ron8theapple

Hi. I'm new to organics, and growing in general. I have read a lot of info on this site and have a pretty good grasp on most aspects of growing. Now, I have a plant. It is planted in soil that says it has phosphorus already added. I put some blood meal, bone meal, and kelp meal into the soil when I transplanted my plant from a small cup to a 5 gallon bucket. I put a normal amount of blood meal, and small amounts of bone meal and kelp meal. I put small amounts of bone meal because it is mainly high in phosphate and my soil already has phosphorus in it ( i'm assuming phosphate is phosphorus or something like it). Anyway I read it takes awhile for the Bone Meal to start working, so I plan on making some tea from it ( i'm assuming here that I don't heat it like normal tea). Now I was wondering if the kelp meal starts acting fast?, and do I need to throw a little of that into the tea ( if kelp meal even works that way? ) And as far as straining goes, can I just throw my mixture in w/ the proper amounts of water into a spray bottle and let the nozzle strain out the chunks? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading all of this.

ciratac

I'm very inexperienced with organics, but I do know that bone meal is "slow-acting" because
it is not water-soluble. So you can't make a tea with it. When you put it in soil, it is slowly
broken down by micro-organisms, releasing its phosphorous.

If you want to boost phosphorous later, you can get a high-phosphorous guano formulation
which is water-soluble, and thus "tea-able".

You probably want to use more kelp meal in your soil mix, because you want the potassium.
By the time you hit flowering, the bone meal will be breaking down to give you the phosphorous
boost you want during flowering.

I'm sure others can comment more sensibly on this though.

It's probably a bad idea to put unstrained tea into a spray bottle. You'll clog the nozzle.
But don't you want to add the tea to the soil, anyway?

-ciratac-

ron8theapple

thanks for the info. it helps. as far as your question: don't I want to add the tea anyway? I thought that if you get all of the organics right and you mix them with the soil properly that you didn't have to do any more ferting. Only watering. I thought I read that on the boards. It looks as though I will have to use some sort of additive. either the organic tea or chemicals. ( don't want to use chem's unless I can't make organics work) .

Lizzie Borden

I agree with Ciratac. You should add more kelp meal, or another K source. Marijuana loves K. I noticed dramatic improvements when I increased it. You can make kelp meal into tea or get kelp extract, which you just dilute with water and apply. There are also organic nutes with more K than kelp, like sul-po-mag (0-0-22).

Lizzie Borden

You can prepare an organic soil mix that will supply the plant with everything it needs throughout its life. Can you be more specific on the amounts of things you have added?

ciratac

Oops, I think we're not quite connecting here.

> I thought that if you get all of the organics right and you mix them with the soil
> properly that you didn't have to do any more ferting

Yes, that's the philosophy. You want to feed the soil, so it gives the plant everything it
needs. Then you don't need to add other fertilizers. However, it's not easy to
get the soil mix just right (especially when you are starting out), so you can make
corrections later by adding fertilizers. An easy way to do that is with liquids, so with
non-liquid components, you make tea if they're water soluble.

> as far as your question: don't I want to add the tea anyway?

Since you were talking about spray bottles, I assumed you wanted to spray the plants
with the tea. I just meant that you want to add the tea to the soil, rather than spraying it
on. So you wouldn't need a spray bottle.

I think you've got the right idea.

One of the concepts behind organics is that you encourage beneficial organisms in the soil.
If you add chemical fertilizers, you tend to reduce the biological activity in the soil.
If you start out with organics, I encourage you to try to stick with it. It sounds like you are
willing to listen and learn. With that attitude people around here (who know way more
than I do) will be more than happy to help you.

Welcome to hc.com and good luck!

-ciratac-

ron8theapple

thanks brindie

I've only added stuff to about the top 3/4 of soil ( there's a little at the bottom though ). I added approx. 3 tblsp. of blood meal ;
1 1/2 tblsp. of bone meal ; and about 1 1/2 of kelp meal. that's it so far. The soil is Scott's Potting soil and it says on the package " added phosphorus stimulates root growth"

ron8theapple

ciratac

sorry about the misunderstanding. I was planning on using the spray bottle to spray the soil. I like it because it seems to evenly cover the area, although it takes awhile to get a good soak. And yeah, I'm definitely willing to listen and learn from people here because i've seen some of the pictures of plants and they look wonderful. I have the time and I enjoy the whole experience making my plant grow. I think organics is going to be a good route to go for me.

Lizzie Borden

To keep the plant healthy and happy throughout its life you will need to add quite a bit more to the soil. A general rule with organics is one tablespoon per gallon of soil. So with your five gallon bucket you should have five tablespoons each of blood, bone and kelp meals, mixed into all the soil. Using even more kelp than that, and/or adding sul-po-mag too, would be a good idea.

Using a spray bottle is fun at first but gets old later when you're trying to deliver a gallon or so to each plant.

ron8theapple

yeah. the spray bottle is getting to be too much of a chore. what do you suggest is a better way to deliver water?