Organic Newb Questions....Help Needed!!!

Hi Everyone,
I am getting my most recent grow starting and I am thinking about going organic. From all my experience smoking and reading about organic buds it is deff the way to go. HOWEVER, as much as I search I am still woefully confused about how to go about it. I have a bunch of seedlings starting now and I am hoping to run this batch, or at least have of them in an Organic method.
I am lucky to have very close access thru a friend to some great organic compost for almost free...
http://www.gardeners.com/Intervale-Organic-Compost/FlowerGardening_FertilizersSoil,02-265,default,cp.html

I am just not sure how to use it for growing our favorite herb.
Do I mix it in with my normal soilless mix, Also from the same place?

Also, then how much feeding do the plants get once they are growing the compost mix?

Compost teas? How does one go about picking the one to make, relative to the soil? and If you use compsot in the soil how do they get fed?

Sorry I am so lost here but I just can't figure it out, no matter how much I read and search. If someone could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Aslo, feel free to have me clarify. I am growing in a grow tent with a 400 watt HPS.

Find threads started by Ohsogreen and Subcool, settle in for a bunch of informative reading and that should answer about 99% of your questions.

Wet

phillygrower said:

Hi Everyone,
I am getting my most recent grow starting and I am thinking about going organic. From all my experience smoking and reading about organic buds it is deff the way to go. HOWEVER, as much as I search I am still woefully confused about how to go about it. I have a bunch of seedlings starting now and I am hoping to run this batch, or at least have of them in an Organic method.
I am lucky to have very close access thru a friend to some great organic compost for almost free...
http://www.gardeners.com/Intervale-Organic-Compost/FlowerGardening_FertilizersSoil,02-265,default,cp.html

I am just not sure how to use it for growing our favorite herb.
Do I mix it in with my normal soilless mix, Also from the same place?

Also, then how much feeding do the plants get once they are growing the compost mix?

Compost teas? How does one go about picking the one to make, relative to the soil? and If you use compsot in the soil how do they get fed?

Sorry I am so lost here but I just can't figure it out, no matter how much I read and search. If someone could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Aslo, feel free to have me clarify. I am growing in a grow tent with a 400 watt HPS.

Click to expand...

Using organic stuff is just like using synthetic stuff in that we're all trying to pay attention to N,P, and K. Do you know the N,P,K values of the compost that you have access to?

Mix it in with whatever mix you want. Get it wet and turn it every couple days for a couple weeks.* Additives in your mix (pro-mix, or something similar?) will allow you to water with just dechlorinated water, a tea, or an organic additive. This depends on plant's hunger for nutrients, and whats in the mix.

Many people make tea from worm castings as it contains humus, nutrients such as iron, and a nice amount of nitrogen (N). Other teas are made from guano or possibly bone/blood meal, or compost. High N guano/compost teats for veg, and P for flowering, the same as using synthetic nutrients but you're using shit.

You could possibly just skip the teas. There are organic products made by small and large companies. I happen to like Miracle Grow's organic fertilizer (brown jug of liquid 8-0-0), because it's made out of sugar beats. Fish emulsions are popular because they are cheap, organic (fish heads), and come in both a high N formula for veg, and a higher PK formula for flowering.

Also as to how the plants get fed: You're putting in organic fertilizers that should be broken down further by bacteria/fungi in the mix. The nutrients that don't need to be broken up, and the helpful products of the micro-life are taken up by the roots.

*especially important if you're working with a lot of mix.

Fight on my brother. May independence from the blue/green chemical soup be upon you.

So I use a fish emulsion with my water, its rated at 5-1-1. I use that for veg. I am thinking of adding Rhino Skin during the veg cycle. Any pro's and con's?

For soil I use Happy Frog potting mix. It has micro organisims, humic acid and some other stuff. My plants are flourishing. I too want to go the ORGANIC route and am.

My grow post is under Organics, titled My Shizzi.

The ingredients say it uses grass clippings and horse manure, and food scraps from the local schools. The key ingredient in the mix is the horse manure. If you read the post about the cockatoo guano, I mentioned that it had a lot of urea which raise the nitrogen levels. Because of that it has to be composted, otherwise it's fine. This is also true with horses . While note quiet as hot as paltry, it's still considered hot. However, these people did the work for you and composted everything together, then bagged it up. As a result, the soil should work fine and have plenty of nutrients to last well into the latter stages of vegging.

My only concern is that it might still be to hot for seedlings. You might be able to tell by reading the bag, or you might just have to try it out on some bag seed and see how it goes. As for the "tea," I would just get some worm castings and make a tea or if this soil is a little strong, you can make it into a tea by mixing it with warm water and letting it sit for a day.

