2016 Outdoor Garden of Eden

[Shcrews]

what happened with calaveras?

edit: nm i checked the news. they raised their limit to 1/2 acre huh. thats good

 

[FoothillFarming]

Just made some fresh rosin from my 88' cherries from my deps. Weirdest thing ever, great smelling plants but when turned to rosin it tasted exactly like a burning seed.......Very strong, but NASTY!!

 

[Shcrews]

gnarly. that sucks. i still prefer shatter for the terpenes , although i do have some really nice dry-sift rosin right now

 

[who dat is]

Just made some fresh rosin from my 88' cherries from my deps. Weirdest thing ever, great smelling plants but when turned to rosin it tasted exactly like a burning seed.......Very strong, but NASTY!!

Oh shit, what happened you think? That wasn't fertilizer bomb extract was it? That 88' Cherries looked so fire too...

 

[FoothillFarming]

gnarly. that sucks. i still prefer shatter for the terpenes , although i do have some really nice dry-sift rosin right now

That snap and pull you gave me was some of the best oil I have smoked in some time. I really enjoyed that.

BTW, I also smoked up all those buds. Both in the bong, and I made sure to squish a little as well. Job well done.

Oh shit, what happened you think? That wasn't fertilizer bomb extract was it? That 88' Cherries looked so fire too...

Ya know, maybe? It was in the same greenhouse where I would spray other plants that are in veg. However, if my memory recalls, I only sprayed during tarp covered hours.

Something to think about for sure.

Edit, I am a dummy. No I bagged and tagged the stuff that even had a chance of getting hit from the exploding bottle......I think

 

[FoothillFarming]

Third day in a row with temps above 100.

The wife and I decided to get out of the heat and go watch World of Warcraft. My next door neighbor growing up ended up being a lead programmer for them, so I have always been into Blizzard Entertainment stuff. The movie is probably best for somebody into the game, and if you are, that movie is EPIC! This is my total nerd side, and I haven't had time for one of these type of games in 10 years, but the movie brought me back.

 

[PoweredByLove]

and the award for most improved goes to ...

 

[FoothillFarming]

Not sure if I recognize your handle PBL, but I will take those kind words any day of the week. That is the name of the game, never stop improving. Thank you.

 

[HillMizer]

Hey Foothillin how are you feeling about your plant momentum an nutrition now? Is your bio-live topdress helping now? 6 -12 cups/ plant is significant.

I was reading the AEA thread and saw you thought/ felt you were running low on nutes or availability.

I'm used to feeding a lot more so I'm just trying to learn. I'm also not accustomed to changing my foliar rates. I usually just pick the low end and ride it.

I think pepzyme-c is just kombucha
Thank you.

 

[FoothillFarming]

I agree about the Pepzyme. All of the Tiano products IMO. A good compost tea or ACT will replace Tiano for a fraction of the price, IMO. Just a lot more work.

As for my plant nutrition, my plants seem to be riding right along. When I applied my top dress, a couple days later the plants really got that deep green color, and exploded again. In the past I have always fertilized on the low side of things, if at all. I am changing my tune this year, after years of reviewing soil tests at the end of the season. Without fertilizer, Ca levels are always stupid low. Along with Iron, Zn and Mn. So this year I am changing my game a little, and applying more fertilizer. Staying away from too much N, and keeping my P and K levels lower than normal.

As for the levels of top dressing with the Bio-live....That doesn't seem like that heavy of an application on it's own. For a top dressing, not soil amendment, Down to Earth recommends around 50 cups for a planter 5 yards in size. So I am about 1/5th strength, mixed with my normal AEA lineup. I have only top dressed once also, but I plan to again before the onset of flower. Depending on soil results. The 10 cup application didn't even cover the surface of the soil, just a slight dusting on pots that size.

Another secret weapon I have deployed this year is a constant supply of mycorhize every feeding. Been working wonders.

 

[FoothillFarming]

Another thing I do is breed worms. I have 600 gallons of completed vermi compost with mature worm colonies. When I feed my worms, I normally feed them Bio-live or corn mash, and they run through it extremely quick. I was thinking the top dress in my pots with all the worms I have added will act as feed for the worms as well.

 

[plantingplants]

That's really cool. I'm definitely going to get some worms up and running this winter in prep for spring planting. I want to put a handful in each. I like the idea of feeding them things I want to feed my plants.

 

[Stone House]

In my area (Butte foothills) after a few hard rains I have thousands of natural earthworms crawling all over the surface of my property. I walk along in the rain and usually pickup a coffee can full of them and dump them in my grow soil. Just thought I would mention this as a free source of earthworms (unless you are already growing them).
I would assume most of the foothills are like mine as far as earthworms surfacing during heavy extended rains.

 

[FoothillFarming]

That's really cool. I'm definitely going to get some worms up and running this winter in prep for spring planting. I want to put a handful in each. I like the idea of feeding them things I want to feed my plants.

