Hey everyone, Welcome to our organic soil Vs Hydro Vs Coco comparison grow dairy. From left to right we have organic soil, RDWC system and Coco, these have transplanted almost three weeks now. The plants used for the comparison are all cuttings from the same mother plant which is cayenne pepper. The three tents are 4ft x 2ft (120cm x 60cm) The lighting for each tent is our ARAY 4 - 250w fixture. https://migrolight.com/collections/all/products/migro-aray-4-140w-265w# The plants grown in organic soil and coco are both in 38 litre aeropots. The RDWC system is the older four bucket system from AlienHydroponics which we made into a two bucket system to fit into the grow tent, the system is 165 litres. https://www.alienhydroponics.co.uk/ The organic soil mix is made up of 40% Promix, 40% good quality compost and 10% perlite, the compost has well rotted horse manure added along with worm castings and mushroom compost. We will be using the Biobizz organic nutrient line in the organic soil setup along with Biosys microbial tea, the nutrients will be given only when needed and the microbial tea will be added once a week. For the RDWC system we will be using the full range of hydroponics nutrients by Shogun Fertilisers. And for the Coco setup we will also be using the full range of coco nutrients by Shogun Fertilisers. https://www.shogunfertilisers.com/en/ The three ARAY 4 fixtures are daisy chained together for dimming so light output for each tent in the same and we’re using the Inkbird controllers to control the exhaust fans. https://migrolight.com/collections/all/products/inkbird-grow-room-temperature-fan-heater-controller-itc-308-uk-and-eu-versions-only# Organic Soil We had some minor issues with overwatering at the start but these have now bounced back to health. Hydro - RDWC These were a little slow taking off and were top fed for the first week until the roots dropped down into the nutrients solution, they seem to be catching up now. Coco These plants have been really going for it since the moment we transplanted them into the coco, these are by far the biggest plants at the moment. We will be doing a weekly update on this comparison grow, we welcome all your comments and any advice you guys may have regarding this. Thanks for dropping by.

Hi I've been growing for almost 10 years now, and got great results with Coco, airpots, regular House and Garden nutes amd LEDs in a tent. I mainly do autos, but I don't mind doing photos in the blistering heat of Summer. My problem is my health, I get Cluster Headaches which is up there as one of the mosty painful conditions known. I don't think Cannabis is a trigger, but I am worrying that the nutes are a potential issue.... I'm not big on flushing as I live in a very humid region and mould becomes a problem. I'm happy with my technique, all I want to do is change my H&G nutes for an organic brand. I've looked at Bio-Diesel and see that Canna do a Bio range.... what have you been using and what do you think? If you know of any good links here on 420, I'd be grateful for the tip off. Cheers and happy growing!

After recently being ripped off by one online "hydro" store, and with Intense Nutes themselves seemingly charging more for their products than the few independent retailers that actually still stock their products (if there even is any left that actually do, I cant find any), can anyone recommend a suitable alternative, to use with Tropic Mix? (60/40 peat/coco), I really want to stay organic, (pending the peat ban situation), and the beauty of Intense was that you only needed a couple of bottles, not a whole array of different stuff. I'm probably going to have to change to coco come 2024 anyway, but I've got a run that needs finishing and am also considering stocking up considerably pre ban, to at least avoid having to learn an entirely different system straight away, although it seems inevitable at some point. Unless of course someone knows of a reliable source of Intense nutes thats not going to try and rip me off. I feel Intense are pulling a fast one with their prices and shipping costs these days. Many thanks.

