"The three_little_birds are well know for our love of growing using organic fertilizers . . . And while we are always looking for
ways to utilize inexpensive and effective materials like manure, alfalfa meal, kelp meal, and a variety of rock powders . . .
we also know that some folks will only use organic growing methods if the option is fairly simple and mess free . . .
while organic fertilizers from a bottle will never likely be as cost effective as using rock powders and teas made from alfalfa or
guano . . . they do offer great convenience . . .
And the good news for growers who demand their organic fertilizers in a bottle . . . is that herbs grown exclusively with
today’s liquid organic fertilizers will rival those grown with any method of organic growing we’ve ever used or experienced . .
. there’s no need to sacrifice quality for convenience if your pocketbook can withstand the additional cost . . .
Our favorite among premixed liquid fertilizers is the complete line of
Earth Juice products . . . we’ve sampled other fertilizers
but always come back to
Earth Juice . . . In our opinion they are the “premium standard” against which all other organic ferts
must measure themselves . . .
The basic line of
Earth Juice fertilizers is 5 different products that can all be used in any combination with each other . . .
the ability to “mix and match” any of the 5 products gives us the versatility to deal with any nutrient need (or problem) that
might arise . . .
here’s a listing of
Earth Juice array . . .
Earth Juice Grow
Earth Juice Bloom
Earth Juice Catalyst (called Xatalyst in Canada)
Earth Juice Meta-K
Earth Juice Microblast
The Grow and Bloom formulas can be used alone or in combination with each other . . . no big explanation necessary with
those names . . . their intended uses are pretty obvious . . .
Catalyst is basically a jazzed up Molasses / carbohydrate product to feed beneficial bacteria and act as a chelate . . .
Meta-K is an awesome Potassium supplement . . . and
Microblast is one of the most useful and effective micronutrient products we’ve had the pleasure of using . . .
The EJ lineup
here’s the “scoop” . . . the “tech intell” . . . the “lowdown” . . . the “skinny” . . . on what exactly is in those
Earth Juice ferts
that the 3LB’s talk about so much . . .
EARTH JUICE GROW 2 - 1 - 1
bat guano
kelp
sulfate of potash
feather meal
oat bran
blood meal
steamed bone meal
this is the “jack of all trades” among the
Earth Juice products . . . useful throughout all of vegging and the first couple weeks
of blooming . . .
Depending on a plant’s growth stage and we use the EJ Grow at concentrations of anywhere from 1 TBSP
to 2 TBSP per gallon (and we have pushed it to 3 to 4 TBSP without harm for very heavy feeders)
EARTH JUICE BLOOM 0 - 3 - 1
bat guano
seabird guano
kelp
sulfate of potash
steamed bone meal
oat bran
rock phosphate
we love our
Earth Juice Bloom as a flowering fertilizer and. . . because this product has no Nitrogen it’s especially useful for
late stage flowering when it’s desirable to let a plant use up the soil’s nitrogen reserves . . . and for an added boost of
Phosphorous at those times when plant’s need an extra boost of P . . .
we normally use EJ Bloom at rates between ½ and 2 TBSP per gallon . . .
Earth Juice Catalyst .03 - .01 - .10
oat bran
kelp
wheat malt
molasses
yeast
For some odd reason, the Canadian Government requires this product to be labeled as “Xatalyst” . . . but whatever it’s
called where you live . . . if you’ve looked over the “Molasses Manual” by the 3LB you may already know the biggest “secret”
to this product . . . the sweet sticky goodness of molasses . . .
as we’ve said elsewhere molasses feeds microbes and acts
as a chelating agent to make micronutrients more available to plants . . . those extra organic goodies in Catalyst like wheat
malt and oat bran are just “icing on the cake” . . .
Earth Juice Meta-K 0 - 0 - 10
sulfate of potash
Pretty simple product with apparently only a single active ingredient . . . it does have a good measure of Sulfur . . . and it’s
very useful to give an extra boost of Potassium when necessary . . .
Many organic fertilizers run a little “lean” on K - especially guano based products . . . and EJ Meta-K gives us a way to add that
needed Potassium in controlled amounts as needed . . .
Earth Juice Microblast
kelp meal
magnesium sulfate
borax
cobalt sulfate
ferrous sulfate
manganese sulfate
sodium molybdate
zinc sulfate
The Microblast tests out to the following percentages . . .
Magnesium (Mg) .05%
Boron (B) .02%
Cobalt (Co) .0005%
Iron (Fe) .10%
Manganese (Mn) .05%
Molybdenum (Mo) .0005%
Zinc (Zn) .05%
in our experience it’s a great all around
micronutrient supplement that resolves almost every potential micronutrient issue likely to arise . . .
