Best taste/quality buds...which bottled nutrients?

[H.A.F.]

It seems like, if even say the word..worm castings..fungus gnats start showing up.

If you are referring to storebought castings then maybe. I have two stackable-tray worm bins in my spare bedroom with a big pot of resting soil and a few already harvested pots sitting by the window just letting the cover crops die off while the stuff in the soil processes the root ball. I have no gnats whatsoever. And that's with a garden out the back door.

The fresh castings from live worms don't just have worm-poop. It is alive with smaller microorganisms like your nematodes and such, but there are beneficial mites, and sometimes springtails and rove beetles. All of these things stay in their happy little home rather than venturing out into your room because the pot is nice and warm and moist like they want it. And the population of these beneficial things create a positive 'pest-pressure' that doesn't allow invasive species to take hold. If a gnat lays some eggs they eat that shit.

There are also natural pest management things you can use as a preventative. I was as skeptical as they come when I started. I didn't want to let go of the calmag, and I did have gnats at first, from the fact that my soil wasn't alive yet. Fresh worm castings were actually what I used to finally beat them down and eradicate them forever.

 

[wierdly]

I have a worm bin in a spare bed room It had a few nats at first I was worried. but none now, I t seems like the worms keep the knats at bay. Also I add Neem meal to the soil and that is supposed to keep them down, crazy thing is before I went to the organics I had Knats everywhere. Even using only Peat perlite mix with bottle nutes. I had some with the Organics starting out but they just went away. I think it is because I am watering ao frequently with the liquid nutes instead of once/twice a week with the living soil. The soil in my pots now is dry on the top but moist deep inside so the nats dont have a place to do their thing.

 

[H.A.F.]

Could always get organic potting soil and add coco, perlite, castings and a couple scoops of a Dr Earth's products

I just saw this. Definitely. I spent $300 on the build-a-soil take-n-bake kit. 70g worth of premium ingredients you mix yourself. But once I started needing to re-ammend I jumped right into the Dr Earth catalog and got the whole smash. Not any of the pre-mixed fertilizers, but all the minerals, some guano, alfalfa meal, neem meal. etc. I do use the Compost Starter mix outside.

I cycle my azomite, langbeinite and greensand etc. through the worm bin first, instead of trying to mix it throughly in a big ass pile of soil.

You can definitely start with any soil you have and liven it up. I put a little vermicompost in the bottom of my seedling cups. Same as castings but a grid-size bigger for sifting. Most big worms are sifted out but I have found a few at transplant hanging out and chillin'. I have all that other life ready to jump on my roots as soon as they reach it. and I also have plenty of worm egg sacks as well, that are usually about eyelash to thumbnail size when I shift to one-gallons.

The biggest thing to wrap your brain around is that you are not feeding the plants. Like, how did those redwoods get so big if nothing feeds them?

 

[H.A.F.]

Fucking stoner...

So I was going to say that now re-ammending is mainly castings/compost. I have that charging up in the worm bins continuously and sift castings every time I need to mess with a bunch of soil. I add some Craft Blend, but not a lot. I also add insect frass and ground up malted barley.

While that soil is cooking/resting/whatever I have it in one big cloth pot with a big plant saucer upside down on the surface to keep moisture in for the worms. When I am watering something cool into the flowers in the tents I make sure there's enough leftover for the worm bins and the soiil pot. Even if it's just a splash they get their dose of Recharge, or sprouted seed tea, or whatever.

 

[lakegrow]

I switched to dry powder a couple of years ago and have not looked back. I use auto pots so basically hydro and a 25 gallon tank. The nuits I use is VBX by hydroponics research along with shine for bloom booster. I use the VBX alone for veg. 5ml vbx 2ml for shine all powder and mixes well, I have gone to putting 4 gallons at a time in tank and let her mix with my wave generator. Little build up and works well for me. Not the cheapest but at 5ml a gallon goes aways.

 

[Nobighurry]

I am reluctant to go organic, as the grow is in my bedroom...couple of feet from my bed. I am concerned with attracting pests. Also, I dont wanna use any poop in my bedroom. I grow in a small, highly productive...perpetual sea of green in 3 gallon containers. I put two in every week, and harvest two a week. Do you guys think I could pull off a soil grow in 3 gallon containers, or do I need bigger pots? In my system, plants finish up at around 3-4 feet. everything I read about living soil, says minimum 15 gallon pots...I dont have the space for that.

I have grown some great stuff in 5gal organic soil and once I had a handle on it used 3 gal less veg time more worm castings and occasional recharge it's great stuff...

 

[Dondell]

how big finished plant, can I grow in a 3 gal. with dirt?

 

[H.A.F.]

how big finished plant, can I grow in a 3 gal. with dirt?

In my opinion...


I did 3g pots and the fox farms 3-part. Best results were from vegging only 4 weeks, or as soon as the plants got several nodes going. Looking back I think a lot of my problems with "deficiencies" were the plant being root-bound and not having the soil-to-root ratio to get all the nutrients I was trying to feed them.

 

[H.A.F.]

Forgot to answer the damn question LOL. I got plants in the 1-2oz range depending on cultivar.

