I currently run house and garden nutrients, but I want to switch organics so i've been looking around to try and find the best overall quality nutrient lineup. I'm going to do a full run through veg and flower using the house and garden nutes on half my plants and do the other half the organic line i choose. Ive heard a lot of good things about roots organic, and looked on their website and saw they have a small sample pack of all there basic liquid nutrients for $40, but i would definately need at least a couple of those if i went that route to do a full side by side. there line is way cheaper than house and gardens and that makes a big difference to me, but i didnt want to go with super soil because i feel i feel putting nutrients in during feedings along with soil mixtures give you way more control of your plants. the other line i was looking at was canna nutrients which im pretty sure are all veganic. The problem is I'm very new to organics and still new to growing in general, so im not entirely sure all the nutrients I need to get or Which companies to trust giving my money to, especially with what some of them charge. I also was wondering what experience anyone has had with roots organic soil, and how it compares to happy frog or other organic soils. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
switching to organics
- Thread starter BUDies
- Start date
To grow organic you will want to build a base soil. Use 1 part compost ( get many different sources ),1 part vermiculite, 1 part peat moss. You will want to make your own sources of fertilizer instead of buying everything. All you will need to add is worm castings every year or to top dress and brew your own tea also the casting juice . To make your own compost is super cheap probably cheaper than 1 bottle of anything; and I know I've used House and garden before. Super cheap. Base soil+Making your own castings or compost+AACT = success 
stage your pots so your not depleting your plants. Feed your soil not your plants! You will do great.
I believe it will be your best crop yet. Watch some youtube videos on Composting/ compost teas/ building soil for square foot gardens.
stage your pots so your not depleting your plants. Feed your soil not your plants! You will do great. I believe it will be your best crop yet. Watch some youtube videos on Composting/ compost teas/ building soil for square foot gardens.Thanks man, i really like the idea of using soil recipes as it simplifies watering a lot, ive seen videos on many different AACT's, some seem to be specifically for veg and flower and some the people that made them say to use every two weeks throughout the grow. Ive never looked at the composts or other organic soil mixes, im assuming they sell them at the hydro store and are there any specific products you recommend or will all peat moss and vermiculite be basically the same?
georgyboy
Active Member
If you really want to experience organics then as the poster above said you need a base soil. Do not waste your time or money on bottle organic nutrient lines. Build a healthy soil rich with microbes to feed a healthy and robust root system. With a good complete soil, like subcool's super soil for example, you will not need to control your plants because they will already have everything they need. You put in all the work up front then add water and watch the payoff. What happens in organic gardening is the nutrients are added to the soil in their raw forms, often times unavailable to the plant. Microscopic bacteria and fungi then work to breakdown these raw materials into a form the plant can consume. Making an aerated compost tea will be the only kind of feeding reminiscent to chemical nutrients you should really experience in true organics. Try to find a copy of "teeming with microbes." This book is full of priceless information about the symbiotic relationship between microbial life and plants, and helps give us understanding of how a plant naturally feeds from the dirt.
As a side note avoid using straight peat as the "dirt" in your base soil. As peat breaks down, it becomes increasingly acidic, and if it makes up a large portion of your soil then you will end up with major ph fluctuations at some point. Don't forget to add lime!
As a side note avoid using straight peat as the "dirt" in your base soil. As peat breaks down, it becomes increasingly acidic, and if it makes up a large portion of your soil then you will end up with major ph fluctuations at some point. Don't forget to add lime!
Make your own to get stellar results like fire og kush and such.Soil gets way to expensive.Peat moss and vermiculite don't break down. Compost does so just start a pile based on your indoor needs.and you will reuse all your soil. Get a Worm composter in your kitchen if possible. Check out some videos on soil building andvermiculture .
Moebius
Well-Known Member
Vermiculite breaks down into a sludge ... actually so will Peat moss given enough time.
Nullis
Moderator
There are a lot of ways to grow organically. Various people are going to recommend you do different things, just keep that in mind and try not to let that confuse you.
Liquid organics are very convenient, they don't have to be expensive and certainly good to have handy should you experience any deficiencies. Have used Earth Juice quite extensively, more recently with General Organics. You don't have to make your own soil, or keep a worm farm, honestly (unless you want to). I have used Roots Organic potting mix in the past, a couple years ago, don't remember having any issues with it. Happy Frog also works for seedlings and clones. I prefer to have coco coir in my mixes, which is already present in some such as RO and Sunshine Advanced Mix #4. Otherwise you can buy it in compressed bricks, or ready to use.
Happy Frog, Light Warrior, Sunshine AM#4, Pro-Mix, et al., are all fine for seedlings and clones. Some soils such as Fox Farm Ocean Forest have stronger ingredients and may not be suitable for starting seeds (depends who you ask). It would benefit you to be able to read and understand product labels, so you can know what a product is made of and how\when it is supposed to be used. If you're buying pre-mixed, check out the ingredients so you can determine if you even want the product and if you may need to add anything.