There's your "
Earth Juice All Stars" lineup . . .
It's not "soup" yet . . . but in our next post we'll give the recipes to feed your plant's a gourmet diet . . .
Earth Juice Recipes Growth Recipes
We get many PM’s and email requests for our
Earth Juice recipes . . . many folks - it seems - would love for us to just spell
out the specific nutrient mixes and quantities we use with every feeding . . . . if only life were so simple!
What and how much we use vary's some from strain to strain . . . Perhaps even from plant to plant . . . so it’s just not
possible to set a schedule and ignore the plants . . . The best gardeners become “at one” with their plants and feed them
according to the plant’s needs . . . even anticipating their needs . . .
Our standard mix for vegging plants is usually
1 to 2 TBSP Grow
1 tsp Bloom
1 tsp Catalyst (called Xatalyst in Canada for some odd reason)
(all ingredients are added to a gallon of water . . . )
There are times where we might increase the Bloom portion up to as much as a tablespoon . . . Especially for plants in the
early stages of flowering . . . and we can go as high as 3 or even 4 TBSP of Grow for really N hungry plants - but if we
increase the Grow fert above 2 TBSP per gallon we usually leave out Bloom & Catalyst )
We also use what we call our "microblast mix" once or twice during the normal life-cycle of vegging plants . . . no big
difference between this and the prior mix except this one has an extra boost of Meta K and Microblast . . .
1-2 TBSP Grow
1 tsp Bloom
1 tsp Catalyst
1 tsp Meta-K
1 tsp Microblast
As folks may have observed in our “Growing LUI with the 3LB” thread . . . we also commonly use some kinds of fish
fertilizers and kelp concentrates during a plant’s early growth stages . . . we like the combination of enzymes and proteins
and hormones the fish and kelp provide together . . . but it’s common for some fish products to be high in heavy metal
contaminants like Mercury . . . so the “seafood platter” is a treat we feed our babes and the
Earth Juice is their regular diet . . .
Flowering Recipes
Early stage flowering plants can often use a fair measure of nitrogen as they stretch . . .
so a normal
Earth Juice mix in early flowering will look pretty similar to a Grow mix . . .
we like to use something along the lines of the following for the first couple weeks of flowering . . .
1 TBSP EJ Grow
1 TBSP EJ Bloom
1 tsp Catalyst (yeah we know - it’s Xatalyst north of a line from Seattle - Duluth - Niagra!)
As flowering progresses we forego the Nitrogen to let our plants use N reserves from the soil as they finish flowering . . . so
mixing an
Earth Juice Bloom formula can be as easy as . . .
1 TBSP EJ Bloom
1 tsp EJ Catalyst
For really hungry darlings we’ll go as high as 2 TBSP per gallon with the EJ Bloom . . . but pouring it on that heavy can burn
light feeders . . . and even with heavy feeders it’s better to build up to stronger concentrations of EJ Bloom over time than
to just start in at 2 TBSP per gallon right away as plants begin to flower. . .
....and we also have a bloom "micro-mix" that includes Meta-K and Microblast . . . it's used once in a blooming plant's life
(or maybe twice in plant’s with a long flowering) . . . Like the growth “microblast mix” it gives an extra boost of Potassium
and assorted micronutrients to make sure the plants will want for nothing!
The flowering micro-mix usually goes like this . . .
1 TBSP Bloom
1 tsp Catalyst
1 tsp Meta-K
1 tsp Microblast
That's about all there is to making an awsome plant-enriching organic brew with
Earth Juice . . . it's really that simple . . .
Earth Juice Notes
In theory there’s no need to “flush” organic soil grown herbs before harvest . . . and because organic fertilizers are not salt
based like chemical fertilizers . . . traditional techniques for “flushing” wouldn’t carry away nutrient salts in the traditional
meaning of the word “flush” anyway . . .
That creates a danger with organic fertilizers that doesn’t exist with salt based chemical fertilizers . . . with salt fertilizers
over-fertilizing can be pretty severe . .. But it will show up fairly quickly . . . and the solution (a good flushing) can be
enacted pretty quickly too . . .
It’s probably harder for a grower to over-fertilize using organic fertilizers . . . but if they do there’s no quick solution . . .
organic fertilizers usually can’t be flushed away like salt fertilizer’s can . . . so if a grower over-fertilizes they will likely have
to live with the consequences for a longer term . . .
