First organic grow, couple questions.

Hi.

so, first organic grow using a bag of recipe 420 soil I was gifted.

I have this also, only




Should that be all I need, start to finish? Emphases on need, I would prefer to keep it as simple as possible

Would you use starter recommendations when putting planting seedling in solo cup?

use suggested feed schedules at full strength?

mix ferts into soil or water in?

im using small pots, will anything need to be adjusted for that. Half gallon size

Think That’s all for now.

thanks

Hey welcome to organics my friend
I’ve never used either of the above, but give them a go - tough to say how the girls will perform, there will probably be something that is needed that isn’t already in the soil and that amendment.

Organic dry amendments are cheap - I’d run in the soil you have but scrap that exotic blend - I’d pick up a veg and a bloom top dress, a tub of rock dust and extra aeration (perlite, pumice, rice hulls) as most bagged stuff seems to need a bit more drainage IMO. If I were buying one more thing on top of that I’d probably get some kelp, just great stuff.

My best advice is to just read a ton - read the stickied threads here, especially the first hundred or so page of the ROLS one at the top.

Hit me up if you have questions, good luck and don’t get discouraged

lakesidegrower said:

Hey welcome to organics my friend
I’ve never used either of the above, but give them a go - tough to say how the girls will perform, there will probably be something that is needed that isn’t already in the soil and that amendment.

Organic dry amendments are cheap - I’d run in the soil you have but scrap that exotic blend - I’d pick up a veg and a bloom top dress, a tub of rock dust and extra aeration (perlite, pumice, rice hulls) as most bagged stuff seems to need a bit more drainage IMO. If I were buying one more thing on top of that I’d probably get some kelp, just great stuff.

My best advice is to just read a ton - read the stickied threads here, especially the first hundred or so page of the ROLS one at the top.

Hit me up if you have questions, good luck and don’t get discouraged

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sounds good and thanks for your time. I went with the exotic because it was the closest to 2-1-2 from this company and the nasa weed grower says 2-1-2 is the way to go.

Still got the tail end of a bottle of kelp I use on veg garden so glad to hear. In the ground here stuff grows pretty well with just adding the kelp plus fish from e b Stone I believe

I do have some vermiculite I can add to the soil. But maybe just 25% at most. This soil is really nice seeming out of the bag

then I just recall another question. Should I water with no run off and no need to ph? My tap is 8ph or so I believe.

And how long approximately will the plants get food from soil and not need feedings? Whole time in solo cup?


thanks again!

OneMoreRip said:

sounds good and thanks for your time. I went with the exotic because it was the closest to 2-1-2 from this company and the nasa weed grower says 2-1-2 is the way to go.

Still got the tail end of a bottle of kelp I use on veg garden so glad to hear. In the ground here stuff grows pretty well with just adding the kelp plus fish from e b Stone I believe

I do have some vermiculite I can add to the soil. But maybe just 25% at most. This soil is really nice seeming out of the bag

then I just recall another question. Should I water with no run off and no need to ph? My tap is I 8 or so o believe.

mans how long approximately will the plants get food from soil and not need feedings? Whole time in solo cup?

thanks again!

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Right on, well there’s no hurt in using it and seeing how it does - taking a closer look at the ingredients, there’s nothing in there that would be a problem, you just might find the odd deficiency during the run and need to supplement, but that’s not the end of the world

Don’t use vermiculite (retains water like a wet sponge) - you need perlite which will give you the added aeration that cannabis likes.

Ideally you water with no run off, and no you don’t need to sweat the pH. Most will tell you there should be no need to pH your water, and in a perfect set up the soil will naturally pH it’s environment. I have had issues with pH in new soil mix, so I like to at least know what the pH is of what I am putting in and I do admit that I will use a super small amount of citric acid to bring down the ph to under 7 when I need to. I just tend to have a fair number of separate inputs that I mix into each watering so I like to know where I stand.

