"organic Matters" > Collective Methods

[Organikz]

I wanted to kick this off as a collective sharing of our organic farmer's methods of growing. No arguing or questioning of any inputs. This isn't an argument topic thread. Open discussion on soil amendments, feeding regiments, IPMs etc. I feel like a solid schedule is vital to success. Keeping soil well balanced is important. Plants will conform to your routine as long as it's within reason.

This is my routine from start to finish. I've had to adapt from the boiler plate. I use blumat capillary auto-irrigators.

Sunday

• Foliar IPM neem/karanja/silica or saponin/aloe

Monday

• Smoke a joint

Tuesday

• MBP top-dress and fulvic/aloe/silica

Wed

• Kombucha 1 cup to a quart foliar feed

Thurs

• Smoke a spliff

Fri

• 1/8 cup coco h20 to 1 cup tap h20 down the crown

Saturday

• Smoke 10 joints and water the worm bins if it hasn't rained

2nd week of flower I do my final foliar feeds and IPMs and switch to weekly spinosad feedings through the rhizosphere.

I stop the spinosad about 2 weeks before harvest.

I top dress 1/2 cup neem/karanja cake and 1/2 cup kelp meal at the first of each month.

 

[Fattymcnugs]

Dont you have like 5 or 6 of these now

 

[Organikz]

Dont you have like 5 or 6 of these now

i do yes. the others were more direct topics. this is an all around open dialogue with 0 scrutinization. glad you're following along

 

[Mr.Real]

Hey my room setup is 5x10 and I have large totes on casters that I have been mostly no till gardening in. The original mix is 1/3 peat, perlite and compost. The compost portion is a mix of bought compost sheep and chicken manure from my farm. I also use Gaia green fertilizer in my mix. I plant cover crops in my bins usually clover, vetch, buckwheat, peas and oats and sometimes whatever garden seed I have left that is older or not being used again. Recently I have been using red river carbonatite as well. Gaia green and the carbonatite gets top dressed monthly or when I remember. Periodically I will make a compost tea as well. Straw and or alfalfa hay is used as a mulch if I feel the soil is too bare. My garden has been running perpetual since march. It has its advantages and disadvantages. I can harvest a plant or two in an evening but sometimes I lose track of a plants flowering time which isn't a big deal as I use my micro to check tricomes anyways. I plan to soon open up my room to be 10 x10 and put 2 permanent beds in instead of the totes. Each tote will have its own nutrient profile, microbiology, organic matter and I've noticed that some totes grow better than others with the same inputs. Anyway this is my first post here. I will likely start a thread showing my grow soon. Organic is the way to go

 

[Organikz]

Hey my room setup is 5x10 and I have large totes on casters that I have been mostly no till gardening in. The original mix is 1/3 peat, perlite and compost. The compost portion is a mix of bought compost sheep and chicken manure from my farm. I also use Gaia green fertilizer in my mix. I plant cover crops in my bins usually clover, vetch, buckwheat, peas and oats and sometimes whatever garden seed I have left that is older or not being used again. Recently I have been using red river carbonatite as well. Gaia green and the carbonatite gets top dressed monthly or when I remember. Periodically I will make a compost tea as well. Straw and or alfalfa hay is used as a mulch if I feel the soil is too bare. My garden has been running perpetual since march. It has its advantages and disadvantages. I can harvest a plant or two in an evening but sometimes I lose track of a plants flowering time which isn't a big deal as I use my micro to check tricomes anyways. I plan to soon open up my room to be 10 x10 and put 2 permanent beds in instead of the totes. Each tote will have its own nutrient profile, microbiology, organic matter and I've noticed that some totes grow better than others with the same inputs. Anyway this is my first post here. I will likely start a thread showing my grow soon. Organic is the way to go

Yes please keep me updated. I like the use of what's readily available as a source of ferts. Very cool. I'll share a pic of my eden.

 

[Organikz]

Well I have tried everything to get rid of the damn fungus gnats. I have beat them back but then they come back x2. Mosquito dunks, captain jacks, neem cake, soap nut tea, karanja cake, MBP, stickies, nematodes. I ordered caps foliar pack. I hope its what everyone cracks it up to be. I got 16 ounces for 60 bucks.

 

[Dunge]

All that, and gnatrol drenched into the soil, azamax spray on the soil.
Never have exterminated them, but their numbers are low enough.

 

[Organikz]

All that, and gnatrol drenched into the soil, azamax spray on the soil.
Never have exterminated them, but their numbers are low enough.

Somehow I acquired Rove beatles. They're beast but yah if you have a 400 pound pile of decomposing organic matter it's tough lol.

The gnats aren't in my roots. Well they weren't when I transplanted. Some organic gardeners welcome them in a controlled population. They are decomposers. Keep them damn roots healthy though. Saponin has like 8 oxygen molecules attached to it. I'm wondering if I should just work that and make sure to keep roots healthy.

