Here are some tried and true recipes for getting started in organic growing. Pick one of the first two soiless mix recipes for your grow medium. Then, choose a nute recipe that will work best for what you have available.

Enjoy...

Here are two very good organic soiless mixes...

LC’s Soiless Mix #1:
5 parts Canadian Spaghnam Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts wormcastings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
...Check the link in my sig line below for cheap earthworm castings. Free shipping to the eastern USA.

Or, if you use Pro Mix or Sunshine Mix...
LC's Soiless Mix #2:
6 parts Pro Mix BX or HP / Sunshine Mix (any flavor from #1 up)
2 parts perlite
2 parts earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
If you use a 3 qt. saucepan as “parts� in the amounts given above, it equals about 1 cu. ft. of soiless mix and you can just dump in a cup of powdered dolomite lime.

Now for the plants organic food source

RECIPE #1
If you want to use organic nutes like blood, bone and kelp...
Dry Ferts:
1 tablespoon blood meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
2 tablespoons bone meal per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
1-tablespoon kelp meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix or Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract as directed
1 tablespoon per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of Jersey Greensand to supplement the K (potasium) in the Kelp Meal and seaweed extract.
Mix all the dry ferts into the soiless mix well and wet it, but don't soak it with Liquid Karma and water @ 1 tbs./gal. Stir and mix it a few times a week for a week or two so the bacteria can get oxygen and break down the bone meal and make it available. And don't let the mix dry out, keep it moist and add water as needed. It'll also have time to get the humic acids in the Liquid Karma going and the dolomite lime will be better able to adjust the pH of a peat based mixture too.


RECIPE #2
If you want to use guano in your soil mix...
Bongaloids guano mix
1/3C hi N guano per gallon
1/2C hi Phos guano per gallon
1TBS Jersey greensand per gallon
1TBS Kelp meal per gallon


RECIPE #3 (My favorite)
If you want to use guano tea and kelp...

Guano Tea and Kelp:

Seedlings less than 1 month old nute tea mix-
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
1-cup earthworm castings/5 gallons of water every 3rd watering

Veg mix-
1/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano (PSG)
1/3 cup High N Bat Guano (Mexican)
1/3 cup Earth Worm Castings (EWC)
5 tsp. Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
5 tbs. Liquid Karma
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
@ 1-cup mix/5 gallons of water every 3rd watering.

Flowering nute tea mix:
2/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano
2/3 cup Earth Worm Castings
2/3 cup High P Guano (Indonesian or Jamaican)
5 tbs. Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
@ 2 cups/5 gallons of water EVERY watering.
You can use queen size knee high nylon stockings for tea bags. 3 pair for a dollar at the dollar store. Tell 'em you use them for paint strainers. Put the recommended tea in the stocking, tie a loop knot in it and hang it in your tea bucket. The tea should look like a mud puddle. Agitate the bag in the water vigorously. An aquarium pump and air stone will dissolve oxygen into the solution and keep the good bacteria (microherd) alive and thriving. Let it bubble a day or two before you use it. If you find you are making too much tea and having to throw it out, use 2 1/2 gallons of water and cut the nute amount by half.


RECIPE #4
Three Little Birds Method
40 gallons used soil
4 cups alfalfa meal
4 cups bone meal
4 cups kelp meal
4 cups powdered dolomite lime
30 pound bag of earthworm castings . . .
That’s the basic recipe . . .
However we also like to use
4 cups of Greensand
4 cups of Rock Phosphate
4 cups of diatomaceous earth


RECIPE #5
Fish and Seaweed

For veg growth…
1 capful 5-1-1 Fish Emulsion
1 capful 0-0-1 Maxicrop liquid
1 gallon H2O

For flowering…
1 tbs. Neptune’s Harvest 2-3-1 Fish/Seaweed
1 gallon H2O


RECIPE #6
And finally Pure Blend Pro...
Pure Blend Pro veg formula for hydro/soil and Pure Blend Pro flower formula for Soil. Simply use as directed on the label. It's a stand-alone fertilizer. That means, everything you need is already in there so don't let the guy at the hydro store try to sell you something more.


And now for some more good tips...

