New to organics, need help in Oz

[eastcoastmo]

Hey organic peeps,
I'm looking to go organic for my near distant grows and am looking to find a complete organic soil recipe. I see all these recipes on here but am struggling to find the ingredients as I'm in Australia.
I'm hoping an Aussie organic grower can chime in and help me find what I need so I can mix up a batch and hopefully only have to use just water for the grow. Looking at some recipes, it looks hell expensive, is this always the case?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Cheers, Easty

 

[neonknight420]

Probably easiest thing I could tell ya is try and make subcool's supersoil. If you can't get all of the ingredients then try and substitute the best you can. I'm sure you would be able to get it pretty close. Get what you can locally and order what you can off the internet. Let it cook for 4 to 6weeks and your good to go. I'm sure you will be able to find stuff on the internet, even being in Australia. It can get a little pricey at first, I made a full batch of supersoil and I'm still using it 3 years later. The older it gets the better it seems to get, it's been quite a while since I purchased any soil. Definitely saves money in the long run.

 

[Chester da Horse]

Hey organic peeps,
I'm looking to go organic for my near distant grows and am looking to find a complete organic soil recipe. I see all these recipes on here but am struggling to find the ingredients as I'm in Australia.
I'm hoping an Aussie organic grower can chime in and help me find what I need so I can mix up a batch and hopefully only have to use just water for the grow. Looking at some recipes, it looks hell expensive, is this always the case?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Cheers, Easty

I'm a total noob but on the same boat as you mate. So here is what I'm doing:
1. Made compost pile
2. got worm farm.
3. Let nature do its thing
4. Mix compost/worm shit/aeration and drainage (perlite or something). Balance pH with dolomite lime (boost available cal/mag as well).
5. Done?

Back to basics. I should have all the ingredients ready by spring.

 

[eastcoastmo]

@neonknight420 thanks mate, think that's the best option hey, now the fun of finding all the ingredients
@Chester da Horse sounds good man, I got the compost going, worm farm is next so I guess I'm halfway there!

 

[Chester da Horse]

@neonknight420 thanks mate, think that's the best option hey, now the fun of finding all the ingredients
@Chester da Horse sounds good man, I got the compost going, worm farm is next so I guess I'm halfway there!

the things that really fired up my compost pile were a bale of lucerne straw and some cow manure mixed in. Lucerne is the same as alfalfa and has growth promoters (triacontanol) in it. I also boosted it with chicken manure and volcanic rock dust (like the azomite you see on these boards - got it from a garden nursery) and I think that covers all the macro/micro/trace elements. It cooked off in 6 weeks to brown/black crumbly with no identifiable pieces left.

 

[eastcoastmo]

the things that really fired up my compost pile were a bale of lucerne straw and some cow manure mixed in. Lucerne is the same as alfalfa and has growth promoters (triacontanol) in it. I also boosted it with chicken manure and volcanic rock dust (like the azomite you see on these boards - got it from a garden nursery) and I think that covers all the macro/micro/trace elements. It cooked off in 6 weeks to brown/black crumbly with no identifiable pieces left.

Sounds good mate, I'll get on to doing that with my compost

 

[greasemonkeymann]

the things that really fired up my compost pile were a bale of lucerne straw and some cow manure mixed in. Lucerne is the same as alfalfa and has growth promoters (triacontanol) in it. I also boosted it with chicken manure and volcanic rock dust (like the azomite you see on these boards - got it from a garden nursery) and I think that covers all the macro/micro/trace elements. It cooked off in 6 weeks to brown/black crumbly with no identifiable pieces left.

damn, you got that under control nicely, you sure you need to correct the ph in that? May not need the lime, maybe put some crab meal or shrimp meal in there too and you are golden on not only the ph, but chitin and a modest lil bit of nitrogen and phosphorus.
sounds like a good mix really, even without the crab or shrimp meal.

 

[Chester da Horse]

@greasemonkeymann, thanks. Yeah I wish I could easily access the fancy ingredient list (neem meal, solid kelp meal and alfalfa and crab meal, frass etc) - its like cooking dinner but you're missing the allspice for your jerk chicken. The majority of my gardening needs are catered at the local home/garden store, I only have access to a few specialty items (without ordering online)

About pH, dunno really. I'll do a soil pH test before planting my good seeds innit, and I was looking at dolomite to cal/mag supplement the grow medium - I suspect my strain is hungry for one of them.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

@greasemonkeymann, thanks. Yeah I wish I could easily access the fancy ingredient list (neem meal, solid kelp meal and alfalfa and crab meal, frass etc) - its like cooking dinner but you're missing the allspice for your jerk chicken. The majority of my gardening needs are catered at the local home/garden store, I only have access to a few specialty items (without ordering online)

About pH, dunno really. I'll do a soil pH test before planting my good seeds innit, and I was looking at dolomite to cal/mag supplement the grow medium - I suspect my strain is hungry for one of them.

