Organic way to quickly fix deficiencies in super soil

M

mortyb

Member
I'm seeing some phosphorous deficiencies in my soil, and I'm wondering what's the organic approach to fixing this? I know I can water in or top dress some amendments, but it would take a long time before that material is broken down & available.

I've thought about making an AACT with some high phosphorous bat guano in there, but I've mainly used AACT to boost the microbial life in my soil & not to feed my plant nutrients.
 
smokin away

smokin away

Well-Known Member
Not sure if this is organic. Works real nice and substituted for molasses. Get pH just right add amount listed and water sparingly.
Technaflora Sugar Daddy
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Soluble nutrients will go to work the fastest. Nothing that says Technaflora on it is safe for living soil. Matter of fact IMO TF might be the worst nutrient line in existence; always gave my bud a horrid flavor. It is not easy to correct a deficiency without soluble npk. The idea is to put all of what they need in the mix before there are plants so all you do is water them but that’s not always simple either. That being said....
Liquid fish is good; I like to use Neptune’s Harvest w/seaweed. You could also try to top dress with ewc and fish bone meal, maybe some kelp as well. Thing is with dry amendments it will take a couple weeks to make a difference.
When you build your pots next time; especially for a final bloom phase consider adding in a handful or two of slow release fertilizer like chicken or cow manure. Organic spikes are also good for long term feeding. I push in 2 Jobes AP organic spikes in each final bloom pot. They are made of mostly feather and bone meal w/added mycorrhizae. Easy and fairly cheap but you also need an active mix for any dry amendments to work.
 
M

mortyb

Member
Richard Drysift said:
Soluble nutrients will go to work the fastest. Nothing that says Technaflora on it is safe for living soil. Matter of fact IMO TF might be the worst nutrient line in existence; always gave my bud a horrid flavor. It is not easy to correct a deficiency without soluble npk. The idea is to put all of what they need in the mix before there are plants so all you do is water them but that’s not always simple either. That being said....
Liquid fish is good; I like to use Neptune’s Harvest w/seaweed. You could also try to top dress with ewc and fish bone meal, maybe some kelp as well. Thing is with dry amendments it will take a couple weeks to make a difference.
When you build your pots next time; especially for a final bloom phase consider adding in a handful or two of slow release fertilizer like chicken or cow manure. Organic spikes are also good for long term feeding. I push in 2 Jobes AP organic spikes in each final bloom pot. They are made of mostly feather and bone meal w/added mycorrhizae. Easy and fairly cheap but you also need an active mix for any dry amendments to work.
Click to expand...
Nice! How long does it take for the Liquid fish to be available (assuming my soil microbes are active & healthy)?
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
It is a soluble form of npk so should be absorbed fairly quickly. Organic liquids are not quite like synth nutrients though. They go to work slowly so it will take a few feedings to notice a difference; will probably have to give it weekly until ripening phase. Works best in conjunction with a top dress. Keep in mind a few yellow fans mid to late in flower is normal. Don’t try to “fix” them just keep them happy and green; at some point you just gotta let it ride.
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
You could also try wheat bran, it's NPK is 2.9 - 2.65 - 1.6 whatever you do organic if you need it faster put it in a blender and slurry it so it's surface area is ready for your microbes to work on it. Top water the slurry, it should act fast enough. You can buy a sack of it $20 for 44lbs at a feed store.
 
T

toomp

Well-Known Member
mortyb said:
I'm seeing some phosphorous deficiencies in my soil, and I'm wondering what's the organic approach to fixing this? I know I can water in or top dress some amendments, but it would take a long time before that material is broken down & available.

I've thought about making an AACT with some high phosphorous bat guano in there, but I've mainly used AACT to boost the microbial life in my soil & not to feed my plant nutrients.
Click to expand...
How long have you used the soil? Have you ruled out a lock? Any who P in bottles fish normal is available.
 
M

mortyb

Member
toomp said:
How long have you used the soil? Have you ruled out a lock? Any who P in bottles fish normal is available.
Click to expand...
This might be part of the problem, I kept it in veg for about 3 months now in the same 5-gallon filled with 2/3 FFOF + FFLW and 1/3 super soil (subcool's recipe). Maybe the microbes ate all of the amendments in the super soil?

And yeah I don't believe it's a lockout. I even tried PH'd the water of my last 2 feedings to 6.5 & I never overwater the plants or put any inorganic nutes in the soil.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Ph-ing the water you give them does nothing in a living soil mix. The easy fix is to transplant to a larger container; preferably with some fresh soil and compost added. Consider adding a slow release fertilizer like chicken or cow manure while you are at it. Will also help pull the ph down slightly as it decomposes.
 