Organic pH issues

I hear a lot of people asking or talking about the pH of their organic soil mix or organic nute solution and how they might correct or adjust it. pH in organics is not an issue like it is in synthetic growing.
The best place to settle the pH issues in organics is within the grow medium. A medium rich in humates (humus) is the place to start. Humates work to "buffer" the pH of organic mediums and the nutes you pour (or mix) into it.
Humates come from compost, worm castings and bottled humus. If you use a peat based medum, use dolomite lime to raise the pH of the acidic peat. Dolomite should be used in any soil or soiless medium to provide magnesium and calcium. But since we are talking about pH here, I'll mention dolomite lime's pH correction benefits.
A medium of coir has a pH near neutral (or 7.0). But humates are still neded to allow uptake of organic nutrients that are outside a near neutral pH range.
With an active medium rich in humates you can pour in nutes like Pure Blend Pro, Earth Juice and guano teas with pH anywhere from 4 to 9 without worry. The humus will allow the nutes to be taken up through the roots, even at such an extreme pH reading.
So throw those pH meters away folks and enjoy the ease and safety of organic gardening.

Chlorine tap water

Just a word of caution for you organic heads out there...
If you are tapped onto a municipal water supply that uses chlorine to kill bacteria in the water, it'll do the same thing to the bacteria (microherd) in your organic food source.
Always bubble your municipal water in an open container (5 gallon bucket) for 24 hours before adding ANYTHING organic to it.

Flushing

There is absolutely no reason to "flush" organic nute solutions from your soil mix. Meals like kelp, bone and blood along with worm castings and dolomite can't be flushed from your soil mix anyway. If you use guano and seaweed, try using plain water or worm casting tea for your last watering or two so the plant can use up what's left in the soil. But drowning your soil with water isn't necessary

__________________
Ex-owner
Retired

i <3 this thread :D

RECIPE #5
Fish and Seaweed

For veg growth…
1 capful 5-1-1 Fish Emulsion
1 capful 0-0-1 Maxicrop liquid
1 gallon H2O

For flowering…
1 tbs. Neptune’s Harvest 2-3-1 Fish/Seaweed
1 gallon H2O

Can i change the neptune's harvest and maxicrop liquid for fish and seaweed? This is the ideal mix for my grow because its the only mix i found where i am able to get the items here in my country.

I am sure that would be just fine....but only use 1/4 strength to start, always, and always after the second to third set of leaves or even later. Easy does it, it is easy to be too kind.

Peace

__________________
Life,
j-angel

aka GP purrie kittie attack cat!


My Little Grow LST'ing w/Hardware

My Outdoor Odyssey 2008 BONSAI MUMS

My Little Grow Indoor To Outdoor 2009

This was the type of thing i was looking for, something that i cand look for in here and use too make the tea. The info that you gave me in the other thread was too much of information and being me i read almost 10 times each website till i understand everything those readings are for me to read while i grow, for now i only needed this :p

thanks alot for every help you gave me :p

My pleasure my dear....Welcome to GreenPassion!

Peace

I’m working on my second indoor crop right now and I decided to fill one half of my 2000 Watt grow using organic soil and nutrients. I’m using Fox Farm ocean forest as my soil. I also repotted three mothers in fox farm soil and I started using Earth Juice Grow + Earth Juice micro + an old powder mix of bat guano & earthworm castings + Great White advanced mycorrhizal. With my current batch of seedlings I’m not using any nutrients or adding beneficials yet but I am using the organic soil containing beneficials.

I also used the Great White advanced mycorrhizal with my DWC buckets and synthetic nutrients on my last crop. I used distilled water when possible, but with no car I don’t always have a ride to the grocery store for 2.5 gallon containers of distilled water for every rez change. That means I often had to top off my rez with city water.

The problem is that my city doesn’t use chlorine in the water supply, they use chloramine. Unlike chlorine, chloramine takes weeks to evaporate from water so that’s not an option. The water isn’t hard or high in salts (~200 ppm) and it doesn’t seem heavily chlorinated. It’s some of the cleanest municipal water I have ever tasted and I’ve smoked many a bud grown with the local tap water.

I thought I was seeing the benefits from the Great White advanced mycorrhizal during my DWC grow (rapid root growth/healthy roots/enhanced uptake/big beautiful buds) but was I actually killing off my population of beneficials by topping off the rez with city water?

When I watered my seedlings a couple days ago with city water did I kill all the beneficials in the Fox Farm soil?

When I put Great White advanced mycorrhizal in my organic nutrient mix containing city water did I basically sterilize it?

Would some beneficials survive and repopulate the nutrient/soil mix if I quit using chlorinated water or do I need to add more Great White to get them started again?