I haven't actually seen much on the site about bioponics so here goes fuck all. Bioponics (BP) is a blanket term for a number of organic, hydroponic based growing systems. For the purpose of this post, I'm sticking to the method I used on some maskotka tomatoes. In normal hydroponics (NH), nutrients are in an available form that the plant can use without any intermediates. In BP, as with any organic method of growing - nutrients have not undergone processes which make them immediately available. In soil organic growing, these unprocessed solutions enter the growing substrate and are met with a carefully curated force of bacteria and fungi which mercilessly break down substances into their available forms. So how do you replicate this stage in the process without a growing medium? A biofilter (BF). Which is actually a fairly poorly chosen name for what it is; it doesn't actually filter out anything as the name suggests. I have seen people trying to use synthetic materials like chopped up door mats to "filter" the solution due to this description. A more accurate description would be a "digestion substrate" but I'm not going to confuse anyone by slinging new words into the mix. A BF is as simple as this: a natural substance which bacteria and fungi can form a home in through which the undigested nutrient solution is continually fed through and drained back into the reservoir. This performs the first and most obvious task of feeding the microbes the nutrient solution to be broken down but also aerates the solution (you're still going to need an air stone in your reservoir). This can be as simple as a 5L bucket with lid (don't go any smaller) with holes at the bottom and a med-low micron gauze bag lining the bucket (most mid range bubble bags can be recycled to perform this task) to prevent the substrate from falling through. For the substrate, you would be safest starting with PH adjusted (organic adjusted) coco which you can inoculate with trichoderma (G.O. do a fantastic little culture called BM that is perfect for coco). Much like a sourdough starter, this filter will improve with time if you look after it. Initially, I was discouraged by nutrient deficiencies galore because I hadn't given it enough time to digest nutrients prior to the tomatoes first feed. Equally, if you set this going too early, you will find you will have to change your water more often than you like. However, if you take care of your filter by replacing the water before it goes bad, you won't have to change out your filter (although it's not the end of the world if you do - just a little lost time). At this point I'll mention: - the pump feeding into the BF absolutely has to be on 24/7, passing the solution through once will not break it down completely, it has to go through as much as possible. Also, try smelling your BF when it's gone dry... - place your BF directly over your reservoir and let it drain in slowly - too quick and you will flush the substrate - aeration will determine how long you can keep your nutrient water for (and whether it works full stop - I use a small wave emitter too) - make sure the entire substrate in the BF is getting soaked - when drilling holes in the BF bucket lid for the input - make sure there isn't light getting in - DON'T POUR THE UNDIGESTED SOLUTION DIRECTLY INTO THE RESERVOIR FIRST. Pour (slowly) through the filter to begin with, as it will catch the chunkiest parts of the nutrient solution to save the life of your pump In terms of nutrients, there isn't much around formulated for BP and you will often see people wailing about how it goes off quickly, or is full of chunks or how they have to use double doses. It's organic, so naturally it will go off quicker than synthetics. It's full of chunks? FUCKING GOOD. LOVE THEM CHUNKY BITS. They get trapped in the BF until they are broken down which is more efficient than being cycled through 1000 times. Finally, if you find you're having to use double doses, there's something wrong with your BF as it's not breaking things down efficiently. Don't be frightened by bad reviews. Personally, I favour the G.O. bio thrive line, and the rest of their Terra Aquatica supplements. They are specifically formulated for use with BFs. I have had little success with other brands. G.O.'s line tend to stay stable for longer (don't start smelling like the fetid love slot of a yeti on day three) and work well with the culture I mentioned before. Now, I've spent a year or two perfecting the process and have found that the smallest changes in the inputs or the system itself will require re-tuning to work/be efficient. I've started using larger BFs, hollowing out pond filters instead of using buckets, different substrates etc with more success but it's taken many instances of saying "fuck KISS to death", many of which have ended in tears. Do not try this if you're not willing to experiment. Other than all the above, the process is pretty much the same as normal hydro and you can apply it to DWC, drippers (use an inline dripper filter) etc. I'd love to hear of any attempts made and will pass on more empirical knowledge to any intrepid bio-poneers. NERVOUS

Hi all. I see that Homebase is now selling an organic, peat-free compost by Supagrow. I was just wondering if antibody had tried it yet?

I'm gonna do a full diary after their first harvest. I've got going...Two Stress Killer (63 days) Northern Lights (46 days).

Any one used Dr Forest organic amendments ? I seem to have had reasonable results with them.

