Chief Bigsmoke's Fantasy Factory

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ALL ABOUT COMPOST EXTRACT video

ALL ABOUT COMPOST EXTRACT video

I've been blabbling a lot about compost teas lately, so I can try and help everyone understand: what the heck it is, and why it is so important.

I found this great video called "Compost Extract: video microscopy of beneficial soil microorganisms found in compost extracts" to explain it way better than I can. Plus there are great images of all the microbeasties in action.

Damn Nature, you awesome



[youtubeif]muTxPXoAOjE[/youtubeif]

I was also browsing through my small seed collection and wondering if anyone has any info on the following eggs:

Shrom x ECSD

Banana OG x Sour Bubble

Qleaner F2's

I'm interested in still growing from seed along side my tried and tested clones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I still have a strawberry alien kush and grandaddy Haze eggs as well, but I know how they roll...

chief

Hot damn, once again, .. Excellent thread, great information..

Two big questions on the timer/controller gimmick.

On the temperature controller, I love the digital interface, .. (Though my last digital interface is now sitting in the shed) ..Like the cool temp re-fire thing, .. Multi-on-at-once staggering, Okay, i get it, but in your (or my) situation, is that a realistic concern?

As for heat, the idea to just kill one/whichever necessary lights to ekep temps in line? Are you in an area where that's otherwise a concern?

I love the device, no question - mostly because I love gadgets! (Can you monitor or control it remotely? ) Just wondering how necessary it is, how helpful, or if it's a fuzzy precaution.

The 4000w controller description from the mfr is pretty vague. It says it'll control up to 4k power, yadayadayada, from a single timer, .. I would think you may want different things on different timers..? What's the application here chief?

I love this thread

silver hawaiian said:

On the temperature controller, I love the digital interface, .. (Though my last digital interface is now sitting in the shed) ..Like the cool temp re-fire thing, .. Multi-on-at-once staggering, Okay, i get it, but in your (or my) situation, is that a realistic concern?

As for heat, the idea to just kill one/whichever necessary lights to ekep temps in line? Are you in an area where that's otherwise a concern?

I love the device, no question - mostly because I love gadgets! (Can you monitor or control it remotely? ) Just wondering how necessary it is, how helpful, or if it's a fuzzy precaution.

I love this thread

Click to expand...

dude I love your attention to detail. good questions. Here are some answers:

Its almost easy enough to combine your questions into one attempt at an answer hehe.

Certain features, like the staggering feature is pretty useless to ppl like us. Unless you upgrade both the outlets so they can handle higher wattages. Typically the main digital controller can only handle 2x600w lights, one 600w on each of the two outlets. Then the user has the option to increase their overall wattage by choosing between two controller models. One that can handle and fire either 4000w's and the other up to 8000w's (if your electrician says you can handle it). So in theory the user could have two 8000w controllers attached to the two outlets on the digital controller and I don't know much about electricity but you may want to stagger that amount (?) But yet again I have no clue. maybe plants just like a nice sunrise and sunset? hehe

The digital display is long enough to be remotely mounted outside the tent. So I can check the temp etc without having to open the tent and the high temp sensor is long enough to snake to the middle of the tent. pretty handy and it keeps all the lights away from the plants.

The main reason I bought this unit was for its high temp shut down for my insurance coverage. It was a tiny bit cheaper when adding a high temp shut down and the automatic fire extinguishers.

Since I grow in small tents to protect the owners property the tents temp can vary greatly if the air con isn't on or the exhaust fan fails. I commonly leave the air con off to save much needed $$$. So twice (that I know of) I triggered the high temp sensor (set at 33 degrees) on accident when I was running 2x Air cooled 600w's. Now that I'm only running one 600w light everything is perfect without the air con on at all.

I love saving money...

Hope this was helpful! if I missed a point (which happens) feel free to ask again. hehe much love

Nice grow and thread bro...
The compost teas have made my babies explode like nothing before. You got a lota good info here
One thing, have you tried foliar feeding in veg and first half of flowering with your ACT? That is where I really noticed the difference to chem fertigation. Also start the culture with some bacillus in it too, as well as fresh worm poo/compost from a heap nearby, and have protection from gnats and local molds etc.
Also why not go big and do a bigger brew so some is always on hand, brewed to the max..
Alfalfa ground meal as a light mulch also helps with the triacontriol (sp?) release. Just make a light sprinkling over your medium, making sure that a mat is not formed where mold can grow underneath and keeping a few cm away from the stem for the same reason.

On yer lights and heat issues, try hanging some large (85w or so) CFLs upright with string or zipcords in your tent along with the 600w, maybe 2 per 600. You can raise or lower to get light right into or under dark spots or canopy, have the bulb right close to buds without creating more heat issues. They help keep nodes tight and stretch just right and help pack on that extra yield when one has one HPS flower bulb which can have shadowed areas in your tent behind and under plants.

Thanks for sharing your gals and more big smokes 2 ya...

maryjaneismyfre said:

Nice grow and thread bro...
The compost teas have made my babies explode like nothing before. You got a lota good info here
One thing, have you tried foliar feeding in veg and first half of flowering with your ACT? That is where I really noticed the difference to chem fertigation. Also start the culture with some bacillus in it too, as well as fresh worm poo/compost from a heap nearby, and have protection from gnats and local molds etc.
Also why not go big and do a bigger brew so some is always on hand, brewed to the max..
Alfalfa ground meal as a light mulch also helps with the triacontriol (sp?) release. Just make a light sprinkling over your medium, making sure that a mat is not formed where mold can grow underneath and keeping a few cm away from the stem for the same reason.

