PPM's with organic food?

So I'm gonna give Neptune's Harvest a shot and I was wondering if reading the ppm's is the same as reading it with a chemical food? If I'm feeding with say 1200 ppm of chemical nutes in bloom would I take my organic nutes up to the same level and will the ppm meter read it correctly?

From what I've learned so far (I am by no means and expert, so this is just my humble opinion), no, it's not the same. Many organic nutrients are electrically inert, and because a ppm meter relies on the electrical conductivity of chemical salts, you won't get a reading anywhere close to accurate. I tried this once just for shits and gigs, and tested the ppm of my full strength vegetative organic nutrient solution, and it came back at about 150ppm, whereas the 'equivalent' dose of chemical nutes would have been about 1200ppm.

There is also the issue that many organic nutrients are not immediately available, and must first be broken down by bacteria in the soil before they release their nutritional value to the plant. So whatever concentration you have on day one, can change and even increase as days pass. Chemical nutes are immediately available and at full concentration.

So in summary, organic nutrients are much more difficult to determine the proper 'dose' if you are the type of person like myself who relies on feeding charts and very specific measurements. However, organics are also much more forgiving, in that they are less likely to burn the plant so getting the dosage exact is not nearly as important as chemicals.

Sooooo I'm gonna try Neptunes harvest and I would like to feed correctly, the bottle says 1 tablespoon every 2-3 weeks which I KNOW isn't enough so how do you properly feed your ladies the right amount?

I'm trying to get away from ammonium nitrates in my foods cause I think it keeps locking out my magnesium and possibly a few other things, anyone have any suggestions...

max316420 said:

Sooooo I'm gonna try Neptunes harvest and I would like to feed correctly, the bottle says 1 tablespoon every 2-3 weeks which I KNOW isn't enough so how do you properly feed your ladies the right amount?

Click to expand...

Trial and error, like most stuff and especially in organics.

I'd start with what it says on the bottle and observe. Don't try and out think the manufacturers till you actually see how the stuff works with your plants and set up.

Wet

Since it takes time to start working should I start feeding my freshly rooted cuttings (even before transplanting?) to get a jumpstart on it?

BTW they are rooted in promix and will be transplanted into pots with promix (no food added in promix)

IDK, perhaps a diluted feed?

I'm pretty easy with fresh rooted clones and nutes. I'll transplant the newly rooted into party cups of un amended used mix (still has traces of 'stuff'), and then into the fresh, hotter mix.

Too much, too soon seems to do more to slow you up than a little, later.

Wet

I do my cuttings in small party cups filled with promix, they are usually rooted by time the cups need to be rewatered. But I'm waiting on a few more to root so I fed with 1/4 strength neptunes. Gonna stay in promix (wo food) and just feed w waterings. Thats why I was thinking to start lite feedings now? This is what most of them look like now...








I will also be using mycos...

Can anyone recommend food I can supplement my promix with, a dry food I can premix before I transplant them to the pots they will spend the rest of their lives in. They will veg in the new promix for 10-20 days then be put into flowering.

What I would do is brew up a batch of compost tea, and add some soluble organic nutrients to it as well; so you're getting both the beneficial microorganisms in addition to some immediate nutrition for your plant. Brew the tea for a few days, and then dose the promix with the tea, and by the time you are ready to transplant into the promix, the soil should be teaming with beneficial micros and have a nice dose of food for them as well. If you use things like fish emulsion and liquid kelp exctract, they will provide plenty of nutrition immediately, but they are also not likley to burn the cuttings.

By any chance do you have a recipe for a compost tea?

Would it be better to use RO water when using organic foods?

Kudos solid thread thank you!!! From what i have learned when doing organics and the research into it, you just have to make sure the water containes no chlorine/chlormine(sp) either of those in your water source will kill everything organics is all about. Just make sure you add CaMg+ if you do get RO or distilled h20 since it removes everything. I bought a ppm/tds etc meter right before i switched to trying Organics and everyone says you dont need one. Dont PH dont PPM etc. Ive been going by the bottle/feeding chart(General Organics) everything looks okay so far except for some leaf tip discoloration earlier on. Check out my set up if you have time!

Ok so I have another question? I'm gonna try brewing my own compost tea, Do I use the tea to water my plants every time they need watering?

Here is what I'm currently using as my tea. This is in a 5 gallon pail of water, bubbled with an airstone 24/7. On my farm we use irrigation water that is not chlorinated, and my ppm are about 65, so it's no problem. I've never bothered with distilled or RO water because it's not a problem where I live. If you've got chlorinated water, just let it sit out for one day and the chlorine evaporates in about 24 hours.

1 Cup of earth worm castings
2 Tbsp blackstrap mollasses
2 Tbsp of liquid seaweed or kelp extract
2 Tbsp of Epsom Salts
2 Tbsp of Fish Emulsion
2 Tbsp of High Nitrogen Guano (switch this with high phosphorous guano when in flower)

Bubble this for two to three days with an air pump. When it starts getting frothy on top and smelling yeasty, this is a sign that the microherd has been well proliferated and is healthy. If things start to smell really rotten, you've got some baddies brewing and it needs to be dumped out.

Scoop out about 1 cup of tea, and dilute in 1 litre of water, and feed.

I've fed the tea once per week with no problems, and could likely even go to every single time I water - but I'm a little over-cautious due to a paranoia of burning my plants (did this a LOT when using chemical nutes). The thing with tea is that it's pretty hard to burn the plants as long as you aren't using high concentrations of guano or other really 'hot' organic nutrients like blood meal. It really depends a lot on the strain too. If you have plants that are more nute hungry, they can take tea each watering no problems, and at less dilute concentrations.

The goal with my tea is to supplement my already fertilized soil - it provides low dose balanced nutrition, feeds the healthy bacteria, and inoculates my soil with this same bacteria. It is not meant to be a nutrient replacement. Some people who use tea as their only source of nutrition use higher concentrations of guanos and such, but that's not my goal as I already have nutrients in my soil.

To be honest, it really is trial and error. The plants I'm growing may take more or less than yours, but this should at least give you a starting point.

Hope this was helpful.

max316420 said:

I'm trying to get away from ammonium nitrates in my foods cause I think it keeps locking out my magnesium and possibly a few other things, anyone have any suggestions...

Click to expand...

Brew some basic EWC/compost tea on a regular basis. That'll keep the ammonium concentration in soil in check.

elduece said:

Brew some basic EWC/compost tea on a regular basis. That'll keep the ammonium concentration in soil in check.

Click to expand...

Like the recipe he posted above?

max316420 said:

Like the recipe he posted above?

Click to expand...

That will work too.