Ecothrive Products Now in Stock We're happy to announce we have the full range of Biobizz nutrients in stock for next day delivery. https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/collections/ecothrive For new customers Code UK420 gets you 10% off. If you have made an order before please contact us so we can discuss getting you on our customer loyalty program. All products listed below for easy access. Ecothrive Biosys https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/ecothrive-biosys Ecothrive Charge https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/ecothrive-charge Ecothrive Life-Cycle https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/ecothrive-life-cycle Ecothrive Neutralise https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/ecothrive-neutralise Eco-Life Soil - 45L https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/ecolife-soil Thanks Adam.

Bio Bizz in stock now We're happy to announce we have the full range of Biobizz nutrients in stock for next day delivery. https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/collections/bio-bizz for new customers Code UK420 gets you 10% off. If you have made an order before please contact us before so we can discuss getting you on our customer loyalty program. All products listed below for easy access Biobizz Acti-Vera https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/activera Biobizz Alg-A-Mic https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-alg-a-mic Biobizz Bio Heaven https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-bio-heaven Biobizz Bio-Bloom https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-bio-bloom Biobizz Bio-Down https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-bio-down Biobizz Bio-Up https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-bio-up Biobizz Bio-Grow https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-bio-grow Biobizz CalMag https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-calmag Biobizz Fish-Mix https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-fish-mix Biobizz Leaf Coat https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-leaf-coat Biobizz Microbes 150g https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-microbes-150g BioBizz Pre-Mix 5L https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-pre-mix-5l Biobizz Root Juice https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-root-juice Biobizz Top Max https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-top-max Try packs also in stock Biobizz Try Pack - Hydro https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/trypackhydro Biobizz Try Pack - Indoor https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-try-pack-indoor Biobizz Try Pack - Outdoor https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-try-pack-outdoor Biobizz Try Pack - Stimulant https://ledgrowlights.co.uk/products/biobizz-try-pack-stimulant Thanks Adam

Hi all! Apologies if this is in wrong section. Prior to joining this forum I had settled on doing an auto grow as a first time grower. I found a grow on YouTube and decided to follow their compost mix. This is what I purchased: Biobizz × 1 Frass × 1 2L Malted Barley Powder × 1 2L Wormcasts × 1 2L Grow AUTO × 1 2L Bloom AUTO × 1 2L Neem × 1 2L Rockdust × 1 800ml MycoBoost × 1 800ml After some advice from some great folks on this forum, I’ve decided to go with a reg grow for the first time. I’m wondering if I can still use the Grow Auto and Bloom Auto mixes. Their ingredients are: Grow Auto: EM1 Infused bokashi bran, Volcanic rockdust, Mycorrhizal fungi, Northern Atlantic Kelp meal, organic Bat Guano, Alfalfa meal, Wheat bran. Bloom Auto: Organic Bat guano, Northern Atlantic kelp meal, sterilised bone meal, mined sulphate of potash, Dolomite Lime, Diatomaceous earth. All advice welcome! Thanks everyone!

Hey folks.. well I have been looking to source some root stim and noticed canna now do a bio Rhizotonic.. anyone used this and what are your thoughts?? Im not sure what the diff is.. this is marketed for the organic gardener however from my understanding the normal Rhizotonic is already 100% natural so what's the difference here? Seems to sell slightly cheaper too for some reason. Any info folks

I just want to be clear with the title, hence the ultimatum, and really, I live chemical free, so if there is no awesome way to use hydroponics naturally, then i am sticking with soil, I still cling to the hope that there might be a good way, that's why i posted this, can it be done?

I've got a small one plant grow going at the moment. It's about week 6/7 in flower and fading out fast, absurdly fast. It's in a 6litre pot using garden centre soil amended with GK Organic fertiliser. It's been fighting a nutrient deficiency since week 4 of the grow despite following the feeding instructions on the GK fertiliser packaging and website. (50ml of ferts mixed in to 6litres of soil, top dressed with 150ml at the first sing of nitrogen deficiency, to no avail). I don't really know why it didn't work out for me? PH was bang on 6.2-6.5, air temps were 26-28 degrees, roots were kept warm, humidity was 40-50% for flower and higher for veg. All enviornemtal factors were ticked. No lockout (as far as im aware) should have occurred. So why didn't the GK ferts do their thing? I switched back to my Plagron bottled nutrients in a bid to save her, which worked for a while, but the nutrient depletion seemingly can't be stopped. I really want to switch to organics, but this first attempt is a bit of a disaster. I see some people on here use GK, others use Ecothrive. My local grow shop sells eco thrive. Considering switching as more members here seem to be using it with good results. My plan at the moment is to get some Ecothrive Charge (which they have in stock locally), a bottle of bio fizz fish mix, and some worm castings for my next run. Or am i just using all of it wrong and should figure out the bag of GK i have first?

So the 2021 season is now upon us, and the time has come for us gorillas to get at 1 with nature and do what we do best... so let's do this... Big thanks to @panik for inviting me into the RGSC outdoor competition and also for all the hard work put into creating these vars for guys like me to grow. First time in a comp for me so I will do my very best to do these beans justice and hopefully grow some beautiful plants that make my fellow guerrillas proud. Good luck to all and everyone entering the comp, I look forward to reading all your diarys and sharing your experiences as the season moves on.. exciting times guys and girls So the vars I will be running in this diary are as follows.. Affiedaze Purple freeze bx1 Fast zkittles Opg x freezeland The plan for these is to grow them out on my main plot, the plot is pretty established now after a few seasons and always seems to produce big fuk off trees as opposed to plants so this should be interesting.. All my plants will be grown and fed organically and watered from the nearby brook if and when needed. Germination will take place in the next week or so as temps are still very low for this time of year. I want to give these beans the best possible chance of rewarding me to there full potential so feel this to be the correct approach to take. I will be documenting everything i do in growing these girls out including pics from start to finish of there progress. I welcome all advice from anyone who wants to give it as we will never stop learning in this game.. questions will always be answered so feel free to reach out if there is anything you want to no that hasn't been explained. I just wanted to get this going so will be updating in due course once I got some beans wet.. anyone interested in the finer details I have another diary running that will be getting updated regularly with practically everything I have done and the steps taken to achieve it. So there you have it welcome to.... Revives RGSC outdoors antics... let the games begin To be continued... Peace out dudes and dudettes, have a cracking Bank Holiday and keep it green

Transplant this plant 2 days ago and it’s now looking like this! I’m growing organically in coco organically amended, ro water as water source, 600w led light set too 70cm away at 50% 18 hours 6 off, tent temp 25c, tent humid 50%, also have other girls with this one that are all showing signs of curving leafs and deformed growth, someone please help!

Hi, I've had my Frisian Duck outdoors, but in a pot, since May. First in a greenhouse, then the wilds and now back in a greenhouse since the start of October when the heavens opened. The pistils on her little purple buds have started going red/brown in earnest now. I'm not 100% sure when she will be absolutely finished and I am in no particular hurry. Information about her usual finishing time is vague, of course it always is, but never more so. Some sites say they start flowering at the start of October (I think they might mean finish). Some say they are ready mid-October and some at the End of November. Even the breeder - Dutch Passions own website is vague saying harvest is somewhere between the start and middle of Autumn, presumably meaning around the third week of October (2 weeks time). Quite a few leaves have yellowed and dropped off, but it is far from the majority, so I assume there are plenty of nutrients in the plant and in the soil. I am using Biobizz nutrients and have it reasonably dialled in I think. All that said, I was wondering if organic outdoor pot-based growers bother with a flush? If so, would you assume that there are about 2 weeks left and start to water without nutrients for the last couple of weeks? I am torn between carrying on with nutrients as I have been and going to water only for 'the last couple of weeks'. What do you think? Should I go to water only, carry on giving nutrients, get the microscope out and only go to water once I have the ambers coming on properly or Option X? Midge

