# I'm confused about organic



## Surfer Joe (Oct 13, 2014)

I am confused about just what is organic growing and what the benefits are.
Do you need to use a specific soil or nutrients? 
Do you need to mix all your own nutes and soils? 
Does local water quality affect whether you can grow organic without buying an ro filter system? 
What is the benefit of growing organic?
Can you grow organic in hydro?
Thanks for any advice.


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## Rosebud (Oct 13, 2014)

I am an organic dirt farmer and this is what I know.

The benefits are I don't have anything synthetic in my grow, thus having a cleaner (imo) grow. I try to eat organic and have an organic yard so it is a natural choice for me. It is just a way of living for me. Compost etc.

You can make it as hard or as easy as you want. You can go Fox farm organic soil like Happy Frog. Espoma makes some good organics that you can add that are organic but kinda hot.  Or you can make your own. I have done that. I recycle my soil now and add amendments.

We have a water filter for the whole house. It filters out a lot of junk and that is what i  use to water.

I can't say it tastes, burns or anything else better. I don't know.  I think it tastes and burns great, but i don't have any to compare with.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Oct 14, 2014)

Surfer Joe said:


> I am confused about just what is organic growing and what the benefits are.
> Do you need to use a specific soil or nutrients?
> Do you need to mix all your own nutes and soils?
> Does local water quality affect whether you can grow organic without buying an ro filter system?
> ...



 Organic basically means that you are using all natural ingredients in your soil, additives, and nutrients--nothing chemical.  In the US, most organic products carry the OMRI certification, which certifies that the product has been tested and found to contain no chemicals.

 Benefits?  Well, that is kind of up to the individual.  I simply believe that organic is healthier.  Like Rosebud, I buy organic food products when I can and I grow all my veggies organically.  When I grow in soil, I grow organic.  I do composting and have a worm bin.

 You can either mix your soil, organic teas, and super soils or you can buy premade (look for the OMRI certification).  If you make your own soils or compost, they have to cook to get the microbes working on breaking down the matter within the soil before you can use them.  I do not have a place to do this in the winter, so I grow hydro in the winter.  And to answer another question, I have never found a way to do organic and hydro.

 If your water is good enough for you to drink, it should be okay for your plants, unless your water is exceptionally high in dissolved solids.  Your really want this info for any type of growing you do--the ppms of your tap water is important when growing cannabis.  Outside hose bibs are never attached to filter systems and we water our organic outdoor plants and organic veggies with it.  So, even though Rosebud has a whole house filter, outside water is not filtered and her outside grow has been done with unfiltered water.  And looking at her grows you can see that none of her plants have suffered from being watered with unfiltered water.  Of course, like all water from a municipal system, you want to let the water sit out to dissipate the chlorine.  However after all this talk about outside water, it makes me wonder how important the sitting out really is since outside plants are watered with water straight out of the tap.....Anyone?

 I do find organic tougher than hydro.  For instance, one of my neighbors grew a few plants outdoors this year.  She is a great gardener with mad skills, but this was her first time growing cannabis.  They were taking a long time to get really into flowering mode and we have a very short growing season up here.  After talking about it, I discovered that she was feeding her plants a tea she made from rabbit droppings.  This was all she was feeding the,  Well, rabbit manure is high in N and low in P--just opposite of what you need for flowering.  Too much N will inhibit bud formation and it was.  I am still a real novice at organic--there truly is so much to organic growing.  While I make my own soil, I do buy pre-made nutrients.  I have been using the GO line of organic nutrients and been happy with them.  Although it consists of multiple parts, you can buy the "GO Box" for around $40.  I grew multiple plants, 15 or so and also mixed nutes up several times for my neighbor until she could get her own and still have some left.


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## umbra (Oct 14, 2014)

I think the biggest issue with water is chlorine. It will kill the mico organisms in the soil. If you fill a few 1 gal containers with water and let them sit out over night, they will be fine.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Oct 15, 2014)

I understand the principal behind letting the water sit out.  What I can't understand is why water directly from the hose that has not sat out does not seem to harm the microbe herds in outdoor plants?


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## Rosebud (Oct 15, 2014)

In my hose it is filtered, believe it or not.. that was dumb of us... BUT the irrigation water isn't. I mostly hand water my plants but they do get some irrigation in the summer.


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## Surfer Joe (Oct 15, 2014)

Thanks. I'm starting to get the picture about organic.
I wish that I could just use the hose to water my plants, but our water is around pH7.5.
I've never tried catching rainwater to see what it's like around here.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Oct 16, 2014)

Most people water their outdoor plants with water directly from the hose.

If Rosebud's outside hose bibs are run through the filter, she is the exception.  Outside hose bibs are left off because of 2 reasons--the expense of filtering/treating/softening that much water, but also because water run through some kinds of treatments or softened is not good for plants as other chemicals are used to treat the chemicals in your water.  For instance, softeners use salt, which is not good for plants.  In addition, simple cartridge filters will not remove dissolved solids--just solids that are in precipitate form and not dissolved.  It takes a treatment system of some kind to remove dissolved solids.


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## umbra (Oct 16, 2014)

using a ceramic filter insert in the hose helps

http://www.teraganix.com/EMX-Ceramic-Pipe-35mm-p/4012.htm


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## Rosebud (Oct 16, 2014)

Like I said it wasn't the smartest purchase we made. We have two big filters that are changed twice a year and they cost a lot. They are where the water source enters the house.  But when you have a nuclear reactor in your back yard you do what you can do. Like a water filter will help with that. lol


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## The Hemp Goddess (Oct 17, 2014)

Well, darn Rosebud, I should have been there and done that work for you....it wouldn't have cost a lot.

Usually, they pull the hose bibs off before they run the main line through the filters.  If your water comes in under your house, the hose bibs well could have been taken off before the filters.  If a real plumber did the work, they probably did this, as this is code.  I will have to check the next time I am at your place.


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