Soil Dressing with Vintage Bat Guano

[John Smith Esq.]

Sup farmers,

basically i was talked into buying a small tub of this stuff by the guys at my local store, for the most part im 100% organic apart from some Pk 13/14 in flower which is why the guy was like you should try this Bat Guano.

Ideally id mix it with the soil but the plants are already in and 5 weeks old so thats out and the feed i give them at the mo im pretty happy with (biocanna, cannazym, bioboost and the PK) so i dont want to start going down the tea route just yet.

has anyone had any experience dressing the top soil, according to directions you can sprinkle it on the top of your soil and water for a time release effect? sounds like a winner to me but directions are a little vague on how much to use and its like 3:10:2 or something so a little worried about overdoing it! any pointers would be brill.

Cheers

 

[Toes]

Good morning John,

Sup farmers,

... the feed i give them at the mo im pretty happy with ...

Cheers

Brewing the tea gives the natural bacteria time to do it's thing, break down the molecules into a easier absorbent form for the plants. I brew my high P for about three days (sometimes longer) in five gallons bucket with an air stone to keep from going anaerobic. Hell bent top dressing though ey? work about half of what you would brew a tea with into the first 3" of soil. So my tea recipe calls for 2-3 Tablespoons of the high P per gallon of water ( still pretty hot ), as a soil dressing I would put 1-1 1/2 T per gallon of dirt. Since you already have some other nutes in your mix I would start with even less, contrary to popular belief you CAN burn your plants with organics! You want to mix it in and not leave the poop sitting on top, for a couple of reasons, but mostly hygiene.

A hazard with dressing soil in a container is the container. Soil dressing is perfect in the ground where all the nutrients evenly filter down and out over a period of a month or so. the container traps bits and pieces, so one month you add your dry ferts, water and so on... the next month you don't know exactly how hot the soil is and if your going to burn your plants by adding more ( just my experience )

so start small brother,

 

[John Smith Esq.]

cheers buddy that gave me a lot of reassurance, next go ill prob start making bat poo tea, but this time around i think its the only way i can work it in there, ill try what you said bro, cheers again - prob only dress once in flower, believe i know exacly what you mean when you say watch for nutrient accumulation. its not fun!

 

[GanjaGardener]

I use a "soup"- cut the tea "waste" w/ 4-5 gal of water, agitate like hell to suspend solids and work in a little O2, (I use a culinary wire whip), pour, agitate, pour etc I leave about 2" of lip room @ transplant to accommodate the addition of 2 perlite top offs during the grow. I work the soup in w/ my fingers- the top 2-3 inches at the edge and down the sides and give the root ball a little massage nearer to the plant.

The idea is to disperse the solids as much as possible while disturbing the roots as little as possible. The main drawback to this method is stratification which can leads to O2 probs in the substrate. To counter:
- working the solids in w/ perlite helps.
- 2 cups ( or less) of solids/4-5 gal water- less mud
- 2 soup applications max during grow
- Follow up watering- straight H20 to help alleviate build-up and to further spread out solids.
- stratification shouldn't be a problem.

I came to this method by dissecting and examining root zones.

Good growing!

GG

PS My mix is 80% perlite

 

[woodsmaneh]

I top dress all the time and water in it is far more effective than any other way. Be sure to wear a fine particle mask when using any of the bat shit. If you get any of this in your lungs you can have very serious health issues.

 

[John Smith Esq.]

Be sure to wear a fine particle mask when using any of the bat shit. If you get any of this in your lungs you can have very serious health issues.

yeah on the tub its like if you get any in your eyes mouth or nose then your basically knocking years off your life. (slight exaggeration)

i tried it out on a couple of tester plants i had to one side, i just mixed a few spoons of bat poo into my normal canna terra soil re-potted and a few waters later i was surprised how much they'd perked up.

I well rate this stuff for anyone wanting to give it a go, definately gonna be working it into the soil in the future.

woodsmaneh - do you give the soil a stir after dressing, i was thinking about laying some on the top and watering in but i was worried about shit getting mouldy, literally.

