Smokin Moose
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex Moderator
The following is intended to assist growers, new to the organic method, with the answers to frequently asked questions. I’ve tried to attribute the thoughts and words of others to them. If I have failed, please let me know, and I will give credit where it is due. Clearly, this is an ongoing project, please post follow ups or pm me if I have made errors or omissions.
What is organic growing?
Depends on who you ask. Around here, it generally describes the use of organic fertilizers and soil amendments, as opposed to their chemical counter parts. That is the general meaning employed in this FAQ.
On a more global scale, organic agriculture is to farm/garden in rhythm with nature\'s laws in a sustainable manner that provides a healthy eco system for all beings involved. How this philosophy is played out in practice varies greatly from individual to individual, organization to organization.
What are the advantages of growing organically?
Answer First, organics is simpler than chemical nutrition. When there is too much chemical fertilizer, plants will burn, whereas organics is generally much gentler. ~shabang~ likens the difference between the two methods as essentially the same as the difference between making soup and baking:
Organic feeding is a lot like cooking a soup. You go easy on the seasoning at first, adding your base ingredients to see where that gets you. You can mix and match many types of ingredients and at many different proportions and it will usually work just fine. That’s because the plant can take what it needs, leave the rest, and isn't force fed into anything.
Chemical feeding is like baking. You better damn well be accurate with your measurements or you *will* screw it up. With baking you can't just throw stuff in, add more of this or that.. cooking a soup.. and feeding organics can be much less precise. Blueberry is a touchy feeder but if you are successful with GH (General Hydroponics) you should have no problems with EJ (Earth Juice).
Second, many people believe that organically grown smoke tastes and smells better than chemically fed plants, what ~shabang~ refers to as "an earthy dankness" It has also been suggested that chemical fertilizers reduce bud quality.
Finally, organics is much more environmentally friendly than chemical fertilizers. Hydroponic growers frequently have to change their nute solution every couple of days, and are left with gallons and gallons of used hydroponic solution, which is full of chemicals, to dispose. It goes into the ground, our rivers and our blood streams.
How are plants grown organically?
Generally, organic growers do so in soil or a soilless mix. Occasionally, a hydroponics grower will use an organic nutrient solution, but most believe this is an invitation for root and pH problems (please see a more careful examination of hydro-organics and aquaponics below). ~shabang~ suggests that growers go one way or another:
”If you want the best yield, bar none, go with an aero or flow hydro table. Your bud won't smoke as well and won't have that earthy dankness after curing...if you want the best quality, use those organic ferts in a medium based on worm castings...You can use mostly GH {General Hydroponics Flora Series nutrients} and then supplement on the side with EJ {EarthJuice} Catalyst but know that its just a supplement, you are relying on the GH for the majority of the nutrients. If those chem ferts are present, they really inhibit the beneficial microbes that are needed to breakdown the organics.”
How many different organic growing methods are there?
There are as many different methods of organic growing as there are dedicated organic growers. However, generally organic growers rely upon either organic fertilizers or soil amendments, or a combination of both, to provide nutrition for their plants. The following are some examples of different successful growers’ organic techniques:
~shabang~‘s mix:
The mix that I recommend is basically nothing but castings and drainage. I used to cut it with all sorts of things, including soilless peat-based mixes like pro-mix.. but then you're introducing a source for pH problems-- especially when others try and duplicate it but can't find the right brands then substitute with a peat-mix that is too acidic. So down to the bare basics of a mix:
40% castings
30% perlite
30% vermiculite
There is no need to measure exactly, for my friend I've found that one bag of each works great - using the 8 dry quart perlite and vermiculite bags and then the slightly larger bags of castings {20-25 lbs}. Also we add in a little agricultural lime {1 cup} and some water crystals to give them some reserves, both optional. Also we are trying out some Hi-Phos Jamaican Bat Guano this round and I think it is an improvement so far, using it at about 2 / 3 cup per 3 gallon bucket, but the mix works great without the guano since you should be using good complete organic ferts.
What they want:
Earth Juice,
1 tablespoon bloom per gallon of clean water
1 teaspoon grow per gallon (for the first couple of weeks, only if it’s a long flowering strain)
1 tablespoon maxi crop per gallon
If you don't/can't get Earth Juice, you can use a tea made of bat guano / castings as a fine substitute.
Let this mix in the reservoir at least 24 hours, and feed. This time top it up with plain water till it's full. It will still have some flavor of course since it's in the same container and you shouldn't drain it all the way. Keep it mixing at all times. Next time add fert... alternate with water, cut out the grow half way through, harvest, cure, smoke, get high!
