Worm casting/Molasses tea?

I'm going on my second week of flower growing with organic soil and I'm about to run out of nutes. like many other pre amended soils the nutes are only good for about 2 months, I'm using big Roots organic soil they have a bloom version but it's not available online so I'm wondering is there any opinions on this simple recipe of worm castings and black molasses? Is this recommended over bottle nutes or can somebody recommend me or direct me to something else? thank you.

AACTs are not really like nutrients. They do more to increase populations of microbes than they do to actually feed your plants. They do provide some NPK value but not like soluble nutrients can. The idea in organic growing is to put what is needed in the soil before the plant actually needs it. Worm tea helps the soil do what it is supposed to so if the soil is not yet devoid of nutrients then the tea could still help.
I think you may be better off finishing this grow with nutrients then amending and recycling the soil to start fresh in an organic grow for next run. That will give you time to get what you need. Another option is to use something stronger than or in addition to an EWC tea like fish fertilizer and/or organic spikes instead of regular synth nutes. A jobes spike feeds for 60 days in an active mix.
That's the problem. If you've been using nutes all this time it's likely your soil is devoid of microbial life which can be reversed with a worm tea regiment and/or adding worm castings to your container somehow through top dressing or transplant.

Richard Drysift said:

AACTs are not really like nutrients. They do more to increase populations of microbes than they do to actually feed your plants. They do provide some NPK value but not like soluble nutrients can. The idea in organic growing is to put what is needed in the soil before the plant actually needs it. Worm tea helps the soil do what it is supposed to so if the soil is not yet devoid of nutrients then the tea could still help.
I think you may be better off finishing this grow with nutrients then amending and recycling the soil to start fresh in an organic grow for next run. That will give you time to get what you need. Another option is to use something stronger than or in addition to an EWC tea like fish fertilizer and/or organic spikes instead of regular synth nutes. A jobes spike feeds for 60 days in an active mix.
That's the problem. If you've been using nutes all this time it's likely your soil is devoid of microbial life which can be reversed with a worm tea regiment and/or adding worm castings to your container somehow through top dressing or transplant.

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They have been getting nutes from the soil I've just been feeding with tap water every 4 to 5 days. What bottled nutes do you recommend?

organic crumbles/spikes/composted bunny pooh/worm castings/composted chicken shit, one or some of all even

Smokey_mc_pot said:

Thh ey have been getting nutes from the soil I've just been feeding with tap water every 4 to 5 days. What bottled nutes do you recommend?

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I used roots organic Buddha bloom a few years ago; my plants were yellow AF by week 5. Had to use cheapass synthetic bloom nutrients to get plants through until harvest. Organic grows do best when you prepare/amend the soil ahead of time. That way all you have to do is water them & give an occasional AACT. Switching everything around in week 3 of flowering might be more trouble than you want.
The only bottled products I recommend using are FF big bloom, neptunes harvest and cal-mag+. But without preparing your mix or at least top dressing your containers with a form of compost and fertilizer you may run into issues later on. Even weekly applications of AACTs may not be enough to keep them green through an entire bloom cycle unless you add a form of compost and fertilizer to the mix globally.
If you want to grow organic I suggest getting big ol bag of worm castings and a fertilizer of your choice like say cow or chicken manure. Mix it with fresh or recycled soil and maybe some extra perlite if it's real clumpy. Then either transplant into a bigass pot layered with this mix or top dress and mulch your pots. Granular mycorrhizae in the hole at each transplant helps with absorption. Push in an organic spike or 2 and keep them watered. Give an AACT every 1-3 weeks; here's a decent AP tea recipe:
EWC
FF big bloom
Kelp meal
Molasses
Liquid fish (neptunes harvest)
Bubble for 36+ hours with 1-5 gals clean (non chlorinated) water and serve

Richard Drysift said:

