Someone school me please (soil to soiless)

[nouvellechef]

Yes sir. No flush whole cycle. Zero to no fade. Excellent flavor and more importantly, very very good burn quality.

 

[Fred]

Well, think about how it's done in an OD soil situation. You can't really flush the entire earth, ya know? And in California we've got to be so water-conscious, even on a well I try to be very conscientious of water consumption. I *do* use water only for the most part (the OD girls are on drippers, no fertigation yet).

Can't flush the entire earth. ++ Never thought about that. Thats true about conserving the water. I hate to use R/O because of the wasted water. Do you run a water only inside as well. Ammended soil or soilless?

Dang nouvellechef your making me want some. :)

fred

cant give rep to seamaiden yet...

 

[Seamaiden]

Indoors I run coco + rice hulls because it is sustainable and the rice hulls are 'greener' than perlite and similarly mined & processed products. During winter I am now using 100% harvested rainwater, simply mechanically filtered of particulate matter and heated, then during summer I use my RO/DI. The wastewater from the RO/DI goes to my landscaping plants, especially those that have higher water demands.

I was amending the coco, but it's just much easier to make a tea, strain it, and use that to charge the coco. I then use the solids I strained on other plants, because I find that I invite problems if I try to either mix it into the coco or top-dress with it (I use Botanicare compressed coco bales).

HTH.

 

[Fred]

Indoors I run coco + rice hulls because it is sustainable and the rice hulls are 'greener' than perlite and similarly mined & processed products. During winter I am now using 100% harvested rainwater, simply mechanically filtered of particulate matter and heated, then during summer I use my RO/DI. The wastewater from the RO/DI goes to my landscaping plants, especially those that have higher water demands.

I was amending the coco, but it's just much easier to make a tea, strain it, and use that to charge the coco. I then use the solids I strained on other plants, because I find that I invite problems if I try to either mix it into the coco or top-dress with it (I use Botanicare compressed coco bales).

HTH.

Good info Seamaiden. Do you think the solids attract gnats. I have been top-dressing with it and the gnats have terrible lately.

fred

 

[Seamaiden]

Possibly, but I get them everywhere, inside and out, in and on almost all plants, especially houseplants (I've finally gotten rid of the last of the houseplants). I know certain things definitely attract hornets, and in my world those things are bad news indeed!

 

[nouvellechef]

The organic media I use is rice hull and grade A peat based. I forgot to mention, if going with pro mix. The black bag is grade A and the white is grade C. Black being a much better choice as the peat will not breakdown over time nearly as fast. I generally recycle 10 times after harvest before the peat breaks down and becomes acidic. Lime only works so far as a buffer.

Also the rice hulls are silica based and do numerous things in the media. Not to mention just like the ammendments, dirt cheap! GL

 

[nouvellechef]

Here is a couple links where I get things in bulk. West Coast only. I make one trip a year for ammendments. Remember these ingredients last years. So for smaller farmers, one trip could last many, many years.

one pounder will innoculate 100's of plants. Mix and dip rooted clones.

is where I drive the truck, load up once yearly. They have distributors on routes you can also find it at. But pay middle man fees.

If live outside links are not permitted on this site, just let me know and I will modify, Srry in advance if so.

 

[jack_ripa]

He Ha man. I hear ya. I don't use it either but I know it works wonders. I use Genesis compound and Tonic but Hell yeah if you have been making teas then You'll do fine pro-mix. I like the flavor of buds grown in pro-mix better then any other. It's just my taste. But then again I still like a two week flush. Probably cost me a little but the buds are faded lime color and yummy yummy.

Got me thinking....can I get the same results with only a week flush?? What do you all think.


I'm all about the sugars baby. I use Bio-Bizz molasses based nutes and still use molasses or sucanat with Sweet at the end.

Not trying to run away with your thread but I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about that.


Keeping patient cost to a minimum is important for sure but I wonder why the good organic grown buds don't cost more then chem grown anyway. It cost more to produce. Everthing else thats organic cost more. I guess thats why the market is flooded with over fertilized unflushed chemical filled buds that taste like crap. It pays more to do so.

Not trying to get off track too much. I just have to deal with this all the time. People demanding organics but don't want to pay more for them.

It sounds like you have the skills you'll need to get a successful harvest. Happy growing. I'll be looking for a thread if you get one going. Follow you on your first pro-mix run.. that would be cool.

fred

No problem at all, take it where you need it to go my man.

