Organic top dress

[caveman117]

Ya I use tomato tone on all my veggie beds. But I also add there garden manure and some bulb tone usually gets thrown in too.

 

[bbyb420]

Tomato tone w/ worm castings top dress will do the trick. It's all I use. Just add banana peels during flower. Keep it simple

Nice view!!!

 

[kilojay619]

I just top dressed my plant with silkworm frass (silkworm sh!t) I've read really good things about insect frass and have plenty of silkworms at the moment so ill keep you updated

 

[SG420]

I give real worm castings an A+ for topdressing during veg. Holy smokes, you'll see results immediately. Or maybe try a worm castings tea with alfalfa for watering rather than topdressing. I'm also trying out a new organic product called "Afterburner" made by Huls Dairy. http://www.hulsdairy.com/anaerobic_digester.htm

What's the difference between top dressing and teas I'm lost

 

[hillbill]

Top dressing is putting your amendments on the surface and work them in a bit. I then water with compost tea.

 

[bbyb420]

What's the difference between top dressing and teas I'm lost

Top dressing = Mix of various nutrients usually involving Compost/EWC/Kelp/Alfalfa meal mixed together and spread 1-2 inches over the soil.

Teas are made using a bubbler and again, involve the same ingredients in top dressings.

Top dressing are much richer in nutrients than a tea which is more for the microbes.

 

[SG420]

Top dressing = Mix of various nutrients usually involving Compost/EWC/Kelp/Alfalfa meal mixed together and spread 1-2 inches over the soil.

Teas are made using a bubbler and again, involve the same ingredients in top dressings.

Top dressing are much richer in nutrients than a tea which is more for the microbes.

Would it be wise to do both at the same time or is it not necessary

 

[bbyb420]

Would it be wise to do both at the same time or is it not necessary

I use a simple tea for after I apply a top dressing

in a 5 gal brewer with some space left for foaming

1 cup Fish compost
5 tbs molasses
1/3 cup EWC
And a dash of rock dust

Microbial activity in the tea helps to break down the organic material into plant usable nutrients so it goes really good with a topdressing.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Would it be wise to do both at the same time or is it not necessary

not a bad idea, assuming the tea is a simple AACT with no nutrients in it.
the topdress would be watered in with the microbe tea which would make the nutrients bioavailable quicker.
the same concept as mixing in the topdress with a worm castings, you want those microbes to help break it all down

 

[SG420]

I use a simple tea for after I apply a top dressing

in a 5 gal brewer with some space left for foaming

1 cup Fish compost
5 tbs molasses
1/3 cup EWC
And a dash of rock dust

Microbial activity in the tea helps to break down the organic material into plant usable nutrients so it goes really good with a topdressing.

Thanks man very helpful advice. How often do I apply topdressing and teas? Also do I apply them in the flowering stage as well?

 

[bbyb420]

Thanks man very helpful advice. How often do I apply topdressing and teas? Also do I apply them in the flowering stage as well?

You can apply basic teas as often as you want, when I first started doing them I did it every watering lol..but now I do it every other watering. I think the plants like getting the clean water inbetween.

I really only topdress once (right before flower) on a plant in a fresh "cooked" soil mix. If the soil mix isnt very nutrient rich or im vegging longer I do a topdress with EWC and fish compost as needed.

Be careful not to overdo it, its hard to burn growing organic but I find when u add a lot of stuff like bat guano or bone meal to your mix it tends to burn if you dont let it sit for atleast a month. Had a bad nutrient lockout from doing that last year.

 

[Lilwatt]

wow man, that's really cool to say
I always have enjoyed the simple organic-compost methods and since they work so damn magically I simply like to share my experience with it, I used to work my ASS off trying to do all sorts of stuff to manipulate the plants into bigger/better flowers, when after it was alllll said and done, and lots of time and money was invested on many, many different approaches, the most effective, and ironically the most satisfying was the simplest.
I mean how often is that the case?
More often than not, life rewards how MUCH time and effort you put into things, but with cannabis growing it's counterintuitive, after building the soil right, or should I say, allowing mother-nature to show you how it's done right, after that its so very simple.
I just wish I would have discovered it yrs, ago, hence my eagerness to tell people, I mean it's not like its MY discovery, homesteaders, hippies, and mother nature itself has been doing it for millenia

on a different note, you can keep your wormbin inside under your kitchen sink, don't water them, just give them the juices of the rotted/frozen then mashed fruit, and it'll never seep through the bottom, I use a 25 gallon smart pot, with at least an 8 inch layer of old spent soil at the bottom.
it'll never stink, and your worms will go nuts.
BUT I only feed mine rotted fruit, if you throw a lot of coffee grinds in there, they will attract flies and smell a teesny bit.
but my point was more for the fact that you can keep them inside with no problem

What is the best worms to get to start a worm bin with for the future

 

[greasemonkeymann]

What is the best worms to get to start a worm bin with for the future

I got a bunch from my brother, but I started a second bin with some from uncle jims
i also recommend putting a tarp out next time it's raining, and collect native earthworms too, i really like the way the tunnel up and down over and over, helps keep the soil aerated and full of worm shit.
contrary to what you may have read, they do just fine together

 

[greasemonkeymann]

You can apply basic teas as often as you want, when I first started doing them I did it every watering lol..but now I do it every other watering. I think the plants like getting the clean water inbetween.

I really only topdress once (right before flower) on a plant in a fresh "cooked" soil mix. If the soil mix isnt very nutrient rich or im vegging longer I do a topdress with EWC and fish compost as needed.

Be careful not to overdo it, its hard to burn growing organic but I find when u add a lot of stuff like bat guano or bone meal to your mix it tends to burn if you dont let it sit for atleast a month. Had a bad nutrient lockout from doing that last year.

very true, and knowing those particular nutrients it was probably an acidic condition goin on in there.
plus bone meal isn't even available to the plant unless it's gone through an acidic portion of cycling

 

[Lilwatt]

I got a bunch from my brother, but I started a second bin with some from uncle jims
i also recommend putting a tarp out next time it's raining, and collect native earthworms too, i really like the way the tunnel up and down over and over, helps keep the soil aerated and full of worm shit.
contrary to what you may have read, they do just fine together

On the east coast where im at night crawler an earth worms an red wigglersare at any bait an tackle shop around here so I never heard of uncle Jim's

 

[hillbill]

I like to bubble leaves from the forest floor that are a season or two old. This stuff is also full of fungi and just rich. 90% rock but that other 10% is killer. I have a bog garden and also bubble a handful of that "soil". Most of my watering also includes molasses which provides instant food for micro's. Also gives your K a good kick.

 

[Greenthumbs256]

This was a great thread!!!