Nutrients on a budget?

Basic Growing Info
#142

Budget is relative :thinking: but the salty water dyna gro gallons I bought will last quite a while it seemsā€¦ so it comes out pretty cheap. The media isnā€™t though so itā€™s a tradeoff.

Living soil is definitely my preference but until I build some, my property is solid rock with a thin clayey, humusā€™s crud. I was scratching my head for a minute wondering wtf keeps the trees alive here with 14ā€™ of rainā€¦ duh! Mycorrhizae! White pithy mycelium sheathing galore.

It will be some time before I finish my soil project so for now itā€™s promix/addl perlite + feed & aloe & ewc.

:evergreen_tree:

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#143

I just bought some granular endo/ecto mycorrhizal and beneficial bacterial inoculant from ebay. You just add to the root ball when transplanting. Not sure how well it will work yet, but fingers crossed. I know this isnā€™t the cheapest way to make living soil, but itā€™s hard to beat at $22 for 2 pounds and you only use 2 tablespoons per plant during transplant.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352660868919

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#144

Mycorrhizae supposedly needs 4 months to get established so consider that :stuck_out_tongue:

:evergreen_tree:

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#145

Definitely depends on the stain of fungi and environmental factors, so we will see! Even if the fungal aspect takes a while, the bacterial inoculation will occur much faster

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#146

Iā€™m going to say this with reverence, but I do mind that some ferts are made in China. Iā€™m personally overly wary of heavy metals and put some extra funds towards honest labeling. That doesnā€™t mean say, MC isnā€™t an option, but it does deserve scrutiny at itā€™s price point.

Silica helps the plant sequester heavy metals, says Bruce Bugbee, and I see no downsides, so I would suggest to all salts users that they amend media/soil to boost Si or add to feed water via one of many products.

6 Likes
#147

I mind all kinds of stuff about china.

1986; us imports fireworks & kerosene only
2086; whatā€™s the us?

:evergreen_tree:

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#148

MC meaning Megacrop? Is it made in China?

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#149

IDK but theyā€™re very clear about their testing standards:

"Yes, our products have extremely high quality testing standards and exceed standards for growing plants fit for human consumption. MEGA CROP is tested a minimum of 3 times for heavy metal screening.

Before sourcing the individual ingredients that make up the product
In house testing after completion of final batch
External 3rd party independent testing of final batch
Testing for Arsenic, Cadmium, Cobalt, Copper, Molybdenum, Nickel, Lead, Selenium, Mercury and more are standard. Products exceed organic level certification requirements."

Heavymetals
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#150

Gypsum, azomite, kelp meal, alfalfa meal

Or,

Azomite, gypsum, liquid fish (neptunes harvest)

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#151

Holy f*ck thats depressing.

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#152

It comes down to trust is all. I want to believe them. I donā€™t know if they deserve it over a private US based company. I used MC for a few runs. It was pretty dirty, didnā€™t mix well, and the bag seized up due to moisture. Jackā€™s ā€œcloneā€ is a one-part and also seizes up quick, super hydrophilic, and I mention for balance here. But the classic 321 parts are all pretty darn happy in the bag for years. Hydro, CalNit, when stored separately are happy, as is epsom. That is the most pragmatic reason for me to just use Jacks.

5 Likes
#153

It really is for most of us.

In 1986 they were using kerosene lamps, quill pens, and a handful of party leaders could drive a Chinese-made packard(aka ā€œRed Starā€).

I distinctly remember watching ā€œtank manā€ with awe & respect in 1989. (See Tiananmen Square)

The music may or may not be your thing :sweat_smile: but this is worth a quick view & consider the magnitude of changesā€¦ :pensive:

:evergreen_tree:

4 Likes
#154

Most potent and cost effective fulvic product Iā€™ve found, 20% off with the newsletter signup code GrowWithUs20

$32 shipped for a liter that makes 1000 gallons of soil drench.
4.6% fulvic by weight vs 0.2% for Ful-Power.

Mr. Fulvic is the consumer version of AGT-50 from AgTonik in Kalamazoo, MI. @agtonik on Future4200 has a bunch of threads there discussing the product, really knowledgeable guy and a straight shooter when it comes to ag science. Their fulvic isnā€™t chemically derived from brown coal/leonardite, itā€™s water extracted from an organic layered deposit in the Southwest.

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#155

About to try this stuff, everyone who knows seems to endorse it as the best inexpensive natural source of micros and other beneficials, BaS charges too much for it, the cheapest price I found by far on small/medium sized bags (2-20#) was at Boogie Brew with free shipping:

https://www.boogiebrew.net/sea-90sea-mineral

Screenshot_20221121-224423

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#156

hi i would say the best way of learning is take 2 clones and go experimental,like high ec and low see with your own eyes what results are,best with a strain you have grown before.
in coco you can fast learn compared to soil its easier using salt chem feeds as you have no need to await roots drying the medium but yes test and see is best for learning a new nutrient.
good luck

1 Like
#157

Having done the ferti-fulvic bag and ful-power sample, I feel like these types of products are super redundant for living soil growers. Hydro/coco folks probably get some sizable benefits, but if you have worms in your system, thereā€™s so much of this type of material already present. If you want to make a foliar spray you can take a small scoop of castings out of one of your pots, extract it with water and you get the added benefit of extracting the microbes into your spray as well.

1 Like
#158

That may be true for no-till, but I do not have worms, so I supplement the soil with castings and use fulvic and humic additives. Iā€™m also not sure that even a healthy worm population can produce as much as these plants can use, maybe a castings heavy mix might but I donā€™t know.

#159

Ah yeah if no worms, or in hydro, I definitely could see some benefit. A pound of worms though makes in a month as much fulvic acid as is in 50+ gallons of MrFulvic at the 5ml/gallon rate. Powerful little creatures.

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#160

That looks eerily similar to celtic sea saltā€¦

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Of course they both obfuscate the analysis with random % or PPM applied, but itā€™s similar enough. Itā€™s also twice as expensive, but you can eat it :yum:

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#161

You can get an edible sea salt product from the SEA-90 folks too, itā€™s called Baja Gold. Most of their production is agricultural for animals and crops but they also have some evaporating pans for human consumption. It is basically any good unrefined sea salt, Iā€™m not sure that I put particular stock in the Sea of Cortez being any better than the North Sea or North Atlantic, I guess the only thing Iā€™d think of was if the microbial soup in equatorial ocean water is richer, I believe it is. Looking at that analysis it seems like SEA-90 is slightly lower in sodium, 28% vs 33.1 for this particular Celtic.

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