One of the hardest things for me to source is a really quality source of compost or ewc. So making my own started as a need, and now has turned into a full blow obsession. Now I am custom mixing soiless food for them, 50% peat, 25% compost, 25% rice hulls, which I have had tested, then I amend what is needed and let them work that over. Then feed what I stated above. I have yet to have any of that compost tested, but soon I will.

Long story short, just do it.

In my area (Butte foothills) after a few hard rains I have thousands of natural earthworms crawling all over the surface of my property. I walk along in the rain and usually pickup a coffee can full of them and dump them in my grow soil. Just thought I would mention this as a free source of earthworms (unless you are already growing them).
I would assume most of the foothills are like mine as far as earthworms surfacing during heavy extended rains.

I for sure agree this is a great method. You can also fill a bucket with food scraps and drill holes in the side, bury the bucket so 2" of the top of the bucket is still above ground, and the worms will come.

However worms from quality worm breeders are actually genetically designed/adapted for faster composting abilities. They far outperform native worms, aka European Night Crawlers. I have bought both red wigglers, and Euro Night Crawlers, and trapped native. The native bin (right now a 65 gallon smart pot) works far, far slower than my Uncle Jim bought worms.

Been reading many worms books over the last 18 months, so I feel like I need to spread the knowledge, lol.

 

[Stone House]

Thanks for the info FF, I want to start some worm colonies also.
I'm thinking the worm casings would make a great top dressing mid season.

 

[plantingplants]

I definitely noticed a lot of worms on top of the clay I was watering smartpots on. They'd crawl into the hard pots.

So where do they go in summer? Is that a silly question? LOL do they migrate to mexico?

But really, if I do that buried bucket trick will it work now?

Also, how the fuck do they find the food bucket in hard clay? Or do they just stumble upon it and then breed there?

Also, after you feed them your soilless mix, are the individual components still there? Or do they break everything down and it all turns into casings?

 

[Biosynthesis]

Cant wait to see how your plants are doing. Very impressed with your gardens.

 

[FoothillFarming]

I definitely noticed a lot of worms on top of the clay I was watering smartpots on. They'd crawl into the hard pots.

So where do they go in summer? Is that a silly question? LOL do they migrate to mexico?

But really, if I do that buried bucket trick will it work now?

Also, how the fuck do they find the food bucket in hard clay? Or do they just stumble upon it and then breed there?

Also, after you feed them your soilless mix, are the individual components still there? Or do they break everything down and it all turns into casings?

Worms are always in your soil, they just dive deeper when no moisture is available. Humans have found worms as deep as a mile in the earths surface. The bucket trick will work anytime, however you might have to water a fair amount around the bucket to draw the worms in. Can't hurt to try right? Not sure exactly how they find it, but they do.

I am always amazed how the gophers on the property will find new plants/water right away. I just moved a couple 5 gallon pots to a different area, and as soon as I watered, the gophers found it and tried to burrow into the smart pot. Crazy how they find that freshly watered plant so quick in what appears to be a vast, dead, hot soil. I get water attracts them, but how they actually find it is beyond me.

The reason I purchase the ingredients for my worms that I do, is technically, it doesn't need to be broken down at all. I could plant right in the medium. The advantage here, is if the vermi compost isn't completely finished, then I don't have to screen everything. It's all ready to go, no hot unfinished compost or anything like that. So when the time comes, I don't need to do anything but scoop up my EWC and spread it on the plants, worms and all. When I give the worms enough time, which is about 3-6 months depending on my worm volume, the medium gets 100% worked, and what's left is pure castings. I have around 600 gallons finished right now, and I am working on getting more soil tests out to Logan Labs as we speak. I will soon see how good these casting really are.


I love a good 1" top dress of EWC right before flower is induced.

Edit: I should mention. In the bucket, I usually put 50% peat, 50% compost and mix in some fresh table scraps.

 

[plantingplants]

Thank you. That's amazing. Looking forward to see how your compost tests!

I'm going to try that bucket trick in a wet spot in the garden. I'm sure they're around there.

 

[FoothillFarming]

Been calculating my water usage, and thought others might be curious. Just strait copied and pasted from my notes, might not be self explanatory. Let me know if it doesn't make sense. This is just right now, during 95+ degree weather. I always change my watering volumes based on weather and plant size/needs.

Water usage for 2016

1000 & 800 gallon pots – (5) 23 emitter lines per pot or 92 gal per hour
400 gallon pots – (2) 23 emitter lines per pot or 36.8 gal per hour
200 gallon pots – (1) 23 emitter line per pot or 18.4 gal per hour
100 gallon pots – (1) ?


@ 15 min watering cycles 2x a day
1000 & 800’s get 46 gallons a day
400’s get 18.4 gallons a day
200’s get 9.2 gallons a day