Is your tap water municipal? Or well? 8 is high.. I’d want that lower before I water with it. If you have hard water with lots of mineral content it might be tricky to drop the pH because the minerals act like buffers to stabilize the pH.

I don’t like to keep em in solos for long - if the roots have circled the bottom you left em too long. I fill my solos with a lightly amended soil and then only top dress if I absolutely have to. But scratch that, if those smaller plants need a boost I’ll give em a little bit of fish hydrolysate or FAA (fish amino acids) to perk them up, but I do always water in myco while they are in solos

It is city water, I do have some Dolomites lime I can add to the bit that they put in the soil already.

I will go make a tester pot and run some water through and check the run off ph before I get plants going.

I also have some peat moss I can add if needed to lower ph, and gypsum which can help raise it if I recall correctly. Already some in the soil mix too.

I guess I could put in a little effort and get a ~perfect ph at run off but also should consider the compounding effect of multiple waterings.

All I have is vermiculite it is extra coarse though, another nasa recommendation. He say holds nutes and water well and heavy in silica, and some scientific stuff.

I use a mix of citric acid and vitamin c for ph down. Seems to work and hold pretty well

thank you

Amazon sent me this instead. 4-4-6



called them and complained (not a fan of their item switching over there), got it for free.

really wanted a 2-1-2 so may just use this in the garden in spring.

if anyone could suggest a good, easy to use 2-1-2 organic fert I am open for suggestions.

Or I could just add some n to this or use it as is

gonna have to sleep on it

OneMoreRip said:

Amazon sent me this instead. 4-4-6

View attachment 5012417

called them and complained (not a fan of their item switching over there), got it for free.

really wanted a 2-1-2 so may just use this in the garden in spring.

if anyone could suggest a good, easy to use 2-1-2 organic fert I am open for suggestions.

Or I could just add some n to this

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I'd send it back and make them give you what you ordered.

PadawanWarrior said:

I'd send it back and make them give you what you ordered.

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I got my money back and get to keep the 2 bags of wrong stuff

I think I’m just gonna get some bat guano to up the N a little bit

OneMoreRip said:

I got my money back and get to keep the 2 bags of wrong stuff

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Well that works. The ingredients look fine. All stuff I use. Except I only add one type of mycorrhizae (Mykos brand). I also only add certain bacteria, so I don't buy stuff that already has that added for my indoor stuff. It's just what I'm trying. I want to get some Dr. Earth for our outdoor garden though.

And I'm not dissing it. Lots of people use it for their weed and it seems to do a great job. It's just not what I'm using now. I have all separate amendments that I've been experimenting with.

It is a little high in K though, so I'd get something with more N too.

PadawanWarrior said:

It is a little high in K though, so I'd get something with more N too.

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I just edited my previous post to say I may just use this and add bat guano to it to up the N

one of my concerns is that I will be using smaller pots and I haven’t seen much of that in organics and sometimes people suggested to get bigger pots .

Not sure if feeding adjustments are needed or what.

I will have other plants on salt based that should be doing good, so, this will not be a big deal if any issues.

I just want to grow organic every time and then I forget and start off in the wrong direction.

old bitch memory of a fish

OneMoreRip said:

I just edited my previous post to say I may just use this and add bat guano to it to up the N

one of my concerns is that I will be using smaller pots and I haven’t seen much of that in organics and sometimes people suggested to get bigger pots .

Not sure if feeding adjustments are needed or what.

I will have other plants on salt based that should be doing good, so, this will not be a big deal if any issues.

I just want to grow organic every time and then I forget and start off in the wrong direction.

old bitch memory of a fish

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The guano sounds like a great idea. Is it the 7-3-1? That would be perfect probably. I use that too.

