Cottage 420's Organic Perpetual Indoor Garden

bobrown14 said:
On your CaCo3 question - egg shells need to be broken down chemically with I think Vinegar over a 2 week or so time frame. I never did it that way. The egg shells without being broken down take a very long time to decomp. I stopped adding them to my vermi-bins for that reason. They are good for aeration but take longer to break down than say rice hulls. So a few years. You cannabis plants gonna need that Ca well before that.
I have several sources of Ca - this is where you can add these to the vermi bins and your compost will be gold.

Oyster shell flour
fish bone meal
crab/crustacean meal
Gypsum

These are the Ca sources I use and Coots does the same. Can add any or all of these to your vermi-bin and your soil mix. Also I will add a few handfuls of Kelp Meal to the vermi-bins from time to time as well.

You get your vermi-bins dialed in and its water for the win. I stopped making compost teas since that exercise is not required since everything already there in the soil/compost. Basically compost tea is just watered down compost so just use the compost as a top dress and water in. There's your compost tea.
Click to expand...
Ok, so I have the crustacean mix and gypsum, so don't need the other two, or do I?

And, as part of my KNF exercise, I have a bottle of the eggshells in vinegar. Basically, heat them up to dry them out and burn off any organic residue, then mix 1part eggshell to 9 or 10 parts vinegar. Let the chemical reaction happen over a few weeks and then it is plant available calcium, diluted 1:1000, so 3/4 tsp / gal or so.

But I didn't think the Coots mix called for all of those. I'm anxious to get my soil mix started, but don't want to have to redo it if I can get it right to start with.
 
You have a very experienced grower telling you exactly how to do it. But you seem to be wanting to do it a different way? Why the egg shells with lots of extra steps when you were given a list of 4 items that are Coots approved and ready to work straight out of the package?
 
beez0404 said:
You have a very experienced grower telling you exactly how to do it. But you seem to be wanting to do it a different way? Why the egg shells with lots of extra steps when you were given a list of 4 items that are Coots approved and ready to work straight out of the package?
Click to expand...
Already have the egg shells and processed egg shells. The super soils tend to have several overlapping items some of which can be used in place of others.

Not trying to be difficult, rather I'm trying to learn.

That's why I asked the question.
 
And look what I learned.

The reason for not using the CaCO3 from egg shells is not because of a build up of sodium in the soil over time, but rather because they take too long to become plant available.

And, presumably, the reason for the multiple other sources is that they likely break down on different timetables and therefore stretch out the availability of calcium, alleviating the need to add more later.

And now I know. Add them to your mix, and add to your worm bin. FTW.
 
Azimuth said:
Already have the egg shells and processed egg shells. The super soils tend to have several overlapping items some of which can be used in place of others.

Not trying to be difficult, rather I'm trying to learn.

That's why I asked the question.
Click to expand...
Its alll good the egg shells in vinegar will give you soluble Ca. So immediate supply of calcium.

In the Coots mix there are 4 Calcium amendments in addition to EWC/Compost and Kelp meal.

The EWC/Compost will give the very short term supply of Ca.

Gypsum has added Sulfur which is VERY important.

Oyster Shell flour is short - medium and long term supply of Ca - size of particles are different so it breaks down different speeds based on size of particles.

Crustacean Meal has a good bit of Ca and other nutrients and will give a medium to long term supply of Ca

You want to use all of these.

One of the added benefits of Oyster shell flour is the pH buffering capacity it will bring to off set the acidity of the Peat moss.

Many of the amendments in the Coots mix bring more than the obvious benefit to the table.

Like Kelp - its got 70+ macro and micro trace elements in the proper ratios
Has several Plant Growth Regulators
Helps fight off disease and pests
Moisture retention
Etc

You mentioned something about Coots and his compost.
The problem is when you go down to home despot and buy barely composted manure from God knows where and uses it in his soil mix and have a shitty result. Then say I followed the recipe. Right, well yes and no... you didn't use HIS compost.

Coots just does the same as most veteran composters. He adds in amendments like kelp meal and rock dusts as well as kitchen scraps. Nothing new. THE difference is he and most all folks that compost seriously will let that compost age without doing anything to it. Just let it age and mature. 6-9 months, there's your Coots Compost. Its gotta age aka "cure" for a while.

I like to let ours sit over winter and use it late spring in veggie gardens and top dress in some containers.
 
bobrown14 said:
Its alll good the egg shells in vinegar will give you soluble Ca. So immediate supply of calcium.

In the Coots mix there are 4 Calcium amendments in addition to EWC/Compost and Kelp meal.

The EWC/Compost will give the very short term supply of Ca.

Gypsum has added Sulfur which is VERY important.

Oyster Shell flour is short - medium and long term supply of Ca - size of particles are different so it breaks down different speeds based on size of particles.

Crustacean Meal has a good bit of Ca and other nutrients and will give a medium to long term supply of Ca

You want to use all of these.

One of the added benefits of Oyster shell flour is the pH buffering capacity it will bring to off set the acidity of the Peat moss.

Many of the amendments in the Coots mix bring more than the obvious benefit to the table.

Like Kelp - its got 70+ macro and micro trace elements in the proper ratios
Has several Plant Growth Regulators
Helps fight off disease and pests
Moisture retention
Etc

You mentioned something about Coots and his compost.
The problem is when you go down to home despot and buy barely composted manure from God knows where and uses it in his soil mix and have a shitty result. Then say I followed the recipe. Right, well yes and no... you didn't use HIS compost.