On yer lights and heat issues, try hanging some large (85w or so) CFLs upright with string or zipcords in your tent along with the 600w, maybe 2 per 600. You can raise or lower to get light right into or under dark spots or canopy, have the bulb right close to buds without creating more heat issues. They help keep nodes tight and stretch just right and help pack on that extra yield when one has one HPS flower bulb which can have shadowed areas in your tent behind and under plants.

Thanks for sharing your gals and more big smokes 2 ya...

Click to expand...

Hot Damn... thats some of the best advice I've received maryjaneismyfire... I've tried breeding Bacillus T. in the form of Aquashield and adding straight myco-maximum to the tea as well, but never as a foliar feed yet.... now that sounds interesting. I have 4 plants in the first weeks of flower so I might just as well do that tomorrow

and the alflafa living mulch idea is stellar. I already use white clover and ornamental grassbut I might use it to replace my ornamental grass in the early stages and leave my grass planting until mid flower to try and use up some of the leftover N sources.

I've only heard great things about alfalfa. You've inspired me to try.

- on the lights.. brilliant idea. I do have an extra 600w and a 400w I might set up too. maybe have it just come on for 4 hours a day to keep the room cool, but add the necessary light to boost the yields. In the meantime while I save for some handy high wattage CFL's.

Check out my new threa too if you like this one...It's the next evolution of this thread and I made a table of contents on the first page linking all the useful information from this thread. Click my link below thanks

I'm going to check your new thread out now..

http://www.eurolux.co.za/lampproductdetail.php?lmp_id=286

That is the lamp I was meaning, these work very well to boost light.
Regarding the alfalfa mulch, I was meaning a light sprinkling of the ground-up dried alfalfa on top the soil/promix. I get 20 kg bags at my local animal feed for eq. $4. Living mulch should work well though and I do that in my veggie garden with lucerne/alfalfa too. Another thing, I did not see how you brewed you ACT, but ground alfalfa is a great addition (N and growth hormones) to your tea. I start my tea in a big dustbin with a small submersible pond pump churning it around 24/7 with a waterfall sprayed down at pressure to oxygenate at top. I base it off molasses + humic/fulvic, and have an old pillow case filled with my brew food, with half a clay brick inside to weigh down and tied. I first start the brew and add culture, bacillus, worm castings (in tea bag) etc.. after 3 days or less if warm I add my main mix to the tea bag for microlife to digest away! There is a small perspex sheet at an angle to act as a baffle above the pump, so bag and air doesn't get sucked in. The spray down outlet is stepped down 20mm/15mm with a 12mm bleed tube above so a jet is created and aspiration is increased. Anyway... The 'teabag' is filled with a mix of things, bonemeal you don't like but.. 2 handfuls of bonemeal, 3 handfuls alfalfa, 1 handful kelp, 1 handful Rock phosphate, 2 handfuls fresh compost, 2 handfuls worm poo. This must digest for a day or 5 and then I use it. I measure the EC of tea and dilute to below .4 before spraying if too high. I spray early, early morning, earlier the better.

maryjaneismyfre said:

I'm going to check your new thread out now..

http://www.eurolux.co.za/lampproductdetail.php?lmp_id=286

That is the lamp I was meaning, these work very well to boost light.
Regarding the alfalfa mulch, I was meaning a light sprinkling of the ground-up dried alfalfa on top the soil/promix. I get 20 kg bags at my local animal feed for eq. $4. Living mulch should work well though and I do that in my veggie garden with lucerne/alfalfa too. Another thing, I did not see how you brewed you ACT, but ground alfalfa is a great addition (N and growth hormones) to your tea. I start my tea in a big dustbin with a small submersible pond pump churning it around 24/7 with a waterfall sprayed down at pressure to oxygenate at top. I base it off molasses + humic/fulvic, and have an old pillow case filled with my brew food, with half a clay brick inside to weigh down and tied. I first start the brew and add culture, bacillus, worm castings (in tea bag) etc.. after 3 days or less if warm I add my main mix to the tea bag for microlife to digest away! There is a small perspex sheet at an angle to act as a baffle above the pump, so bag and air doesn't get sucked in. The spray down outlet is stepped down 20mm/15mm with a 12mm bleed tube above so a jet is created and aspiration is increased. Anyway... The 'teabag' is filled with a mix of things, bonemeal you don't like but.. 2 handfuls of bonemeal, 3 handfuls alfalfa, 1 handful kelp, 1 handful Rock phosphate, 2 handfuls fresh compost, 2 handfuls worm poo. This must digest for a day or 5 and then I use it. I measure the EC of tea and dilute to below .4 before spraying if too high. I spray early, early morning, earlier the better.

Click to expand...

excellent I have a bacillus act ready to be sprayed as soon as the lights come on. ACT recipe: ewc, compost, bacillus inoc, alfalfa and kelp and molasses. Good tip on the dilution levels.. Being a rookie its hard to have everything under control.. thanks again maryjaneismyfire your tips come at the perfect times to try them.. nice...

and those eurolux bulbs are cool too. Cfls>LEDs are my best option forward. good tip