How small of pots? It can be done in smaller pots, but it's tougher. We want to keep the soil moist if possible to keep the microbes alive. I use 15 gal, but start my clones in 1/2 gal pots of my soil. I do have a 3 gal with 2 plants in it now. I just popped a couple cutting in it and they both rooted, so I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with those girls yet. I might transplant them into a 15 and flower them or leave them in the 3 and flower or just chop one of them so they're not competing. Or I might be too lazy to do anything, lol.

And think about reusing your soil.

I pre-amend my soil with the 4-6-3 + kelp meal then before flower I top dress the 3-9-4 and some more kelp meal.

haven’t looked at any guanos yet but the one you said sounds good and just something to get me as close to 2-1-2 as I can, because apparently that is what my mind is set on lol

My pots are 1 gallon but I’m going to set them up on auto wick (bottom), watering using auto pot bases and string/rope (reminded me I should look for fatter rope to test when getting guano).

( Sorry the buckets look so dirty just brought in from outside, it’s tree sap will take a few cleanings). Still setting everything up, currently salt based. Going to have a salt based and organic (water only), separate res and feeder pot. Hopefully this will keep my soil moist always.

I have a grow journal too so that’s enough detail and still figuring it out.

few days ago before I lifted the autopots, But to see set up better. Ph pen was poorly calibrated, sorry for bad plants. Most are growing we’ll again, considering

Apparently alfalfa pellets have an average npk of 2-1-2 and have micros too. also can be very cheap if you stay away from glorified brands (usually gardening or small pets). Still looking for which I will buy, I think a horse feed variety.

gonna try a few plants with the 420 soil/vermiculite and alfalfa pellets only.

might try another with dirt and rocks from my yard and alfalfa only as well just for kicks. Seems like really bad dirt but I just put seaweed and the veggies love it.

Lenin1917 said:

I pre-amend my soil with the 4-6-3 + kelp meal then before flower I top dress the 3-9-4 and some more kelp meal.View attachment 5012427

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I do the exact same thing, love Dr Earth. Not sure where you're getting the ammendments, but I just picked up a 12 lb bag of Homegrown from Home Depot for $25.

Got a few feed stores near me so just gonna get some organic alfalfa pellets at one of them

You can get organic alfalfa pellets for 50 cents a pound and even a lot cheaper than that.

The stuff is basically free, compared to standard garden ferts (including alfalfa for gardening), and when buying online ~most the cost for it is shipping.

horses eat this and look at them, badass

Gonna search rui and see if anyone runs only alfalfa in their grow, will edit this post if I find anything.

Anyone know of anyone using this ~exclusively (nasa guy doesn’t care organic so he uses Jack’s 2-1-2).

alfalfa ~free and organic 2-1-2 with micros

Why alfalfa? I mean if your looking for cheap organic nitrogen/mulch just grow clover on your pot and mulch it. A 1 lb bag of clover seed is like 15 bucks. I buy a bag every couple of years for my 4x4 beds. Mulch in my left overs from bubble hash/harvest. Clover is living mulch. Mulch is food for the soil food web. It breaks down, the fungi/bacteria start to break it down, nematodes consume it and poo, plants use the poo. Its a self sustaining system. Just grow clover.

m4s73r said:

Why alfalfa? I mean if your looking for cheap organic nitrogen/mulch just grow clover on your pot and mulch it. A 1 lb bag of clover seed is like 15 bucks. I buy a bag every couple of years for my 4x4 beds. Mulch in my left overs from bubble hash/harvest. Clover is living mulch. Mulch is food for the soil food web. It breaks down, the fungi/bacteria start to break it down, nematodes consume it and poo, plants use the poo. Its a self sustaining system. Just grow clover.

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Really like panting a clover cover crop as well

lakesidegrower said:

Really like panting a clover cover crop as well

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You guys finally got me to do it.

I'm starting some wicking beds, and I love how the part of my lawn with clover is green and never needs fertilizer! So today I bought a 5# bag of Red Clover on Amazon for $25. Won't show up until near Halloween, but I should still have time before transplant!

Thanks!