??"
I could not imagine the plants living off of just Perlite, coco coir, and some compost, so my first thought was to add a lot more volcanic rock dust. Only, I do not have nearly enough rock dust for that.
So then I thought, "Instead of rock dust, why don't I mix in some black soil, because plants eat dirt, right?"
So now the mix is @ 1/4 compost, 1/4 Perlite, 1/4 coco coir, and 1/4 black soil".
I was surprised. Even with 1/4 black soil, it still has pretty good tilth. It does not really clump, and it seems nice and light and fluffy (like the soil I used to buy in bags from Home Depot).
I tried to crush it with all of my hand strength, but it would not clump.
I am still concerned about nutrients for the plants, but I don't know how to solve it, at the moment.
I am autistic, so I need CBD, but I don't have any more CBD seeds at the moment.
Long story short, I soaked five Barney's Farm LSD Autos for a couple of hours. (Three were normal sized, and two were little teeny tiny seeds [which I was not happy about], but we will see if they make it.
Hopefully I will have more CBD autos soon, so we can replace whoever does not make it.
Also I will harvest six plants in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully I will have some CBD seeds by then.
Next I filled five 5g soft pots with the new Fluffy Mix #2, and set them on seedling heating pads.
(Normally I use Root Riot cubes, but this soil was so soft and fluffy that I thought I would try to plant direct, like I used to.)
I made five 3/4" soft craters, dusted the holes with some myco powder, put in the seeds, and dusted on a little more myco powder.
Then I backfilled everything with the same fluffy Mix #2, and sprayed maybe 40 squirts from a water bottle on "mist", to get the soil moist the first time. (Tomorrow I will probably use 20 squirts, maybe two or three times, depending. We will see.)
Then I tagged and dated the pots.
Then it was dark.
My questions and concerns:
My soil is light and fluffy, but I think there is almost no dirt in my soil!?!?
What can I do to make sure that the plants get the nutrients that they need, to produce?
How can I fertilize them?
I read on the forum how everyone is using these fancy new organic nutes, but I look them up and they are way expensive to ship (i.e., outside of my budget), so I need to go with organic kitchen and garden solutions.
There are cow paddocks within easy walking distance, so I can happily make cow poo tea.
For autos, do I start giving them cow poo tea when I see the second set of leaves? Or when?
Also, do autos go into stretch when they start to flower? Meaning, do I discontinue the cow poo tea when the first pistils appear? Or when do I discontinue the cow poo tea?
Also, I am told I can make banana peel tea for the bloom phase (and we eat a lot of bananas here). Is that worth trying?
Also, is broccoli or asparagus tea ever good for plants? (Because we eat broccoli and asparagus here also, and there is almost always some leftover tea.)
I have some organic (kitchen?) compost and also worm compost that I can easily turn into tea. Is this approptiate during bloom? (Or does worm compost have too much nitrogen for bloom?)
Are there other organic kitchen and yard nutrients I can feed my little plants? I really don't want to use chemical fertilizers.
Thank you. I would appreciate any sage suggestions or advice.