Hello and peace from Texas! Despite the incredible Texas heat this year, I have started my first outdoor organic garden. We have ONE plant, but this is a first time effort and she is a BEAUT! I started with a garden soil mix from the local organic garden store, and planted from seed a Thai Super Skunk feminized seed. Her growth period which included 67 plus days of 100 degree plus weather has been exceptionally slow... she is about four months old and nearly seven feet tall (it takes three adults holding hands around her to span her circumference). She is in full flower and I just thinned out fan leaves for maximal light and airation after some rainshowers and moisture... tho' I keep her covered when it rains I worry about humidity issues and bud mold. We keep chickens, which in turn eliminates bug issues, and we used the excriment for nitrogen fertilizer in the begining along with a compost tea that we make with collected rainwater. This plant has been sung to, talked to, spoiled and loved, and I am hoping all this treatment pays off. As this is my first plant and first harvest, what can I be doing for her in her final homestretch (based on trichome color I'd say she has about 10 to 14 days to go) other than continuing to monitor for bud mold? Is there a way I can get my buds to thicken up a little? Any pointers would be most excellent. I have 10 babies in pots on an 18/6 light cycle right now. I want to do right by them as well and want to insure that I am able to continue this beginner's luck, so any advice from all of you would be GREAT! Thanks for reading...

sounds likw you are doing everything right dont change a thing when trichs. are 50/50 cut her down dry her cure her and enjoy!!!
amber/cloudy trichs she is ready since it is organic no need to flush? Im a newbie but have had 5 soccessful harvests.

Hi Farmgirlmedic! Welcome to GreenPassion!

One thing I think you could do very easily it add some carbs in the form of blackstrap molasses. 1 to 2 tblspoons per gallon of water. This helps the buds to thicken up and supplies micronutrients to the plant for the last surge of growth....

And stop taking off the fan leaves! Those leaves are needed by the plant to manufacture food. No leaves, less buds. or even no buds. I have seen the difference doing this. You will get double the size of buds with fan leaves. it not only shocks the plant, it does not supply food for nice trichome production.

Good luck and let us know how it all turns out.

peace

__________________
Life,
j-angel

aka GP purrie kittie attack cat!


My Little Grow LST'ing w/Hardware

My Outdoor Odyssey 2008 BONSAI MUMS

My Little Grow Indoor To Outdoor 2009

Thank y'all for the input thus far! Doing this alone has been scary and sometimes all the reading in the world doesn't add up to the experience you gain from advice and practice. Just a little further information: My girl is budding all the way to the main trunk of the plant on every single branch. When harvest time does come, do I take the whole girl or just piece by piece? I have some input that says that we could leave a few branches at the bottom and she may continue to grow, but here's the thing: she is completely outside, and I cannot manipulate the light without observation from nosy country neighbors. Sorry for all the ?'s but I am so new at this! Any advice will be heeded. Thanks again so much!

You can harvest as each bud is ready. The day/night length is what sends her into flower, so you should not have to cover her at this time of year as long as you are in a warm part of the world. I harvest as each bud is ready. so cut a branch, and wait for the ones underneath to get ready. etc.

Good luck!

__________________
Life,
j-angel

aka GP purrie kittie attack cat!


My Little Grow LST'ing w/Hardware

My Outdoor Odyssey 2008 BONSAI MUMS

My Little Grow Indoor To Outdoor 2009

so.... I got a portable microscope... coolest sh!t ever by the way... I look at everything now.... works awesome. My ladyflower went from having clearish trichs to now very milky... I did the molasses as advised and she seems to love it. I tried to get her to pose for some pics but she is camera shy dang it. Also, though her microbiology shows she is entering the homestretch, she is only just now starting to STANK. Should I be concerned about her lack of odor? She seems otherwise VERY happy.

__________________
"What is a weed? A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I dont think odor really matters that much ,if at all?Some people who grow indoors ,like in apartments,places with close neighbors look for strains that have a very low odor.Easier to cover the smell.I bet when you chop her down and start to dry her she will stink.My plants inside you can barely smell them until you ruffle their feathers.Anyway dry her slow and cure her long and she will treat you right !!you might want to buy a caes of mason jars the bigger ones if she is as big as you say ??you will for sure need them.how are the trichs coming ?milky/amber yet?

JUST got super milky.... would like the buds to be beefier, so I am being patient and taking all the advice I can get.... yes she is as BEEG as I say...the branches are so heavy with their buds I have had to surround her with a few sections of hog fencing to hold up the branches. In the morning, she is MOST amazing with crusty, glistening buds and that's when she seems to smell the most. I'm an early riser, so I love to go out and watch the sun kiss her for the first time in the morning. I think I fret and lose more sleep over that dang plant than I have about anything recently in my life! About a month ago, I did a folear(sp?) application of seaweed to her, and she has had the organic Alaska MorBloom as food along with chicken poo and compost tea and as I said before has only ever drank rain water. As far as the stank factor, I'm glad to hear that sometimes they aren't necessarily pungent. That is a relief! Thanks for sticking with my long-windedness!

__________________
"What is a weed? A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson