Seeking Recommendations for Organic Nutrients

I'm reaching out because I'm planning to switch to organic nutrients after my current cycle, and I'd love to hear your recommendations and experiences.
I've heard that using organic nutrients can result in larger plants and higher yields. Some even claim it's harder to overfeed, and there's conflicting advice on whether you need to pH the water. Can anyone share their insights on this?

I will save u lots of trial and error, although the lessons learned on mistakes tend to stick.
I run an organic grow and have done so for some time.
I’ve mixed every organic offering out there in more combinations than I can count….and used a bunch of different mediums. Ocean Forest, buffered coco, BioCoco, CocoLoco, KokoBop and Happy Frog, just to name the ones that I remember. I’ve always ended up with pretty good harvests.
Over the years that I’ve tweeked this and changed that, I’ve come to a conclusion. The actual plant needs less than I ever thought. Don’t get me wrong, it must have the proper nutrients at the correct times, or it won’t thrive.
But there is a lot of duplication and overlap in the “feeding schedules” of the manufacturers.
As for which organic products to use: there are a bunch, but I’ve always used Gaia Green. I’ll use the 4-4-4 growth formula for veg and the the first half of flower…..and the 2-8-4 power bloom as flowering gets going. But there are several others that I’m sure would offer the same results. Fox Farms makes their own dry organics and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them.
The only other ingredients would be worm castings and myco (or dynamyco/Mykos) . And I always add some additional perlite or rice hulls to the mix.
Depending on the medium and how heavily it’s amended straight out of the bag, I’ll mix in the Gaia Green 4-4-4, worm castings,& myco ahead of time…..although it’s not necessary.
A heavily amended one like Ocean Forest or KokoBop, I’ll use about half of the amount suggested on the bag.
A lightly amended or totally inert, like Happy Frog or Fox Farms 70/30 coco, I’ll go with the full dose, which is 3 tablespoons per gallon of medium.
Then depending on how long your veg takes, you’ll top dress a couple times as the grow progresses and finishes.
Note that the N levels should not be lowered until flower is well under way.
I’ll also give some sort of tea as a microbial catalyst every 3rd or 4th watering throughout the entire grow. I use ReCharge mostly. But u can bubble up your own or there are other brands….Stump Tea is one I’ve used.
As for the PH and the need to adjust your water…..it may not be needed, but I do it anyway. My tap is around 8.3-8.4 and I bring it down to 6.0-6.8.
The process of watering is where a lot of growers miss the mark.
With this grow, you DO NOT want a lot of runoff. A few drops lets me know I’ve saturated the entire medium but anymore than that means I’m leaching out my nutrients.
The biggest piece of advice I can give U, is to water slowly. Like really painstakingly slow.
Go around the edge first and work to the middle.
Wait at least 5–10 minutes between loops.
It’s a pain in the @ss but will make a difference.
I use a wetting agent like coco wet or “rain” by roots organic.
If you’re in a hurry, don’t water unless the plant is bone dry and droopy.
For the record, I only grow 3 plants at a time in a 2.5’ x 6’ space. I have 2 HLG lights totaling 470W and I’ll usually get between 14-18oz per grow. And my plants are usually 24” tall or shorter, but spread and and lollipopped, so it’s a sea of tops with zero loose larfy buds.
Good luck and there are tons of great folks on this site that will help u anytime….

Bullmark said:

I will save u lots of trial and error, although the lessons learned on mistakes tend to stick.
I run an organic grow and have done so for some time.
I’ve mixed every organic offering out there in more combinations than I can count….and used a bunch of different mediums. Ocean Forest, buffered coco, BioCoco, CocoLoco, KokoBop and Happy Frog, just to name the ones that I remember. I’ve always ended up with pretty good harvests.
Over the years that I’ve tweeked this and changed that, I’ve come to a conclusion. The actual plant needs less than I ever thought. Don’t get me wrong, it must have the proper nutrients at the correct times, or it won’t thrive.
But there is a lot of duplication and overlap in the “feeding schedules” of the manufacturers.
As for which organic products to use: there are a bunch, but I’ve always used Gaia Green. I’ll use the 4-4-4 growth formula for veg and the the first half of flower…..and the 2-8-4 power bloom as flowering gets going. But there are several others that I’m sure would offer the same results. Fox Farms makes their own dry organics and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them.
The only other ingredients would be worm castings and myco (or dynamyco/Mykos) . And I always add some additional perlite or rice hulls to the mix.
Depending on the medium and how heavily it’s amended straight out of the bag, I’ll mix in the Gaia Green 4-4-4, worm castings,& myco ahead of time…..although it’s not necessary.
A heavily amended one like Ocean Forest or KokoBop, I’ll use about half of the amount suggested on the bag.
A lightly amended or totally inert, like Happy Frog or Fox Farms 70/30 coco, I’ll go with the full dose, which is 3 tablespoons per gallon of medium.
Then depending on how long your veg takes, you’ll top dress a couple times as the grow progresses and finishes.
Note that the N levels should not be lowered until flower is well under way.
I’ll also give some sort of tea as a microbial catalyst every 3rd or 4th watering throughout the entire grow. I use ReCharge mostly. But u can bubble up your own or there are other brands….Stump Tea is one I’ve used.
As for the PH and the need to adjust your water…..it may not be needed, but I do it anyway. My tap is around 8.3-8.4 and I bring it down to 6.0-6.8.
The process of watering is where a lot of growers miss the mark.
With this grow, you DO NOT want a lot of runoff. A few drops lets me know I’ve saturated the entire medium but anymore than that means I’m leaching out my nutrients.
The biggest piece of advice I can give U, is to water slowly. Like really painstakingly slow.
Go around the edge first and work to the middle.
Wait at least 5–10 minutes between loops.
It’s a pain in the @ss but will make a difference.
I use a wetting agent like coco wet or “rain” by roots organic.
If you’re in a hurry, don’t water unless the plant is bone dry and droopy.
For the record, I only grow 3 plants at a time in a 2.5’ x 6’ space. I have 2 HLG lights totaling 470W and I’ll usually get between 14-18oz per grow. And my plants are usually 24” tall or shorter, but spread and and lollipopped, so it’s a sea of tops with zero loose larfy buds.
Good luck and there are tons of great folks on this site that will help u anytime….

