yet another bloody fert/nute question (but 1 worth answering i hope)

[GigaGrew]

Hi 420

im trying to simplify my life.

in studying our beautiful plant, my ambitions have gone from whatever i can make live in a pot, to contemplating hydro, then airo, then the whole symbiotic culture, but have now landed back on earth where my feet should be


im trying to go natural and simple. apart from light (and emergency PH fixing) the only thing i want to buy from a shop is perlite (and im even thinking about cleaning and reusing this).


i envision a time where my plants are in homegrown compost/perlite 50/50. and i water them with just tap water (chlorine evaporated).

assuming my compost has everything in it the plant needs, is this possible?

i recently discovered liquid seaweed, so as a tribute i will be adding seaweed to my compost to do the same thing (i hope)

also blackstrap molasses, but i dont know what i can forage in nature to substitute this.


my basic compost

lots of deciduous leaves/grass/branches availible (consider unlimited)
basic salad waste (small quantities)
seaweed (dont know anything more specific yet, needs research)

the list of questions that spring to mind are:

What deficiencies am i likely to encounter, if growing like this

what can i add that i can grow/forage to improve nutrient amounts (specific to our plant, not just general compost)

My tap water is PH 8 hard. so i need to consider what additives i would need to have an end compost (willing to turn this compost into tea with the water for PH balancing) of about 6.5 even if being watered with 8 water.

If i was pushed to choose, then i would say feminised northern lights would suit my needs if have to be breed specific for soil needs.


i think you can see what im trying to achieve here, this kind of lifestyle would go well with rural living and growing the family food too =)


for this project tho, consider it a potted indoor grow (considering air pots) using CFL's (untill solar powered inductive lights become more achievable for me)

 

[Buckshot]

for this project tho, consider it a potted indoor grow (considering air pots) using CFL's (untill solar powered inductive lights become more achievable for me)[/COLOR]

I am going to answer this first ... don't bring compost inside. The rest is tough to answer ... lots of variables. If you are going to grow food organically you might want to think about livestock for fertilizer.

 

[Cloudblood]

There are some college based studies on composting, the traits of certain items when used in compost and such. The thing about compost I think would be your issue is it is always rich in nitrogen which at certain points in the grow are not needed so heavy. I use it in my outdoor grows and have considered bagging some much like the 'Exhale' bags used to enrich co2 since it is a gas release by the process but I really am trigger shy to bring it inside much like above. I put a lot of 'food' material in my heap so it can be putrid and draws insects.

 

[GigaGrew]

guys, why dont you bring compost inside?

can you not run it through the oven to sterilise it or?

The thing about compost I think would be your issue is it is always rich in nitrogen which at certain points in the grow are not needed so heavy.

If i gave them a big pot, and they vegged for a hundred days, would that sufficiently deplete the nitrogen?

looking at standard composting guides, it says greens for nitrogen and browns for carbon....what if my greens was just seaweed?

also, im thinking of Vermicompost

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Sea weed has a very low macro nutrient content e.g NPK but has many trace micro nutrients aviable, i often use sea weed for my veggie garden might be considor high brix in mineral what ever of soil stuff tho...

You might want to considor low value NPK organic fertilizers such as horse/live stock dung etc well rotted.

Clove leaf is often used in organic farming as a N-nitrogen source from decaying leaf matter, coupled with bat/bird guanos etc for source of high value P/K.


Other options is leaf mulch, general veggie food waste (uncooked) grass clippings, garden waste etc on back garden compost heap well rotted before use & no ya really don't want to stick this sort of stuff in the oven... lol

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Other thoughts might be along the lines of visiting a half decent garden centre...

Look for sterilized top soil, some people rant on about how cool worm casts are ! or even soil collected from mole hills might be groovey ?

Shreaded horse dung reasonable sterilized and weed seed free sold in 50l bags etc

Bat/bird guanos.

Sea weed collected from local beach shread 'n' well rotted or purchased in dryed shreaded form if aviable ?


Slap it all together organic super soil


Plus home brew tea method for extra good measures

 

[Icemud]

I have read somewhere that you don't want to oven bake your soil...you want the valuable microlife in the compost and by putting it in the oven, you are killing off the good bacterias and fungi's. Unless you plan on adding them back later, I wouldn't recommend it.

You should look into High Brix growing, its very much similar to what you are doing, but by adding a few key ingredients such as rock powders, calcium carbonate, soft rock phosphorus and gypsum to the soil, all you will have to do is water with compost teas and give a foliar spray one a week...and will get the healthiest plants you ever will see

 

[GigaGrew]

thanks for all the comments guys.

I will definatly take a look at that highbrix method.

i still dont understand why were not suppose to use compost indoors? the bag i bought at the shop is called compost so whats the big difference?

what if i indoor compost is that different? there is an indoor method called hotbox, i got a bit of a wacky idea for using the generated heat to warm some water and save a bit of energy


also what about symbiotic crops? i heard a street roumer some years back that growing yarrow in the same pot puts something beneficial into the soil that MJ likes?

In an ideal world, it would be nice to grow in outdoor ground, but stealth, so indoor for all other considerations (sealed room, with lights, air/co2 control e.t.c), but foraging the local coast and countryside for compost nutrients. maybe push the boat out a little and still buy rooting hormones (would be nice to be able to make this too).

it fits well with my life plans to move to the countryside and grow my own food and have lots of solar/wind power.

 

[Buckshot]

maybe push the boat out a little and still buy rooting hormones (would be nice to be able to make this too).

try this

How do I make my own Rooting hormone?