Organic and high frequency fertigation

[Walleyewacker]

I’ve been using flora flex for veg and flower. I’ve made up my mind to go completely organic. After a few days of reading online I’m more confused than when I started. Does anyone here feed completely organic with coco and high frequency fertigation? Anything to point me in the right direction would be much appreciated

 

[godspeed2k86]

I’ve been using flora flex for veg and flower. I’ve made up my mind to go completely organic. After a few days of reading online I’m more confused than when I started. Does anyone here feed completely organic with coco and high frequency fertigation? Anything to point me in the right direction would be much appreciated

Dont do it I don't have the time right now to type out the extended answer but thats the short version.

 

[growsince79]

Sound very unforgiving.

 

[Aqua Man]

I will be doing this in a couple grows. So a few things to consider. Orgaincs in a res can be a challenge. They can gunk up your feed lines and filters etc.

I'll give you my plans and reasons but I cannot say I have done it yet.

First my res will be water only... like I said organics in a res can play havoc of the feeding system but not always and rather than get into how to prevent it I chose to eliminate it. I will be PHing my water for 1 simple reason and I know I say don't bother ph with organics or soil but coco is not soil and with a lower CEC its not easy to provide a buffer in coco that will be long lasting and stable so I will be phing the water and I will be using phosphoric acid not citric because of the longevity needed.

I will be amending the coco with organic nutrients... specifically terp tea and likely some gaia 4-4-4. The bonus with the terp tea is I can brew it for high availability if needed but the plan is to scratch some in weekly.

Because it is coco I will be changing the watering practices. With organics we DONT want runoff (unless you have over fed) if you do high fertigation with runoff you just continually washing available nutrients out of the coco... which is great when using synthetic but not so much when using organic. So I will be watering to keep the media saturated but not to runoff since coco has great air holding capacity I want to take advantage of the benefit of high fertigation rates to keep it saturated but do not want to get runoff to wash the available nutrients out so im guessing the watering would be cut in almost half of my post for high fertigation coco when using synthetic if you have happened to read it.

So yeah that my plan and reasons. Definitely doable. The one challenge I'm facing is with organics being less available the media size will have a direct impact on how much organic matter is being broken down into available nutrients as it directly affects the population of microbes to perform this. So I'm kinda leaning to double the pot size I would use for synthetic nutrients for this reason. It may not be necessary but something to consider.

 

[Walleyewacker]

Would you add anything like Mammoth P?

 

[Aqua Man]

Would you add anything like Mammoth P?

the terp tea has microbes in it... definitely a phosphorus solubalizing bacteria would benefit since with P in organics can be a bit harder to supply. But I am by no means well versed in organics and not sure if the terp tea already has this covered or if others will be beneficial.

I will be using some raw microbes in addition to the microbes in terp tea but keeping the grow simple and not adding much more to it. The more you add the more issues you can create.

I plan on doing it simple then adjusting as needed if I see a deficiency. I think keeping it simple will give the best chance of success

 

[Walleyewacker]

Thanks. I really like your plan

 

[Walleyewacker]

So essentially I don’t need run off if I go organic? The run off from high frequency fertigation is to reduce the salts (EC) and if I run organic they don’t need it.

 

[Aqua Man]

So essentially I don’t need run off if I go organic? The run off from high frequency fertigation is to reduce the salts (EC) and if I run organic they don’t need it.

To keep them from building up yes. A lot less likely in organics unless you overfeeding then you may need a flush but its harder to overfeeding in organics.... none the less it can be done. Thats why I'm choosing terp tea it's a little easier to control because its organically derived but the availability is better than full on organics so you get a bit more control.

 

[Walleyewacker]

Could you still do 10% run off or would the run off wreck the work of the mycrobials and enzymes? Basically would the 10% just be wasteful but not detrimental?

 

[Aqua Man]

Could you still do 10% run off or would the run off wreck the work of the mycrobials and enzymes? Basically would the 10% just be wasteful but not detrimental?

Yeah IMO its wasted and unnecessary.

 

[godspeed2k86]

the terp tea has microbes in it... definitely a phosphorus solubalizing bacteria would benefit since with P in organics can be a bit harder to supply. But I am by no means well versed in organics and not sure if the terp tea already has this covered or if others will be beneficial.

I will be using some raw microbes in addition to the microbes in terp tea but keeping the grow simple and not adding much more to it. The more you add the more issues you can create.

I plan on doing it simple then adjusting as needed if I see a deficiency. I think keeping it simple will give the best chance of success

I used the terp tea as a supplemental brew to my normal feed twice a week in flowering. Didnt notice a big difference with it I cut it out and am trying more dead teas in the res to help up my organic inputs. Heres the bacterial and fungal in the terp tea for ya tho

 

[ccoombs1986]

Terp tea everyday to 1000ppm with about 500ppm different mix of other additives daily.