I used roots organic Buddha bloom a few years ago; my plants were yellow AF by week 5. Had to use cheapass synthetic bloom nutrients to get plants through until harvest. Organic grows do best when you prepare/amend the soil ahead of time. That way all you have to do is water them & give an occasional AACT. Switching everything around in week 3 of flowering might be more trouble than you want.
The only bottled products I recommend using are FF big bloom, neptunes harvest and cal-mag+. But without preparing your mix or at least top dressing your containers with a form of compost and fertilizer you may run into issues later on. Even weekly applications of AACTs may not be enough to keep them green through an entire bloom cycle unless you add a form of compost and fertilizer to the mix globally.
If you want to grow organic I suggest getting big ol bag of worm castings and a fertilizer of your choice like say cow or chicken manure. Mix it with fresh or recycled soil and maybe some extra perlite if it's real clumpy. Then either transplant into a bigass pot layered with this mix or top dress and mulch your pots. Granular mycorrhizae in the hole at each transplant helps with absorption. Push in an organic spike or 2 and keep them watered. Give an AACT every 1-3 weeks; here's a decent AP tea recipe:
EWC
FF big bloom
Kelp meal
Molasses
Liquid fish (neptunes harvest)
Bubble for 36+ hours with 1-5 gals clean (non chlorinated) water and serve

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Do you know where someone in the city could get some decent cow manure?

Home Depot had black cow brand in stock in the spring but might be harder to find it this time of year. When everyone is getting their gardens ready for the season in the spring that's when HD has alotta good stuff like manure and even straw mulch but it's seasonal. Walmart and lowes carries it but it is a seasonal item for both of them too. If you can't find it now there are alternatives.
Cow shit is good but I prefer chicken manure because it is faster releasing than bovine manure. Charlie's compost brand is the best & you can find it online. It's very good stuff but can burn plants if you get too crazy. Only need about a handful or so to feed a 10 gal container for months.

Richard Drysift said:

Home Depot had black cow brand in stock in the spring but might be harder to find it this time of year. When everyone is getting their gardens ready for the season in the spring that's when HD has alotta good stuff like manure and even straw mulch but it's seasonal. Walmart and lowes carries it but it is a seasonal item for both of them too. If you can't find it now there are alternatives.
Cow shit is good but I prefer chicken manure because it is faster releasing than bovine manure. Charlie's compost brand is the best & you can find it online. It's very good stuff but can burn plants if you get too crazy. Only need about a handful or so to feed a 10 gal container for months.

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So what would be your exact measurements per cubic foot of soil for this recipe of chicken/cow manure and worm castings? I see that chicken manure is easier to obtain I could get it at my local Lowe's or Home Depot easily so I guess I'll go with that. Would it be a good idea to take the top layer of my soil off and just add this mixture to the top as a replacement? If so would i who's good through flower or would I still have to add AACTs as well?

Richard Drysift said:

Home Depot had black cow brand in stock in the spring but might be harder to find it this time of year. When everyone is getting their gardens ready for the season in the spring that's when HD has alotta good stuff like manure and even straw mulch but it's seasonal. Walmart and lowes carries it but it is a seasonal item for both of them too. If you can't find it now there are alternatives.
Cow shit is good but I prefer chicken manure because it is faster releasing than bovine manure. Charlie's compost brand is the best & you can find it online. It's very good stuff but can burn plants if you get too crazy. Only need about a handful or so to feed a 10 gal container for months.

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damn I didn't know that about burning . Thanks for the tips I mixed a big ass 65lbs of potent chicken manure pellets into my bed with a bag of organic humus.Eveything cooled off already wonder if it will over heat .I saw that manure brand but got black cow on Amazon running a small bag trying it out

.I used a mix into my some pots not my bed.Im just letting it sit for next season . Instead of perlite using greensand mixed and its great .

weedhead24 said:

damn I didn't know that about burning . Thanks for the tips I mixed a big ass 65lbs of potent chicken manure pellets into my bed with a bag of organic humus.Eveything cooled off already wonder if it will over heat .I saw that manure brand but got black cow on Amazon running a small bag trying it out

.I used a mix into my some pots not my bed.Im just letting it sit for next season . Instead of perlite using greensand mixed and its great .

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Mixed into a large outdoor bed is different than inside a container. If your plants begin twisting just back off on it. Manure or any kind of organic fertilizer won't burn plants severely like synth nutes do. Cow manure is slower release than chicken shit so you can add a lot more without worrying about N burn as much.

Smokey_mc_pot said:

So what would be your exact measurements per cubic foot of soil for this recipe of chicken/cow manure and worm castings? I see that chicken manure is easier to obtain I could get it at my local Lowe's or Home Depot easily so I guess I'll go with that. Would it be a good idea to take the top layer of my soil off and just add this mixture to the top as a replacement? If so would i who's good through flower or would I still have to add AACTs as well?

