Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

Uncle Ben said:

Never touch the stuff.

The best bloom booster is plenty of healthy green leaves going into harvest.



It's not a complete food and it's too low in N for me.

What's the name of the 20-10-20? Is it their Citrus FEed?

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Yep Citrus Feed

Couldn't get a good shot with my shitty camera, I'll just have to spell it out.

HAPPY FROG ALL-PURPOSE 5-5-5


GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Total Nitrogen.......5.00%
5.00% Water Insoluble Nitrogen (slow release provided by feather meal and fish meal)
Available Phosphate (P2O5)......5.00%
Soluble Potash (K2O).........5.00%
Calcium (Ca)......8.40%
Magnesium (Mg)......1.25%
1.25% Water Soluble Magnesium
Derived From: feather meal, bone meal, hydrolyzed fish, fish meal, fish bone meal, alfalfa meal, sulfate of potash magnesia, blood meal, bat guano, rock phosphate, kelp meal, and gypsum.

NON-PLANT FOOD INGREDIENTS:
1.5% Humic Acid (derived from Leonardite)
Mycorrhizae Content Propagules per cc
Glomus intraradices....................0.4
Glomus aggregatum...................0.4
Glomus mosseae.......................0.4
Glomus entunicatum..................0.4
Laccaria bicolor..........................7.5
Laccaria laccata..........................7.5
Pisolithus tinctorius....................600
Rhizopogon villosuli...................7.5
Rhizopogon amylopogon............7.5
Rhizopogon fulvigleba.................7.5
Rhizopogon luteolus....................7.5
Scleroderma cepa.......................20
Scleroderma geastrum................20
Scleroderma citrinum..................20
Suillus granulatus.......................15

BACTERIAL SPECIFICATIONS cfu per cc
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens...............490
Bacillus licheniformis......................490
Bacillus subtillis.............................490
Bacillus pumilus............................490
Bacillus megaterium......................490

More N and K? Something like Azomite as well?

The 5-5-5 should work well. Rather pricey though.

Uncle Ben said:

The 5-5-5 should work well. Rather pricey though.

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Yea, it was about 15 bucks for the 5 pound bag (at my nursery). After reading back into my grow notes (finally found my notebook), I completely agree with you about the bloom foods. For example, the last Skunk I ran was fed with only the 5-5-5, probably could have used more but the majority of green leaves stuck around, this time, bulb food was used and my leaves are still yellowing (almost all larger fan leaves are gone). So, guess you could say I did an experiment without knowing it.

Do you think I could stall the yellowing if I added some blood meal to the mix? I'm worried she's gonna be butt-naked before harvest (roughly 4-5 weeks to go).

hopeyougotadutch said:

Yea, it was about 15 bucks for the 5 pound bag (at my nursery). After reading back into my grow notes (finally found my notebook), I completely agree with you about the bloom foods. For example, the last Skunk I ran was fed with only the 5-5-5, probably could have used more but the majority of green leaves stuck around, this time, bulb food was used and my leaves are still yellowing (almost all larger fan leaves are gone). So, guess you could say I did an experiment without knowing it.

Do you think I could stall the yellowing if I added some blood meal to the mix? I'm worried she's gonna be butt-naked before harvest (roughly 4-5 weeks to go).

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I see you found out the hard way that bloom foods work against you. Better late than never.

If you must go organic, blood meal is a pretty fast acting source of N, so is fish emulsion. It's got to be converted to ammonia and then nitrate salts first which will take at least a week depending on soil temps and moisture. I'd give them a tsp/gallon of ammonium sulfate and be done with it.

Uncle Ben said:

I see you found out the hard way that bloom foods work against you. Better late than never.

If you must go organic, blood meal is a pretty fast acting source of N, so is fish emulsion. It's got to be converted to ammonia and then nitrate salts first which will take at least a week depending on soil temps and moisture. I'd give them a tsp/gallon of ammonium sulfate and be done with it.

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Sounds good. On the topic of organics, I've heard the chlorine/chloramine could play an ill effect, would you be willing to clear that up for me?

Doing searches on google, I found this..

