Organics, just some stuff

[Guest Eikel]

Wrote this up at CelticStone originally. A member told me to move it here because he thought it was good info *shrug*.

 

Hi Guys, thought I might write up a quick tutorial/overview or primer on organics and organic growing... I've recently fallen in love with the results of organics on both MJ and normal garden and vegtable plants.

 

So ok, here we go.

 

"What is organics?"

Well, organics is essentially using processes that mother nature has already setup to grow your plants rather than simulating different environments with various mechanical and chemical systems as per typical hydroponics.

 

Organic growing isn't limited to "Soil" grows, you can apply organics to hydroponics, however alot of growers don't like to use organics as they believe it encourages diseases and insects in their grow-room.

 

I've looked into grow organic-hydro, however the limiting factor is cost, bioponic nutrients seem to always be expensive over the normal chemical-based hydro nute brands. When going Organic I like soil-mixes made up for my plants rather than trying a drip or flow system with organic hydro nutes.

 

"How do I grow my plants organically?"

Simplest way is to use an organic soil mix, many growers have done this on their first grows and gotten fantastic results. Organic and non organic chemicals can be used on soil mediums, however some of the better organic nutrients for MJ in soil are quite cheap - $9.95 for an 800ml bottle of MaxiCrop liquid seaweed fertaliser.

 

Organic Bloom Boosters are available on the market if you look in the right places, however most growers in soil (including myself) cheat and use a chemical fertaliser as a bloom bost, Manutec Bloom-Booster has a fantastic reputation in the soil-growing MJ community.

 

I've had great experience growing in alot of commercial potting-mixes, however my preferred soil is now Dynamic-Lifter organic potting-mix (thanks to Dsyfer for reccommending it to me). Canna CoCo is also a great mix, however it requires alot more feeding than a normal organic mix, CoCo doesn't really retain alot of organic nutrient compared to soils. Another soil amendment I also use is Perlite and or Vermiculite - now people sometmes think this is cheating however I rationalise it with the fact perlite and vermiculite are natural substances from volcanic activity - hence another "natrual" substance

 

 

Whew ok... I need a break, will add more on this later.

[Guest Eikel]

"Why should I grow organically? Or why should I switch from Hydro?"

 

Well, really it's a matter of personal choice, if you get good results with Hydro I reccommend sticking with it. But if you can afford to play around and give soil and organics under lights a try, I'd highly reccommend it.

 

I grow both in soil and in Hydro, from plants in Hydro I get a much quicker veg, however around the same amount of time taken to flower and roughly the same yield based on the plant size (Hydro usually bigger than soil due to quicker veg). Hydro I also find higher-maintenance than soil, checking ph-levels, ensuring right nutes/additives, making sure pumps/valves/pipes are working properly etc etc....

 

With Soil if I leave a plant alone for 3-5 days, it may wilt due to lack of water. I've seen many cases where hydro systems running electric pumps fail and plants die after 2-3 days of no water.

 

Soil plants also look nicer visually than hydro plants, less burn, less die-off in flower, more food available to the plant even during flush. It's said they also taste/smell nicer, but that has to be considered a personal opinion

[Guest Eikel]

Ok, so if you bothered to read the essays you'll see a few products and stuff I mentioned to grow in soil, but here's a low-down on how to setup a simple soil grow in a cupboard or small space and all your required items....

 

You need:

 

Grow-space.

- This can vary, some people have 1m x 1m x 1.5m areas, others have large 3m x 3m x 3m rooms. A typical cupboard is usually 1.5m x 0.8m x 1.8m, this guide assumes you're growing in something like that.

 

Lighting.

- Varies based on your grow area, for the afforspace mentioned area, a 600w HPS light would be sufficient for flower. If heat is an issue (see ventilation ahead), a 400w light (either HPS or MH), may be a better choice, however you may lose the edges of the area to insufficient light-intensity covering that area.

 

Ventilation.

- Also varies based in your grow area, for a fan for the growspace we mentioned a 150mm in-duct or preferrably centrifugal fan would easily control heat from a 600wHPS light in temps from 15-30c.

- It's also good to run a fan INSIDE the grow-area to keep air circulating internally, a standard pedastal-style oscilating fan works great for this purpose.

 

 

Need another break.... more later...

[Guest Eikel]

Righty-oh then, back into the frey (coffee and few cones between each break really charges me up ).

