Homebrew Organics for Coco

[British_Hempire]

Hiya folks

Got plenty of free time on my hands at the moment so have been learning all about organic growing methods.

I've been growing in coco for a while now and love it, the precise control you have over feedings and ec levels is one big thing I love, but I don't like the price of nutrients at all, I think we are all getting ripped off, basically.

Organics appeal to me for two prime reasons - the cleanier, healthier end product and the price - a lot cheaper than buying bottles of fancy nutes.

To cut a long story short, bottles coco nutes such as Canna work so well because they have the necessary ingredients present in a highly available form, so the plants can use them immediately, this is due to chelation of the elements. Organics give you less control over the feeding and the elements aren't in such a readily available form, so you need bacteria and funghi in your rootzone to ensure the plants can get all the goodness they need.

Coco is a sterile medium so I have decided to switch to a coco/worm castings mix, for initial experiments I am mixing 15 litres of worm casts with 30 litres of coco coir and adding mychorrizzae to this mix to give a medium rich in beneficial funghi. As this is just a small experimental grow to test organic methodology I'll be running 9 x 5 litre pots in a 60cm x 60cm tent under a 250. I usually use 1.5 or 2 litre pots of plain coco, and you only need small pots with bottled coco nutes as they are so easily uptaken by the plant. I figure I will need larger pots with organics so I am using 5 litres.

Using my regular coco regime I could get 1 oz per plant from 9 plants under a 250, so that is my goal for this organic experiment and 9oz is 225g, which is pretty close to the magical 1gpw figure.

Genetics for this test will be Purple Afghan and Grapefruit F6 (Sweettooth#3 x Hawaiian), seedlings are only a week old so I have plenty of time before they are ready for flowering to get my organic teas prepared. I am using Canna Start, Seaweed Extract and H&G Roots Excel on the seedlings because I have it to hand and it needs using up. I will start using organic teas on them from day 1 of bloom in the tent, currently they are under fluoros.

 

[bodhi seeds]

awsome BH, im really interested to see how things go, im on a simmilar charged organic coco trejectory, all the best, and thanks a million for all the info you provide to the community.

 

[British_Hempire]

Here is a brief rundown of the ingredients I am using in my bloom tea recipe

Alfalfa (pelletised form)
Comfrey (pellets)
Beetroot extract (pellets)
Wood Ash (from friend's fireplace)
Seaweeds – Ascophyllum Nodosum (Kelp) *, Fucus (Bladderwrack, Spiral Wrack) *, Laminaria (Flat Wrack) *, Sargassum, Maerl
Bone Meal
Worm Humus
Organic Compost Maker

Comfrey provides Potassium and large amounts of Phosphorous (typical NPK 5-6-20) Alfalfa provides nitrogen, trace emements, amino acids, vitamins and the growth hormone Triacontanol.

Seaweed provides potassium and a range of trace elements, I collected 5 species locally (Kelp, 4 types of Wrack). Maerl provides trace elements including large amounts of calcium and magnesium which are need in a coco medium. Sargassum is rich in alginic acid which is good for water retention and cytokinin which are rapid growing hormones.

Beetroot Extract is rich in sugars, it is a cheaper alternative to molasses. Wood Ash is rich in both micro and macro elements, it has large amounts of calcium and potassium, I chose to use it instead of rock dust as it's free and it also has a PH balancing effect like lime.

Bone Meal has high levels of Potassium (NPK 1-13-0) and I am using it instead of high P bat guano as Bone Meal is a sustainable, low ecological impact source as it is sinply the crushed and steamed bones from animals slaughtered for meat, whereas bat guano is not sustainable as it has to be mined from ancient deposits and has a negative environmental impact.

Worm Humus provides humates to the medium and is rich in humic acids to increase nutrient uptake, it is also a rich source of beneficial bacteria. The Organic Compost maker is rich in beneficial bacteria and accelerates the rate that the break down of the solids occur during tea brewing.

I expect the NPK of this Tea will be approximately 10-20-20, this is good for flowering but perhaps a little strong in nitrogen for the final phase, we shall see. Certainly it will be rich in trace elements, particularly calcium and magnesium, which will be important with my coco based medium. With the Triacontanol and Cytokinin growth hormones, I expect it should work rather well, it will be rich in beneficial bacteria and humic acid, so combined with the mychorrizzae funghi in the medium, I should have good nutrient uptake I think.