M

mortyb

Member
Richard Drysift said:
Ph-ing the water you give them does nothing in a living soil mix. The easy fix is to transplant to a larger container; preferably with some fresh soil and compost added. Consider adding a slow release fertilizer like chicken or cow manure while you are at it. Will also help pull the ph down slightly as it decomposes.
Click to expand...
Ah, I didn't know this. Why is this the case? If I consistently fed it PH'd water, wouldn't the PH of the soil be affected? I know that, it might not be a good long term solution (having soil that properly buffers itself is better), but I figured that should work
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
mortyb said:
Ah, I didn't know this. Why is this the case? If I consistently fed it PH'd water, wouldn't the PH of the soil be affected? I know that, it might not be a good long term solution (having soil that properly buffers itself is better), but I figured that should work
Click to expand...
If there were no other factors that affect ph in the soil that would be true. In a sterile hydroponic medium like coco coir you have to adjust ph of the water and/or nutrient solution to maintain the proper range for absorption.
In soil it is the composition of the mix itself that buffers the ph. You can adjust it by adding minerals like lime or raw organic material like compost but the actual ph fluctuates slightly from one tiny area of the root zone to another. This is why you can only get an accurate measure of ph in soil with a decent soil probe.
Don’t over think this. Just water your plants as needed. If they start to look pale pot up to a larger container with more compost and fresh soil if you can. Add in a slow release fertilizer if you plan to go awhile in that same size pot. Add worm castings as a top dress or brew teas regularly to keep the soil active. Keep it simple. Learn about recycling your soil. It will get better with every run.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
If there were no other factors that affect ph in the soil that would be true. In a sterile hydroponic medium like coco coir you have to adjust ph of the water and/or nutrient solution to maintain the proper range for absorption.
In soil it is the composition of the mix itself that buffers the ph. You can adjust it by adding minerals like lime or raw organic material like compost but the actual ph fluctuates slightly from one tiny area of the root zone to another. This is why you can only get an accurate measure of ph in soil with a decent soil probe.
Don’t over think this. Just water your plants as needed. If they start to look pale pot up to a larger container with more compost and fresh soil if you can. Add in a slow release fertilizer if you plan to go awhile in that same size pot. Add worm castings as a top dress or brew teas regularly to keep the soil active. Keep it simple. Learn about recycling your soil. It will get better with every run.
Click to expand...
Excellent advice as usual. I finally got a reliable soil pH meter.
IMG_4051.JPG

And I just got a full gallon of Neptune's Harvest Fish and Seaweed a couple weeks ago. This will keep my quart bottle full for awhile.
IMG_4093.JPG
 
T

toomp

Well-Known Member
mortyb said:
This might be part of the problem, I kept it in veg for about 3 months now in the same 5-gallon filled with 2/3 FFOF + FFLW and 1/3 super soil (subcool's recipe). Maybe the microbes ate all of the amendments in the super soil?

And yeah I don't believe it's a lockout. I even tried PH'd the water of my last 2 feedings to 6.5 & I never overwater the plants or put any inorganic nutes in the soil.
Click to expand...
It needs to come out of that pot or your gonna have to bottle fertilize.
 
M

mortyb

Member
Richard Drysift said:
If there were no other factors that affect ph in the soil that would be true. In a sterile hydroponic medium like coco coir you have to adjust ph of the water and/or nutrient solution to maintain the proper range for absorption.
In soil it is the composition of the mix itself that buffers the ph. You can adjust it by adding minerals like lime or raw organic material like compost but the actual ph fluctuates slightly from one tiny area of the root zone to another. This is why you can only get an accurate measure of ph in soil with a decent soil probe.
Don’t over think this. Just water your plants as needed. If they start to look pale pot up to a larger container with more compost and fresh soil if you can. Add in a slow release fertilizer if you plan to go awhile in that same size pot. Add worm castings as a top dress or brew teas regularly to keep the soil active. Keep it simple. Learn about recycling your soil. It will get better with every run.
Click to expand...
What's a decent soil probe? I've tried several from Amazon now & I've never had one that I believe worked properly. Even after adjusting the PH in my coco grow, the soil PH reading never once changed on me.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Heard the Blue lab probe Padawan has there works pretty good but I don’t have one. If you just add compost regularly and lime the soil after each run you can easily get away without it.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Heard the Blue lab probe Padawan has there works pretty good but I don’t have one. If you just add compost regularly and lime the soil after each run you can easily get away without it.
Click to expand...
Ya, but instead of lime I use oyster shell flour. It doesn't have the Mg that lime does though, and sometimes gypsum that's in the B.A.S. Craft Blend. But gypsum can actually lower the Mg content in the soil so I try not to use it much.

I'm still figuring all this stuff out, but now that I have the pen it's gonna make my life much easier. You sure don't seem to need a fancy pen to grow beautiful buds though, lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top