Click to expand...

I thought I’d include a pic….this my current run about 3 weeks or so into flower…..I had just watered so they’re a little droopier than usual.

Dr. Earth

Take a trip down the rabbit hole thread of Recycled Organic Living Soil. There is a ton of great info on there, lIke teaching you to build a soil mix completely from scratch. You can grow with things like: kelp meal, crab shell meal, alfalfa, neem seed meal, and not have to use any name brand pre-blended fertilizers if you want to go that route.

Ewc, guano, dr earth 444 and flower girl, kelp/alfalfa. Up pot properly , I do cup-1-3-5-10.
I don’t grow hydro but from what I’ve seen biomass is produced much faster in veg at least. Always let your soil cook!

SusanEmelia said:

I've heard that using organic nutrients can result in larger plants and higher yields.

Click to expand...

People say a lot of stuff but that doesn't mean it has any connection to reality. Scientists have been running studies for decades to find any benefit of organic growing in non-Cannabis species and haven't found any related to the plants they are growing. There can be environmental benefits, however. Still, organic Cannabis growers have been so desperate to show any evidence that they will point to really flimsy studies that show totally dubious benefits.

Don't let me stop you if you believe in magic though.

Observe & Report said:

People say a lot of stuff but that doesn't mean it has any connection to reality. Scientists have been running studies for decades to find any benefit of organic growing in non-Cannabis species and haven't found any related to the plants they are growing. There can be environmental benefits, however. Still, organic Cannabis growers have been so desperate to show any evidence that they will point to really flimsy studies that show totally dubious benefits.

Don't let me stop you if you believe in magic though.

Click to expand...

Organic grown food is well established to have advantages in flavor, healthfulness and environmental impact. Lots of research out there if you want to find it.

edited to add: also accepting that many of the oversights of organic food are highly flawed.

I am a believer in organics done right bringing out the best in cannabis as far as terpenes go, but unless youre doing a 100 gallon outdoor monster theres better approaches for yield. There used to be a guy here called Renfro that grew GIANT plants with basic salts in coco, his basement harvests were legendary, 45-50lbs per crop.

If youre going to buy pre made organic soil, know that Ocean Forest is NOT actually organic. Their formula changed from ORMI listed to not in the past few years to save money on peat. Any company cutting corners like that can kick rocks imo. Im a Buildasoil 3.0 guy but have had success with Coast of Maine and amended Purple Cow Indicanja in the past as well.

For nutrients, you can buy each individual ingredient and mix em yourself to save money or you can buy them pre mixed and ready to use. Ive gotten away with feeding as little as Kelp meal, alfalfa and worm castings before but tend to see more benefits from a more complex mix. Things like neem, seafood shell meal, bone meal, blood meal, fish compost. I also keep a bottle of Neptunes Harvest Fish and Seaweed fertilizer around for bloom and if they are needing a general pick me up, also Fermented Plant Extracts makes organic liquid bottles that are pretty good too.

If you arent into mixing amendments id look into Dr. Earth All purpose and Dr earth Flower Girl for bloom. Buildasoil also makes comparable products but with higher quality ingredients for a bit more money, in their Craft Blend and Build a flower top dress. < Those are my faves. These have things like mycorrhizae and biochar added which ensure theres an abundance of life in your soil, which makes for happy plants.

Also look into brewing organic teas with the same dry amendments. I feed at least 3 or 4 doses of tea per bloom cycle just to keep an abundance of goodness. Also have never checked my PH or PPMS once in 10+ years of growing like this.

If it's your first time I'd definitely recommend keeping it simple. Weed is just another flowering annual, and the same methods that work for your mom's veggie garden will result in excellent weed.

For starting seeds or rooting clones, grab some organic seedling starter mix and use that in small cups or seedling trays.