 

[Dondell]

Forgot to answer the damn question LOL. I got plants in the 1-2oz range depending on cultivar.

currently, I do 3-4 ft. plants, vegged 4-5 weeks, in 3 gal, coco and perlite. yeild 2-4 oz a plant. I water once a day. After 30 years, I still make overwatering mistakes...leading to fungus gnat battles. I'm scared that I will drown them if I go back to dirt...but the canna coco is getting too expensive. Considering a peat based mixed with heavy pumice/rice hulls...gettin weary of perlite dust and my backyard is covered with the stuff. it never goes away.

 

[H.A.F.]

currently, I do 3-4 ft. plants, vegged 4-5 weeks, in 3 gal, coco and perlite. yeild 2-4 oz a plant. I water once a day. After 30 years, I still make overwatering mistakes...leading to fungus gnat battles. I'm scared that I will drown them if I go back to dirt...but the canna coco is getting too expensive. Considering a peat based mixed with heavy pumice/rice hulls...gettin weary of perlite dust and my backyard is covered with the stuff. it never goes away.

I had gnats for the first few months after I starred organic. Over a year now and I saw one the other day, on the wall in my closet grow. Nothing on or around any of the plants or cover crops. I have a veggie garden right out the back door. Castings are key.

Best investment to start out with would be a worm bin. Get some worms going and figure out how to keep them happy. They will provide most of the food you need if you treat them like a prep area for the cannabis instead of just a kitchen scrap collector. Both are great fresh castings, but you can add things like kelp, alfalfa, barley etc and really charge up the nutes in the castings over and above the scraps.

For aeration I have been using pumice/lava stone. I have it in the soil mix and in the worm bins. As I sift out castings they go back in the new bedding with all the microbial life they have been housing.

As far as over and under watering, think Florida afternoon showers. I water my plants every two or three days, and just with 5-10% of the soil volume. The mulch and/or cover crop is mainly to prevent evaporation. I don't count on it to fix nitrogen from the air or any of that mumbo-jumbo. If it does that's fine, but the worms love life if you have a cover crop. Keep them happy and you win the weed grow.

 

[zipz55]

my best quality buds came from using Nectar for the Gods

 

[Nobighurry]

Shoot I didn't push post reply lol grew some monster plants in 3 gal 5-6ft but not on purpose had more sativa stretch then expected normally shot for 4ft ill see if I have any photos..

 

[Dondell]

I went back to flora nova, and the bud is way better. It stinks in here...

 

[NoWaistedSpace]

I had gnats for the first few months after I starred organic. Over a year now and I saw one the other day, on the wall in my closet grow. Nothing on or around any of the plants or cover crops. I have a veggie garden right out the back door. Castings are key.

Best investment to start out with would be a worm bin. Get some worms going and figure out how to keep them happy. They will provide most of the food you need if you treat them like a prep area for the cannabis instead of just a kitchen scrap collector. Both are great fresh castings, but you can add things like kelp, alfalfa, barley etc and really charge up the nutes in the castings over and above the scraps.

For aeration I have been using pumice/lava stone. I have it in the soil mix and in the worm bins. As I sift out castings they go back in the new bedding with all the microbial life they have been housing.

As far as over and under watering, think Florida afternoon showers. I water my plants every two or three days, and just with 5-10% of the soil volume. The mulch and/or cover crop is mainly to prevent evaporation. I don't count on it to fix nitrogen from the air or any of that mumbo-jumbo. If it does that's fine, but the worms love life if you have a cover crop. Keep them happy and you win the weed grow.

I put whole kernel corn in my worm bin one time. One time!
I opened the bin up and had a layer of corn roots and sprouts.
That was a clusterfuck trying to pull the roots out of those tiny squares in the bin screen. lol

 

[H.A.F.]

I put whole kernel corn in my worm bin one time. One time!
I opened the bin up and had a layer of corn roots and sprouts.
That was a clusterfuck trying to pull the roots out of those tiny squares in the bin screen. lol

My worms love tomatoes. I food-process most stuff I put in there but I have tomatoes popping up in my cover crop all the time now. Chop-n-drop baby LOL.

 

[NoWaistedSpace]

My worms love tomatoes. I food-process most stuff I put in there but I have tomatoes popping up in my cover crop all the time now. Chop-n-drop baby LOL.

The worms couldn't even move in that mess of roots I had. lol
My "lesson learned" that day was, corn grows "real good" inside a worm bin.
100% germination rate. Hahaha!

 

[H.A.F.]

Not sure what plant it is, maybe barley, but occasionally I'll find a 8-10" long sprout of something growing in the dark there.

 

[Nobighurry]

I put whole kernel corn in my worm bin one time. One time!
I opened the bin up and had a layer of corn roots and sprouts.
That was a clusterfuck trying to pull the roots out of those tiny squares in the bin screen. lol

My worms attack corn cobs so fast they look like sea corral in a day they also go crazy for corn meal-eggs shells and oatmeal blended into a powder it's like crack to them seen worm flip across top like a tumble weed lol

 

[H.A.F.]

I have gotten the same thing from Dyna Grow, everything looks good but it lacks the flavors and smell that I am looking for. I used Fox Farm in the past and seemed to get more flavors,

I just thought about this one. If you look at the FF 3-part, one of those three is basically an organic-ish tea. The other two are pure salt. I think the big bloom is the one that is just guano and kelp and whatnot. There's your flavor.