The soap nut tea did seem to have ill effect on them. Like a nerve agent.

 

[Dunge]

I have little concern for the adults.
They are just indicators of the larva in the soil.
Larva eat small roots and can kill a clone.

 

[Organikz]

I have little concern for the adults.
They are just indicators of the larva in the soil.
Larva eat small roots and can kill a clone.

I'm thinking it could be the cover crop. El rancho told me he ended up ripping up his clover. Going to just keep rolling with the punches. I was due for my monthly top dress. My first time using 50/50 neem cake and karanja cake. From what I've heard the karanja enhances the effects of neem and adds some in.

 

[cannabeans]

Well I have tried everything to get rid of the damn fungus gnats. I have beat them back but then they come back x2. Mosquito dunks, captain jacks, neem cake, soap nut tea, karanja cake, MBP, stickies, nematodes. I ordered caps foliar pack. I hope its what everyone cracks it up to be. I got 16 ounces for 60 bucks.

The foliar pack never did anything for me regarding the gnats...I end up doing a soil drench of spinosad and pyrethrum a few days apart... Then let get real dry for a few days, But the layer of sand really works the best for me to keep everything at bay.

 

[Organikz]

When i was just doing saponin mistings on mulch it really knocked them down. Chunk at grass city does a soap nut tea root drench once a week. I might alternate this with neem cake tea.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Well I keep reading all the expert organic tips on multiple Grow sites and only one thing remains consistent.

Bugs.

 

[brazel]

I'm thinking it could be the cover crop. El rancho told me he ended up ripping up his clover. Going to just keep rolling with the punches. I was due for my monthly top dress. My first time using 50/50 neem cake and karanja cake. From what I've heard the karanja enhances the effects of neem and adds some in.

The larva lives in the top inch. This style of grow is gnats favorite. I typically don't worry about them. They're really not that big of an issue, unless it's crazy crazy amounts I do water in microbe bt. Same as dunks but in liquid form. Bt kills larva. How much neem you putting down?

 

[Organikz]

Well I keep reading all the expert organic tips on multiple Grow sites and only one thing remains consistent.

Bugs.

Bugs are worse than cops trying to snatch my crops. Over time the system chews up pestilence and spits it out

 

[Blaiz]

Bacillus thurigensis is the way to go. Apply powder form at transplant as preventive. Living soil is just that and bugs are a part of the mix. A few gnats are not a problem. Never use insecticides you will only kill the beneficials that will help in the end to control the infestation. Nature usually finds a balance(unless we are talking about mites)

 

[Organikz]

Bacillus thurigensis is the way to go. Apply powder form at transplant as preventive. Living soil is just that and bugs are a part of the mix. A few gnats are not a problem. Never use insecticides you will only kill the beneficials that will help in the end to control the infestation. Nature usually finds a balance(unless we are talking about mites)

Yes i have been top dressing mosquito dunks and even had made a compost slurry incorporating it. Honestly they flare up then disappear. I however thought i was making a makeshift trap and come to find out it was a breeding chamber. A mason jar filled with vinegar and crushed soap nut powder. i think after it fermented the saponin was deconstructed. Like you said i won't sweat it. Always have a few stickies around and business as usual.

On a side note the saponin tea seems to have had some impact. noticed a drop in the number of flyers. I'll let you know. Chunk at GCO gave me this recipe.

@brazel you remind me of the old schoolers over there. When people get frantic and start going "what do i do what do i do?" How bout you leave it the fuck alone is the #1 fix and it works lmao. Maybe a kelp meal tea. Doesn't hurt anything but will fix any and all deficiency or in our case soil life imbalance

 

[bklyndiaz]

I top dress once a month, and water from top once a month when I top dress.
This seems to be the only way I found how to NOT have fungus Knats, by covering the top of container. It works pretty good for me, My 2 cents....

 

[Organikz]

I top dress once a month, and water from top once a month when I top dress.
This seems to be the only way I found how to NOT have fungus Knats, by covering the top of container. It works pretty good for me, My 2 cents....
View attachment 747812

Here's what I did that is finally showing results. I put on my big boy pants and finally implemented karanja in my neem/kelp top dress and watered in with soap nut tea...utter devastation. I'm not seeing flyers. Maybe a crawler or 2 in the mulch and they look like they need crash helmets. They d9nt know which way is up.

 

[bklyndiaz]

Here's what I did that is finally showing results. I put on my big boy pants and finally implemented karanja in my neem/kelp top dress and watered in with soap nut tea...utter devastation. I'm not seeing flyers. Maybe a crawler or 2 in the mulch and they look like they need crash helmets. They d9nt know which way is up.

Don't know how true it is, but I was told that crab shell meal, sprinkled on top of your mulch kills the larvae, as they crawl across your mulch the shell split the stomach open killing them. :smoking: