One thing you may wanna consider is a bag or a cpl gallons of shroom substrate. Shouldn’t be expensive. For teas,soil mixes,top dressings n such..a good fungal and bacterial input is always lovely. Esp in a booster tea,or base mix..happy harvesting
I do use them just have not put them on yet cause I don’t want to overwater. I usually keep them off the first couple weeks to promote roots growth with faster dry backs probably put them on this week
I think you’re leaving stuff on the table by doing it that way.
I stop direct planting and now my seeds in my AC Infinity humidity Dome and then plant those seedlings with a few days of hardening off in the Dome,
I pot up my earthbox the day of transplant. I bring up my media to the proper moisture level, just under being able to squeeze any water out of a handful of media, and lay down the first topdressing and moisten it , then put the cover on. I dig a little hole, sprinkle some mycos, plant and lightly water it in for full media contact.
At that point there is no possibility of overwatering! You don’t have to touch anything for 4 or 5 days. Both the top dressing and cover help to conserve the moisture. At that point I usually and about 500 milliliters of water. You can do it directly over the plant or just put it in the reservoir with the wicking area that is directly underneath the plant.
The microbes have already started breaking down your top dressing and I guarantee you the seedling’s roots are already into the earthworm castings.
Since I started doing like that, I really don’t worry about over watering in juniors. There’s just not the possibility of stunting through over watering.
I do the same thing with regular earth boxes. Early on, I did have problems with the regulars in getting the roots established with the wicking areas with some over watering stunting. That led me to start doing the above and I did one other thing.
It simply takes longer for the root system to establish themselves with the wicking areas in a regular earth box, since the wicking areas are at each end.
So to quicken this establishment in regular Earth boxes, I ordered separate junior media separators. I cut out the center wicking area from the junior and placed it directly in the of the media separator of the regular earth box and epoxied it in. Now it’s really only one or two days time difference before you see the explosive growth with the establishment of the root system with the wicking area.
Like always, I’m just trying to help. If what I said here makes sense, use it. If it doesn’t make sense, store it away, it might later on! LOL!
If you try it, I’m sure you’ll be a Mikey.
I was going t transplant but then @Man-O-Green and @Hangry_hedgehog talked me out of it and using the leverage of not needing to transplant in EB’s to my advantage. They seem to be fine still getting in the back of swing of things since I’ve been growing in coco for so long now switching to soil changes watering habits a bunch.
Probably going to start top dressing this weekend least GR since she’s the furthest along any recommendation on what to use and how much? I was figuring 1/4 cup craft blend and 2-3 cups EWC and that’s about it maybe lobster compost but also could do without. They’ll probably have least two more weeks of veg going to try to move them into the flower as needed. So they all get a decent veg don’t wanna let PMK and SxS not get the same amount of veg as GR this way I can stagger my harvest and top dressings too
1/4 cup of craft blend sounds good 2-3 cups of craft EWC seems like too much. I’m thinking 1 cup max. You’ll wanna top dress again in another 14 to 21 days. I’m sure EB’s are a bit different to work with but to give you an idea I only top dress with 1/2 cup of EWC at day 17 and that’s for 10 gals of soil. Also included at day 17 I give a tick over 1/4 cup of craft blend.
You should be following someone’s tried feeding regime. That said document your grow well. It will aid in making corrections next time if any are needed. Organic soil is very forgiving but remember every addition remains in the pot until the plant uses it. Keep it moist but not soggy and nature will feed your plant.
Hey @paulg any recommendation on amounts of craftblend and EWC castings for tops dressing did I quick scroll through you thread but didn’t see it. I see where you top feed build a bloom and veg. Is veg craftblend? Don’t think I’m ready for bloom yet next top dressing I’ll start that probably
@WildBill is too kind! I really just followed his advice (quoted below). I modified his recipe slightly. I build my own soil mix. My soil bin is full of worms ,so the soil is already heavy with castings. I added Craft Blend to the soil bin as well. For the top dress, I added a cup of BaS veg along with some home made castings. I would follow WB’s recipe if your soil is a quality store bought product.
Good luck, I think you will have great success!
The day of Transplanting I recheck the media for proper moisture level. the proper moisture level is where you can squeeze your media as hard as you can and not get any moisture out , but the media stays clumped together. When you fill up the earth boxes be sure to pack firmly the wicking areas with your media. Fill the pot to within three quarters of a inch from the top. It will settle down to the proper level in the next few days.I do my first top dressing at pot up.I always like to put my earthworm castings on first whenever I top dress. With the worm castings and compost, there’s no really set limit or amount that is a must. I really pretty much use about 4 cups of each, but I may add more if I know it might be a heavy feeder.I put my craft blend down at the same time and in between the earth castings and compost. I think a cup is plenty for the first top dressing.I leave the center open for the transplant. I go ahead and wet down the top dressing and then put the plastic cover on. I cut an X in the cover for the transplant and fold the flap back. You can temporarily tape them in place if you want. I dig out the little hole for the cube and transplant the girl. Firmly packing the cube into the media to make sure it has full contact. and then lightly water it in, You can sprinkle mycos in the hole if you want, but you’ve already introduced it.
Thanks guy I appreciate the help wish I could rep all of you so a thank you will have to work. I think I got a grasp on it just something new so little nervous like to make sure I’m doing it right. Always appreciate the input thank you and welcome anytime
Hey Dab: If you’re going to stick with organic growing, I’d recommend building your own soil. Easy, cheap and fun! A couple of bins, some red wigglers, organic treats etc.. You can add some BAS Craft Blend. Here’s a pic of my bin. Right now the kids are feeding on my last grows’ root ball. There are a number of uTube videos on this and making your own EW castings.
FYI and sometimes overlooked- Also make sure every plant and seed goes in the hole with mycorrhizae. Bigfoot Gold or Dynamyco are my choices and water in some Bigfoot Black or Gold several times through the growth cycle.