 

Allright, so now we have our area, ventilation and lighting ready, the next thing to worry about is the plants themselves, obtaining seeds/clones is realtively easy for old-pros to the growing-scene, but newbies are at a disadvantage, due to the general illegality of MJ in most countries.

 

A couple places that have been known to get deliveries into Australia at a reasonable ratio (that is to say, not EVERYONE gets the seeds they paid for, sometimes customs snags a pack or 2) are...

 

http://www.xpatseeds.com/

 

http://www.planetskunk.com/

 

Anyway... so you need to get some seeds and or clones to grow, I'll leave the rest up to you, you're already here so that's a start, but getting the goods is a risky business depending on your location in the world.

[Guest Eikel]

Allright, so I'm assuming you have seeds or clones in addition to the grow-area setup, I forgot to mention you should either paint the interior of your grow-cupboard/box/space/room with an oil-based flat-white paint (oil to prevent fungus etc growing). Either paint it or cover it all with panda-film (can be bought from some hydro stores).

 

Now, what you wanna grow in will depend on your committment to organics heh. I typically settle for organic medium and veg/normal nutes, and a chemical flower-booster (until I find a suitable cheap organic flowering fert).

 

My usuals are (along with prices and where I buy 'em from):

 

- Dynamic Lifter Potting Mix, $6/30ltrs from bunnings.

- Perlite, $30 for a 100ltr bag from hydro shops, or $5/5ltr bag from bunnings.

- Yates Trace-Elements mix, $9.95 for a 500gm pack from the local nursery.

- Pre-bagged compost or composted manure, $7.95/25ltr bag from the local nursery.

- Expanded Clay (Clayballs), or Lava-rocks, Clayballs are $25 for a 50ltr bag at the hydro store.

- Maxicrop Seaweed Fert, $9.95 for a 800ml bottle from the local nursery.

- Seasol seaweed growth-booster, $5 for a 500ml bottle from the local nursery.

- Manutec Bloom Booster, $4.95 for a 500gm pack from the local nursery.

 

Depending on what I'm growing in my soil mix and if it's indoor or outdoor I might also get some pea-straw and Dynamic-Lifter slow-release organic pellets... however indoors you want to minimize insects and smell so your mixes sometimes may vary.

 

Other products I've tried with MJ under lights and outdoors are:

- Yates "Thrive" Potting-Mix.

- Osmocote Potting-Mix.

- "Premium Quality" Potting-Mix. (no-name brand, but had the red ticks for quality).

- Phostrogen plant-food.

- Vermiculite (used it in some mixes, doesn't make much of a difference in my opinion).

- Yates Seed-Raising mix. (good stuff for germinating MJ and most other plants in).

- Regular Potting-Mix. (no organic or chemical ferts added, needs compost or other soil amendments before use).

 

Tips for potting-mixes.

 

1. MJ likes acidic mixes, so anything for azaelas or other acidic-loving plants can be used.

2. Potting-mix with good bark components will typically be acidic.

3. Sulphuric ash can be purchased from bunnings and most nurseries to increase acidity of soils.

4. Composted Cow manure normally LOWERS acidity (increases alkalinity).

[Guest Eikel]

Ok, when putting our plants/seeds into our pots, If less than a 15ltr pot I normally use just a perlite/soil mix from whatever soil-mix I've made up this time around.

 

(Last batch of plants was a soil mix made up of 30ltrs of DL potting-mix, to 15ltrs of perlite, and 1 teaspoon of trace-mix).

 

If using a pot 15ltrs or bigger I add a layer of clayballs at the bottom of the pot normally one or two inches thick to allow for better drainage and prevent the soil from going "muddy" if the spill trays stay full for long periods.

 

Assuming you're starting from seed, you will want to put the seeds in your pots (can either pot-up from smaller to bigger pots during the grow, or plant straight into the pots they will finish in), water them well, and put them under an 18/6 light-cycle. Seeds do not need feeding until week 4 of veg when their root mass has begun to found the boundaries of the pots. Seeds also typically need at least 6, preferrably 8 weeks of vegatitave growth before switching to flower.

 

If starting from a rooted-clone it's much faster to grow them, simply plant your clone in the pot (including the cube without plastic wrap on a rockwool clone), and water in well with some seasol or maxicrop solution. Clones will veg fast after they establish their root-mass in the pot, your time for vegging clones will depend on how big you want them to be once they flower, due to the fact they're already mature plants and have shown sex already.

