Ok, been a long time and long ways since the old Vamp blend was used our first year,
nevermind the Rasta blend, and Ocean Farmah blend, and now that we be working on the all new Rocky Mountain Blend, its time to officially release the recipe from 2016
The Dons'
5-way Living-blend;
- 1 part HQ Coir and or Peat (ie. high quality- no compressed bricks, inspected for bad bugs, & very well rinsed)
- 1 part 'fresh veggie fed' worm castings (gluten, cardboard, paper, meat & dairy free, low fruit) optional for non vegetarian recipes: feed 25% (of volume) vegan-rabbit manure or other premium manure to worms
- 1 part humus / aged compost (in the past when in a rush we just used screened Vigoro if far from forest / rotted wood but now I would try avoid it, at least screen for any chunks, they're getting lazier I think)
- 1 part aeration 1 (we like pumice best)
- 1 part 2nd aeration (such as an N charged mix of bio char / organic buckwheat/rice hulls, if no leaf mould etc is avail)
Mineral Mix:
add 4 cups per Cu Ft, minimum
Example blend, equal parts
- Glacial Rock Dusts (we have / are currently testing 3 main kinds / colours, may be very useful depending on strain & application, ex: whether trying to grow for high CBD or THC or nutrients)
- Basalt
- Gypsum
Meal Mix:
add 1 to 2 cups per cu ft, min,
- 1/2 cup Kelp Meal (Minumum, & up to 1 to 2% kelp meal of total volume so 2 cups plus, with great effects on potency and speed, example pics to follow)
- 1/2 cup Neem Meal (Ahimsa Organic from India, I've tried more as well but this is safe start)
- 1/4 cup Crab Shell Meal (Finer the better, in terms of chunk size)
Pre-use Topdress:
with fungal food mix and grow some mycelium beforehand, such as organic oats, ground into flour strained through a sifter, finer the powder the better. Or another option is grokashi etc.
Notes continued:
- Use what you have to start, and start now, can apply more later on the go, scratch into surface etc, I would use whats available, add the others after, just stay above 4 cups and 1 cup though for minerals and meals though, respectively
- If you don't add gypsum be sure to gently foliar epsom on twice in early flower, 1/8 tsp per gallon does more than you think, both for terps, as well as vitamin production and mineral absorption, and wont cause burn
- Testing some recipes much higher than this 4 cups per cf for minerals but this is the generally accepted standard at the moment
- There are some other good / paramagnetic minerals, like granite and moonstone, and many more but these are the basics and very useful for basic expression, brix, density, as well as minerals, & therefore potency
- We also like greensand and its profile but we like to use our soil for years, note its not available for 2 years or so but is there after, we don't see anything wrong with using it & thinking long term/ shooting for 25+ cycles of use or more
- For alfafa, I now omit it, but wouldn't be opposed to using alfalfa seed teas in the first two wks of fruit setting if stretching is an issue.
- I also like fresh young coconut water, and real aloe, but good brands with one ingredient are also good, just go easy, less is more, and is repeatable, a burn isn't the most reversible.