can you get gypsum?
I think it's a better source, you guys down there have my utmost respect, I'd be fairly butt-hurt if somebody took away my neem, kelp, and crab meals..
I'd throw shit..
Can you get any rabbit manure?
shrimp manure is another good source of calcium.
If you do your own compost maybe try eggshells too.
What I do is I let the egg shells dry for a day or two, then I bake them @200 farenheit (whats that, like 90 something deg C?)
Dumb americans and our stupid measurements.. I am a metric guy myself, but people look at me weird when I say I am 90 kgs and 193 cms tall, and their cars' tires are at two bar..
Ahh, oh yes, I was talking about eggshells...
So yeah, bake them at 95 deg C and give them 20 mins or so, they'll be really "crispy" and then you can use a mortar & pestle to grind em up, or a coffee grinder.
Good addition to a wormbin too as it helps the worms digest stuff
Oh, and alfalfa (Lucerne) is over one percent calcium by weight... and your compost is full of it...
may not need the calmag after all.
I am assuming you can get black strap molasses right?
that's a nice organic cal/mag right there.

 

[Chester da Horse]

yep, the worms are getting tons of powdered eggshell - so the future is looking kinda shitty but bright and I spread bags of gypsum everywhere I go outside! However, I don't approve of rabbits (bastard pest down here)

I'm just struggling to get the most out of my first hydro grow before I go fully soiless organic.

On second thoughts, I wonder if I'm mistaking light burn on the new growth of the plant for a mag or sulfur deficiency - I run my 400W sontagro HPS 6-7" from the tops - trying to hit the sweet spot as much as possible.

PS: PSI and pints are the the only imperial measurements I prefer over metric.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

yep, the worms are getting tons of powdered eggshell - so the future is looking kinda shitty but bright and I spread bags of gypsum everywhere I go outside! However, I don't approve of rabbits (bastard pest down here)

I'm just struggling to get the most out of my first hydro grow before I go fully soiless organic.

On second thoughts, I wonder if I'm mistaking light burn on the new growth of the plant for a mag or sulfur deficiency - I run my 400W sontagro HPS 6-7" from the tops - trying to hit the sweet spot as much as possible.

PS: PSI and pints are the the only imperial measurements I prefer over metric.

soil-less? didn't you say you use EWC and compost?

 

[Chester da Horse]

soil-less? didn't you say you use EWC and compost?

yeah? ewc and compost are 'amendments' in my head - homemade and in precious short supply still.

The composition that I'm testing now is really an amended coco coir 'soiless-organic' recipe: everything on that list is available from bunnings except the home made compost, worm shit and my secret ingredient.

18L expanded Coco brick 42.9%
10L Scotts Seed Raising & Cutting mix 23.8%
5L Brunnings Propagation Perlite 11.9%
5L Brunnings Peat Moss 11.9%
2L Compost (Alfalfa/kitchen scrap/pond algae/manures) 4.8%
2L Worm castings 4.8%
100g secret ingredient
200g gypsum
50g dolomite lime
?B&B – potash enhanced: try different doses in each pot
?osmocote granules: try different doses in each pot
will need regular addition of seasol for Ca/Mg and AACT/EWC teas

 

[greasemonkeymann]

yeah? ewc and compost are 'amendments' in my head - homemade and in precious short supply still.

The composition that I'm testing now is really an amended coco coir 'soiless-organic' recipe: everything on that list is available from bunnings except the home made compost, worm shit and my secret ingredient.

18L expanded Coco brick 42.9%
10L Scotts Seed Raising & Cutting mix 23.8%
5L Brunnings Propagation Perlite 11.9%
5L Brunnings Peat Moss 11.9%
2L Compost (Alfalfa/kitchen scrap/pond algae/manures) 4.8%
2L Worm castings 4.8%
100g secret ingredient
200g gypsum
50g dolomite lime
?B&B – potash enhanced: try different doses in each pot
?osmocote granules: try different doses in each pot
will need regular addition of seasol for Ca/Mg and AACT/EWC teas

ahh I see, well its sorta just semantics but that is indeed a soil based mix. All that humus from the ewc and the compost is what defines that.
But, who cares really?

Alright so i'll bite, whats the secret ingredient?
Humic acid? Langbeinite?
C'mon man, no secrets between friends..

 

[Chester da Horse]

just semantics but that is indeed a soil based mix. All that humus from the ewc and the compost is what defines that

I stand corrected, I'll admit its a shitty soil <10% quality organic material and 90% volume fill. I already named this batch my 'Bunnings schwaggy bagseed bog' mix.

When I eventually harvest my first full batch of EWC I'll be proud to call my dream organic soil (1/3 EWC + 1/3 Compost + 1/3 aeration (hoping for activated biochar now) just that.

C'mon man, no secrets between friends..

