ahhh, well, please don't take offense to this, but they sorta kinda scammed you a lil (maybe unintentionally) the amount of microbial life (and humus) in a quality fresh EWC will absolutely be a million times more effective than their humus. Forget that stuff, concentrate on a good compost or EWC and the rest is easy (relatively)
Ok. I would try watering with a little lighter hand. I use 7 gallon pots, which in theory should need to be watered more often than your larger containers and I do NOT water every day. A typical week will see 3 normal waterings, with maybe a light spritzing once or twice more during the week.
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I really don't like scheduled waterings, I've had problems with that in the past, I like to have a good inch or two layer of mulch on the surface of the soil (I actually use live redwood moss from the forest) I've found that cannabis loses the majority of it's water through soil transpiration, especially if you have a good fan or two in the room, so a mulch on the topsoil not only keeps the soil consistent, it also allows the roots to get as close to the surface as they can, and more roots is ALWAYS better.
This is so important. A thriving colony of microbes will keep things on course. They do the heavy lifting, so focus most of your time/money on getting the best possible quality compost you can come up with. Home made is best (and cheapest).
you can use it, it's not garbage, it's just not ideal. Or as effective as a good EWC or compost
Note taken. Less water. How often do you use teas? I am likening once everyone other week. Different source of compost for certain stages of life.
I'm about ideal, I want perfection in my gardens. Money will be lost to get that. It's something I've come to learn.
Lately I've been doing something other than plain water once a week. So 1 week I'll brew a compost tea, the next week I'll do an aloe/silica drench, then the following week maybe a fish hydrolysate (or sst, or alfalfa/kelp tea). I have no set watering schedule. I just base it off of how the plants are doing, what stage they're at, and how motivated I'm feeling.
That's gonna take some getting used to. Hydro lets me know exactly what I have to do when I have to do it... What are you using for your carb source in teas?Lately I've been doing something othplain water once a week. So 1 week I'll brew a compost tea, the next week I'll do an aloe/silica drench, then the following week maybe a fish hydrolysate (or sst, or alfalfa/kelp tea). I have no set watering schedule. I just base it off of how the plants are doing, what stage they're at, and how motivated I'm feeling.
always use simple un-sulfured black strap molasses, cheap and the best thing to use.
Breaking that synthetic schedule for watering is difficult. Surrender to the microbes!
remember with a really good soil, you don't need much as far as teas go, I personally use an AACT with simply molasses and worm castings. I don't change anything for the different stages of the plants growth. And really, if you do it right, you won't need an AACT every other week, your soil will be literally crawling with microbes after the first inoculation, perhaps even prior to that, as a good organic soil is high in microbes to start
it works well, and if I may add, I love to sprinkle a layer of mychorrizae on the surface prior to adding the moss, and by the time I harvest it's like a green toupee for the plant, and the roots have grown through the moss in a nice white fuzzy way
Good point here. I was using a ewc tea to inoculate clones. Then various other teas here and there. The only one I saw that has visible signs was a corn sst on day 14 of flower. Plants looked beyond happy for the next 3 days. Will prob keep it to only ewc and corn sst
For clones I like to water their container/soil with an AACT about a week prior to planting the clones, and I also like to sprinkle a lot of mychorrizae on the bare roots of the clones. Probably not needed as I usually have a super weak mix of 75% promix and 25% amended soil for my clones, but they always have some really thick fuzzy white roots, so it must be working
I do all that minus ewc the soil a week before. Might give that a try. I am making my own mychrizeaa, with ewc, small amount of mykos and oatmeal. Works great. It's grows like mycelium but has much more resistance against contaminants.
that's pretty cool, but how do you know if its the right type of mychorrizae? From what I've learned only a few types have been proven beneficial
I use the same brand name "mykos" for my mychrizeaa substrate. Since it start from the proper "strain" of mychrizeaa then end result will b the same "strain". I did loose one to green mold, but that's a whole different story... Fill a small Tupperware container with ewc. Put a cup of organic oatmeal per gallon of soil. Add one tablespoon mykos per gallon of soil. Close lid and keep in a warm dark place. In a week you will have a giant ball of mychrizeaa. I did a side by side with the homemade vs store bought and homemade won hands down. There was almost no transplant shock. Plant with homemade were more vigorous all the way through.
