Artificial Emotion
Bluelighter
We'll just have to agree to disagree on the perlite thing. The only reason I was adament it is pointless is because of the overwhelming consensus on the main board I frequent. Oldtimer1 himself dispelled him and he is probably one of the most knowledgable cannabis growers in existence. As an interesting point, he was the person who coined the term leaf spot fungus (LSF) which shows the influence he has since everyone uses this term now. No hard feelings anyway.
Let's play devils advocate and say it does achieve the aeration and improve the medium. Well, if that were true coco would still be a far superior ammendment. It provides an ideal air to water ratio in the medium, preventing waterlogging. It has a powerful capillary action and is hydrophillic and also provides beneficial trichoderma fungi as well as hormones. It is an excellent medium in it's own right and you'll see if you use it, the root growth is explosive and growth is a lot faster. It is less messy and the benefits are endless. I love it so much I'm using it as a medium in autopots (these are legendary). The Autopots use no electricity and water from underneath which is good in coco. Because of the capillary action it sucks up th water readily. If you're using coco in a drain to waste system water the coco nutrients daily. I've heard reports that you can in fact use organic nutrients with coco but I have no experience. I'm using Hesi coco nutrients designed for coco's cation exchange capacity (CEC). Hesi is the best coco nutrient on the Market IMO and has 100% organic N. Biobizz Fishmix is an excellent organic nutrient that has been shown to work well in coco. Biobizz Fishmix has a good reputation for helping establish and maintain a good soil foodweb outdoors where it is normally used. It can be used in conjunction with other fertilizers with success. Outside a couple of months before growing I dig dead fish into the bottom of a hole in the ground, covering it up with the dug out topsoil so that by the time I grow the soil becomes enriched with nutrients, especially N. If given enough time to decompose it becomes partnof the soil and doesn't smell or give fishy buds. Fishmix does stink but when watered in it doesn't smell at all.
Organic nutrients (in general) need a microherd to convert them into plant-available forms. So, it is important to help feed and to provide a good environment for the soil foodweb (e.g. fungi, bacteria, protazoa and nematodes). Feed the medium, not the plants. Any chemical fertilizer (nutrients) kill off at least part of the foodweb. The foodweb helps ward off diseases and has many direct or indirect beneficial effects on the plant so it is important for soil health. Organic nutrients can give just as high a yield as chemical nutrients as long as the foodweb is healthy. The reason people sometimes get better results with chemical mineral salt fertilizers is because their medium just doesn't support this crucial foodweb and so they are bound to get better results with chemical nutrients as it's like mainlining - the nutrient goes straight to the plant. The main advantage of organic nutrients is that you don't need to flush at the end to remove nasty residuals from the plant tissue and the flavour is a LOT better and sweeter. If you do grow hydroponically you can improve the final taste of you weed flowers by curing for AT LEAST a month, preferrably longer.
The best organic hydro nutrient system is General Hydroponics (Europe) Biosevia with the Biofiltre and the special fungi packets you buy with this separately. The biofiltre, considering what it does and how well it works, is very inexpenaive. The system will keep your res clean and free from pathogens and works well.
Fytocell is another medium/ammendment which can take the place of perlite and can in itself be an excellent medium. It is a recent development and even in an amazingly simple setup like a hempy bucket people have consistently been reporting that it definitely outperforms both vermiculite and perlite. It can be added to the medium at a rate of 10-20% and is used in Plant Magic Soil Supreme which is almost definitely one of the few of the best cannabis-specific grow mediums. I have found Fytocell to be almost unbelievably good. One time I couldn't recognize the plant it had grown so much in the 7 days since I last looked at the plant.
I'm using coco coir (the husks). It can be described as a crumb structure rather than fibres or dust.
If you want I can give you some evidence-based medium recipes.
I like to use ammendments such as calcified seaweed, kelp meal, seaweed extract, rock phosphate, rock guano, fresh guano, fish emulsion/hydrolysate, neem cake, mycorhizzal fungi, trichoderma fungi, dolomite, rock dust, composted bark, worm castings, alfalfa/comfrey extract (they contain amazing phytochemicals, one of which is contained in alfalfa that cannabis responds particularly well and is the active ingredient in Superthrive), humic and fulvic acid and actively aerated compost teas (this is the most effective thing I've ever used and I've done some work with colleagues of the eminent Dr. Elaine Ingham recently who did pioneering research into the area, so I can help you in this area). Particularly in the last year I have not gone out in my spare time and have done nothing but learn about horticulture, some of which includes cannabis growing. It is my passion and gets me very excited. I love it more than my unborn kids.