 

[Seamaiden]

I top dress all the time and water in it is far more effective than any other way. Be sure to wear a fine particle mask when using any of the bat shit. If you get any of this in your lungs you can have very serious health issues.

Same here, I use two methods to ensure it doesn't form a crust that can promote diseases like pythium from forming. One is to scratch it in, literally, with a small rake or fork. The other is to mix the intended top-dressing with a small amount of soil as well as you can, and scratch that onto the top of the soil. I personally find the second method works best for ensuring good incorporation and NO crusting or matting. If you get a mat of bat shit up against your girls' trunks, rot could ensue, *not* a pretty sight.

Because it is bat poo, I won't use it for teas. I do have pre-made guano teas, bottled, that stink to hell and so they get mixed into a pre-made tea last thing, and that's as far as I'll go messing with that stuff.

 

[GanjaGardener]

FWIW, (which prolly isn't much), I make a guano slurry and add it to teas in that form. don't have to rdiddle w/ a mask as often and the slurry can be used straight up (w/ or w/o other addies) in other applications. Some guanos don't smell as bad as others. I haven't found anything better than guano tea for promoting flavor. But that's just my opinion and I don't want to stir up the pot.

 

[woodsmaneh]

I do stir it in, I use a small hand rake and scratch it up into the top 3 to 4 inches.

 

[GanjaGardener]

the slurry can be used straight up (w/ or w/o other addies) in other applications.

wrong. the straight up slurry has a coco base.

 

[John Smith Esq.]

i do see your point Ganja Gardener. the first application i tried was with a slurry kinda method, prolly more like a lazy man's tea? and i got in a right mess, i have a pipe system to water my plant and use filters on that which would fetch any particles out of my slurry so i hand waterted with a jug and it was a bitch the stuff was getting everywhere!!! i found it really hard not to get any on the lower leaves which didnt seem to effect them long term but it cant have been good. if i was in pots i think i would have done it this way.

OMG seamaiden, not sure why but it didnt even cross my mind to premix with a bit of soil and mix in, what a dumb ass, that would make it so much easier to apply.. im sold!

this is all very helpful info folks thank you.

 

[Seamaiden]

I'm glad the suggestion helped, but I can't take credit for the idea. My O-town sister told me to do it. She's also a big believer in chicken shit, but that's another story altogether.

 

[GanjaGardener]

i do see your point Ganja Gardener. the first application i tried was with a slurry kinda method, prolly more like a lazy man's tea? and i got in a right mess, i have a pipe system to water my plant and use filters on that which would fetch any particles out of my slurry so i hand waterted with a jug and it was a bitch the stuff was getting everywhere!!! i found it really hard not to get any on the lower leaves which didnt seem to effect them long term but it cant have been good. if i was in pots i think i would have done it this way.

OMG seamaiden, not sure why but it didnt even cross my mind to premix with a bit of soil and mix in, what a dumb ass, that would make it so much easier to apply.. im sold!

this is all very helpful info folks thank you.

Hi John
I use the slurry, (peanut butter consistency) in the root zone during transplant- from starter plug-> 3". coco, kelp, B-vit, rooting gel/hormone, guano paste, crab shell paste (for chitins- very good stuff!) I also use it in the r-zone when I go up to 3-5 gal w/ an unhappy plant- never use it above above grade.

Teas, I filter. I use unfiltered soups, (lazy man's tea?) a couple of times/ grow as my substrate starts out @ 90-95% perlite and can use some extra "fill" early in flower.

Lower leaves don't usually present a problem because my plant bases are pretty much cleared up, ie branches pruned; light lollipop. I hand water due to *potential* organic clog-up and pathogenic growth in line. Different paths, same goal. Perhaps I'm not fastidious enough to run and maintain feeder lines. I'm trying to help, not confuse.

I, too, can't take credit for everything, (most?) of what I pass along. The slurry concept was passed onto me from my "Merlin of the North", a consummate grower/breeder, friend and a hell of a good person to put up w/ me.:)