The circulating reservoir is the key to using those indoor organics efficiently. I don't use Fox Farm anymore, silly to pay 4 times as much as the EJ. When mixed straight into water, the Earth Juice bloom drops the pH to the mid 4's. The solution is to let it circulate and aerate for at least 24 hours. The best way to do it is with a permanent reservoir-- a large bucket or trough that is always filled with water. There should be one large pump in there that is always on and circulating the solution. I also throw in some air wands on a pump, but thats not a big deal. As long as its mixing it will work. Hook the pump up with a Y so that one branch is always mixing the tank and then the other branch can be a long hose for your watering wand. You don't re-use the drained water, just toss it on your backyard garden.
As the reservoir circulates, it starts the breakdown of the nutrients and the pH will rise. Like I said previously, with this system there is no need to check the pH ever - just keep the reservoir circulating and the mix has loads of buffering capacity. You only need to add liquid ferts every other or every third watering.
Mr. Soul, (Brothers Grimm), recommends the following mix:
1. My soil mix is (by volume) 50% worm castings, 25% Pro-Mix, and 25% perlite. Simple as that.
2. I feed with tea at EVERY watering of my plants & since they're flowered in 2-gallon containers - that\'s usually every day!
3. The teas I use are made by soaking a "tea bag" (got mine at Worm's Way) in a 5-gallon bucket of pH = 6.2 water. Agitate and manipulate the bag a LOT to release as much of the "goodies" as possible - the water looks like it came from a mud puddle when you've got it right. I do one thing I've never heard other growers mention doing - I measure the ppm of my tea.
Here are the contents of the tea bag, depending on growth stage:
Vegetative => 1/2 cup each of PSG & worm castings. I also add a 1/2 cup of Maxi-Crop liquid seaweed, plus two Tablespoons of Alaska fish emulsion to the water. (I shoot for a ppm = 1000)
Flowering (weeks 0-4)=> 1/2 cup each of PSG & High Phosphorus bat guano. I also add a 1/2 cup of Maxi-Crop to the water. (ppm 1250 - 1500 )
Flowering (weeks 4-7)=> 1/2 cup each High Phosphorus bat guano and worm castings. (shifting ppm from 1500 -> 1000)
During the final week of flowering, many folks choose to use plain, pH-adjusted water for "clearing" but I don't. I haven't noticed any difference between when I have & when I haven't "cleared". This seems reasonable when growing organically - why clear? Clear WHAT? They're living in the medium in which they've evolved for millions of years!
A few other hints:
SOAK the pots thoroughly when watering, then allow them to become "light" when lifted before watering again...the plants LOVE a short drying out period. The amount of time it takes for the plants to dry out is constantly getting SHORTER as they grow...be AWARE!
Water BY HAND! At least get an accurate feel for how much the average plant needs by hand-watering before setting up a drip system or whatever.
Transplant you clones into the container you plan to flower them in & veg them until their roots systems are FULLY established before flowering them - this will MINIMIZE stretching...check this out for yourself, it works!
Vic High (BCGA) suggests his Super Soil mix:
Original recipe:
1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix
2 L Bone Meal - phosphorus source
1L Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolomite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
1/2 - 1 bag chicken manure (steer, mushroom, etc) - nitrogen & trace elements
Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.
Revised recipe:
After several failures due to bad manure sources, I now use the following recipe. Results have been excellent and the clones seem to take off right away instead of having a slow growing settling in period.
1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix (3.8 cu ft)
8 cups Bone Meal - phosphorus source
4 cups Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolmite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
4 cups kelp meal.
9kg (25 lbs) bag pure worm castings
Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.
Substitutions - The original recipe was a success, but I simply needed to experiment. In addition, sometimes not all ingredients were always available. Therefore, here are some possible additions and/or substitutions.
Descriptions to follow:
Blood & Bone Meal - when trying to cut costs
Kelp Meal - contains over 62 trace minerals. Good supplement for manure or for reducing the manure content to speed up availability of soil.
Worm castings - excellent source of micro nutrients
Bat guano - excellent for top dressing a week into flowering
Seabird guano
Bugs
On a couple of occasions, I've ended up with fungus gnats with this soil mix. They are more of an irritation than anything but may harm weak or young plants. Some have said that putting a layer of sand on top of the soil in the pots stops the gnats from reproducing. Others can get rid of them by doing a soil drench with diazinon or malathion.
Personally, I prefer to simply introduce fungus gnat predators (Hypoaspis miles). Once established, they not only control fungus gnats, but also thrips and mites. When there is no insect food available, they survive on dead plant material, so remain even after pests are gone to prevent future infestations. Actually, since they have been introduced, I've had no pest problems in over a year and I don't filter my intake. I got mine from Westgro (1-800-663-2552) and they have sales offices in Delta, Victoria, and Kelowna.
I can’t find all of the ingredients mentioned, what should I do?
