Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica / Sleestack x Skunk1

bobrown14;2386282 said:

My ACT recipe for early VEG:

I'm going to document how I do my ACT with recipe and pictures.

First off my ACT consists of EWC (earth work castings) and my home made compost. Our compost has no animal fats or manure. Most folks will use some sort of manure in the compost bin but we had limited space so all we did was layer grass clippings (not much) leaves/paper and kitchen scraps. I've got a 30 gallon container of finished compost that we will use all winter to brew teas while we grow some more in another bin. In the spring our outdoor garden will get the rest of the compost spread thru out the garden.

Here's a picture of my shelf of "nutrients" from early 2014 - these are chemicals in a bottle labeled organic. We can do MUCH better and for a lot less $$ and do it sustainably. Everything we need to grow organic cannabis are in the soil already. All we have to do is take care of the soil, feed it and understand that it's a growing organism same as the plants and our plants live in a symbiotic relationship with the living organisms in the soil. Keep the soil happy and the soil will keep our plants healthy, happy and growing strong - no need for meters either or correcting PH nothing.

YUK - meters chemicals all un-nessesary

Here's my shelf now - these are ingredients that we use in our compost teas - also called Airated Compost Tea or ACT for short. You can use lots of different ingredients as long as they promote the growth of the micro organisms in the tea and the soil. Chemical fertilizers actually kill off the beneficial organisms. When they do that your plants now depend on YOU to provide the plant with needed food instead of letting the plant live WITH the soil.

Ok from left to right:

Buffalo loam - poop remember I didn't put any in my compost so I want some added to the tea.
Guano - bird or bat just some more poop (beneficial bacteria)
Kashi Meal - this will grow a specific type of mycelium in the soil once the tea is added - they live together with the cannabis plant and the cannabis roots communicate to the mycelium, roots give mycelium food and the mycelium feed the roots.
Great White mycorrhizae - additional fungi complimenting the Kashi Meal
EWC - earth worm castings - I use some bought and also have a lot of EWC in my compost as well - beneficial bacteria here

2nd shelf:
Alfalfa meal - main ingredient for the tea - growth hormones the plants like to help them grow big and healthy - we all like big beautiful buds don't we? Try alfalfa meal next time - we put it in the soil too and dont be shy with this.
Kelp Meal - works with neem seed cake/neem meal to fight off disease and insects
White container has our compost from the compost bin outside (this is where you get insects from)
Neem seed meal - natural organic soil amendment and bug repellant.
Whats not in the picture - Scanmask beneficial nematodes - I add a little to every tea now since we brought in some fungus gnats with the compost. Easy fix - nematodes eat the gnat larvae and the adult gnats dont hurt the plants. Once the nematodes eat the larvae they poop out waste that is beneficial nutrients that will be available immediately to the plants roots!! Win win.. gnats be gone. If they come back which is doubtful just add some more to the next tea brew.

Recipe for lack of a better term - its not at all scientific but I use some common sense with quantities here:

Buffalo loam - 2 table spoons or a handful
Guano - a few teaspoons or 3-4 pinches
Kashi Meal - 1 cup or 2 handfuls
Great white - 1 teaspoon
EWC - 1 cup or a big handful
Alfalfa Meal - 2 cups this is the main ingredient I use when plants are in VEG
Kelp Meal - 2 table spoons or a handful
Neem Seed meal - 2 table spoons or a handful
Compost - use as much as you want - a cup is good or 2 handfuls
Crab Meal (not in the pics) add in a cup or 2 handfuls

Organic Black Strap Molasses 1 heaping tablespoon for 3 gallons RO water - this is sugar to feed the organisms in the tea. This is not a requirement but I use it every other tea brew, too much can build up in the soil and grow harmful bacteria so a little goes a long way, your brew can work without the BSM. BSM brings a lot to the table in addition to carbs for plants and organisms there's lots of micro nutrients the plants and animals need to survive, it's good for people too, try it specially if you are drinking RO (reverse osmosis) water like we do.


Here's the pile of ingredients before adding to the tea brewer:

RO water bubbling away - we need the bubbles to aerate and add oxygen to the tea, without air anaerobic bacteria (smells like shit) will dominate and they are harmful to you and your plants, when the tea is brewing you should smell it every so often and it should smell sweet and a little like the ocean and have a nice soil-ish scent as well nothing that smells like shit or we have a problem and the tea gets tossed in the outdoor garden.

BSM - check out the label in the last pic - you get all kinds of goodness but be aware too much can be a bad thing.

Here's a pic of the tea after about 5 hrs of bubbling - nice head of foam going, the foam tells me the beneficial bacteria are growing and the smell is very very nice! I will begin to water plants with this tea first thing in the AM less that 24 hrs after starting, there is a optimum time frame with this but we use it from one day thru to the 3rd day and toss after about 3 days - you will know when to toss as it will start to smell a little funky. We try and use it up in 3 days.

Click to expand...