I learn from every bit I read. I don;t agree that organic costs more though, it only costs more when you don't have the resources to make it your self. I am all about DIY. I am a farm boy whose mom teaches organic farming to commercial farmers so I am not completely noob here.

I'm thinking about a grow log but in my usual style (you may know me by other names) I won't post until it's over.

 

[jack_ripa]

The mix below is what I currently use. I find it has the same growth rate as soiless or hydro applications. 1tb per gal of water of feed grade mollases every other feeding in veg and every watering in flower. Once you get to over 1g per watt, being able to recycle the mix after harvest. Obv, depending on killowatt charges. At .08 a killo the cost per oz passed to the patients for us is $25 a oz, $10 our production cost. No Ph'ing whole cycle. As far as soiless mixes, I keep it very simple. 5.8 PH and GH 3 part with Cal/mag. Thats it. Touch more on costs, but close whem buying the bulk containers. I find i get the same results from both, but the soil application is what I like because I dont ever have to PH for entire cycle. Just my opinion though. GL

The crucial part is each rooted clone gets dipped in innoculant before heading into the mix. Divide recipe as needed. Pot gets 50% or less depending on how heavy of feeder the strain is. In general the mix will push every one I have. The thing about organic uptake is the plant will only uptake what it wants. Somtimes they act like out of control teenagers, IE defiences, but the recovery time is nothing and the ship gets righted fast and sails hard to the end. Best of luck, hope that helps.

18cf organic soil
12lb's blood meal
10lb's bone meal
14 cups Dolomite lime
4lb's epsom
9lb's rock phosphate
5lb's Azomite
1c humic acid
6lb's kelp meal
3lb's green sand
50lb's castings
11lb's guano-P
5lb's Bio-tone

Water and cook in baby pool for 30 days. Mixing daily. Watch out. The volitization will occur an produce heavy ammonia. I will discuss using alfalfa and soybean meal down the road. Still in test stages, but so far lookong like it will dominate the blood meal with no ammonia takeover.

Thanks for that. I always see these recipes and think "that's a lot of animal product meal" but hey, if you get good results...I may have to rethink.

 

[jack_ripa]

Possibly, but I get them everywhere, inside and out, in and on almost all plants, especially houseplants (I've finally gotten rid of the last of the houseplants). I know certain things definitely attract hornets, and in my world those things are bad news indeed!

I just apply some dunks mix and presto. hornets on the other hand....argh.

 

[UCtestn]

WOW, that's crazy all the work you guys do. My 16k grow in my sig is pro-mix. I've used it for a couple years straight from the bag. The back half of the trailer in my sig is Sunshine pro #4 which is the same as pro-mix.

I use an agent to flush whenever needed and at the end I have gone as far as 3 week flush (had to delay harvest on a planned 2 week flush for personal reasons) and a 3-4 day flush works for me. Of course this room drinks 40 gallons a day at the end, so that is probably why they flush so quick.

I PH at 6.0 and will up the PH to .1 on weeks 5,6,7,8 to end at a ph of 6.4 on the last feed.

I've run the pro-mix through a mulching machine and re used it.

I water based on container weight, not when the top is dry.

I have had several feeding patterns and I like to feed very low (200-400 ppm) in early veg, and feed/feed/feed/feed. Once they start needing water every other day I water/feed/water/feed.

 

[UCtestn]

My answers in Blue.

1. Is there stuff that soil has that I will be missing? (biological additives I might need?)I inoculate bennies once a month and every time I transplant
2. Will PH be different? How so? pH for soil can vary due to natural buffers. for soilless you want to maintain the same pHI PH at 6.0 in veg and raise the ph by .1 weeks 5,6,7,8 and end at 6.4 ph
3. Should I amend the mixture? if you feed with compost tea once a week it's not necessaryI have used teas and did not notice a difference. I do not amend the mix
4. If I amend with say, guano, should I adjust how I feed? yes because you are increasing your ppms by adding guanoI don't ammend, so I don't know.
5. Would vermiculite be a good thing to add or do I want to keep drainage fast to feed more? most people use soilless for quick drainage but you can add what you want Again, I use it as it comes in the bag
6. Should I be thinking more like a hydro grower? (I am used to that, done it for years)
yesI didn't know I thought like a hydro grower, but I've never used straight dirt.

have fun!