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TBH I don't even really measure what I add with any kind of accuracy myself. I just kind of eyeball what I add to my mix by handfuls.....that is the quantity of dry amendment I can grasp on to without it falling through my fingers I consider a handful which measured out is about a cup to a cup & 1/2. If you want exact ratios plus soil and tea recipes go buy this book:
https://g.co/kgs/P7sYGX
Could be the best $20 you ever spent. Was for me.
To help answer your Q I can tell you what I do is add in a few "handfuls" of chicken manure to my recycling mix. I add about 3 lbs of cow manure or 1/4 of a 15 lb bag plus a handful each of all the other dry amendments and as much EWC as I can muster to a recycling soil bin which holds about 40+ gal. I let it set for a month after that to let it all cook in.
When I build the final size pots that are intended to feed plants through bloom phase to harvest I add one handful of chic and 3 handfuls of cow manure to 3 rusty shovel-fulls of recycled mix in the bottom of a 10g smartpot. I also push in 2 jobes spikes which feeds for like 60 days. This is all in the book btw. So I add fertilizer to the mix globally and I add some extra to each of my final size pots for bloom phase. Plus EWC which is just as important. I still give teas every so often but I'm not as regimented as I used to be.
AACTs help maintain high levels of microbial activity which makes your plants supernaturally healthy and green. You don't use them to feed plants as much as you use them to feed the soil. You will need AACTs more at the start of your organic adventure than you will once your established mix is uber rich in microbial life.
Yes you can top dress but you don't have to scoop out the top layer just layer it on top or do a full transplant to fresh mix. If you top dress I would mix the manure in with some soil first though to cut it down a bit and try to lay it all on the outside edge perimeter of your container so it's not right on top of any exposed roots. Add in some kelp meal too if you can. Hard to say if that will keep em green all the way to finish but if that's your aim push in 2 jobes AP organic spikes; one in each side of the container 180 deg apart from each other. Use a clean no chlorinated water source and give an AACT every 2-3 weeks. Water only after week 6. Hope that helps you & sorry for the longass reply

Richard Drysift said:

Mixed into a large outdoor bed is different than inside a container. If your plants begin twisting just back off on it. Manure or any kind of organic fertilizer won't burn plants severely like synth nutes do. Cow manure is slower release than chicken shit so you can add a lot more without worrying about N burn as much.

TBH I don't even really measure what I add with any kind of accuracy myself. I just kind of eyeball what I add to my mix by handfuls.....that is the quantity of dry amendment I can grasp on to without it falling through my fingers I consider a handful which measured out is about a cup to a cup & 1/2. If you want exact ratios plus soil and tea recipes go buy this book:
https://g.co/kgs/P7sYGX
Could be the best $20 you ever spent. Was for me.
To help answer your Q I can tell you what I do is add in a few "handfuls" of chicken manure to my recycling mix. I add about 3 lbs of cow manure or 1/4 of a 15 lb bag plus a handful each of all the other dry amendments and as much EWC as I can muster to a recycling soil bin which holds about 40+ gal. I let it set for a month after that to let it all cook in.
When I build the final size pots that are intended to feed plants through bloom phase to harvest I add one handful of chic and 3 handfuls of cow manure to 3 rusty shovel-fulls of recycled mix in the bottom of a 10g smartpot. I also push in 2 jobes spikes which feeds for like 60 days. This is all in the book btw. So I add fertilizer to the mix globally and I add some extra to each of my final size pots for bloom phase. Plus EWC which is just as important. I still give teas every so often but I'm not as regimented as I used to be.
AACTs help maintain high levels of microbial activity which makes your plants supernaturally healthy and green. You don't use them to feed plants as much as you use them to feed the soil. You will need AACTs more at the start of your organic adventure than you will once your established mix is uber rich in microbial life.
Yes you can top dress but you don't have to scoop out the top layer just layer it on top or do a full transplant to fresh mix. If you top dress I would mix the manure in with some soil first though to cut it down a bit and try to lay it all on the outside edge perimeter of your container so it's not right on top of any exposed roots. Add in some kelp meal too if you can. Hard to say if that will keep em green all the way to finish but if that's your aim push in 2 jobes AP organic spikes; one in each side of the container 180 deg apart from each other. Use a clean no chlorinated water source and give an AACT every 2-3 weeks. Water only after week 6. Hope that helps you & sorry for the longass reply

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Thanks man no worries about the long replies I'm soaking up all of this like a sponge. I wasn't talking about adding chicken manure by itself as a top dressing I meant mixing the chicken manure with the worm castings and some fresh soil then adding it as a top dressing. My question is will this top-dressing be enough nutrients to get my girls through flowering? Or do i top dress and then add some bottled nuttients aswell? Also do I have to let the mix of worm castings, chicken manure and fresh soil cook?

chemphlegm said:

organic crumbles/spikes/composted bunny pooh/worm castings/composted chicken shit, one or some of all even

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And any one of these act as nutrients for the plants?