[Guest Eikel]

Feeding in soil....

 

A big mistake alot of hydro growers make when using soil is to feed to often and too strong a fert. In soil, especially new soil or soil with amendmends such as compost or chemical ferts, the plants have plenty to eat and only really need water. Occasional seasol (once/week or fortnight) in these mixes will ensure vigorous growth with your plants.

 

Plants that have grown big in their pots normally need a bit extra to ensure optiumu growth, I give my girls maxicrop once to three times a week depdending on their needs in stages of growth.

 

In flower I reccommend continuing occasional feeds of maxicrop or phostrogen or another fert with similar NPK ratios to 9:6:7. Manutec bloom booster should be applied no more than once per 7 days - I've burnt plants by trying to increase this frequency many times.

 

Pest Control.

 

Pest control in your grow-box is best done by prevention rather than curative action. Here are my tips:

 

- Stockings or fly-screens on all intakes and exhausts of your growspace.

- Napethelene Moth-ball sticks hung in the grow-area.

- Sticky-Fly traps hung in the grow area.

 

These are youre general "preventative" measures.

 

If you DO happen to get an insect or mite infection I reccommend:

- Mite-Rid.

- DM Guardian.

- Pyrethrum + Garlic spray.

- Garlic/Chilli or Nicotine sprays.

- Yates Root-Rid (can't remember the exact name, their root-zone product for insects).

 

 

In summation.

 

There we go, I think that's a good start for the wannabe indoor or outdoor soil-grower. I should also add the outdoor season in Australia is typically Mid September to Early May.

 

Anyway there's plenty more topics I could've covered such as LST and topping/fimming, but these are not strict to the "organics" discipline heh, and I've already covered MUCH more than needed to be said about organic growing.

[Guest Eikel]

Ok, cheapest liquid fert (by volume) you can get.... here's how to make it.

 

You need:

1 x 200ltr Barrel or Container with lid.

1 x Stick to stir (a tomato-stake is quite convenient).

- Water (enough to fill your container along with your ingredients)

1 x 20ltr Bag of Cow Manure (un/processed cow-manure easy to get from bunnings or any agricultural area).

1 x 20ltr Bag of Mushroom Compost (easy to get from bunning also).

1 x 2ltr bag of Blood and Bone.

- Approximately 20ltrs of pea-straw (Also available from bunnings, but comes in a large bale typically).

1 x 1ltr bottle of Seasol (bunnings, nurseries, hell it's everywhere).

 

To make:

1. Put "dry" ingredients into your container.

2. Pour seasol into container.

2.5. (optional) - Piss in container.

3. Fill container up with water, leave a small gap to prevent spillage.

4. "Stir" mixture in the water, attempting to ensure as much of the mixture is broken up and exposed to as much of the water as possible.

5. Put lid onto container.

6. Leave container for 21 days, stirring once every 7 days. After the 21st day the mixture is ready.

 

To use:

With MJ the tea is good at a ratio of 1 part tea to 4 parts water. With other plants you may need to lower ratios to prevent burn.

 

Tea has the ratio of NPK roughly ~ 10:9:5, increase potassium by adding more Seasol or rotted kelp-compost if you can obtain it.

[Guest Eikel]

Average Manure NPK ratios....

(From the book "The Organic Greenhouse and Conservatory"):

 

Goat Manure - 2:2:2

Horse Manure - 1:1:1

Pig Manure (has to be used rotted) - 1:1:1

Pigeon Manure - 2:2:2

Poultry Manure - 2:3:3

Rabbit Droppings - 1:2:1

[mull]

Great work there Eikel :thumbsup

 

Love the sound of that tea you make! I see it's made with anaerobic bugs. Have you tried it with an airstone in the bin for 21 days? For aerobic bugs? Might be worth a try?

 

Another one I'm using now, coz I'm lucky enough to have it, is worm piss (mainly vegetable leachate). Seem to be working well.

 

Have you tried mollasses for conditioning the soil? I'm trying it this crop (only a t-spoon per 20ltr) for the first time right thro flower. It seems ok with nitrosol.

 

Thanks for the 'heads up' on manutec, I'll track some of that down.

 

Go organics