Improvise. The only essential ingredient appears to be worm castings. Note its use in every recipe. Castings are a great source of nitrogen and certain micro nutrients. ~shabang~ says his mix is really all castings, the perlite and vermiculite are added only for drainage. You ought to include worm castings in your soilless mix, if possible.
What is organic growing?
Depends on who you ask. Around here, it generally describes the use of organic fertilizers and soil amendments, as opposed to their chemical counter parts. That is the general meaning employed in this FAQ.
On a more global scale, organic agriculture is to farm/garden in rhythm with nature\'s laws in a sustainable manner that provides a healthy eco system for all beings involved. How this philosophy is played out in practice varies greatly from individual to individual, organization to organization.
What are the advantages of growing organically?
Answer First, organics is simpler than chemical nutrition. When there is too much chemical fertilizer, plants will burn, whereas organics is generally much gentler. ~shabang~ likens the difference between the two methods as essentially the same as the difference between making soup and baking:
Organic feeding is a lot like cooking a soup. You go easy on the seasoning at first, adding your base ingredients to see where that gets you. You can mix and match many types of ingredients and at many different proportions and it will usually work just fine. That’s because the plant can take what it needs, leave the rest, and isn't force fed into anything.
Chemical feeding is like baking. You better damn well be accurate with your measurements or you *will* screw it up. With baking you can't just throw stuff in, add more of this or that.. cooking a soup.. and feeding organics can be much less precise. Blueberry is a touchy feeder but if you are successful with GH (General Hydroponics) you should have no problems with EJ (Earth Juice).
Second, many people believe that organically grown smoke tastes and smells better than chemically fed plants, what ~shabang~ refers to as "an earthy dankness" It has also been suggested that chemical fertilizers reduce bud quality.
Finally, organics is much more environmentally friendly than chemical fertilizers. Hydroponic growers frequently have to change their nute solution every couple of days, and are left with gallons and gallons of used hydroponic solution, which is full of chemicals, to dispose. It goes into the ground, our rivers and our blood streams.
How are plants grown organically?
Generally, organic growers do so in soil or a soilless mix. Occasionally, a hydroponics grower will use an organic nutrient solution, but most believe this is an invitation for root and pH problems (please see a more careful examination of hydro-organics and aquaponics below). ~shabang~ suggests that growers go one way or another:
”If you want the best yield, bar none, go with an aero or flow hydro table. Your bud won't smoke as well and won't have that earthy dankness after curing...if you want the best quality, use those organic ferts in a medium based on worm castings...You can use mostly GH {General Hydroponics Flora Series nutrients} and then supplement on the side with EJ {EarthJuice} Catalyst but know that its just a supplement, you are relying on the GH for the majority of the nutrients. If those chem ferts are present, they really inhibit the beneficial microbes that are needed to breakdown the organics.”
How many different organic growing methods are there?
There are as many different methods of organic growing as there are dedicated organic growers. However, generally organic growers rely upon either organic fertilizers or soil amendments, or a combination of both, to provide nutrition for their plants. The following are some examples of different successful growers’ organic techniques:
~shabang~‘s mix:
The mix that I recommend is basically nothing but castings and drainage. I used to cut it with all sorts of things, including soilless peat-based mixes like pro-mix.. but then you're introducing a source for pH problems-- especially when others try and duplicate it but can't find the right brands then substitute with a peat-mix that is too acidic. So down to the bare basics of a mix:
40% castings
30% perlite
30% vermiculite
There is no need to measure exactly, for my friend I've found that one bag of each works great - using the 8 dry quart perlite and vermiculite bags and then the slightly larger bags of castings {20-25 lbs}. Also we add in a little agricultural lime {1 cup} and some water crystals to give them some reserves, both optional. Also we are trying out some Hi-Phos Jamaican Bat Guano this round and I think it is an improvement so far, using it at about 2 / 3 cup per 3 gallon bucket, but the mix works great without the guano since you should be using good complete organic ferts.
What they want:
Earth Juice,
1 tablespoon bloom per gallon of clean water
1 teaspoon grow per gallon (for the first couple of weeks, only if it’s a long flowering strain)
1 tablespoon maxi crop per gallon
If you don't/can't get Earth Juice, you can use a tea made of bat guano / castings as a fine substitute.
Let this mix in the reservoir at least 24 hours, and feed. This time top it up with plain water till it's full. It will still have some flavor of course since it's in the same container and you shouldn't drain it all the way. Keep it mixing at all times. Next time add fert... alternate with water, cut out the grow half way through, harvest, cure, smoke, get high!
The circulating reservoir is the key to using those indoor organics efficiently. I don't use Fox Farm anymore, silly to pay 4 times as much as the EJ. When mixed straight into water, the Earth Juice bloom drops the pH to the mid 4's. The solution is to let it circulate and aerate for at least 24 hours. The best way to do it is with a permanent reservoir-- a large bucket or trough that is always filled with water. There should be one large pump in there that is always on and circulating the solution. I also throw in some air wands on a pump, but thats not a big deal. As long as its mixing it will work. Hook the pump up with a Y so that one branch is always mixing the tank and then the other branch can be a long hose for your watering wand. You don't re-use the drained water, just toss it on your backyard garden.