Smokey_mc_pot said:

And any one of these act as nutrients for the plants?

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not really. they are broken down by the symbiotic relationships taking place in the soil web
of fungi, water, and micro beasties. When that happens these organic items then become digested into
a new usable nutrient salt that the plant can uptake.
I only use chicken shit with calcium for a perfect finish.
a grow bible will save you a ton of wasted time, rosenthal, cervantes are good ones I've read

Why not just use organic nutrient tea?
Just soak soluble nutes 24 hrs, then apply. No aeration necessary.
I've got 10 gallons soaking right now that will be used on my ornamental plants in the front yard. It's got more N (blood meal) than I would use on my cannabis right now. For cannabis, I'd stick with bat guano, and and a seaweed that's got a lot of potassium, like maxicrop 0-0-17. I also like to add a teaspoon of Floralicious Plus to each 5 gal bucket for aminos, humic & fulvic. It's also got a little N.

If I purchased a Bin like this one https://www.amazon.com/VermiHut-5-Tray-Worm-Compost-Green/dp/B018RU0BAS/ Would anyone be able to tell me how to go about setting it up? I'm sure it has directions, but I like to actually know what im getting into, and im sure there are some things you should do that the directions wont say

papa canna said:

If I purchased a Bin like this one https://www.amazon.com/VermiHut-5-Tray-Worm-Compost-Green/dp/B018RU0BAS/ Would anyone be able to tell me how to go about setting it up? I'm sure it has directions, but I like to actually know what im getting into, and im sure there are some things you should do that the directions wont say

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That's a great price! You'll probably need more than five trays.
Proper moisture is everything. Too wet or dry will cause major problems.

Chunky Stool said:

That's a great price! You'll probably need more than five trays.
Proper moisture is everything. Too wet or dry will cause major problems.

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What would you do with more than 5? Even the factory 360 has 5 trays. I'm on a small scale. 4 plants, 600w HID

I employed 12 of those for two years here as my only source of nutrient supply. was the laborious job I've done in my life, well, hot tar roofing sucked too. daily lifting of wet heavy worm fill dirt, tray transfers, etc.

follow the directions like you say, all will be fine. dont think about what they need, just do what the instructions tell you to.
if indoors do not use food items. the only thing my worms were fed was dry trim, about a five gallon pail every week or so.
good luck

papa canna said:

What would you do with more than 5? Even the factory 360 has 5 trays. I'm on a small scale. 4 plants, 600w HID

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Oh I don't know... probably use them?
I've got nine trays and eight of them are currently in use.
The size of your medicine garden is irrelevant. It all boils down to how much worm food you generate. Worm population will adjust to how much they are fed, and like any housing facility, when you have more tenants, you need more space for them. .

papa canna said:

If I purchased a Bin like this one https://www.amazon.com/VermiHut-5-Tray-Worm-Compost-Green/dp/B018RU0BAS/ Would anyone be able to tell me how to go about setting it up? I'm sure it has directions, but I like to actually know what im getting into, and im sure there are some things you should do that the directions wont say

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Smart move on doing your research first. Worms are super easy if you start out right. Not so much if you're trying to correct mistakes or omissions after the worms arrive.

I would really suggest a visit to www.redwormcomposting.com for some very informative reading. When Bently started in the worm business he was also learning worm wrangling and began blogging about his experiences, ideas, what worked and more importantly, what didn't.

That's a big problem with a lot of 'internet experts'. They are quick to tout the latest and greatest amendments or techniques, but say little or nothing if they don't work as planned and leaving the poor schlubs that hang on their every word to hopefully figure it out on their own.

Research that bin you linked to closely. I dug a bit deeper and found out the worm trays are like 11 1/2"x11 1/2". That's a bit on the small side, and with worms, surface area is way more important than the depth of the tray. IIRC, the worm 360's trays are 16"x16". Something to check out.

I use Rubbermaid totes and have no working knowledge of any stackable tray systems, but there are plenty that do use them with great results.