Coots just does the same as most veteran composters. He adds in amendments like kelp meal and rock dusts as well as kitchen scraps. Nothing new. THE difference is he and most all folks that compost seriously will let that compost age without doing anything to it. Just let it age and mature. 6-9 months, there's your Coots Compost. Its gotta age aka "cure" for a while.

I like to let ours sit over winter and use it late spring in veggie gardens and top dress in some containers.
Click to expand...
Ok. That makes sense. I do remember him saying something about it being two years or so for his compost, which I think started with some number of months of compost, then into his worm bin for many more months followed by letting it sit a while. Kinda like what you are doing.

Easy enough to emulate if one can just muster up the patience.

Now I just have to pick up a couple of the last few ingredients and I can get started on the soil mix. I appreciate your thoughts and explanations about the ingredients. Thank you! :thumb:

In the meantime I'll do some top dressing with crustacean meal and kelp and hopefully give the plants a boost.
 
For a boost try some kelp meal say 1/4 cup ground fine in a spare coffee grinder and add that to a 1/2 cup of ewc into a quart mason jar top off with water.

Put the lid on and give it a few shakes. Let sit overnight shake again and water that in..
can spoon on the sludge in the btm of the jar if you have some after your pour.

Coot taught me that one.... it works.

Yeah on the compost thing. Its a lifetime adventure plants come and go I've always had a few compost bins and piles. Makes gardening fun.

Winter time here and snow cover so all the animals are visiting the compost heaps. Makes for some good entertainment. The crows get crazy about compost.

Here she comes here she comes.... we are ready for breakfast.. I've had them stand on the roof look in the window upside down thru their legs and purr like a kitty cat to wake us up to go add to the compost heap. True story....

Is that a cat??? No its a crow looking in at us upside down....
 
I was looking at the contents of GH CALiMAGic and the only listed source of Ca is calcium carbonate. The fact that this is their hydroponic line of nutes makes me rethink what I thought I knew about calcium carbonate. I too thought it takes microbes to liberate the calcium and make it ionic, yet GH uses it in their hydro line, so now I'm 2nd guessing.
 
bobrown14 said:
For a boost try some kelp meal say 1/4 cup ground fine in a spare coffee grinder and add that to a 1/2 cup of ewc into a quart mason jar top off with water.

Put the lid on and give it a few shakes. Let sit overnight shake again and water that in..
can spoon on the sludge in the btm of the jar if you have some after your pour.

Coot taught me that one.... it works.

Yeah on the compost thing. Its a lifetime adventure plants come and go I've always had a few compost bins and piles. Makes gardening fun.

Winter time here and snow cover so all the animals are visiting the compost heaps. Makes for some good entertainment. The crows get crazy about compost.

Here she comes here she comes.... we are ready for breakfast.. I've had them stand on the roof look in the window upside down thru their legs and purr like a kitty cat to wake us up to go add to the compost heap. True story....

Is that a cat??? No its a crow looking in at us upside down....
Click to expand...

I like it! I'm gonna give it a try. :green_heart:
 
:popcorn: :ciao:
 
Skybound said:
I was looking at the contents of GH CALiMAGic and the only listed source of Ca is calcium carbonate. The fact that this is their hydroponic line of nutes makes me rethink what I thought I knew about calcium carbonate. I too thought it takes microbes to liberate the calcium and make it ionic, yet GH uses it in their hydro line, so now I'm 2nd guessing.
Click to expand...

You need an acid to make Calcium Carbonate soluble. Vinegar is acetic acid which is pretty mild and organic but it takes time to work.

Try side by side - add CaCo3 to water
add CaCo3 to 1/2 water 1/2 vinegar solution.

Should see a difference.
 
I showed these pictures to Brown today and he has an idea what this mutation is called. I can only describe it as two stalks growing side by side with a membrane connecting the two together like conjoined twins. Light photo is from lower on the plant. Darker photo from higher up on the plant. Whatever this mutation is there is a LOT of growth towards the top portion of the plant.
20210223_170730.jpg

20210223_170730.jpg

  • Media owner beez0404
  • Date added
Lemon lime punch

20210223_170742.jpg

20210223_170742.jpg

  • Media owner beez0404
  • Date added
Lemon lime punch a freak from day one
 
Pics from last night. Reminds me of Durban I've ran in the past. They shedding faster than a yellow lab.

Must be completely normal cause I've tried a few things.

20210224_193711.jpg


20210224_193636.jpg


20210224_193644.jpg


20210224_193717.jpg


20210224_193746.jpg


20210223_214804.jpg


20210223_214909.jpg
 
That's how my Garlic Sherbert she leaves when they had Hemp Russet mites. But I'm pretty sure I never grew that strain when it didn't have the mites so maybe it's genetic for that strain too.
 
I ran Durban x Acapulco Gold for several years. She did that first run and I freaked. Thought she was dying. Tried everything. Next round exactly the same thing.

Sorta figured it might be that. Thanks @Lerugged for easing my mind.

Been sleeping on a few teas I wanna make.

Ended up with a new recipe.

Root ball stems pulled out from a few dormant pots waiting in the wings with a little bit of roots. Added some EM-1 and some Ful-power and bubbling away into a bucket of water.

Looks good smells like soil. Added a handful of Kelp Meal.

Now ready to water in.
 
Back
Top Bottom