So after getting some some encouraging results with the first try, (ok, less than half made it, but that's still some that did, in my book it's a WIN compared to dismal results I've had in the past (look up my post about growing the Ice strain in Dubai aka dubshit, i think i tried cloning then too, but it did not work out, i don't remember anymore, but on the plus side, the plants grew great and the smoke was incredible!!! (indoor growbox with cfls) [@vince noir rock n roll star was very helping back then with advice about mycorrhizae and training methods, i don't like to treat them that harshly to be honest, but now i get where you were coming from mate, it does make them stronger!, i accidentally bent the top three branches on the mother plant a bit too much and now they have knots in those areas!] ) Anyway sorry for rambling on, i took 5 clones off the mother yesterday and they are doing great under the florescent light, but i raised them closer to it this time, hopefully they won't take as long to root and with a better success rate, let's see what happens, today they look happy in the pots under the cling wrap, according to a cool video i saw i just gotta mist the cling film for the first 3 days then leave them after that, gradually allowing more air to get in and out by poking more holes in the cling wrap, and uncovering briefly for a little while every day, that should do it, they should have roots a week or two later. Did i miss anything please let me know, peace.

So lately I've been looking into all things living soil. I stumbled upon The Future Cannabis Project channel on YouTube some months ago. They cover all kinds of topics but there is a huge focus on living soil. It's probably one of the best sources of good information I've come across so far. In a few of the live streams I've watched Leighton has mentioned the horizonal soil method but I'd never seen any content on it specifically. Last night I noticed FCP had uploaded a video covering how to build a soil bed according to this method. I thought I'd share it here for all the living soil freaks. It takes the mimicry of nature that we try to achieve with living soil to the next level. Check it out:

Living in an apartment, it's not so simple to have a big compost bin. So I was stoked to find this video on how to compost in an apartment space, without having to suffer the smells and the bugs, that means it's game on! So today I did exactly what was in this video, almost, I don't have access to Neem leaves here (people in India sure are lucky that way!) but i did have everything else, here is the video, apparently in 3 months i should have usable compost, let's see.

Hello once again, it's been a while, more than 2 years i think, I've lost count, anyway good to be back on here, I wasn't doing any growing for a while but started again last year. Right now I have a beautiful Landrace Lebanese mother plant, growing under the sun in a pot on the balcony, i took 2 clones from her over a week ago, i don't have access to rooting hormone over here in Lebanon so i used organic honey instead, i heard it gets good results, now, one clone seems to be ok and i think might have rooted, the other is wilty and doesn't look so hot, maybe she won't make it, i put them in soil as i also don't have access to rock wool here, in small pots that are half full, then i covered the top with cling wrap and a rubber band, as a makeshift dome for each plant in this case. i try to give them a bit of direct sun every day, but then move them in a shaded area as i don't want to stress them too much yet, i also periodically uncover them until they start to wilt, then cover them back up again. Today, i took 3 more clones from the mama but this time i decided to try using Aloe Vera gel instead, i have a big aloe plant so that's easy, i hope works better than the honey. So...... have I done it right? what would you suggest? i have not cloned in a long, long time now, and the last time i had rooting hormone powder, that was years ago. Peace and stay free.

Hello, I have very, very little experience with cooking with cannabis or making edibles, even though I always cook all my own food and make my own desserts etc! (i don't eat outside "food") and i would love to incorporate my hash into it, but had had little success so far. You see, my tolerance is very high, and in California I found out that i need to eat an extra strong edible just to have a good time, so i focused instead on vaping and smoking, which seemed to work a lot better on me. Now i have lots of premium Lebanese Red hash, i tried making an edible out of it the other day, by heating up half a gram of the hash, then crumbling it and i mixed it into a tablespoon of organic peanut butter, then i mixed that with another tablespoon of the choco peanut butter that i make regularly, just to mask any taste, and then i kneaded the peanut butter mix for a while as well as i could with a spoon, then ate it all. About an hour later, i could feel something different (i was also smoking up) so then i decided to stop the smoking for a while and see how the ride goes. It did not go that well, it was too mild, this, from half a gram of premium hash that would normally couch lock me if i smoked that much of it! what's up with that? one of the main reasons i avoid making edibles is my fear of wasting the product, and i feel it was in this case, what did i do wrong, do i just need a larger amount? so is eating it that inefficient? Help me get a clue please, i feel like I'm missing something.