UncleBen

On my last grow I used a little alfalfa feed pellets in my soil mix. I will post my mix because someone will surely ask for it, but I need to make a note about potting soil composition.

Alot of folks place credibility on certain brands. That's fine, but you need to open up that bag and checking out it's reputation, texture and feel decide if it is for you. I don't believe that one HAS to have worm castings or guano in their mixes, rather I look at what those ingredients might impart and substitute what I have on the shelf. Having said that, here's my mix FWIW.....

"I use alot of brown spaghnum peat moss, a large bag of Schultz potting mix, and cheap potting soil (screened to get rid of the chunky crap) for the base to make up enough for 30 to 40 gallons, which I mix on a cement floor with the other goodies and store in large garbage cans. To this base which is now about 25 gallons and provides humates, an acidic hit, trace elements, etc. and a little silt to tighten up the mix and retain moisture, I add:

4 cups blood meal, 3 cups bonemeal, 2 cups of hydrated lime, 6 cups dolomite lime, 1 large bag each of vermiculite and perlite (available at Casa dePOT) and alfalfa meal which contains a known helpful hormone called triacontanol said to increase vegetable production up to 60%. This stuff is proven by empirical tests conducted by universities, not HT, LOL. I buy the feed pellets from a farm and ranch supply, put about 4 cups of the pellets in a bucket with a gallon of water and a good squirt of Ivory dish soap to cut the soil tension, let it stand for 30 minutes, and then dump the slurry into the crapola on the floor ready for blending into a homogenous mix. I also add, without fail, horse manure, maybe about 3 or 4 gallons of it. Blend it well with a shovel and store for a couple of weeks in a garbage can to "mellow"."

End of archive.

For those interested in the attributes of alfalfa meal, here are some links for your research:

Triacontanol Links:

http://www.rdrop.com/~paul/alfalfa.html
You might want to try using alfalfa tea on your roses. Alfalfa releases tricontanol, an alcohol ester compound that acts as a growth stimulant. The alfalfa is not a food in the sense that nitrogen is, but it makes the uptake of nutrients more efficient. You'll have a dramatic increase in both growth, bloom, and overall vigour of the plant.

2 cups Alfalfa pellets or meal.
2.5 gal. water.
steep for 2-3 days covered.

Apply about a half gallon on your minis and a full gallon on your larger bushes about every 6-8 weeks. This is something that can be done in the garden at any time of the year without the usual concern of stimulating growth at inappropriate times, as you would with fertilizers.

http://www.minerva.at/search97cgi/s9...21_130417.html

The effects of a long chain aliphatic alcohol 1-triacontanol (TRIA) on the photosynthesis and membrane properties of mesophyll protoplasts and chloroplasts isolated from pea leaves were studied. In vitro treatments of isolated protoplasts caused a large enhancement (166 percent) of the CO2-fixation rate after 60 min of TRIA (10 ^-6 M) application as compared to the control. An enhanced photosynthetic response was observed in vitro treated leaf pieces. Application of octacosanol (OCTA) under the same experimental conditions did not result in any stimulating effects. In vivo treatments of pea seedlings also resulted in a significant increase of the net CO2 uptake to 109% and 119% in 10^-8 M and 10 ^-6 M TRIA-treated plants respectively.

http://www.healthy.net/library/journ...no1/sativa.htm
Medicago sativa (alfalfa) also contains a plant growth stimulating substance identified as Triacontanol. When applied to crops it increases the growth and yield of several species. Applying 117kg of Alfalfa to a hectare of tomatoes increases yields by 10 metric tons per hectare.

http://www.bmi.net/roseguy/fbamend.html
Alfalfa - While at first glance it would appear that nitrogen is the big benefit from alfalfa (Meal: 5-1-2; Pellets: 14-4-8), with a good dose of iron and trace elements, the real benefit comes from a fatty acid alcohol called triacontanol which occurs naturally in the waxy surface of the plant’s leaves. Triacontanol is a root stimulant which, when used in small quantities, can increase yields in garden plots by 30 to 60%. It can be applied to roses straight out of the bag or box, or applied in an "alfalfa tea."

For direct application, sprinkle up to a cup of pellets, a half cup for miniatures, around each bush and water. The pellets then swell up and break apart. Then scratch the alfalfa into the soil or cover with mulch. If you leave the alfalfa on the surface, it will mold, and, when it dries, it will turn hard and crusty…work it in. Don’t use more than a cup, or its effectiveness will drop.

For alfalfa tea, add 10 to 12 cups of alfalfa pellets to a 32 gallon garbage can, add water, stir and steep for 2 or 3 hours to a couple of days. You can add 4 to 6 cups of Epsom salts and 8 ounces of fish fertilizer as a "fortifier", if you wish. Apply a gallon per bush, 1/3 gallon per miniature. Stir often to keep it mixed. You can pour the slurry on the bottom of the garbage can onto some of the roses, or add it to your vegetable garden.

50 lb bags can be purchased at farm & feed stores. Use once or twice a year.

http://www.vioryl.gr/products/agroactive_list.html
Check out “Gigamix” in their listing:
GIGAMIX EMULSION FOLIAR PRODUCT (11-1-1)+trace elements

Good luck,
Ben

FaNDaNGo

well i called the Big R farm/ranch supply and they have it in pellets anyways, not sure about in meal form. It's a bit late to mix up a batch of soil, so do you suggest adding them to my potted plants as tea (or add tea to watering solution perhaps) or sprinkling some pellets around as you suggested, and i hope i dont have to buy a 50 lb bag of em o geeeez i was reading your post again and saw the 50 lb bag hahahahahah well i still hope i can find a smaller amount

FaNDaNGo

Ah well 50 lbs it was, but it was on sale for $4.49 so I can't complain still would like your input on the best way to apply it at this point and should I store the rest in the bag or would like a 5 gallon bucket and lid be better?

UncleBen

Thanks soooooo much for the welcome cajunyank, it is refeshing to be in a troll-free site!!! Keep up the good work. I have alot of ideas for some tweaks and improvements which I relayed to Wolfman via a CW PM. Is he still with us? BTW, I plug you guys whenever I can - checkout the Indoors board at cann.com if you wish, just finished a post there directed at Vai and GA Grown.

FaNDaNGo, good on ya! You got it at a great price. Hydro vendors will sell you 2 lbs. of the meal for the same price.

I just mix a pound or so for 40 gallons with some water in a bucket. When it has turned into a slop, I add to the mix and turn with a flat bladed shovel on a clean garage floor. Don't know it you noticed or not, but one of those links show you how to properly make a tea with the stuff. Just don't overdue it. It's like using Superthrive - 10 drops/gallon are proper, 20 drops/gallon work against you. Anytime you're working with synthetic hormones, you're screwin' with the plant's natural hormonal responses which can sometimes backfire on ya.

Uncle Ben

FaNDaNGo

you wouldn't be refering to the Edge forums now would UncleBen?? yea i checked the links and figured a tea was the best/fastest way to get it workin on my plants. saved the recipe to my file of good stuff and downsized the recipe to make a gallon which is already steeping, will use some next time i water after reading mega threads on all the various sites, you and Organic and others have me going the organic route. worm castings had been recommended to me by an old friend and i picked up a 20 lb bag of them for $2.95, and have 1 part of it mixed up in my soil mix... besides being chemical free, organic fertilization seems to give a little leeway before burning from over fert. thanks for all the good tips!!