 

[British_Hempire]

Cheers ripz and Bodhi, good to have some folks who are interested, I look forward to sharing my experiences. Ripz, that's a great point about the calcium, both the wood ash ad maerl have loads of calcium. Where I live we have completely soft water so I've never had any calmag problems at all. I'll have a think about that, I think all I can do is try the recipe and see how it works, I might have to tweak it as I go along. My tap water is awesome, it's always ec 0 ph 6.2. I might end up having to add more magnesium or reduce the calcium, I'm not sure till I try.

I'm really sick of using expensive bottled nutes, sure they work great but man, have you seen the price of a litre of Canna BioBoost? I wish I knew what was in BioBoost as I reckon it wouldn't be too difficult to make your own version, it is probably just some exotic concoction of things like Alfalfa, Comfrey and seaweeds processed to be in a readily available form, Canna say it has hormones in it and amino acids, so I reckon they will be extracting their hormones from things like Alfalfa and Sargassum , their amino might be from Alfalfa too as it's very rich in them. With all the goodies I'm including in my organic tea I should have everything the plants need, I think the key is making sure they are easily available to the plants, which is where the beneficial bacteria and funghi come into play. In short, instead of paying some scientists to chelate the elements I've hired an army of tiny helpers to do the same job but in a more eco-friendly way.

Here's some more detailed information on the exact composition of the ingredients I;m using:

Range in elemental composition of industrial wood ash samples

Macroelements Concentration in %
Calcium 15 (2.5-33)
Potassium 2.6 (0.1-13)
Aluminum 1.6 (0.5-3.2)
Magnesium 1.0 (0.1-2.5)
Iron 0.84 (0.2-2.1)
Phosphorus 0.53 (0.1-1.4)
Manganese 0.41 (0-1.3)
Sodium 0.19 (0-0.54)
Nitrogen 0.15 (0.02-0.77)

Microelements Concentration in mg/kg
Arsenic 6 (3-10) .
Boron 123 (14-290) .
Cadmium 3 (0.2-26)
Chromium 57 (7-368)
Copper 70 (37-207)
Lead 65 (16-137)
Mercury 1.9 (0-5) .
Molybdenum 19 (0-123) .
Nickel 20 (0-63)
Selenium 0.9 (0-11) .
Zinc 233 (35-1250)
Other Chemical Properties
CaCO3 Equivalent 43% (22-92%
pH 10.4 (9-13.5)
% Total solids 75 (31-100)

* Mean and (Range) taken from analysis of 37 ash samples


Alfalfa

Nitrogen 3.75-5.5 %
Potassium .75 - 3.5 %
Phosphorus .3 - .7%
Calcium 1 - 2 %
Magnesium .30 - 1 %
Sulphur .2 - .5 %
Manganese 30-200 ppm
Iron 20-250 ppm
Boron 20-80 ppm
Copper 5-20 ppm
Zinc 20-70 ppm

Triacontanol (growth stimulant)
Vitamin A (high concentration)
Thiamine
Riboflavin
Pantothenic Acid
Niacin
Pyridoxine
Choline
Bentaine
Folic Acid
co-enzymes
Crude proteins (16 - 25% in dry alfalfa)

Amino acids (% in alfalfa meal).

Tryptophan, 0.3 %
Aspartic Acid, 2.3%
Threonine, 1.0 %
Serine, 1.0%
Glutamic Acid, 2.7%
Proline, 1.2%
Glycine, 1.1%
Alanine, 1.1%
Cystine, 0.2%
Valine, 1.0%
Methionine, 0.3%
Isoleucine, 0.8%
Leucine, 1.6%
Tyrosine, 0.5%
Phenylalanine, 1.0%
Histidine, 0.4%
Lysine, Total, 1.1%
Arginine, 1.1%


Comfrey

Potassium (2 to 3 times more than farmyard manure)
Nitrogen
Phosphorus (high potash feed)
Protein,
Vitamins A, B12, C (There are only two plants that contain Vitamin B12 naturally Alfalfa and Comfrey),
B Complex Vitamins,
Mucilaginous fibre,
Calcium,
Iron,
Magnesium,
Sulphur
Copper
Zinc
Selenium
Germanium


Seaweed (Ascophyllum Nodosum)

