If I want to boost the K levels during flowering, is PK13/14 my only option?

I've searched this place and many others and can't seem to find the answer. Anything organic that I can prepare myself? If so, how?

Thanks.

You wanr some rock potash - available from all good garden centres

Grow some comfrey and make it in to a liquid tea.....the resulting liquid feed is very high in potash. Good for tomatoes too
Bocking14 is the variety you need.

ATB

Just found the bocking 14 then on an allotment site. Nice one.

I also found comfrey pellets. Basically, theyre the bocking 14 variety, but ready to use to make a comfrey tea. What do you reckon of those?

Chilli, Is the rock potash organic?
I always see the Sulphate of Potash, but never rock potash. What does it look like? Come in a small box, or bag or what?

I think those pellets would work okay in a tea.

It is really worth putting in a small comfrey patch if you can.......pretty much any spot, sun or shade.
I planted mine early in the season this year and have had 3 good cuts of leaf material, with another one to come very soon.
As well as liquid feed, I've been adding mine to the compost heap as an activator.......you can also use wilted leaves as a green manure mulch when planting beans and potatoes.

I should be able to take root cuts soon.....will read up on that.
PM me if you want to try a cutting (of comfrey).


ATB

Nice one. I'm gonna do a little Comfrey patch, heard it's good feed for a worm farm which is a bonus. I'll grab some of the pellets for now, I'll post up if they're any good. I'll give you a shout when I need a cutting, that's if I don't get the seeds with the pellets. Thanks very much

i no a guy who used bannana skins

Please do.
Bocking14 is not available in seed form.....it is a sterile clone.
It is the only recommended variety to use apparently.

Yes it's organic. It's about a fiver for 3 kilos. Be careful about sulphate of potash - not all of it is suitable for organic systems (potassium chloride mixed with sulphuric acid).


Natural potash rock is ideal for all organic growers. Particularly suitable for fruit trees and bushes which have a high potassium requirement, tomatoes, vegetables etc. General organic use to balance organic fertiliser and composts devoid of this essential element.

Good stuff.

Chilli, I know about the sulphate of potash, that's why I don't want to use it. It's just that I've never seen the stuff you're on about. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Would it be near the boxes of ferts, such as the sulphates and epsoms etc?

F.A.Inspector, the bocking 14 comfrey is available online for £6 for a pack of five. What does that mean then? In what form would that be sold?

Chase Organics??...........if so, get a bottle of their SM3 seaweed

They come as root cuttings.....pieces of small root (looks like a piece of old wood) from which there will be protruding some small shoots. I put mine in to small pots and they were ready to plant out in a week/10 days. They grow mighty fast.
It is not an unattractive boarder plant and the pink blooms seem to attract a lot of bees.

Look up Cumulus K.

FAI, Yes, chase organics. Looking again though it seems they're out of stock, so I might need that cutting sometime mate. They're doing an SM6 seaweed now also, both products sound like good stuff, similar in makeup and purity to the plant magic products it seems.

Oldtimer, I found a stockist of cumulus K. But how would I apply it? Bear in mind that I want to add it at the early to mid point in flowering, as oppose to adding it into my flowering mix, which is already done. Based on this, and generally, would you suggest using this ahead of a Comfrey tea made up with the pellets/leaves? Thanks.

E2A: For anyone who's interested, on the website it says of Cumulus K: "Description: A pelleted product from the sugar beet industry. Fermentation and centrifugal separation leaves a potassium of plant origin"

The website is Pinetum Products by the way. It seems like a good place, sells rockdust and other good stuff.

Pinetum are nice people, I believe the potash in cumulus k is in a soluble form, the problem with rock potash is its not soluble and easily locked up in the soil, so a long term option like bone meal.

Comfrey juice is all you need really, but to extract potash into its self, comfrey has to be planted in open soil so it can root mine.

The best tutorial on making comfrey juice, or small scale same people.Its important when making comfrey extract that no water is added, as it devalues the extract, also it needs to be grown in as full sun as possible, while comfrey will grow in shade the potash level of the extract will be half to a third of that extracted from full sun plants.

Chase also do an organically derived potash:-

I don't like the fact it has bone meal extracts in it though.

This is very good stuff. Nice one. The comfrey extraction seems simple. Will definitely be doing this in the future. Is the extract watered down before use?

