I recently switched to organic living soil and I have become one of those annoying born-again Growers, passionate about bringing the word Organics to the people, LoL. Forgive me please, but I cannot help myself.
I used to grow in a 50/50 blend of Peat and Vermiculite using GH's FloraGrow bottled nutes and absolutely hated all the work that went into growing that way, including the testing, pH'ing, mixing, measuring and logging of data. But in the end, those nutes worked and my yields were average for 3, 5, and 7 gallon pots. So I started reading about organics and how a diverse living soil will break down the organics into the ionic form that plants can uptake and how endo-mychorizal fungi sends its hyphae into the plant's roots to feed on simple sugars that the plant supplies it with and in turn it feeds the plant phosphorous that it's breaking down for it.
Fellow growers: if plants are classified as autotrophs, why are we serving as their waiters, Chef's and busboys? That's just crazy. It was time for a change. Let those little critters do all the work for a change.
Now, since I am on the lazy side, I chose a commercial soil: Coast of Maine's Stonington Blend. It was specifically designed for cannabis growers and the base is lobster compost. I mean, come on - that stuff is full of chitin! My plants just love it and they stay green and healthy throughout the entire grow and bulk up like the friggin Hulk during late flower. My last harvest was 19 ounces, dry-weight right before the cure begins at 62% RH, which is my personal preference.
I live in NYC where our tap water tests at 45ppm with a neutral pH, so I use a ZeroWater filter to remove the fluoride. I've got a 3x3 tent with a MarsHydro TS3000 (450w) LED light. I'm running a 4" AC Infinity in-line exhaust fan with a 69Pro Controller attached. Also inside the tent are a 4" AC Infinity Oscillating fan and a SpiderFarmer humidifier with a temp and humidity probe.
That's a 10 gallon cloth pot filled with Stonington Blend Organic Natural Grower's Mix. Unfortunately, I anticipated that I'd start growing 3 months earlier than I did, so the bag I ordered dried out - badly. I chose to add Recharge and about 4 cups of castings with R.O.'d water. I'm hoping the Recharge microbes will be a sufficient replacement to what I lost as I allowed that bag to dry out. I added a small amount of Blackstrap molasses to a recent watering to feed those microbes. I also add liquid silica in mfr's recommended quantity to the first few waterings of the plant.
Pictured below is my setup and the new seedling, which I'll soon declare is in veg. It's exactly 11 days old. I'm currently watering every 3 days and using slightly more than a gallon per. I haven't watered to runoff yet but it's been close.
I wanted to share this grow in order to demonstrate how easy it is to grow with organics. I'm hoping that someone out there who has been frustrated with their growing results reads this, is inspired to change and they harvest a heavy and potent yield, putting big smiles on their faces.
I used to grow in a 50/50 blend of Peat and Vermiculite using GH's FloraGrow bottled nutes and absolutely hated all the work that went into growing that way, including the testing, pH'ing, mixing, measuring and logging of data. But in the end, those nutes worked and my yields were average for 3, 5, and 7 gallon pots. So I started reading about organics and how a diverse living soil will break down the organics into the ionic form that plants can uptake and how endo-mychorizal fungi sends its hyphae into the plant's roots to feed on simple sugars that the plant supplies it with and in turn it feeds the plant phosphorous that it's breaking down for it.
Fellow growers: if plants are classified as autotrophs, why are we serving as their waiters, Chef's and busboys? That's just crazy. It was time for a change. Let those little critters do all the work for a change.
Now, since I am on the lazy side, I chose a commercial soil: Coast of Maine's Stonington Blend. It was specifically designed for cannabis growers and the base is lobster compost. I mean, come on - that stuff is full of chitin! My plants just love it and they stay green and healthy throughout the entire grow and bulk up like the friggin Hulk during late flower. My last harvest was 19 ounces, dry-weight right before the cure begins at 62% RH, which is my personal preference.
I live in NYC where our tap water tests at 45ppm with a neutral pH, so I use a ZeroWater filter to remove the fluoride. I've got a 3x3 tent with a MarsHydro TS3000 (450w) LED light. I'm running a 4" AC Infinity in-line exhaust fan with a 69Pro Controller attached. Also inside the tent are a 4" AC Infinity Oscillating fan and a SpiderFarmer humidifier with a temp and humidity probe.
That's a 10 gallon cloth pot filled with Stonington Blend Organic Natural Grower's Mix. Unfortunately, I anticipated that I'd start growing 3 months earlier than I did, so the bag I ordered dried out - badly. I chose to add Recharge and about 4 cups of castings with R.O.'d water. I'm hoping the Recharge microbes will be a sufficient replacement to what I lost as I allowed that bag to dry out. I added a small amount of Blackstrap molasses to a recent watering to feed those microbes. I also add liquid silica in mfr's recommended quantity to the first few waterings of the plant.
Pictured below is my setup and the new seedling, which I'll soon declare is in veg. It's exactly 11 days old. I'm currently watering every 3 days and using slightly more than a gallon per. I haven't watered to runoff yet but it's been close.
I wanted to share this grow in order to demonstrate how easy it is to grow with organics. I'm hoping that someone out there who has been frustrated with their growing results reads this, is inspired to change and they harvest a heavy and potent yield, putting big smiles on their faces.