It should be pretty obvious what it is... I was trolling @Uncle Ben and the silica haters with it in many of my earlier posts, and I already let it slip somewhere on this thread. I'm terrible at keeping secrets

But you make good suggestions - I think I have the potassium/magnesium/sulphur in my secret ingredient, and I have the humates covered already: i bought bottled fulvic acid (derived from leonardite shale by nutrifield) so thats a source of soluble humates while I cross over from hydro to real organics. It goes in everything I feed my pedigree plants. The compost and EWC will provide enough active humates of all sizes in future.

And no blackstrap molasses readily available either, but i substituted out of the pantry - some organic brown coconut sugar - rich in potassium and food for my AACT brews

 

[SCorganictroth831]

@Chester da Horse One thing you could also try for aact is fish hydrolysate(not emulsion) dont think i saw it mentioned. If you can source this it is a very good addition for fungi development.

 

[Chester da Horse]

@Chester da Horse One thing you could also try for aact is fish hydrolysate(not emulsion) dont think i saw it mentioned. If you can source this it is a very good addition for fungi development.

Everybody hating on the fish emulsion

Look guys, i hear ya (heavy metal contamination, deactivation of many bioactive molecules etc) but fish emulsion is what I can get. So it goes in. Bunnings, Charlie Carp. Made from invasive pest carp from our waterways, trodden into liquid plant food by magical unicorns dancing to EDM under rainbows.

This gets added to my AACT mid brew (24hrs in) along with seasol kelp extract at 2mL/L. A day later shit froths up like crazy and smells like dank earth (not fishy or seaweedy at all). Then I add the fulvic acid/SST and dilute it out to the plants. A bit untraditional, but the plants seem to like it.

But the next goldfish that carks it from the pond is gonna get hydrolysed

 

[SCorganictroth831]

Everybody hating on the fish emulsion

Look guys, i hear ya (heavy metal contamination, deactivation of many bioactive molecules etc) but fish emulsion is what I can get. So it goes in. Bunnings, Charlie Carp. Made from invasive pest carp from our waterways, trodden into liquid plant food by magical unicorns dancing to EDM under rainbows.

This gets added to my AACT mid brew (24hrs in) along with seasol kelp extract at 2mL/L. A day later shit froths up like crazy and smells like dank earth (not fishy or seaweedy at all). Then I add the fulvic acid/SST and dilute it out to the plants. A bit untraditional, but the plants seem to like it.

But the next goldfish that carks it from the pond is gonna get hydrolysed

 

[SCorganictroth831]

@Chester da Horse
Hahaa i love the visual sounds like you got a nice brew there. Let me know how the goldfish comes out!

 

[eastcoastmo]

Cheers for all the comments guys, some really good info here.
So, so far I have my compost heap started with soil, grass clippings, composted horse manure (only about 8L worth to about 150L of soil) and some seaweed emulsion.
Thinking of adding some azomite, coco coir, dolomite, peat, sphagnum moss, potash, egg shell powder and blood and bone. It's working out the amounts that has me buggered. Im thiking of adding a few of these each pay day and then let it cook from August until October when it should be right to use. Does anyone knkw what the final NPK ratio should be for the soil or cannabis plants in general??

Any suggestions on the above is most welcome?

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Cheers for all the comments guys, some really good info here.
So, so far I have my compost heap started with soil, grass clippings, composted horse manure (only about 8L worth to about 150L of soil) and some seaweed emulsion.
Thinking of adding some azomite, coco coir, dolomite, peat, sphagnum moss, potash, egg shell powder and blood and bone. It's working out the amounts that has me buggered. Im thiking of adding a few of these each pay day and then let it cook from August until October when it should be right to use. Does anyone knkw what the final NPK ratio should be for the soil or cannabis plants in general??

Any suggestions on the above is most welcome?

NPK rating is for hydro grows, organics are so much more than that.
An analogy that comes to mind is people that watch their diet...
Calories are important to watch, but it's the type you ingest.
NPK is sorta the same, sure it's important but it's the TYPE of npk you use, and also the microbial situation as well, not to mention the nutrients being available to begin with.
I have seen many many grows with very little nutrients added, compost, and EWC play more of a role than NPK, in my opinion.
to answer your question, for organic grows a 6-4-4 or 5-5-5 or similar numbers are perfect.
But ignore all that, it's sorta like ppms and ph, sure it's important if its' WAY out of whack, but there are more important things to consider.
Your pile sounds more like a soil mix than a compost pile.
Not that that is bad though, just saying coco and peat I wouldn't add to a compost pile, nor the d-lime or potash.
And unless you turn it a LOT and add a good amount of greens your pile probably won't be ready in October.
Leaves are what you want man, leaves, alfalfa meal, fish bone meal, and a lil minerals and your are golden.
That compost is gonna be a rich one though, lots of nutrients in there, just be careful.
I'd avoid the slaughterhouse stuff personally...
just found another case of CFE in Canada...
google CFE...