Starting my TLO journey.

[teamfdn]

Alright, so I have a couple grows under my belt now, and I just started a couple Sour Diesel Haze (Flash).
While these are growing, I will be cooking my first TLO soil mix. I used K. Trout's recipe from the TLO recipes thread:

This soil mix is simple, inexpensive and very effective. Oh, and it is alive!!
I start seedlings in a sphagnum peat, ewc, perlite mix and when ready transplant to growing mix.
This is the base mix:

50% sphagnum peat (wet this before you start mixing)
25% ewc (homemade)
15% lava rock
10% calcined diatomaceous earth

Amendments:

equal parts of each

Kelp meal
Neem meal
Crab meal
Flaxseed meal

2cups of this per cubic foot of base mix.

1cup fish bone meal per cf of base mix.

2 cups glacial rock dust.

Mix till your arm aches and then mix some more.

Now hit it with an ACT of ewc and blackstrap mollases.

Let it cycle for a month. Keeping it moist and perhaps a stir now and then.

Folks, you will now have a start to finish 'water only mix'.

I do add 1/4 tsp. of liquid silica per gallon of water.

With this mix you can leave the pH tester in the drawer and the pretty bottles at the store.

Happy growing,

Kilgore

I understand this strain could go upwards of 90 days, so my first question is: Is 90 days too long to cook?
Other than that I have everything mixed up and I have two questions in regard to the tea being called for in the recipe.
How much tea should I brew for 2-3 gallons of soil?
How much EWC and molasses should be in a brew this size?

Thanks all!

 

[swampman]

The Longer the Cook the Better ..Good Luck Bro..
Ill Tag along .

- - - Updated - - -

The Longer the Cook the Better ..Good Luck Bro..
Ill Tag along .

 

[teamfdn]

Other than that I have everything mixed up and I have two questions in regard to the tea being called for in the recipe.
How much tea should I brew for 2-3 gallons of soil?
How much EWC and molasses should be in a brew this size?

Thanks all!

Any thoughts on this? I understand that it is an aerated compost tea and that I will want to "brew" (bubble) for a good 24 hours, but I'm wondering how much water/ewc/molasses to use for a few gallons of soil.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

what kind of tea are you brewing?Something to water in in with and then let it sit? if thats what your doing(sounds like it),for three or even four true gallons of soil you'll need no more than 3-5 quarts(gallon roughly) at MOST with several good stirring whilst you add the water(Tea).add a quart er so at a time too.

For a gallon of water mix as a Kicker tea Id add a TBspoon of your blackstrap and a TBspoon of EWC,bubble it for 24-36 hrs.add a pinch(1/8 teaspoon) of mycos(great white)if you dont have that no worries. just bubble it and add about a quart (tea/water)at a time stir it up real well n keep adding till you get that clumpy look that still falls apart if you make a fist of soil.just a SLIGHT bit over wet than that n im talking slight.so shoot for nice n moist.not wet.

As long as your gonna let it cook for a couple months like you said it'll be fine.seems like an awfully small batch of soil?you making anymore?

hope that answers yer question man.happy growing dude.

 

[teamfdn]

That literally answered everything.
Thank you!
It is a small batch....I followed the above recipe to make about a 1/2 cubic foot of TLO mix.
My tent is 2x2, and I try to run 2 auto's at a time in there, so it seemed like a good test batch at the time.

 

[teamfdn]

I noticed today that my cooking bucket smelled like literal shit and also had a thin layer on the top. It looked like thin mycelium from a mushroom grow.

Are either of these things anything to worry about?

 

[Dark Matter]

Is the top layer like thin rubber? It so just remove it

 

[Eyes on Fire]

a thin layer of fuz eh? yeah thats a good thing.the smell Im not sure about cuz mine has never smelled that rich before.But I would just turn the layer of fuzz back into the soil.is it too wet?or just a nice light moist?if its too wet leave it uncovered for a few days and turn it daily until the right moistness occurs.until ya get that nice partially falls apart clump of soil when ya make a fist of soil.

you'll also get that when you feed your soil(plants) for the first time er two.just fold/fluff that fuzz back into your soils.I prefer a fork to do that with.good control and works reallly reallly well fer me. that'll help maintain the living structure of the soil microbes.

 

[teamfdn]

I guess it's almost more of a gas smell. Methane or that additive in natural gas. I'm not sure if I have the moisture content right with it being my first time. I am more or less shooting for the same field capacity I would use for mushroom substrate. Wet, but not soaked, and when I squeeze it hard a few drops come out. I'm all ears (or eyes in this case) so please let me know if that doesn't sound good.

With the growth, I just mixed it back in already.

The bucket is a five gallon bucket. I would say it's about 3/5 full, maybe a little more. I have the lid on there, but I have five 1/4 inch holes drilled in the lid to let it "breathe".

 

[Eyes on Fire]

sounds like it may be a little to wet.if you grab a fistful n sqeeze at a medium strength do you see excess water ?and does it stay in a wet soil ball?if so its totally tooo wet.stir it daily with the lid off so it can dry out untill you reach the proper moistness then recover.if ya got the holes in the lid thats a good thing.just check the moistness every few days once you've achieved the proper levels. not sure on the smell though.Ive had a mild methane smell a time er two but it was pretty short lived. so unsure there.Maybe brother Eek'll swing by,er Swamp dude er someone whos got a wee bit MOE experiance with this.

you could lay it out on a tarp to quickly dry it out a bit faster for a few days n that'll prolly give you darn near whatcha want/Need too as far as how moist yer soil is/isn't..