I can't make an extract yet anyway, so for the time being I'm going to have to use the comfrey pellets. Can you give any advice on how much I should be using to supplement my grow? Or would that be difficult to judge?

Also, any advice for the usage of the cumulus K?

Thanks.

Read my thread on how to make Russian comfrey fert.

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=186612

I've had a look.

Sorry but I have a big problem with your extraction method. I knew Lawrence, and visited his bocking home where the HDRA research was mainly coordinated back in the day. Lawrence gave me my #14 comfrey clones.

As an infill the Henry Doubleday Research Association, did all the selection and research on useing and making liquid fertiliser from comfrey, as well as selecting the bocking clones from the stevenson strains.

Doubleday’s did start out useing water extraction but found that it was not much use as a fertiliser in so much that it contained nearer to homeopathic amounts of N:P:K they wanted a more concentrated form that could be diluted, and went on to develop making extract by packing just plant material into barrels all season as there was space, a blend of the black fluid made this way over a summer season useing bocking #14 [the highest yielder and potash producer of all the stevenson strains] has a certified N:P:K analysis of 0.12%:0.055%:0.86% moisture 97.3% while being of very low value all the nutrients are in a form immediately usable by plants either as folia or a root drench, the best results for potatoes and tomatoes [flowering canna has similar requirments] were produced when diluted 10 to 1 water to concentrate.

wood ash is full of k no? just don't use ash from treated wood, i think it can be quite basic also so you need to be careful with it

Interesting stuff some of this.

However, I'm no clearer on how to use the comfrey pellets, or the cumulus K. They're both soluble, so are, I presume, in a ready to use form. If anyone has advice I am listening. If not I'll just have to give it a go.

Cheers.

Just hope those of you who are keen on growing comfrey are able to control it...... its a vigorous grower to say the least. But it is a good liquid feed, as is wormery "juice".......

I've posted this somewhere else, but with no response so I'll ask here. What is the general opinion of B.A.C's new organic PK 13/14 product? It says the ingredients in it are soil registration approved.

never heard of that? if it is organic tell me more, i thought that sum1 would bring a organic type of pk boost

There's not much I can tell you. I haven't heard back from anyone who's used it.

It's actually called 'B.A.C Organic PK Booster' and it has an NPK value of 3-3-8

Although it has a relitivly high value of Potassium it's not exactly the same PK ratio's of Canna's product (13-14), so you may not see the same "boost" you'd see with those other synthetic products! Canna's competitor is 'Advanced Nutrients Hammerhead' which a PK value of 9-18

Here's their spiel:
"This B.A.C. PK Booster is a product with proven results in the professional agriculture and horticulture sectors in the Netherlands. This PK Booster ensures an exuberant sugar forming in your flowers. As a result of this, the quality will improve significantly. Because B.A.C. PK Booster is especially developed to meet the needs of your plants, it will not disturb their natural balance. B.A.C. Organic PK booster is custom blended using Soil Association approved ingredients. Due to the contents of PK Feed there is a high level of micronutrients and sugars that will work in harmony with the B.A.C. mycorrhiza( funky Fungi). Also contains Yucca, which has natural saponins (wetting agents),to aid penetration of the plant feed into the soil or cocos. One single purpose: a maximum yield in terms of quality, taste and smell.
Dosage: 1-3ml per litre"

I've not used it my self like but I've "heard" that B.A.C's is the main thing they use down on the 'Isle of White' and love this stuff. There's only one way to find out isn't there really, give it ago mate and let us know what you think.

We must be talking about two different products mate. In fact, I think we are. The BAC is definitely PK 13-14. The one you are on about is, as you say, PK 3-3-8.

Go to the Green's website and look it up, it's definitely out there.

E2A: I might give it a go though. I'll be doing a few different things along the way hopefully, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

No mate! There's definitly only one version! On greens they call it 'organic pk13/14' but it's just a marketing gimmick! If you read the info on it and see the picture you'll see that it's 'organic pk booster'.

B.a.c does not have any product called 'organic pk13/14'. Check there website mate, see for your self, the pk booster doesn't seem like out special, just has yukka extract and odd other thing, nowt special!

That's not like Green's. Or should I say, not how I imagined them to do business. If it's PK 3-8, why market it as PK 13-14? Surely that's not allowed is it?

Anyway, based on this, there is no PK 13-14 on the market.

This is a high potassium feed though, which is good. But it is very overpriced.