As the reservoir circulates, it starts the breakdown of the nutrients and the pH will rise. Like I said previously, with this system there is no need to check the pH ever - just keep the reservoir circulating and the mix has loads of buffering capacity. You only need to add liquid ferts every other or every third watering.
Mr. Soul, (Brothers Grimm), recommends the following mix:
1. My soil mix is (by volume) 50% worm castings, 25% Pro-Mix, and 25% perlite. Simple as that.
2. I feed with tea at EVERY watering of my plants & since they're flowered in 2-gallon containers - that\'s usually every day!
3. The teas I use are made by soaking a "tea bag" (got mine at Worm's Way) in a 5-gallon bucket of pH = 6.2 water. Agitate and manipulate the bag a LOT to release as much of the "goodies" as possible - the water looks like it came from a mud puddle when you've got it right. I do one thing I've never heard other growers mention doing - I measure the ppm of my tea.
Here are the contents of the tea bag, depending on growth stage:
Vegetative => 1/2 cup each of PSG & worm castings. I also add a 1/2 cup of Maxi-Crop liquid seaweed, plus two Tablespoons of Alaska fish emulsion to the water. (I shoot for a ppm = 1000)
Flowering (weeks 0-4)=> 1/2 cup each of PSG & High Phosphorus bat guano. I also add a 1/2 cup of Maxi-Crop to the water. (ppm 1250 - 1500 )
Flowering (weeks 4-7)=> 1/2 cup each High Phosphorus bat guano and worm castings. (shifting ppm from 1500 -> 1000)
During the final week of flowering, many folks choose to use plain, pH-adjusted water for "clearing" but I don't. I haven't noticed any difference between when I have & when I haven't "cleared". This seems reasonable when growing organically - why clear? Clear WHAT? They're living in the medium in which they've evolved for millions of years!
A few other hints:
SOAK the pots thoroughly when watering, then allow them to become "light" when lifted before watering again...the plants LOVE a short drying out period. The amount of time it takes for the plants to dry out is constantly getting SHORTER as they grow...be AWARE!
Water BY HAND! At least get an accurate feel for how much the average plant needs by hand-watering before setting up a drip system or whatever.
Transplant you clones into the container you plan to flower them in & veg them until their roots systems are FULLY established before flowering them - this will MINIMIZE stretching...check this out for yourself, it works!
Vic High (BCGA) suggests his Super Soil mix:
Original recipe:
1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix
2 L Bone Meal - phosphorus source
1L Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolomite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
1/2 - 1 bag chicken manure (steer, mushroom, etc) - nitrogen & trace elements
Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.
Revised recipe:
After several failures due to bad manure sources, I now use the following recipe. Results have been excellent and the clones seem to take off right away instead of having a slow growing settling in period.
1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix (3.8 cu ft)
8 cups Bone Meal - phosphorus source
4 cups Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolmite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
4 cups kelp meal.
9kg (25 lbs) bag pure worm castings
Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.
Substitutions - The original recipe was a success, but I simply needed to experiment. In addition, sometimes not all ingredients were always available. Therefore, here are some possible additions and/or substitutions.
Descriptions to follow:
Blood & Bone Meal - when trying to cut costs
Kelp Meal - contains over 62 trace minerals. Good supplement for manure or for reducing the manure content to speed up availability of soil.
Worm castings - excellent source of micro nutrients
Bat guano - excellent for top dressing a week into flowering
Seabird guano
Bugs
On a couple of occasions, I've ended up with fungus gnats with this soil mix. They are more of an irritation than anything but may harm weak or young plants. Some have said that putting a layer of sand on top of the soil in the pots stops the gnats from reproducing. Others can get rid of them by doing a soil drench with diazinon or malathion.
Personally, I prefer to simply introduce fungus gnat predators (Hypoaspis miles). Once established, they not only control fungus gnats, but also thrips and mites. When there is no insect food available, they survive on dead plant material, so remain even after pests are gone to prevent future infestations. Actually, since they have been introduced, I've had no pest problems in over a year and I don't filter my intake. I got mine from Westgro (1-800-663-2552) and they have sales offices in Delta, Victoria, and Kelowna.
I can’t find all of the ingredients mentioned, what should I do?
Improvise. The only essential ingredient appears to be worm castings. Note its use in every recipe. Castings are a great source of nitrogen and certain micro nutrients. ~shabang~ says his mix is really all castings, the perlite and vermiculite are added only for drainage. You ought to include worm castings in your soilless mix, if possible.
