Best Practices With Homemade Compost?

[oldskol4evr]

I confess I have a lot to learn about calcium, but I've become a little wary knowing that my local soil has a lot of lime, and my water pH is 9 (but after recently discovering its alkalinity is only a tad high, I thought I'd try a bigger pot this time and trust the soil to buffer the pH instead of using my usual phosphorus pH down liquid). With past grows my plants never seemed very interested in cal/mag feedings -- so I'm thinking maybe there's no need to blast them with oyster shells? Maybe my azomite minerals will supply enough calcium (at 1.8%)?

Say, would you care to opine on my plan to not reuse the soil? For several reasons I'm thinking of settling in to just one grow per year. Then, at the end of winter, toss everything back into the compost pile, where I can build soil during a long mowing season (nitrogen harvesting). Then, next fall, starting over with new perlite, coir, and additives. Do you think this is too wasteful? Or would a lot of the long-term minerals and nutrients survive the compost pile? I don't mind being a little wasteful -- but I don't need to be a totally cheap bastard either. Maybe just moderately frugal bastard.

nothing wrong with that,just get from the bottom of the pile and it will be full of life,i do a semi sitution myself,i dont return to compost pile though,when i harvest,i cut the plant at soil level,leave all roots and every thing in there,then every couple weeks i water the buckets just to keep life going and or add some EM1 or bokashi i make,i also use the bokashi in my toliets and drains,takes smell away as in gone and the active bacteria work in the septic tank same way eating all if you dig

 

[jkpaw]

Been meaning to update my progress on this first grow based on my own compost.

I have a newfound respect for those of you who can take good pictures of their plants. My camera sucks too.

Nine plants, eight varying strains (all feminized), now at 45 days from 12/12.

Just my fourth grow, so still experimenting with which strains I like best -- and which grow best in my conditions.

The lighting is a smorgasbord of cheap chinese LEDs with veg/bloom switches -- one at "1000-watts," one at "600 watts," one at "450" and three at "300." I've also been supplementing the sides and dark pools with smaller LEDs and CFs. Starting to think about assembling my own cobs for a more consistent setup. Meanwhile, I rotate the plants with every watering, so they hopefully can each benefit from different spectrums and intensities. The poor man's approach.

Pineapple Haze seems on schedule:

Until a week ago I had zero problems, and everyone was fattening up nicely. I recklessly decided to try a feeding without adjusting pH. It was pond water with bubbled tea, all measuring 8.3. My city's alkalinity data are always in the safe range, so I was wondering if my attempts to keep pH down (with my only non-organic ingredient, phosphoric acid) might have been restricting the life in my teas.

There was no obvious shock after the 8.3 watering, but within days I found a small new cluster of spider mites on my Super Silver Haze:

And I had to pick off a few nanners from my Crystal:

And during the last week, all growth seems to have stunted. Done one watering since then, for which I brought the pH back down to 6.4. They seemed pleased with this, but I'm still agnostic about whether the lack of pH adjustment stressed them. The nanners, mites, and sluggishness might have happened regardless. But for now I'm going to continue adjusting, since I was very happy with their growth previously.

It's possible I'm seeing a little nute burn, like on my California Dream:

So for my next tea bubble (in a few days) I think I'll skip the small amounts of Dr Earth I used before (which is recommended for tea -- but probably overkill in my situation). I'll try just pond water, compost, and worm castings. Maybe some humic acids and kelp meal.

My Hindu Kush is already showing about 15% amber, even though its flowering period is listed as 49-56 days:

The only other one showing amber (about three percent) is one of my Master Kushes:

Generally, most of the buds are promising -- getting tight, sticky, and aromatic -- but they sure seem smaller than previous grows. Something to ponder, but I'm not too worried, since it's all for personal medical use anyway.

I can't wait to light up some of this sweet-but-minuscule Strawberry Kush:

I think I've pushed the lights too close in past grows, so I may have been overly respectful this time around. That's my guess as to why this yield will be smaller -- hopefully smaller but sweeter -- and it might explain nute burn from a relatively weak compost tea.

My Bubba Kush is firming up pretty well, but not really forming those coke-bottle type colas I was expecting:

It's been a mostly carefree grow, and I'll definitely keep working in this direction. The pond water is great, and my fears of a bug-infested room proved unfounded. My compost pile has become a nice friend -- right next to my shed where I can bubble tea, and dabble with building a new assortment of lights.

Here's the ninth plant, the second Master Kush:

Anyway, I'd appreciate any thoughts or observations.

I did spray the Super Silver Haze pretty thoroughly with Azamax, so I'm thinking about whether and how to rinse the buds before harvest (which is scheduled for about 20 days after spraying). I also sprayed the undersides of all the other plants (even though no one else showed mites). Just a light coating from the soil upward. Wondering if I need to rinse those buds as well?

 

[jkpaw]

Just to close out my report on my first homemade grow -- post cure. I'm happy with my smoke, and intend to try this process again next season. I'm loving the feeling that I can incorporate everything into natural cycles -- from carbon harvesting (raking leaves) to nitrogen harvesting (mowing) and even water harvesting (from koi pond). Since the medicine is just for personal use, one grow per year is plenty for me.

That said, I'd be very interested in feedback -- wondering if I could improve on quality. My yield was definitely on the small side, compared with past grows (averaging 3 1/2 to 4 ounces (cured) per plant from an 8-week grow. But the ash is light gray, and the tastes are real nice. If y'all think this is in the ballpark for organics, it's ok with me, since the meds are good. But if this yield indicates other problems I'd like to improve. As I mentioned, I intend to build better lights for next season, and keep working on bubbling better teas.

This was the first year I used coir as a base (instead of peat) -- and I guess I didn't handle it right. I rinsed it good but it stayed so moist that I didn't need to water for two weeks after transplanting from dixies. I also had some pH issues with seedlings, so I did adjust the pH (non-organically) for the rest of the grow. From spindly beginnings (because of high pH) the plants grew nice and strong. I just might need to figure out ways to make them thrive better in late flowering without all the boosters.

I was disappointed to find a smattering of seeds from two of the plants -- even though I was more careful than ever about nanner inspections (found a few). Maybe this is inevitable with fems? I've never used seeds from any place except Bergman's (ILGM) so i don't have any good comparisons.

For the first time, I washed my buds right after chopping (with lemon juice and baking soda) -- and I really like the result. I saw no trich degradation, but the smoke tastes real clean, fresh, and smooth. Headache-free smoke just a week after chopping. I chopped and washed in the evening, then hanged them in the dark overnight, then put in drying nets the next morning for a week -- alternating them in and out of large plastic bins to monitor humidity -- until trimming, jarring and curing.

Most importantly, all my fears about bringing my compost and pond water into my grow room were unfounded. While not entirely pest free, it was a surprisingly clean room almost the whole time. Loving my compost.

Thanks for any suggestions.