Growing Abroad: Getting Creative with Organic Nutes and Ferts

Hello everyone, long time no post.
I'm currently working abroad, but a friend just hooked me up with a bud CHOCK FULL of seeds. I can't speak to the potency of the bud or the genetics, but in any case, 10 of them sprouted and are growing in some potting soil I got from a friend.

So.....I've grown 3 times and 2 of them were completely organic. But this time I won't have access to organic nutrients labeled the way I am used to seeing them, if I have access to any at all. Can I use everyday natural food items and wastes to create my own fertilizers?

Examples:
1. Egg shells (I've heard they help add micronutrients)
2. Seaweed/Kelp (I'll have access to it, but can I create my own liquid extract?)
3. Animal Feces (It's likely I can find as much as I want, but do the animals need to have an organic diet for their shite to be truly organic?)
4. Bone Meal (If I can find some way to grind up my own... what animals are best?)
5 Worm Castings (Plenty of worms, put them in a bucket with soil, then scrape off some castings for tea?)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Growing organic is the way to go for sure, but farmers of old couldn't walk into a hydro shop and pick up a clean, pre-weighed, pre-concentrated bag of guano or the like. How did they do it?

If you have some time, a compost pile would be your best solution. You could dump in those egg shells (Calcium) and seaweed (N and K), along with non-meat table scraps and make a pretty nice compost.

There are plenty of DIY worm bins online, so if you have access to worms I would highly recommend doing this. I make my soil mixes around 40-45% worm castings. Castings are typically 1-0-0, depending on what is fed to the worms.

Manure is good too, but it needs to be composted and certain species of animal provide better manure than others.

You will need a fair amount of Nitrogen, so adding things like Alfalfa hay/meal or Soybean meal to the compost (or even directly to your soil) are options. Fish are also good sources of N, but I'm not sure if you can add them to your compost. You'd have to look into that.

What's most important is that your soil/compost provide the appropriate N-P-K ratio (+ trace elements). This chart lists the NPK value of various things, and may provide some new ideas for ingredients.

Do some more searching along these lines and good luck!

This website should be a good starting off point.

http://www.primalseeds.org/soil.htm

Jerry thanks for posting on how to make compost, that will be help to have for my next grow

Jerry Garcia said:

If you have some time, a compost pile would be your best solution. You could dump in those egg shells (Calcium) and seaweed (N and K), along with non-meat table scraps and make a pretty nice compost.

There are plenty of DIY worm bins online, so if you have access to worms I would highly recommend doing this. I make my soil mixes around 40-45% worm castings. Castings are typically 1-0-0, depending on what is fed to the worms.

Manure is good too, but it needs to be composted and certain species of animal provide better manure than others.

You will need a fair amount of Nitrogen, so adding things like Alfalfa hay/meal or Soybean meal to the compost (or even directly to your soil) are options. Fish are also good sources of N, but I'm not sure if you can add them to your compost. You'd have to look into that.

What's most important is that your soil/compost provide the appropriate N-P-K ratio (+ trace elements). This chart lists the NPK value of various things, and may provide some new ideas for ingredients.

Do some more searching along these lines and good luck!

Click to expand...

Awesome info Jerry. I really wish there was a way to spead up the decomposition process though. I want to start planting outdoors in 12 days and my compost pile still has fully intact mango peels and egg shells. I've put about 30 worms in the mixture to eat and do their thing, but is there anything I can do to accelerate the process so my compost is ready sooner?
Thanks a ton by the way

yes, water your soil, and mix it. and next time cut fruits and veggies into small peices before throwing in the soil and crush the eggs shells.

can somebody enlighten me on how to create grapefruit ash? Do you just burn the grapefruit and then mix the ash into water??