Fish emulsions stinks and its a little expensive. It's also not very eco-friendly. The whole fishing industry is raping our oceans. That's assuming their using fresh fish, not the mutant sterile ones that they bread in large containers. Worms the least likely to burn your plant, provide everything you need, and using it couldn't be more goof proof. Its also cheap and can be found at wal-mart, target, or home depot.

What your really after is award winning plants right? If so, spend all your money on good seeds. That's where you'll see results. The next part after that is lighting... and if your smart (and got your Rx card), plant outside. Raised garden beds are easy (no digging!) and you can throw some other plants in there to help your learn a little more --- and also to help maintain your privacy.

Vindicated said:

Fish emulsions stinks and its a little expensive. It's also not very eco-friendly. The whole fishing industry is raping our oceans. That's assuming their using fresh fish, not the mutant sterile ones that they bread in large containers. Worms the least likely to burn your plant, provide everything you need, and using it couldn't be more goof proof. Its also cheap and can be found at wal-mart, target, or home depot.

Click to expand...

Yes the fish emulsion stinks but at the same time a quart is like 10 bucks, if that, I dont even pay attention....but the fish emulsion works.....I have tried blood meal as well, but that was causing nute burn....

As far as eco-friendly, I cannot argue with that. Yes the fishing industry is raping our Ocean's....but at the same time....I would rather buy and use than let those sorry fish go to waste....at least we are putting them back into the earth...

phillygrower said:

Hi Everyone,
I am getting my most recent grow starting and I am thinking about going organic. From all my experience smoking and reading about organic buds it is deff the way to go. HOWEVER, as much as I search I am still woefully confused about how to go about it. I have a bunch of seedlings starting now and I am hoping to run this batch, or at least have of them in an Organic method.
I am lucky to have very close access thru a friend to some great organic compost for almost free...
http://www.gardeners.com/Intervale-Organic-Compost/FlowerGardening_FertilizersSoil,02-265,default,cp.html

I am just not sure how to use it for growing our favorite herb.
Do I mix it in with my normal soilless mix, Also from the same place?

Also, then how much feeding do the plants get once they are growing the compost mix?

Compost teas? How does one go about picking the one to make, relative to the soil? and If you use compsot in the soil how do they get fed?

Sorry I am so lost here but I just can't figure it out, no matter how much I read and search. If someone could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Aslo, feel free to have me clarify. I am growing in a grow tent with a 400 watt HPS.

Click to expand...

hi all,
this is my own mix for outdoor, prob isn't the best, but works great for veg (find my choices in brackets).

Any pot contains:
-Good Organic soil (Plagron - Royalty Mix) 35%
-Bag of coco (any brands but certified) 35%
-Bag of worm castings (Plagron - Wormcastings) 10%
-Bat guano (Guanokalong - Powder) handful
-Perlite (any brands) 15%
-Clay pebbles (any brands) 5%
using water up 6th week from seed.

Isn't enough, I know... well, my own formula contains:
-Rooting (GHE - Bio Root)
-Root (Canna - Trichoderma powder complex)
-Grow (used only for deficiencies)+Bloom (Guanokalong A+B)
-Fulvic and Humic acids (GHE - Diamond Nectar) with Leonardite
-Plant Stimaulator (Advanced Nut. - Organic Wet Batty) very nice!
-Immunity Stimulator (GHE - Bio Protect)
-Bloom Activator (GHE - Bio Bloom)
-Revitalizing (Plagron - Phyt-Amin)
-Bloom Enhance (Advance Nut. - Emerald Shaman & Colossal Budblast) + (Aptus - Top Booster)
-Flavour (Advance Nut. - Sweet Leaf)
the baske t is full......
Using only water for the last 10/15 days, and nothing, really nothing from the last water flush to the (really) last 5/7 days until harvest time arrive ))))))))))))

I use the half dosage, especially when use foliar sprays.
The nature do the rest.
With organic nutes you have the real flavour of your plant, and you can also see some pheno differences between different plants of the same strain.

Prob is the same for indoors with HPS/HID lamps.

I use the same products for my Formula also when growing indoors in hydro system, only 1 change:
-Grow+Bloom (GHE - Floranova A+B)


Cheers!

b0ni said:

With organic nutes you have the real flavour of your plant, and you can also see some pheno differences between different plants of the same strain.

Prob is the same for indoors with HPS/HID lamps.

Click to expand...

Great, thats what I am looking for flavor and potency.

I can definitely tell you that with the organic nutes I use I do see pheno differences between same strain different plants. It's kinda cool.