[h=2]How about using chloraminated water on ornamental plants, vegetables or fruit and nut trees? Will beneficial soil bacteria be harmed?[/h]The small amount of chloramines should have no effect on plants of any type. Beneficial bacteria will generally be protected by the soil in which they live. Chloramines will be removed by the high chlorine demand in the soil.

Found at:http://www.amwater.com/ilaw/water-quality-&-stewardship/chloramination-faq.html#q21

I don't live in Illinois but I'm guessing this would be applied to chloramine levels of any chloramine treated water.

hopeyougotadutch said:

Doing searches on google, I found this..

How about using chloraminated water on ornamental plants, vegetables or fruit and nut trees? Will beneficial soil bacteria be harmed?

The small amount of chloramines should have no effect on plants of any type. Beneficial bacteria will generally be protected by the soil in which they live. Chloramines will be removed by the high chlorine demand in the soil.

Found at:http://www.amwater.com/ilaw/water-quality-&-stewardship/chloramination-faq.html#q21

I don't live in Illinois but I'm guessing this would be applied to chloramine levels of any chloramine treated water.

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Keyword there is soil

Kite High said:

Keyword there is soil

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So, basically soil is just...awesome. An all-in-one tool.

well its pretty obvious that after growing in dirt for millions of years yeah they like it...BUT I feel true soil should not be indoors

Kite High said:

BUT I feel true soil should not be indoors

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True soil? And, why is that?

bugs, feces, pathogens etc. just right off obvious

Kite High said:

bugs, feces, pathogens etc. just right off obvious

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Sounds like more of a cleanliness issue than an indoor vs. outdoor thing.

I defer....the main reason aside from stealth to grow indoors is control of the environment... as no dirt will be able to sustain the entire cycle of the plant then why contaminate an environment and lose control? Soiless, coco, and hydro will not do these things and synthetics will provide complete control, the goal of the indoor garden...why defeat and complicate it when complete environ control is key to indoor gardening?

Outdoors all of that is present anyway and you have very little control of anything...big differences

I think we're having a breakdown in communication, at least on my end.

From the way you have worded your last response, I can only conclude that you're saying that using soil in an indoor grow is asking for the grow area to be contaminated? Sorry if we're still having some breakdown, but this is the first I'm hearing of soil being (for lack of a better word) "bad" for indoor growing.

hopeyougotadutch said:

I think we're having a breakdown in communication, at least on my end.

From the way you have worded your last response, I can only conclude that you're saying that using soil in an indoor grow is asking for the grow area to be contaminated? Sorry if we're still having some breakdown, but this is the first I'm hearing of soil being (for lack of a better word) "bad" for indoor growing.

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If you want to do it do it. Not knocking anyone's choices. Just is not as suitable and I seek ultimate outcomes.

I understand that thought. I use coco coir and sometimes have issues with bringing pests in... I'm hesitant to try soil indoors again. I'm hesitant to even try another brand of coco or hydro shop.

Which reminds me of something... Hydro stores need to separate the sterile media from the soil. No one does it... why? They sit a bag of happy frog right next to loose coco coir. It kills me.

hopeyougotadutch said:

Sounds good. On the topic of organics, I've heard the chlorine/chloramine could play an ill effect, would you be willing to clear that up for me?

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No ill effect.

I mix my own soil out of many sources. No ill effect. Same with store bought bagged potting soils used years ago. No problem.

KH, what kind of contamination issues are you talking about? Contaminate the environment, lose control? Give me some facts, not some junk science or feelings bro.

Uncle Ben said:

No ill effect.

I mix my own soil out of many sources. No ill effect. Same with store bought bagged potting soils used years ago. No problem.

KH, what kind of contamination issues are you talking about? Contaminate the environment, lose control? Give me some facts, not some junk science or feelings bro.

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Cool, thank you.

I was trying to understand it as well. I had an issue with bugs once, gnats to be exact. I used a small amount of peroxide mixed in with my water and that worked surprisingly well. Not sure if it was the best option, worked nonetheless. While I've brought it up, did that kill off any beneficial goodies? Bad option?