True Living Organics - The Ultimate Guide to Growing All-Natural Marijuana Indoors (2012)

Down to Earth’s kelp meal needs to be cooked before it is used, or it can drag the pH of your soil mix
right down
In well-buffered soil mixes gypsum is a fantastic addition with a bunch of slow-release calcium
and sulfur. Sulfur is very dangerous to add straight in its elemental form, due to the fact that sulfur
will plummet your soil pH quickly and completely! As a direct sulfur addition is too dangerous,
bringing in some sulfur like this in the gypsum is awesome because of the slow-release method. As
long as your soil mix is well buffered, gypsum will not radically drop the pH value of your soil mix,
but instead will only slightly lower it without any problems.
Kelp meal is always a great addition that brings in some fantastic elements and raw organic matter.
It’s rated high for nutrient and other beneficial elements, such as 60 minerals or elements, 12 vitamins
and 21 amino acids. I like it a lot in any soil mix, but it really needs to be cooked first, because as it
breaks down it can tend to take the soil’s pH down pretty hard. I noticed that this happened repeatedly
to me, when I was using soil mixes containing high amounts of raw plant matter of any kind; alfalfa,
kelp, pot, lawn clippings, etc. Always cook a soil mix with any real amounts of raw (non-cooked or
non-composted) organic matter in it.
You can easily go overboard with liquid seaweed and kelp products—as well as the soluble dry
versions. This is a rookie mistake, and one that many of us have had to experience to know of its
importance! Take my advice and be very careful not to overuse the liquid or soluble dry kelp and
seaweed products. It is pretty tough to overuse kelp meal, but anything is possible. Kelp and seaweed
products are also very full of available potassium (K), which is always a good thing in moderation.
Always read the labels on any products before you use them.
Steer manure (always composted) is something I add in small amounts, because there are some
specialized and very beneficial microbeasties that tend to colonize steer manure, as I understand it. It