Have you considered growing organically in a hydro setup (it is possible if you were not aware and I'm not talking about aquaponics)? You don't even really need to spend much money -you could use a Fytocell hempy bucket.
If you have any questions I would love to help. Even if it's your grow room that you want to improve.
Let's play devils advocate and say it does achieve the aeration and improve the medium. Well, if that were true coco would still be a far superior ammendment. It provides an ideal air to water ratio in the medium, preventing waterlogging. It has a powerful capillary action and is hydrophillic and also provides beneficial trichoderma fungi as well as hormones. It is an excellent medium in it's own right and you'll see if you use it, the root growth is explosive and growth is a lot faster. It is less messy and the benefits are endless. I love it so much I'm using it as a medium in autopots (these are legendary). The Autopots use no electricity and water from underneath which is good in coco. Because of the capillary action it sucks up th water readily. If you're using coco in a drain to waste system water the coco nutrients daily. I've heard reports that you can in fact use organic nutrients with coco but I have no experience. I'm using Hesi coco nutrients designed for coco's cation exchange capacity (CEC). Hesi is the best coco nutrient on the Market IMO and has 100% organic N. Biobizz Fishmix is an excellent organic nutrient that has been shown to work well in coco. Biobizz Fishmix has a good reputation for helping establish and maintain a good soil foodweb outdoors where it is normally used. It can be used in conjunction with other fertilizers with success. Outside a couple of months before growing I dig dead fish into the bottom of a hole in the ground, covering it up with the dug out topsoil so that by the time I grow the soil becomes enriched with nutrients, especially N. If given enough time to decompose it becomes partnof the soil and doesn't smell or give fishy buds. Fishmix does stink but when watered in it doesn't smell at all.
Organic nutrients (in general) need a microherd to convert them into plant-available forms. So, it is important to help feed and to provide a good environment for the soil foodweb (e.g. fungi, bacteria, protazoa and nematodes). Feed the medium, not the plants. Any chemical fertilizer (nutrients) kill off at least part of the foodweb. The foodweb helps ward off diseases and has many direct or indirect beneficial effects on the plant so it is important for soil health. Organic nutrients can give just as high a yield as chemical nutrients as long as the foodweb is healthy. The reason people sometimes get better results with chemical mineral salt fertilizers is because their medium just doesn't support this crucial foodweb and so they are bound to get better results with chemical nutrients as it's like mainlining - the nutrient goes straight to the plant. The main advantage of organic nutrients is that you don't need to flush at the end to remove nasty residuals from the plant tissue and the flavour is a LOT better and sweeter. If you do grow hydroponically you can improve the final taste of you weed flowers by curing for AT LEAST a month, preferrably longer.
The best organic hydro nutrient system is General Hydroponics (Europe) Biosevia with the Biofiltre and the special fungi packets you buy with this separately. The biofiltre, considering what it does and how well it works, is very inexpenaive. The system will keep your res clean and free from pathogens and works well.
Fytocell is another medium/ammendment which can take the place of perlite and can in itself be an excellent medium. It is a recent development and even in an amazingly simple setup like a hempy bucket people have consistently been reporting that it definitely outperforms both vermiculite and perlite. It can be added to the medium at a rate of 10-20% and is used in Plant Magic Soil Supreme which is almost definitely one of the few of the best cannabis-specific grow mediums. I have found Fytocell to be almost unbelievably good. One time I couldn't recognize the plant it had grown so much in the 7 days since I last looked at the plant.
I'm using coco coir (the husks). It can be described as a crumb structure rather than fibres or dust.
If you want I can give you some evidence-based medium recipes.
I like to use ammendments such as calcified seaweed, kelp meal, seaweed extract, rock phosphate, rock guano, fresh guano, fish emulsion/hydrolysate, neem cake, mycorhizzal fungi, trichoderma fungi, dolomite, rock dust, composted bark, worm castings, alfalfa/comfrey extract (they contain amazing phytochemicals, one of which is contained in alfalfa that cannabis responds particularly well and is the active ingredient in Superthrive), humic and fulvic acid and actively aerated compost teas (this is the most effective thing I've ever used and I've done some work with colleagues of the eminent Dr. Elaine Ingham recently who did pioneering research into the area, so I can help you in this area). Particularly in the last year I have not gone out in my spare time and have done nothing but learn about horticulture, some of which includes cannabis growing. It is my passion and gets me very excited. I love it more than my unborn kids.
Have you considered growing organically in a hydro setup (it is possible if you were not aware and I'm not talking about aquaponics)? You don't even really need to spend much money -you could use a Fytocell hempy bucket.
If you have any questions I would love to help. Even if it's your grow room that you want to improve.
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, but it also happens with age. The longer you hold a mother, the harder it is to keep her green ![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")