SAM#4, for example, is just: Canadian sphagnum peat moss, coco coir, perlite and dolomite lime (and it has been inoculated with beneficial fungi). This tells us it is strictly a soil-less mix and it isn't designed to supply much in the way of primary plant nutrients. This is the kind of media you could simply amend with some compost, humus or earthworm castings to start seeds in, or prepare with dry granular organic nutrients (Espoma -Tone products, guanos) in various ways, depending on stage of growth, or blend with a stronger soil like Ocean Forest.
You can tell OF is a much richer soil by looking at the ingredients: Composted forest humus*, sphagnum peat moss, Pacific Northwest sea-going fish, crab meal, shrimp meal, earthworm castings*, vermicultural compost*, sandy loam, perlite, fossilized bat guano, granite dust*, Norwegian kelp meal and oyster shell* (for pH adjustment).
The ingredients in bold is where most of the primary nutrients come from, it has already been heavily amended as we can see.
*Forest humus, compost and earthworm castings are all essentially forms of thoroughly decayed organic matter (humus); the result of decomposition by detritivores and soil micro-organisms, various types of which remain in the finished product (e.g. earthworm castings are dominated by bacteria). Humus is carbon rich and contains humates\humic substances which are quite complex substances that play a role in the assimilation and transport of nutrient ions by plants. Depending on the source it will also contain some available and potentially available primary nutrients as well as minerals and trace elements, as well as various species of bacteria, archea, fungi, protozoans, nematodes and perhaps even some micro-athropods. Granite dust provides slow-release potassium (K) and trace elements. Oyster shell is just calcium carbonate, so it provides calcium and adjusts the pH of the medium.
I would recommend adding dolomite limetone (at least 1 tbsp\gal) to any mix you don't plan to transplant within a couple weeks add more the longer you plan to go without a transplant (dolomite provides some Mg as well as Ca).
Liquid organics are very convenient, they don't have to be expensive and certainly good to have handy should you experience any deficiencies. Have used Earth Juice quite extensively, more recently with General Organics. You don't have to make your own soil, or keep a worm farm, honestly (unless you want to). I have used Roots Organic potting mix in the past, a couple years ago, don't remember having any issues with it. Happy Frog also works for seedlings and clones. I prefer to have coco coir in my mixes, which is already present in some such as RO and Sunshine Advanced Mix #4. Otherwise you can buy it in compressed bricks, or ready to use.
Happy Frog, Light Warrior, Sunshine AM#4, Pro-Mix, et al., are all fine for seedlings and clones. Some soils such as Fox Farm Ocean Forest have stronger ingredients and may not be suitable for starting seeds (depends who you ask). It would benefit you to be able to read and understand product labels, so you can know what a product is made of and how\when it is supposed to be used. If you're buying pre-mixed, check out the ingredients so you can determine if you even want the product and if you may need to add anything.
SAM#4, for example, is just: Canadian sphagnum peat moss, coco coir, perlite and dolomite lime (and it has been inoculated with beneficial fungi). This tells us it is strictly a soil-less mix and it isn't designed to supply much in the way of primary plant nutrients. This is the kind of media you could simply amend with some compost, humus or earthworm castings to start seeds in, or prepare with dry granular organic nutrients (Espoma -Tone products, guanos) in various ways, depending on stage of growth, or blend with a stronger soil like Ocean Forest.
You can tell OF is a much richer soil by looking at the ingredients: Composted forest humus*, sphagnum peat moss, Pacific Northwest sea-going fish, crab meal, shrimp meal, earthworm castings*, vermicultural compost*, sandy loam, perlite, fossilized bat guano, granite dust*, Norwegian kelp meal and oyster shell* (for pH adjustment).
The ingredients in bold is where most of the primary nutrients come from, it has already been heavily amended as we can see.
*Forest humus, compost and earthworm castings are all essentially forms of thoroughly decayed organic matter (humus); the result of decomposition by detritivores and soil micro-organisms, various types of which remain in the finished product (e.g. earthworm castings are dominated by bacteria). Humus is carbon rich and contains humates\humic substances which are quite complex substances that play a role in the assimilation and transport of nutrient ions by plants. Depending on the source it will also contain some available and potentially available primary nutrients as well as minerals and trace elements, as well as various species of bacteria, archea, fungi, protozoans, nematodes and perhaps even some micro-athropods. Granite dust provides slow-release potassium (K) and trace elements. Oyster shell is just calcium carbonate, so it provides calcium and adjusts the pH of the medium.
I would recommend adding dolomite limetone (at least 1 tbsp\gal) to any mix you don't plan to transplant within a couple weeks add more the longer you plan to go without a transplant (dolomite provides some Mg as well as Ca).
