Medium information gathering thread - For FAQ inclusion

[DurbanPoison]

your right worm castings are great...espescially if you can get a hold of organics alive castings.

[Cerebro]

Originally Posted by sour diesel

im an all organic too. thank god there are more and more of us.

i start with a bag of fox farm's ocean forrest, add about a cup of perlite and a cup of vermiculite to each plant along with a handfull of worm castings. i know there already in ocean forrest along with almost everything but you cant get enough worm castings. its npk is like 0-1-1 or something so your not gonna kill anything. then i add a dash of bone meal and a little less blood meal to the mixture. i finish up by watering it with 1 tsp of earth juice's microblast in a gallon of distilled water and then i introduce the ladies to it.

How long do you let it sit after adding stuff to it, and, have you found it too hot (nutes wise) for germinating?

[sevengoals]

I use a bag of store bought potting soil for house plants, into which I mix about the same amount of our homemade compost (mainly lawn clippings, garden waste, and some burnt over charcoal ash from the grill,).
I also add a couple of handfuls of bat guano to the mix.
While the plants are growing I, from time to time, dig gently about the surface and put in some compost right on top.

that's about it.



what it looks like.

[Cerebro]

Bump

[zepp_head]

All my plants are innoculated with mycorrhizal as soon as they start showing roots. Incredible results.

What is mycorrhizal? Is that a kind of supplemental fungus, or just that natural fungus that the roots grow by themselves?
Is Sunshine Mix a soil, or soil-less medium?

I got some algae into my vermiculite, due to my first hydro attempt going wrong. How do I go about sterilizing it to start over?

[zepp_head]

How do I transplant a plant that's grown in 50/50 perlite/vermiculite? When I take the plant out of the pot, won't the roots simply and easily break out of the medium? I'm talking about starting several seedlings in order to choose a good mother. Maybe I should start in soil instead, or just plant in the 50/50 mix, but use the size of pot that I plan to finish in? Thanks for your thoughts.

[Cerebro]

dont worry too much about the roots snapping, just be gentle with them and you should be right, that stuff will come away very easily. However you can also do as you asked, and just transplant it as is into the next medium. The roots will expand new horizons. Just add a couple of drops of seaweed extract to a jug of water to help the roots and minimise shock.

[Cerebro]

I found these this year, very easy to transfer to site, very adaptable.
I just love lucerne as mulch, anything that decreases watering requirements is good by me, and lucerne is so safe as an organic fertiliser.

[jim_macminn]

I have tried a varity of mediums, and soils. I havent not tried mixing my own soil, i could use a good rceipe for that, i use orchard supply preimium mix with added perlite and vermeculite, I also add dry nutriants to the soil, age old grow and bloom formulas. I am also useing a bucket system with expanded clay pebbles, and I am also running a flood table with Rock Wool cubes and a coco mat on the bottom. I am useing BC Boost from technaflora, i am useing the BC feed schedule, i am also useing FoxFarm Open seasme, Beastie Bloomz, And ChaChing.

[Cerebro]

Sounds like a good set-up mate.

[jordon]

I use:

3 parts sunshine mix#1
1.5 part perlite
1 1/2 Tablespoon Garden Gypsum per gallon medium
1 part worm castings
1/2 cup greensand per 5 gallons

I also always have some compost tea brewing using it to water. For additions I use hygrozyme for healthy root systems, organic liquid karma, fulvic acid,. I also use pure blend organic fertilizers for veg & bloom. I've also done a side by side comparison with one plant getting the above ferts and another getting the same but having been aerated with an aquarium stone. The plane with the aerated ferts grew faster and was more robust. I also grow in 5 gallon pails. vegging for 60 days.

[Cerebro]

i dig that.

[Galt]

Used to use soil block makers when I was big time organic veg growing. Two sizes...1st was about 3/4" x 3/4" cube and the second was about 3-3 1/2" cube with a depression in the top that would allow the smaller seed starting cube to drop right inside of it after germinating. The block makers would be pressed into your moistened soil medium and then you'd usually have to add a bit and even the cells with your fingers before you press a plunger and they would all be forced out into your flat. Used them for trials on 180 varieties of tomatoes and 300 varieties of capsicums.

Soil mix was 50% our own finished compost (oak and maple tree leaves, grass clippings and asstd. plant waste mixed with equal parts fresh and dried horse manure and straw stable bedding), 25% sphagnum moss, 25% screened & solar sterilized local topsoil. The only ferts used were fish emulsion, Epsom salt and a biological root stimulant called "Roots".

Plants were started on racks with fluorescents and a wicking fabric that covered the bottom of each flat under the soil blocks - lapped over one end and into a trough that ran the length of each shelf for watering the root zone. Never top watered and never had any mold, fungus or damping off issues. Germ rates were always good but went to great once we added bottom heat.

[farmergiles]

Hydroponic Mediums

Hydroponic mediums are inert and sterile substances that replace the soil in providing your plants support and a place to spread roots. The medium needs to provide this support whilst allowing good drainage and aeration but some level of water retention.

There are two basic types of hydroponics medium, fibrous medium and granulated mediums.

Within each of these categories there are several choices of mediums:

Fibrous Mediums

- Rockwool - slabs
- Greenmix/Goldenwool - shredded (bagged) rockwool
- Coco Coir - available in slabs and bagged

Rockwool is easy to obtain and get good results with but is unpleasant to handle and not exactly environmentally friendly. Try not to handle dry rockwool without respiratory protection- you don't want to inhale the dust.
Coco Coir has similar benefits but is more benign and also bio degradable.

Granulated Mediums

-Expanded Clay Pebbles
-Perlite
-Vermiculite

All the above mediums can be reused for more than one grow as long as there are no pests, excessive algae or salts in them. Sometimes wetting agents are used to revitalise coco.