Nitrogen 0.05%
Phosphate (P2O5) 0.08%
Potash (K2O) 0.20%
calcium 0.56%
magnesium 1.04%
sodium 7.45%
zinc 142 mg/kg
copper 9.38 mg/kg
iron 476 mg/kg
manganese 42.13 mg/kg
sulphur 21900 mg/kg
Boron 363 mg/kg
amino acids


Maerl

Calcium 32.1% CaCO3
Magnesium 3.1% MgCO3

 

[British_Hempire]

Interesting, I've never used Monster Bloom before. It's 25 quid for 250g so would work out a bit cheaper than Boost, at 0.3g per litre, that's 833 litres worth. Boost is 2ml per litre so a litre bottle is only 500 litres worth for 55 quid! That would make Boost 2.9 times as expensive as Monster Bloom.

 

[British_Hempire]

Interesting, I think Boost is wonderful stuff so if Monster Bloom is the same stuff in a powdered form for a third the price then it's a much better option. I wouldn't mind trying that out sometime, I still have a small sample bottle of Boost left, I could do a side-by-side comparison.

 

[bigleek]

hi BH i use bone meal & farm yard manure in my soil mix for the last pot do you think my plants would enjoy a cup of tea as well

 

[Trillion]

9oz is more like 252g so you're yielding more than 1gpw with a 250w, very impressive

 

[zino13]

Re organic

Greetings,
try this............

6 gallons measure coco coir
1-1/2 gallons chunky perlite
2 gallons earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon

add this
1 tablespoon blood meal
2 tablespoons bone meal
1 tablespoon kelp meal


All dry ferts were poured into the soiless mix and then the entire mix was wetted with a solution consisting of 1/4 teaspoon Liquid Karma, 1/4 teaspoon Mycogrow Mycorrhizal fungi and water in a 32oz. spray bottle.

The soil mix will be stirred and mixed a few times a week for two weeks so the bacteria and fungi receive oxygen; they will then begin breaking down the amendments/nutrients. The mix will be kept moist, but not soaking, throughout.

 

[Solidopc]

I've been using growtek monster bloom as a pkj boost for a while now. Are you saying it isn't a pk boost? I thought it was as the NPK only contains P and K. I onl;y add mine week 6-7, maybe i should start adding it week 3 onwards and grab some pk 13/14. Never heard myself that MB was the same as boost in powdered form. Does work well though, i certaiunly noticed a differance the first time i used it. Glad to hear it though, as was thinking about getting bio boost for soil, but i have loads of MB left and you use buggar all.

Good news that. For once the dude at the hydroshop didn't try ripping me off. He kept telling me to buy it for ages as it would add a 1/4 a plant he rekoned under a 600watt. Got it in the end, and had it well over a year. Used to the dense hard buds now though, so dont notice it as much as i did when io first used it. With headmastat it is working very well, and if it aint a pk boost im grabbing some pk13/14 to go with them.

 

[GreenSociety]

Hey what happened to this thread?

 

[greenblood]

Greetings,
try this............

6 gallons measure coco coir
1-1/2 gallons chunky perlite
2 gallons earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon

add this
1 tablespoon blood meal
2 tablespoons bone meal
1 tablespoon kelp meal


All dry ferts were poured into the soiless mix and then the entire mix was wetted with a solution consisting of 1/4 teaspoon Liquid Karma, 1/4 teaspoon Mycogrow Mycorrhizal fungi and water in a 32oz. spray bottle.

The soil mix will be stirred and mixed a few times a week for two weeks so the bacteria and fungi receive oxygen; they will then begin breaking down the amendments/nutrients. The mix will be kept moist, but not soaking, throughout.

very interesting.

but, why not gypsum instead of lime since the pH of the coir is already just right?

 

[MissV]

Thank you BH for sharing such wonderful information with us ! I think we can all learn from what you posted. I also am concerned about being ripped off, and damadging this earth reserves for the sake of cannabis.
I think we're on the same trail as far as wanting to scientifcally look at What we are feeding and Why ! It saves a whole lot of money to put the time into homebrewing compost teas, and adding dry nutes to soil.
I am using coco this year in my outdoor bags. So far so good. I like it as well. But I'm wondering if you know a ratio of how much calcium\mag is needed per amount of coco. And why? what is the coco doing to the calcium ?