Once they get established, you can pot up into a sort of intermediate container, something like 4 inch square or 1/2 gallon nursery pots, to build up a decent root mass before going into their final homes (this step is optional, but I've found watering tiny plants in a huge pot is kinda tricky). I'd use a decent organic potting mix - Coast of Maine, Fox Farms, whatever is available at your local hardware store or garden center, just make sure it has some nutrition in it so you don't have to worry about adding more fertilizer until they're ready for their final containers. Something relatively inert like Promix is probably not ideal for this stage. Once they've rooted out in those intermediate containers, you can put them in their final homes.

For your final containers, I'd recommend using big ones, like 10-15 gallons per plant. Start with that same bagged potting mix from before, and add a little extra compost or worm castings (maybe 10-20% of the total mix) and an aeration source like perlite (again maybe 10-20% of the total mix, doesn't have to be too exact).

For fertilizer I'd go with one of the pre-mixed organic blends (Gaia Green, Espoma, Dr Earth, whatever your local hardware store or garden center has that's geared towards veggie gardening). Add 2 cups of that for each cubic foot (7.5 gallons) of mix.

You'll probably be able to get away with just that and tap water the whole grow, as long as you're using big pots and not growing monster plants. Personally I've been using these SIP planters to simplify watering, they hold about 11-12 gallons of soil: www.agardenpatch.com

When you're done, dump it out and add more compost/worm castings, aeration, and fertilizer in the same ratios as the original mix. If it starts to get muddy or heavy after a couple rounds, cut it with some peat or promix to lighten it up.

Good luck!

Bullmark said:

I will save u lots of trial and error, although the lessons learned on mistakes tend to stick.
I run an organic grow and have done so for some time.
I’ve mixed every organic offering out there in more combinations than I can count….and used a bunch of different mediums. Ocean Forest, buffered coco, BioCoco, CocoLoco, KokoBop and Happy Frog, just to name the ones that I remember. I’ve always ended up with pretty good harvests.
Over the years that I’ve tweeked this and changed that, I’ve come to a conclusion. The actual plant needs less than I ever thought. Don’t get me wrong, it must have the proper nutrients at the correct times, or it won’t thrive.
But there is a lot of duplication and overlap in the “feeding schedules” of the manufacturers.
As for which organic products to use: there are a bunch, but I’ve always used Gaia Green. I’ll use the 4-4-4 growth formula for veg and the the first half of flower…..and the 2-8-4 power bloom as flowering gets going. But there are several others that I’m sure would offer the same results. Fox Farms makes their own dry organics and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them.
The only other ingredients would be worm castings and myco (or dynamyco/Mykos) . And I always add some additional perlite or rice hulls to the mix.
Depending on the medium and how heavily it’s amended straight out of the bag, I’ll mix in the Gaia Green 4-4-4, worm castings,& myco ahead of time…..although it’s not necessary.
A heavily amended one like Ocean Forest or KokoBop, I’ll use about half of the amount suggested on the bag.
A lightly amended or totally inert, like Happy Frog or Fox Farms 70/30 coco, I’ll go with the full dose, which is 3 tablespoons per gallon of medium.
Then depending on how long your veg takes, you’ll top dress a couple times as the grow progresses and finishes.
Note that the N levels should not be lowered until flower is well under way.
I’ll also give some sort of tea as a microbial catalyst every 3rd or 4th watering throughout the entire grow. I use ReCharge mostly. But u can bubble up your own or there are other brands….Stump Tea is one I’ve used.
As for the PH and the need to adjust your water…..it may not be needed, but I do it anyway. My tap is around 8.3-8.4 and I bring it down to 6.0-6.8.
The process of watering is where a lot of growers miss the mark.
With this grow, you DO NOT want a lot of runoff. A few drops lets me know I’ve saturated the entire medium but anymore than that means I’m leaching out my nutrients.
The biggest piece of advice I can give U, is to water slowly. Like really painstakingly slow.
Go around the edge first and work to the middle.
Wait at least 5–10 minutes between loops.
It’s a pain in the @ss but will make a difference.
I use a wetting agent like coco wet or “rain” by roots organic.
If you’re in a hurry, don’t water unless the plant is bone dry and droopy.
For the record, I only grow 3 plants at a time in a 2.5’ x 6’ space. I have 2 HLG lights totaling 470W and I’ll usually get between 14-18oz per grow. And my plants are usually 24” tall or shorter, but spread and and lollipopped, so it’s a sea of tops with zero loose larfy buds.
Good luck and there are tons of great folks on this site that will help u anytime….

Click to expand...

Thanks for your suggestion.

I like liquid fish emulsion and organic spikes. Neptune’s harvest is real good stuff when used on the regular along with the occasional compost tea. Jobes AP organic spikes work great for bloom phase; they feed for 8 weeks. Just plug em in the soil after transplanting to final size bloom pots; I put one on each side 180deg apart. No need to ph anything as long as you keep the soil active with microbes; that means adding fresh ewc every so often and/or a worm tea regimen.

The earth juice line of nutrients for small scale. Use an air stone and bubble for 24 hrs to stabilize the ph.