You’re a young buck, bro. I was 20 years old in 2009 when I served in Afghanistan. I was medically retired in '12.
Very interesting story, though.
I personally use bagged, dry nutes from Roots and I think the OregonismXL (microherd mix) has been vital to my plant’s vigor and size. Yours look really beautiful, though.
In a typical garden you can simply topdress the soil. Same for cannabis, I’m just topdressing and using a mulch with water only using blumats for irrigation. Its almost boring, but if you are running perpetual, you should be busy every day.
In a way you are still buying inputs for your soil, they just aren’t engineered for cannabis, or nearly as concentrated.
I cheat a bit, I use a premium soil mix like black gold organic and topdress and incorporate into the soil, It mainly consists of vermicompost, kelp meal, gypsum, lime, epsoms, and compost containing guanos, oystershell, crab shell and other things. Stick a blumat in it… walk away and just trim off suckers.
I like organics, they give a little more aroma to it. I did a side by side of hydro and organics, of the same strain a few years ago of the forum cut GSC of 60 plants. It was easy to tell the difference. Organic had a less chunky structure, and less color and resin, but the smell was more complicated, it wasn’t as sweet as hydro. The hydro looked better but the GSC in organics, just had more soul to it… for lack of a better description.
Pardon my ignorance, but not being native en speaker I have hard time sometimes 
Topdress means adding more soil to the surface? During veg or flower?
Myself being mostly hydro guy, I find this topic very interesting and inspirational!
Yes. To “scratch in.”
This is from my Master Gardening Class at Colorado State University. “The Science of Gardening”.
I loosely follow this table… notice the difference of incorporation depth for manures or fertilizers of unknown salinity.
I still put a topdressing layer of at compost mix least an inch thick after I’ve worked in my amendments. I can add a weekly topdressing ( a think layer) of compost or other amendment if need be. We are “feeding” the soil.
This is true, in the case of organics. The microbes eat organic matter and shit out nutrients immediately accessible to the roots. The mycorrhizae allows for easier transfer and transport of those nutrients, giving the nutrients to the roots in exchange for its starches. I use OregonismXL which is made up of numerous strains of mycorrhizae, rhizobacillus, and trichoderma, as well as kelp, alfalfa, and yucca.
You are surely not a “common folk” I´ll be watching this. Is the trifolium there to simply add some nitrogen to the soil or has it other benefits? I could use this in my outdoor guerilla.
Ahh, this is where it gets complicated.
There are some theories that mycorrhizal treatments were not intended for fast growing annuals, “the results have been variable” Its not the root/fungi symbiosis i’m looking for but the creation of glomalin, that helps with soil tilth. (David Whiting, The science of Gardening)
Its also suggested that fast growing annuals (like cannabis) need bacterial dominant soil or teas, (Jeff Lowenfells Teaming with Bacteria)
Not only does bacteria break down food it acts like a chelation agent for certain macro nutrients. P & K
So here’s some observations on commercial inoculants.
Everything and the Kitchen Sink. Hit it with every species of beneficials bacteria/fungi/ etc. Does it work?.. I dont think it works any better than vermicompost/compost application.
Specific microbes, like Monsanto’s jump start, its one type of culture used to unlock P & K that gets bound up in soil.
I’m seeing pretty goid results, compared to when I used to use other stuff. I am pretty convinced. You should give her a try yourself and see what you think.
The point wasn’t to challenge the effectiveness of your inoculant, I’m simply dropping knowledge from my education to help you understand whats going on with microlife. Lowenfels, and Whiting are respected gardners, and Lowenfells had a seminar at Emerald Cup, his book Teaming with Microbes is well respected in the cannabis community.
Ive tried all kinds of inoculants over the years, some do work better than others, but its only a small part of the fertility equation, if the soil isn’t setup right inoculants wont help.
The point is to throw away the bottle, or get away from “buying” and use recycled natural inputs.
Not taking anything as a challenge, just comparing and contrasting experiences.
here is my watering routine. its just a bit different then his.
water every second day
Day 1 powdered malted grains or SST topdress watered in with aloe, silica, and fulvic acid
Day 2 plain water
Day 3 kelp topdress or tea
Day 4 plain water
Day 5 Neem meal top dress or tea
Day 6 plain water
Day 7 coconut water (tm7 once a month)
Day 8 plain water
Repeat!
and dont forget to mulch!!
youre only cheating yourself using black goldXD some cultivars are bred hydroponically thus do better in hydro setups
top dressing is when we sprinkle dry “nutes” onto the soil and let it do the work for you:)
i dont top dress any compost. the worms and other buggers do that for me:)
the trifolium are there for the nitrogen and also are used as a mulch, keeps the bugs happy, keeps the soil lose, along with it being good for making fermented juices for me and the plants when i have a ton of it
get VAM by Bio-ag for all your fungi needs
Thanks for all the responses on the post:)
Much love
Lotus
Black Gold and Vermicompost, Aged compost, lime, gypsum, epsoms some other organic stuff.
Yeah so I’m covered eh? Bat Guano Pro Mix Coir & worm castings Kelp Meal a few all Natural nutes and fertz but this topic Is off the hook for real! I love Overgrow. U just can’t find this info & the charts and recipe’s I just feel like a sponge some days here. I truly am always grateful for this type of info as the times they are a changing my fellow Growers, gals too. I’ve learned more these past 4 or 5 months about Growing and what’s needed and More Importantly WHAT’S NOT! I was spending a small Fortune on Shight I just Never really needed. Oh & try to say that shight to me even a couple years ago and I might have Lost It! lol. I’m lucky to have been greeted by Joe and then a few other awesome Growers and New age tech is where it’s at I have several very close friends and even a couple Family members whom think I’ve lost it and I’ll be lucky to Yield an ounce per plant via these New COB lights. I’ve done mucho research looking at pics and I showed him pics of truly sweet Grows with COB lighting and he thinks their photo shopped , Seriously he’d take a bullet to the head before admitting someone else is right about anything Cannabis Grow Period. I’ll be sure to take a money shot of his facial expression when I wiegh the 1st yield of my COB light Grow. The plants truly do flourish under the COB’s They truly do look more Vibrant & Healthy and dare I say “Happy” I’m in for the long haul here for sure as I’ve also done a wee bit of research in Electricity Costs Mars Hydro vs. COB LED’s “Holy Shight” where was I on this one? Seriously I’m 4 ever Grateful Lotus. Stand by for Money Shot of Cousin Bri’s Facial Expression I will get said shot for reals. lol.
& Love this feeding schedule for fertz too. Sincerely: Don D.
youre not covered until you atleast have Malted barley, neem seed meal, shilajit, aloe, worms and others in your pots, a sick mulch, and pics for me;)
What’s your native tongue Joe? Curious…
Canadian… eh…
Is hard to know on International forum, when you post and
the meaning either comes through, or we can just look at
the pretty pictures…
This is an interesting post. Especially for this newbie. I would love to grow organically.
Right now I am not even close to experienced enough to make all these teas and I haven’t learned the art of compost, but is there any simple advice you can give me that I can start with?
Like maybe fish emulsion (obviously pre-made organic stuff for now) that I can use for a whole life cycle? You all sound really experienced, so forgive me if I sound like a dumbass. Right now, I’m just growing in pots in my back yard. I have a batch of clones that I’ve been screwing up from the get-go because of bottled hydro nutrients. lol
The forum does have a library of sorts.
